Vegan vs Vegetarian on Dutch Menus: How to Tell What's Actually Plant-Based

A green leaf or a "V" next to a dish on a Dutch menu feels reassuring — but it rarely tells the whole story. In the Netherlands, that symbol usually means vegetarian, not vegan, and the gap between the two is where dairy, egg, honey and gelatin quietly live. If you avoid all animal products, here's how to read Dutch menus properly and order without a guessing game.

Vegetarian, vegan and the grey area between

Two Dutch words matter here:

• Vegetarisch — no meat and no fish, but dairy, eggs and honey are usually fair game.
• Veganistisch (often shortened to vegan or plantaardig) — no animal products at all.

A dish labelled vegetarisch can still contain butter, cheese, cream, egg or honey. The word plantaardig ("plant-based") is a better signal, though even that is sometimes used loosely, so it's still worth confirming.

The trickiest cases sit in between. A "veggie" burger might use an egg binder. A salad might be dressed with honey-mustard. A soup marked vegetarian may have been made with a chicken or fish stock cube that the kitchen doesn't think of as "meat". None of this is bad faith — it's just that "vegetarian" and "vegan" are treated as far closer than they are.

Hidden animal products on Dutch menus

These are the ingredients that catch vegans out most often in the Netherlands.

Dairy and egg

Cheese (kaas) is everywhere — grated over pasta, folded into a tosti, melting on bitterballen-style snacks. Butter (boter) is the default fat for frying eggs, sautéing vegetables and finishing sauces. Cream (room) hides in soups, mashed potato (stamppot) and creamy dressings. Egg (ei) turns up in mayonnaise, pancakes (pannenkoeken and poffertjes), fresh pasta and many baked goods.

Honey

Honing is a common salad-dressing sweetener and glaze, and it disqualifies a dish for most vegans. Ask specifically — dressings are the usual culprit.

Gelatin

Gelatine appears in mousses, panna cotta, some vla (Dutch custard) and jelly-set desserts, as well as certain sweets. A "vegetarian" dessert menu is not automatically gelatin-free.

Fish, shrimp and hidden stocks

Watch for vissaus (fish sauce) and shrimp paste in Asian and Indonesian-influenced dishes, which are hugely popular in the Netherlands. A vegetable dish in a rijsttafel spread, or a noodle bowl, may be built on a fish or shrimp base. Soups and risottos often start with a meat or fish bouillon even when the visible ingredients look plant-based.

Dutch dishes that are (or can be made) plant-based

The good news: Dutch and Dutch-Indonesian cooking has plenty that works for vegans, sometimes with a small swap.

• Patat / friet — chips are widely loved, but check they're fried in vegetable oil and not shared with meat snacks. Ask for it without mayonnaise, or with a vegan sauce, and skip the frikandel-style toppings.
• Erwtensoep (snert) — pea soup is often made with pork and a meat stock, so this one usually needs a fully vegan version rather than an adaptation.
• Stamppot — mashed potato with kale, endive or sauerkraut can be excellent, but ask them to use oil instead of butter and milk, and to leave off the rookworst (sausage) and bacon.
• Indonesian-Dutch dishes — gado-gado, nasi goreng and vegetable sayur can be plant-based, but confirm no egg, no trassi (shrimp paste) and no fish sauce.
• Bar snacks — vegan bitterballen and kroketten increasingly appear on menus; they're a giveaway that the kitchen understands the difference between vegetarian and vegan.
• Poffertjes and pannenkoeken — traditionally made with egg and milk, but some places now offer a plant-based batter. Always ask.

Amsterdam in particular has a strong plant-based scene, from dedicated cafés in the Jordaan and De Pijp to bakeries that make vegan versions of Dutch classics. If you're planning a trip, our roundup of vegan restaurants in Amsterdam is a useful starting point.

How to ask in a Dutch restaurant

Staff in the Netherlands very often speak excellent English, so you can ask directly — but being specific matters more than the language you use.

1. Name the categories, not just "vegan". Say: "No dairy, no egg, no honey, no fish or shrimp, and no meat stock." This closes the gaps that "is it vegetarian?" leaves open.
2. Ask about the fat. "Is this cooked in oil or butter?" A single question rules out a lot of accidental dairy.
3. Check sauces and dressings separately. These are where honey, cream, mayonnaise and fish sauce hide.
4. Ask about the fryer. For anyone who wants to avoid cross-contact with animal products, a shared fryer or grill is worth knowing about — though note this is a preference issue for vegans, not the medical cross-contamination risk it is for someone with an allergy.

A useful phrase to memorise: "Is dit gerecht volledig plantaardig?" — "Is this dish fully plant-based?"

If you'd rather not run this checklist at every table, an app like Allergent shows a restaurant's menu filtered for a vegan diet, marking each dish as safe, adaptable, may contain or contains — based on details confirmed by the kitchen itself. That turns "I hope this is vegan" into a clear answer before you order.

For more guides on eating out with dietary needs across the Netherlands, browse the Allergent blog.