Updated January 2023! Panda Express is the largest Asian fast food chain in the U.S., specializing in American Chinese cuisine. They used to have some very odd menu labeling for milk, but we helped them get it fixed, so now every section of their menu is filled with dairy-free options, as noted below. This information is for the U.S., but their menu only varies slightly in Canada.
Panda Express Dairy-Free Menu Guide with Allergen Notes & Vegan Options
Availability: Please note that not all menu items listed below will be available at each Panda Express location. The entrees and sides can rotate, or some locations might choose not to order certain items. They do have a limited number of options that they can offer at any given time.
Allergen & Special Diet Notes: All items listed below are also egg-free by ingredients, except the Fried Rice and Hot & Sour Soup. The only item below that contains peanuts is the Kung Pao Chicken, and the only one with tree nuts is the Honey Walnut Shrimp. However, almost every menu item contains wheat and soy. There are no gluten-free entrees, appetizers, or sides (aside from plain rice) at Panda Express. We have labeled the few soy-free, dairy-free options below. For vegan options, see the Vegan Menu Guide at the bottom of this post.
Appetizers
- Chicken Potstickers
- Vegetable Spring Rolls
Heads Up! The Chicken Egg Rolls and Rangoons do contain milk.
Soup
- Hot & Sour Soup
Sides
- Chow Fun
- Chow Mein
- Fried Rice
- Super Greens
- Brown Steamed Rice (soy-free)
- White Steamed Rice (soy-free)
Veggie Entrees
- Beyond the Original Orange Chicken (limited time)
- Eggplant Tofu
- Super Greens
Chicken Entrees
- Asian Chicken
- Black Pepper Chicken
- Grilled Asian Chicken
- Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
- Honey Sesame Chicken Breast
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Mushroom Chicken
- Potato Chicken
- String Bean Chicken Breast
- Sweet & Sour Chicken Breast (soy-free)
- Sweetfire Chicken Breast (soy-free)
- Teriyaki Chicken
Heads Up! The Orange Chicken at Panda Express does contain milk.
Beef Entreees
- Black Pepper Angus Steak
- Broccoli Beef
Heads Up! The Beijing Beef at Panda Express does contain milk.
Seafood Entrees
- Golden Treasure Shrimp
- Wok-Fired Shrimp
Heads Up! The Honey Walnut Shrimp and Steamed Ginger Fish at Panda Express do contain milk.
Cub Meals
- Broccoli Beef Cub Meal
- Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Cub Meal
Sauces
- Chili Sauce (soy-free)
- Hot Mustard (soy-free)
- Plum Sauce (soy-free)
- Potsticker Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Sweet & Sour Sauce (soy-free)
- Teriyaki Sauce
Dessert
- Fortune Cookies
- Tree Top Apple Crisps
Panda Express Vegan Menu Guide
To accommodate the ordering style at Panda Express, we broken the vegan menu items down by category.
Vegan Appetizers
- Vegetable Spring Rolls
Vegan Sides
- Chow Fun
- Chow Mein
- Super Greens
- Brown Steamed Rice
- White Steamed Rice
Vegan Entrees
- Beyond the Original Orange Chicken (limited time)
- Eggplant Tofu
- Super Greens
Vegan Sauces
- Chili Sauce
- Hot Mustard
- Plum Sauce
- Potsticker Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Sweet & Sour Sauce
- Teriyaki Sauce
This Post is for Informational Purposes Only
Menus, ingredients, kitchen procedures, management, food sourcing, and restaurant protocols are subject to change at any time. Always read the menu and discuss your dietary needs with the staff before ordering. Make sure they can accommodate your situation. This post is for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as advice.
There is always a risk for potential cross-contamination of allergens in any commercial kitchen. If cross-contamination is an issue for you, always speak with the manager to ensure that your meal can be safely prepared. Listings here do not guarantee that a restaurant is safe enough for your individual needs. Only you can make that decision.
