Being vegan doesn’t mean you have to stop eating everything, nor does it mean that you can’t find suitable alternatives to the foods you deem as delicious but that contain animal ingredients. In fact, some of the foods that we assume are animal-based (and thus automatically exclude) may also be vegan.
Keep in mind that vegan food is any food that doesn’t contain any meat or fish, as well as ingredients such as milk, eggs, cheese, and honey. We can also find ingredients derived from those ingredients, namely ones like casein, whey, lactose, albumin, gelatin, beeswax, and more.
To briefly summarize, here the 14 vegan junks foods I’m referring to:
- Sour Patch Kids
- Oreos
- Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili-flavored Chips
- Fruit by the Foot
- Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
- Ritz Crackers
- Lays Classic Potato Chips
- Ruffles Original Potato Chips
- Twizzlers
- Pringles Original Chips
- Skinny Pop Original Popcorn
- Lindt Dark Chocolate
- Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
- Smarties
In this article, we will analyze these different junk foods that we thought to contain animal ingredients but are actually suitable for vegans.
Vegan junk food recommendations
Sour Patch Kids
Ingredients: Sugar, Invert Sugar, Corn Syrup, Modified Corn Starch, Tartaric Acid, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavoring, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1.
Unlike other candies of the same kind, Sour Patch Kids do not contain gelatin, which is an ingredient obtained by boiling the skin, bones, cartilage, and ligaments of animals like cows or pigs.
You have other ingredients, namely sugar that generates some controversy due to how it’s processed, but most vegans (those who are less strict) are fine with consuming it, nevertheless.
Sour Patch Kids are extremely popular candies, and I’m sure that most vegans will be happy to know that these don’t contain any flagrant animal ingredients.
Oreos
Ingredients: Unbleached Enriched Flour, Sugar, Palm and/or Canola Oil, Cocoa, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Leavening, Corn Starch, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin, and Unsweetened Chocolate.
Once I converted to a vegan diet, one of the things that surprised me soon thereafter, was the fact that Oreos did not contain any animal ingredients, even though they’re so delicious, and arguably considered the best cookies around.
Yes, they contain sugar (which is deemed controversial), but you won’t find any flagrant milk-based ingredients, which is common among cookies of the same kind.
Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili-Flavored Tortilla Chips
Ingredients: Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, and/or Sunflower Oil), Salt, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Fructose, Sodium Diacetate, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Onion Powder, Maltodextrin (Made from Corn), Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Garlic Powder, Torula Yeast, Malic Acid, Extractives of Paprika, Spices, Caramel Color, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Dextrose, and Natural Flavor.
Another junk food that surprised the heck out of me was this one. The spicy and sweet chili-flavored Doritos are incredibly addictive, and I first assumed that they contained milk-based ingredients, given that most Doritos contain derivatives like whey or casein. These Doritos, in particular, are vegan-friendly.
Fruit by the Foot
Ingredients: Sugar, Maltodextrin, Corn Syrup, Pear Puree Concentrate, Palm Oil, Carrageenan, Citric Acid, Monoglycerides, Sodium Citrate, Acetylated Monoglycerides, Malic Acid, Xantham Gum, VitaminC (Ascorbic Acid), Locust Bean Gum, Potassium Citrate, Natural Flavor, Red 40.
Fruit by the Foot, like Sour Patch Kids, also doesn’t have gelatin, which is what these type of candies tend to contain in terms of non-vegan ingredients.
Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients: Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Corn Syrup Solids, Hydrogenated Rapeseed And/Or Cottonseed And/Or Soybean Oils, Salt, Peanut Oil), Canola Oil, Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Palm Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda And/Or Calcium Phosphate), Cornstarch, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavors.
For a cookie that is packed with peanut buttercream, it’s surprising that it doesn’t have any animal ingredients. Outside Oreos, it’s not that easy to find vegan cookies filled with cream.
Ritz Crackers
Ingredients: Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Soybean Oil, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda And/Or Calcium Phosphate), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soy Lecithin, Malted Barley Flour, Natural Flavor.
The Ritz Crackers have a very rich, buttery taste but have zero butter. However, you can still find some of the most questionable ingredients in the vegan community, namely sugar and palm oil.
Lays Classic Potato Chips
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Corn and/or Canola Oil), and Salt.
With only three ingredients, Lays Originals are 100% vegan.
Ruffles Original Potato Chips
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Corn, and/or Canola Oil), and Salt.
Akin to Lays, the Ruffles are also comprised of three simple ingredients, all of which are vegan.
Twizzlers
Ingredients: Corn Syrup, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Cornstarch, Palm Oil, Salt, Artificial Flavor, Glycerin, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Red 40, And Soy Lecithin
Twizzlers are without animal ingredients, which is quite uncommon for treats of the same kind, which almost always have ingredients like gelatin and beeswax.
Pringles Original
Ingredients: Dried Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, High Oleic Soybean, And/Or Sunflower Oil), Degerminated Yellow Corn Flour, Cornstarch, Rice Flour, Maltodextrin, Mono- And Diglycerides, Salt, Wheat Starch.
Pringles, although not as simple as Lays and Ruffles, are also vegan-friendly.
Skinny Pop Original Popcorn
Ingredients: Popcorn, Sunflower Oil, And Salt.
Popcorn, at its core, is 100% vegan. The problem arises when you add butter or cheese on top, to confer them with unique taste. These ones by Skinny Pop are 100% vegan.
Lindt Dark Chocolate
Ingredients: Cocoa Mass, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Vanilla Beans.
Lindt has a wide variety of dark chocolates, but not all of them are vegan. Typically, if you want to find vegan dark chocolates, you have to look for varieties with a cocoa content superior to 70%, since they’re less likely to contain milk, at least from what I’ve concluded after finishing this article.
Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients: Organic Dark Chocolate (Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cacao Beans, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Soya Lecithin [Emulsifier]), Organic Peanut Butter (Organic Ground Peanuts), Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Quinoa, Organic Peanut Flour, Organic Palm Oil, Sea Salt, And Organic Sunflower Lecithin.
Among the different junk foods on this list, the Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are probably the healthiest choice, considering their use of organic ingredients.
Smarties
Ingredients: Dextrose, Citric Acid, Calcium Stearate, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Colors (Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 2 Lake).
Unlike the Smarties sold in Europe, these Smarties (also referred to as Rockets) are vegan.
Should you eat vegan junk food?
Just because a certain food is vegan, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy, which is what many people assume when they look at someone following a vegan diet.
There’s a term coined “junk food vegans” – t