Potato chips are the ultimate crowd-pleasing snack. Chip types run the gamut from original to spicy and sweet, from baked varieties to kettle-cooked goodness.
While there are some obvious flavors vegans should avoid—we're looking at you, Cheddar Cheese Pringles—it’s often worth it to look at the ingredients to make sure there aren't any surprise animal products.
Here, we'll help you navigate all the popular brands and chip styles out there, so you can know for sure what's vegan and when to take your crunch elsewhere.
When Are Potato Chips Vegan?
Basic potato chips are made by slicing potatoes thin, washing starch off the surface, blanching the slices, and either deep-frying them in vegetable oil or baking them in an oven. Next, the chips are cooled, seasoned, and sorted. Some chip varieties are set aside to be tumbled in a drum filled with the desired powdered seasoning. For certain flavored chips, this last step is typically when they stop being vegan.
Generally, "less is more" is our mantra when it comes to vegan potato chips. The widely hailed "LAYS Classic Original" chips contain potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt—none of which are animal-derived. Alas, many varieties with added ingredients and seasonings can still be vegan.
Some flavored potato chips can contain animal-derived ingredients like dairy and honey. They are even some meat-based flavorings, like maple bacon. Make sure to look for the phrase "may contain milk" particularly on salt and vinegar chip bags, which are likely to include lactose or milk as a blending agent to quell some of the vinegar's acidity. Vegan chip lovers should also watch out for chips that are fried in animal fat.
In addition, there is an ongoing debate about whether anything that contains "natural flavors" is truly plant-based. Those concerned should dig into why particular companies include this phrase and what it means for them.
Types of Vegan PotatoChips
This is just a mere sampling of the many vegan-friendly chips, some with seemingly forbidden flavors achieved by the magic of salts, herbs, and spices.
LAYs Original Baked
LAY’s Classic Potato Chips
LAY’s BBQ Potato Chips
LAY’s Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
LAY’s Limón Potato Chips
LAY’s Dill Pickle Potato Chips
LAY’s Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice Potato Chips
LAY’s Lightly Salted Potato Chips
LAY’s Lightly Salted BBQ Potato Chips
LAY’s Simple Sea Salt Thick Cut Potato Chips
LAY’s Simply BBQ Thick Cut Potato Chips
LAY’s Baked Original Potato Crisps
LAY’s Kettle Cooked Original Potato Chips
LAY’s Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Original Potato Chips
LAY’s Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Potato Chips
LAY’s Poppables Sea Salt Potato Snacks
LAY’s Stax Original Potato Crisps
LAY’s Wavy Original Potato Chips
LAY’s Wavy Sea Salt & Pepper Potato Chips
LAY’s Wavy Reduced Fat Orignal Potato Chips
LAY’s Wavy Lightly Salted Potato Chips
Pringles Original, Tangy Buffalo Wing
Ruffles Original, Tapatio Limon,
Kettle Brand Potato Chips Maple Bacon
Kettle Brand Bourbon BBQ
Kettle Brand Fiery Thai (cooked in 100% almond oil)
Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque
Kettle Brand Sea Salt
Kettle Brand 40% Less Fat Potato Chips, Sea Salt
Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Potato Chips
Earth Balance Vegan Sour Cream and Onion Kettle Chips
Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Potato Chips Sea Salt and Vinegar, Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño,
Muncho's Flamin' Hot Potato Chips
Popchips Sea Salt Potato
Popchips Barbeque Potato
Garden of Eatin' Blue Chips
Good Health Kettle Style Avocado Oil Potato Chips With Sea Salt
7 Eleven Select Kettle Style Salt And Vinegar Chips
On the flip side of chips, there are also varieties within this list you may be surprised do have dairy and other animal-based flavoring agents.