Each location of a chain restaurant has different management and staff, and some might have different owners. This means differences in processes, ingredients used, menu options, and food sourcing can occur. Always verify the safety of your order for your needs at your current location.
Where to Find Panda Express
There are over 2000 Panda Express locations in the U.S., with a smattering in other countries around the world. See the website below for addresses, hours, and online ordering.
Website: www.pandaexpress.com
A better list needs to be available
Make one like McDonald’s. My child has like 7 allergy issues and this addresses 1, and maybe egg also except it’s very unclear.
Response from Go Dairy Free
This listing covers more allergens than dairy and eggs. Please read the Special Diet Notes right before the menu. It addresses the options for peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and soy. That’s why eggs are the only labeled one in the post. It is too overwhelming if we list all items containing wheat and soy. And please keep in mind that this is a dairy-free menu guide. We do our best to go above and beyond to address other top allergens where it is most feasible, but each guide is a little different.
Thank you, but questions!
I recently contacted Panda Express to ask for an accurate, up to date allergen guide. They sent me a link which I followed and their allergen guide differed from yours. In particular, the vegetable spring rolls contain milk according to the guide they sent me. Do you know if this is actually true? Thanks!
Response from Go Dairy Free
They had an incorrect allergen guide for a number of years that they finally corrected a year or so ago. It’s a bit odd they sent you that dated guide since they now have their allergen information live online. It’s listed under their nutrition information, which includes an ingredient guide link dated this year. The spring rolls are made without dairy ingredients, according to the company’s current allergen guide and ingredient guide (both for this year). We source the most current and accurate information available for our guides. Unfortunately, customer service sometimes references outdated information. I’ve seen this happen many times before with other companies. I hope that helps!
Thanks
Thank you so much for providing this information. One has to be vigilant when avoiding dairy as it can still come in things that would ordinarily not, such as some sourdough bread, Italian dressings, honey mustards and stuff like that you wouldn’t usually expect.
Question about Veggie Spring Rolls
On their allergen menu, it says the Veggie Spring rolls contain milk?
Response from Go Dairy Free
I think you are looking at their 2018 allergen chart. For some reason, Google ranks this old allergen chart at the top of the search. Our information is based on the most current allergen information, which is from 2023. I just double verified and our information is correct. The veggie spring rolls are not made with milk at this time.
Very Happy with Panda service and taste of food.
Hi.
I get fried rice and Orange chicken. I cannot take too much dairy but I take Lactaid OTC. Before every meal if I feel there is milk so I wont get a reaction or ask your dr if there is anyother medications you can take with milk foods. I have lupus and trying to have a normal life.
I eat healthy foods fried rice has veggies in it that makes it easier for me because It is harder for me to cook at home with my Osteoperosis so the egg veggies and rice has some nutrition value I can have in my meals with the Orange chicken and Panda has other vegan options we can ask:)
Thank you kindly for your services!
Joanne K
I have a deadly dairy allergy
This website helps so much with dairy free foods when i’m not sure! i do occasionally ask the workers to double check but 100% of the time it is accurate.
Great Food!
I love Panda! Great food at a good price. They always give you lots of food in your order. Thanks Panda!!!
Truly Appreciate The Vegan Options
Really hard to find quick and easy vegan options for take out. This was an excellent quick review of possible choices to make.
Wow! Thanks
Thanks for this info. One question – how do you know about the Honey Sesame Chicken? I’ve been on the allergen website and cannot find any information about this. Thanks again.
Response from Go Dairy Free
We’re proactive and get as much information as possible! We can’t rely solely on allergen charts because they quickly become outdated and are often incomplete. So we reach out to restaurant contacts to fill in information that’s missing, get custom order details, find out ingredients where possible, etc. Glad it is helpful for you!
Appreciate the "Heads Up" sections!
