Are potato chips vegan? (2024)

If you’re craving something salty, crunchy, and satisfying, very few snacks hit the spot quite as nice as potato chips! But if you’re sticking to a plant-based diet, you might be wondering, “Are potato chips vegan?”

Read on to learn what makes a potato chip vegan-friendly, plus dive into some of the most popular potato chip brands and flavors to see whether or not they have a place in your plant-based diet.

Firstly, what makes something vegan?

Veganism is a lifestyle practice in which one abstains from using any products that are made using animals or animal byproducts. So in order for something to be vegan, it needs to be made without any animal products.

In the context of food: in order for a food to be considered suitable for vegans, it cannot be made with any:

Red meat
Poultry
Fish
Dairy (cheese, milk, etc)
Eggs
Honey

In addition to some of the more obvious animal products listed above, foods that are vegan also would not contain any other ingredients made with animal derivatives. Some lesser-known ingredients that are not vegan-friendly include:

Whey
Casein
Gelatin
Lactose
Beeswax
Confectioner’s glaze

Finally, some vegans will also not touch any foods that are made with refined sugars. Refined white sugar is sometimes purified by filtering it through animal bone char, which some vegans oppose. As we move forward through the article, please note that we have identified some potato chip flavors as “vegan” even though they include sugar since not all vegans adhere to this rule. If you are a vegan who does not want to consume any refined sugars, be sure to double-check the ingredient list on your favorite potato chips prior to consuming them.

So, are potato chips vegan?

Potato chips can be vegan if they’re made with plant-based ingredients only. The main ingredients needed to make a basic potato chip are vegan, including:

Potatoes
Salt
Vegetable oil

However, this may not apply across the board depending on the brand of potato chip you choose. It’s also important to note that flavored potato chips often include many other ingredients which may not be vegan. To best avoid animal products in your potato chips, make sure to read the ingredients list and look out for common animal-based flavoring agents like milk, cheese, whey, and buttermilk.

Are Lay’s Potato Chips Vegan?

The original Lay’s® Classic Potato chip is a vegan-friendly snack since it’s made of only potatoes, salt, and vegetable oil. A couple of other Lay’s flavors are also suitable for vegans including:

Lay’s® BBQ Potato Chips
Lay’s® Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
Lay’s® Limón Flavored Potato Chips
Lay’s® Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips
Lay’s® Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice Potato Chips

Unfortunately, there are many other flavors of Lay’s that are not suitable for plant-based eaters. A current list of flavors that are not vegan-friendly:

Lay’s® Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
Lay’s® Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips
Lay’s® Cheddar Jalapeno Potato Chips
Lay’s® Flamin’ Hot Potato Chips
Lay’s® Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
Lay’s® Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue Potato Chips
Lay’s® Honey BBQ Potato Chips
Lay’s® Chile Limón Flavored Potato Chips
Lay’s® Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Potato Chips

These flavors contain non-vegan ingredients like milk, cheese, whey, buttermilk, and honey, all of which are made with animal byproducts.

Are Ruffles Potato Chips Vegan?

The iconic potato chip brand, Ruffles®, is most well-known for its thick, ridged potato chips that are perfect for dipping. Fortunately for vegans, the original Ruffles® Potato Chip is vegan and made with only potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt. The All Dressed flavor is also vegan.

But unfortunately, the rest of the Ruffles potato chip line are all made with animal byproducts, making them unsuitable for plant-based eaters. The non-vegan Ruffles potato chips include:

Ruffles® Flamin’ Hot Cheddar & Sour Cream
Ruffles® Flamin’ Hot BBQ
Ruffles® Lime & Jalapeno
Ruffles® Jalapeno Ranch
Ruffles® Flamin’ Hot
Ruffles® Cheddar & Sour Cream
Ruffles® Sour Cream & Onion
Ruffles® Queso Cheese

Are Pringles Potato Chips Vegan?

Are Kettle Brand Potato Chips Vegan?

Thick-cut Kettle Brand Potato Chips have more vegan flavor options than many of the other brands listed, but with a caveat. Some of the flavors list “Natural Flavor” as part of their ingredient lists, but don’t specify what those natural flavors are.

Some vegan-friendly products by Kettle Brand in their Classic flavors include:

Kettle Brand® Jalapeno Potato Chips
Kettle Brand® Sea Salt
Kettle Brand® Pepperoncini
Kettle Brand® Sea Salt & Vinegar

The non-vegan products in Kettle Brand’s Classic line are:

Kettle Brand® Classic Honey Dijon
Kettle Brand® Farmstand Ranch
Kettle Brand® New York Cheddar
Kettle Brand® Parmesan Garlic

Finally, the Kettle Brand Classic chips that have unlisted “Natural Flavor” agents that may or may not be vegan include:

Kettle Brand® Bourbon Barbecue
Kettle Brand® Backyard Barbecue
Kettle Brand® Korean Barbecue

Are Cape Cod Potato Chips Vegan?

The iconic East Coast potato chip brand, Cape Cod®, has a variety of simple but high-quality potato chip flavors to offer. And unlike many of the other options listed in this article, many of the potato chips made by Cape Cod are actually vegan!

Vegan potato chips by Cape Cod:

Cape Cod® Original
Cape Cod® Original Lightly Salted
Cape Cod® Dark Russet
Cape Cod® Sea Salt & Vinegar
Cape Cod® Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno

The non-vegan Cape Cod products are:

Cape Cod® Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper
Cape Cod® Sour Cream & Onion

As a note, the Cape Cod® Sweet Mesquite Barbecue flavor seems to be okay for vegans based on the ingredients, but it does also include a listing for “Natural Flavor” in which the flavoring agents are not listed.

How to make sure your potato chips are vegan

So, bottom line: how can you make sure that your snack preferences line up with your dietary needs?

Read the ingredients list

Some of the most common ingredients that can make potato chips non-vegan include dairy products like milk, cheese, cream, and buttermilk. You should also be on the lookout for “Natural Flavors,” which may or may not be made using animal products.

Look for “vegan” or “plant-based” labeling

The most straightforward way to determine whether a potato chip is vegan is to check whether it’s labeled as such! If your favorite brand says “vegan” or “plant-based,” you’re good to go.

Make your own

If you really want to control all the ingredients that are in your snacks, consider making your own. Take a mandoline or very sharp knife, cut a potato into thin slices, oil them up with the vegetable oil of your choosing, and pop them into your air fryer or a baking sheet in the oven. This way, you’ll have total control over what’s going into your chip.

Snack on!

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-carrying-a-bowl-of-potato-chips-7801207/