LAY’s Cheddar and Sour Cream
LAY’s Chile Limon
LAY’s Flamin’ Hot
LAY’s Honey BBQ
LAY’s Sea Salt and Vinegar
LAY’s Sweet Southern Heat Barbeque
LAY’s Baked Barbecue
LAY’s Baked Sour Cream & Onion
Kettle Cooked Lays Honey Chipotle
Kettle Cooked Lays Jalapeño
Kettle Cooked Lays Maui Onion
Kettle Cooked Lays Mesquite BBQ
Kettle Cooked Lays Sea Salt and Vinegar
Grandma Utz Potato Chips
Good's Potato Chips
Pringles Cheddar Cheese
Pringles Sour Cream & Onion
Pringles Salt And Vinegar Potato Crisps
The Lay’s Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips
Dirty Kettle Chips Bag, Sea Salt And Vinegar chips
Miss Vickie’s Sea Salt Vinegar Flavored Kettle Cooked Potato Chips
Herr’s Salt Vinegar Potato Chips
Frequently Asked Questions
Are LAY's BBQ flavored chips vegan?
Yes! LAY's and several other brands achieve that tangy, spicy barbecue flavor through proprietary mixes of seasonings that are not animal-based.
Are Lay's Sea Salt and Vinegar flavored chips vegan?
No. In fact, several brands' "Sea Salt and Vinegar" flavored chips (Kettle Cooked, LAY's, Pringles) are not vegan because they contain dairy additives like buttermilk and lactose.
These vegan diet foods belong on every plant-based diet shopping list, no matter which variety of plant-based diet you choose. One thing to keep in mind: stay away from overly processed or “junk” foods. Potato chips and sugar are technically vegan but aren't going to help you move toward a healthier life.
The widely hailed "LAYS Classic Original" chips contain potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt—none of which are animal-derived. Alas, many varieties with added ingredients and seasonings can still be vegan.
Both meal plans have made headlines for their health benefits in recent years, and while they are similar, there are some key differences: Vegan diets eliminate all animal products, while plant-based diets do not necessarily eliminate animal products but focus on eating mostly plants, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, ...
Conversely, you will eat less meat, processed meats, eggs, and dairy on a plant-based diet. Removing or reducing intake of these foods means that your intake of saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium will likely decrease as these foods are more concentrated in these nutrients than plant-based foods.
1 Lay's. Lay's is one of the biggest potato chip brands in the US, and good news: vegans don't have to miss out, because it has plenty of animal-free flavors. Options like Classic, Salt & Vinegar, BBQ, and Lightly Salted are all plant-based, but that's just a handful of examples.
The bottom line. Most types of peanut butter are free of animal products and can be enjoyed as part of a vegan diet. However, some varieties are made in facilities that also process animal products or contain refined sugar that was produced using bone char or non-vegan ingredients like honey or fish oil.
While many fries are free from animal ingredients, sometimes they contain dairy or may be fried in lard. In most cases, the fries you order from a fast-food restaurant are cooked in the same oil that's used to fry meat and other animal products.
“Plant-based” foods can be considered vegan because they contain no animal products, but not all vegan foods can be considered plant-based or healthy. For example, french fries, Oreos, potato chips, many fake meat products, and soda are “vegan,” but they are not considered to be “plant-based.” Why?
ARE SUNCHIPS® VEGAN? Currently, there are no SunChips® flavors that are classified as vegan. To see which PepsiCo products have a Vegan claim, we recommend visiting the Vegan and Vegetarian page on PepsiCo Product Facts.
Are French fries vegan? Short answer: Yes! Most fries are 100 percent vegan—but in some (rare) cases, they aren't. For example, McDonald's French fries contain beef fat!
While many fries are free from animal ingredients, sometimes they contain dairy or may be fried in lard. In most cases, the fries you order from a fast-food restaurant are cooked in the same oil that's used to fry meat and other animal products.
Although highly processed foods like chips, crackers, and cookies may technically be plant-based, these foods won't provide the health benefits you get from unprocessed and minimally processed choices. And large amounts of added sugars and fat can lead to eating more calories than you need.
The basic and traditional ingredients to make tortilla chips are naturally vegan. These include corn flour, water, oil, and salt. Sometimes, especially at restaurants, the tortilla chips are fried in oil. This is typically animal-free, whether the oil is canola, olive, or something else.
More often than not, popcorn is vegan-friendly. When buying popcorn at your local convenience store, check the ingredient label to ensure animal ingredients haven't snuck their way inside your snack of choice. Dairy is the ingredient to look out for, as butter and cheese are common ingredients in bagged popcorn.
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