When you’re in the mood for some tortilla chips, they don’t come much better than Doritos.
Famous around the world, these chips come in many flavors and are satisfying from the first bite to the last.
Unsurprisingly, one of the most common online queries by vegans is, “are Doritos vegan?” The answer is yes and no.
Altogether, there are 20 Doritos flavors. Out of these, three are considered vegan.
However, the remaining 17 flavors all contain animal-derived ingredients so are not deemed vegan-friendly.
That being said, even the vegan chips have some “questionable” ingredients that many vegans may not agree with.
These ingredients are not directly taken from an animal but they can be affiliated with cruelty to animals.
Read on as we break down what Doritos flavors are vegan-friendly and the ingredients that go into making these tasty treats.
What Doritos Flavors Are Vegan?
Out of the 20 flavors Doritos offers, three contain no animal-derived ingredients. These are:
- Blaze Doritos
- Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips Doritos
- Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos
Out of these, the Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips have the fewest ingredients, containing just vegetable oil, corn, and salt. Therefore, it is considered the most vegan-friendly of all Doritos chips.
Blaze and Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos include more ingredients, such as added colors, maltodextrin, sugar, natural & artificial flavors, monosodium glutamate, and other comparable ingredients.
However, a few of these ingredients are not considered “vegan” by everyone. For instance, artificial colors & flavors, and the sugar in these chips are questionably vegan.
This is because it is possible to link them back to animal cruelty.
Sugar – Vegan Or Not?
In general, sugar is derived from sugar beets and sugarcane. Both are processed differently.
Sugar beets are filtered through a diffuser and then combined with additives until they become crystallized. As no animals are used, this process is vegan.
However, cane sugar can be sifted, processed, and then lightened with a bone char.
This is basically a type of charcoal powder made from cattle bones that are boiled and incinerated.
Although this process is not used by all sugar cane companies, it can be difficult to know otherwise.
This is not common throughout Europe, but, unfortunately, the method is quite common in the U.S.
Artificial Flavors And Colors: Vegan Or Not?
Both Blazed and Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos contain artificial flavors and colors.
The bad news is that all artificial ingredients can be traced back to animal testing. After testing, the animals are usually put to death.
Research has found that animal testing remains prevalent in the making of artificial colors.
Of course, some vegans hold stronger beliefs than others. Some may be okay with this testing, but for the majority, eating anything with artificial flavors and colors is not considered vegan.
Fortunately, alternatives, such as Vitro Testing, are being used to put an end to animal cruelty.
Doritos Flavors That Are Not Vegan
Most Doritos flavors are not vegan-friendly. This is because they contain ingredients such as milk.
Some flavors also contain chicken and there are many cheese-based flavors, too.
The current non-vegan Doritos flavors are:
- Blazin’ Buffalo & Ranch Doritos
- Cool Ranch Doritos
- Dinamita Chile Limon Rolled Doritos
- Doritos Collisions (Blaze & Cheddar)
- Doritos Flavor Shots (Cheese Covered Peanuts, Fiery Habanero Triangles, Flamin’ Hot Nacho Covered Peanuts)
- Flamas Doritos
- Flamin’ Hot Nachos Doritos
- Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings Doritos
- Nacho Cheese Doritos
- Poppin Jalapeno Doritos
- Salsa Verde Doritos
- Spicy Nacho Doritos
- Simply Organic Doritos (White Cheddar, Spicy White Cheddar)
- Taco Flavored Doritos
- Tapatio Doritos
Some flavors have been found to contain rennet, sourced from animals; Rennet can be found in the chip’s cheese so are certainly not vegan.
Rennet is typically taken from animals, although there are plant and microbe alternatives available. But, many vegetarians also avoid foods including rennet because of this.
Vegan Doritos Alternatives
It’s not easy finding brands that rival the flavors Doritos offer, let alone vegan-friendly flavors.
Some of the most popular Doritos flavors include cheese, and whilst you can buy vegan cheese, it’s pretty hard to find it on tortilla chips.
Fortunately, though, Plant Snacks has been making vegan snacks, such as chips, for a few years.
Head to their store and you’ll find these flavors:
- Beet with Vegan Goat Cheese
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Lime
- Jalapeño
- Salt and Vinegar
- Ranch
- Super Seed Mix.
- Salted
Whether these compare to Doritos is up to you to decide, but according to reviews, they are a great vegan alternative.
In Summary
Not every Doritos flavor is vegan and even the ones that are may contain questionable vegan ingredients.
Try making some vegan Doritos at home and you may find your favorite new snack!