My go-tos were always the orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp with cream cheese rangoons, but I had to cut out dairy while breastfeeding because my son has a dairy allergy. This was super straightforward and helpful in knowing what to get, and what not to! I’ve had Panda express several times now and he hasn’t had any negative reactions
For More Dairy-Free Guidance, Get Go Dairy Free!
19 Comments
https://s3.amazonaws.com/PandaExpressWebsite/files/pdf/Nutrition.pdf This is the link to the 2018 nutritional information
Yes, we have that link above! I hope it worked for you. I know it is an odd internal pdf.
You listed some non dairy items in the first bullet point (sides) and then below it says you were surprised to see some items that have dairy and they are some of the same items that were listed as dairy free…,I looked on the allergen menu from Panda Hut to clarify what u can get but this is confusing and I would hate would hate someone to go off just this…
Hi Colleen, I’m sorry if my update wording was confusing! I added a sentence in italics to clarify what I was saying.
awesome food served at Panda Express and i love it, nice information shared thank you Alisa Fleming.
I can always count on you! Thanks for this!!
An ingredient list would be a wonderful thing. I have an allergy to corn and assume that cornstarch is probably in most if not all the dishes but would love to know since it’s my daughter’s favorite place to eat.
Yes, that would be nice. I’ve tried to get one, and they won’t even email it, let alone share it online.
Had the Orange Chicken from their outlet inside Pavillions in Culver City, CA and had a reaction. I thought I was safe since Chinese people usually don’t cook with milk. Also had the spring rolls so perhaps that was another contributor. This is disappointing since it tasted so good. It’s not worth it.
Yeah, unfortunately Panda Express is very Americanized Chinese food – so dairy does get used a little.
It’s so weird, but my daughter is very sensitive to milk protein but eats the orange chicken all the time with no issues. I chalked it up to a mistake in their ingredient listing, but now, I don’t know how to explain it. Do you know what type of dairy product is in the orange chicken?
It is strange, but it’s possible that it is a very small amount. The Sweet & Sour Chicken doesn’t contain milk, so my guess is that it isn’t the batter. It could be a very small amount of whey or lactose in the sauce. They don’t have ingredient info available, but I’ve contacted them to see if they can provide any additional info on this one.
Panda Express Orange Chicken now contains milk powder! My daughter has eaten it for years without a problem. Staff have re assured me that it has no dairy in it. Six weeks ago my daughter had a bad reaction after eating it which ONLY happens after eating small amounts of milk protein. I called and they said it didn’t contain dairy. So we put it off as a cross contamination as we ordered it from a different restaurant than normal.
Last night she ate it at our local restaurant and had a bad reaction again. Called and was told once again no dairy..made them go read the box and they then realized it had dairy. Corporate office assured me that the ingredient have never changed and that it always had milk powder in it! I disagree! My daughter is anaphylactic to milk protein, so she always would have a bad reaction!
I’m so sorry that this happened to you and your daughter! As of our last update, when they posted an allergen chart, we do have that it contains milk, but I’m not sure before that.
Has the ingredients in Shanghai Beef changed from containing asparagus to green beans? I have purchased at two restaurants in Mansfield TX and they still charge the extra $1.25 and sell it with green beans?
To Whom It May Concern,
I was wondering in the near future if an ingredient list would be available to the public? I have a rare allergy to mononitrates, thiamine mononitrate, nitrate/nitrite. It is found in white rice, white flour among many other foods. Having an ingredient list would help me determine if I could eat and what I could eat at your restaurant. For instance my favorite dish before my allergy was the orange chicken, it would be helpful for me to know what the chicken was breaded with.
Tank you for your time,
Dawn Parrsih
Hi Dawn, you should be able to contact Panda Express or that information.
The nutrition site is up and lists fried rice with no dairy. Does that mean it is safe now? was the milk in the egg comment above just a fluke? thanks
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the update. We’re going to be updating the fast food listings this month, so I’ll look into this. Panda Express’s allergen info posted was outdated for years. I’ll be checking to see if it is current.