Palm Springs in southern California is an Oasis in the famous Mojave desert and a major winter getaway in California. It’s thriving downtown has a pretty neat dining scene as well. Although arid owing to its proximity to the desert, there are lots of good vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Palm Springs where you can enjoy a hearty, meat free meal.
One of the reasons why we went looking for vegetarian restaurants at Palm Springs and nearby Joshua Tree is because we like to eat healthy when we travel. Meat free meals feel light on the stomach and are easy to digest, which is why we looked opted for vegetarian food in both Palm Springs and Joshua Tree.
If you are visiting Joshua Tree National Park even for one day, you will get plenty of vegetarian/vegan choices at Joshua tree restaurants as well. This guide covers both restaurants near Joshua Tree as well as Palm Springs vegetarian restaurants to give you the complete picture of where to have the best vegetarian food in Palm Springs.
Vegetarian Restaurants in Palm Springs- My Favorites
King’s Highway
Of All the vegetarian restaurants in Palm Springs that we visited, King’s Highway, a diner and lounge located in Ace Hotel on Indian Canyon Road stole our heart. This Palm Springs restaurant is not 100% vegetarian, but the menu is full of vegetarian options.
The cocktails were a nod to the desert plantation such as Speedy Gonzales splashed with tequila and agave. If you are at this Palm Springs restaurant, don’t forget to get your Instagram fix with a photo shoot near the huge coir elephant head mounted on one of the walls.
We had repeat meals at this place and chose vegetarian food both times, they were so good! This place is not in downtown Palm Springs but totally worth going to for tasty vegetarian meals in Palm Springs.
Native Foods Cafe
Next in line comes Native Foods Cafe, a fast casual Palm Springs vegan restaurant established in 1994 in this arid desert city. This unassuming place sells lip smacking plant based grub, tasty enough to make you forget meat. Whatever you do, don’t give their quinoa bowls and lavender lemonade a miss!
Palm Greens Cafe
Palm Springs sprung another surprise on us with Palm Greens Cafe, Located in another strip mall off the two main streets criss-crossing the city. This restaurant was voted the best vegetarian restaurant in Palm Spring recently. Food was super tasty and included yummy Asia inspired entrees.
They also have an array of juices and smoothies that you must try for some good old detoxification. This is also one of the most popular Palm Springs vegetarian restaurants, as judged by the crowd inside and is a good option for those looking for vegetarian/vegan food in restaurants near Joshua Tree.
Joshua Tree Restaurants to dine at for vegetarian food
Now, onto Joshua Tree restaurants in the city of Joshua Tree, home to the Joshua Tree National Park. Surprisingly there were several good vegetarian options for restaurants near and around Joshua Tree where we stopped by.
Although we could not get a seat at the wildly popular Pappy + Harriet’s , one of the best Joshua Tree restaurants in Pioneertown (our famished stomachs were deterred by a wait time of over an hour!) we did manage to hit up a few other local favorites, which are as follows:
Country Kitchen
Country Kitchen: this modest, tiny diner is a one of the best restaurants near Joshua Tree and is wildly popular, thanks to being featured on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. It is run by an incredibly friendly Cambodian couple who welcome you into this Joshua tree restaurant with a warm smile and friendly service.
You cannot leave this place without ordering the sinfully fluffy chocolate pancakes (not too sweet, not too gooey, just right with a sprinkling of chocolate chips), cause anything else will be a treason!
Crossroads Cafe & Tavern
Crossroads Cafe & Tavern, is one of the best restaurants near Joshua Tree that serves yummy vegetarian & vegan food (they have meat featured on their menu as well for those of you who are carnivores) where we stopped for lunch after visiting Joshua Tree National Park. They have good portion sizes too which you will appreciate after hiking in Joshua Tree National Park.
Natural Sisters Cafe
Natural Sisters Cafe is another great breakfast and lunch spot in Joshua Tree and has lots of vegan and vegetarian options. Try their breakfast sandwich or veggie hash along with their many juices and smoothies. They also have outdoor seating which is perfect if you’re visiting Joshua Tree with your dog and need a place to eat.
This brings me to an end to this Vegetarian restaurants in Palm Springs guide. I hope you enjoyed reading about these as well as the Joshua tree restaurants and will try out at least some of these restaurants near Joshua Tree.
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Yum! Looks amazing. My husband and I were vegetarians for about a year, just re introduced meat into our diet but still love meatless meals!!
From your list, I have only been to Crossroads Cafe. It was good! I need to check Native Foods. I have seen it popping with great reviews every time I am searching for places to eat in Palm Springs. The good season to visit the city is coming so thanks for the ideas!
I’ve actually been considering seeing if I can go vegetarian lately, so hopefully this guide will come in very useful! 😀 And your photography is gorgeous!
I’m hoping to add a quick jaunt out to Palm Springs to my West Coast trip this winter, so this came at the perfect time! Saving for reference 🙂
My parents go to palm springs a lot! I’ll be sharing this with them!
The food looks delicious!
I’m a vegetarian so of course I’m going to say all the food looks good, but it does!! Especially the chocolate chip pancakes… oh wow!
Vegetarian heaven! It’s making me hungry just looking at these photos. It’s always great when you can find great vegetarian restaurants and you don’t get left with the usual dishes.
I’ve been to Palm Springs so many times and had no idea there are so many vegetarian options. This guide is incredibly helpful!
So happy to read that there are several veg restaurants!
I struggled a lot to find veg options in Italy / Spain / France…
I always eat veg (have for 21 years) so always good to find veg friendly places. My husband eats meat, so we dont always go exclusively veg. We recently went to Cali and pretty much everywhere had veg otpions. We didnt make it to palm springs though I wanted to! Couldnt go everywhere!
Awesome article!
I’m always looking for new healthy vegan places in the area.
– The Hungry Mountaineer
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