Did you know that some candies actually contain animal ingredients? It may sound crazy but it’s true!
Some extremely popular candies are actually made from things like gelatin, milk, and even bugs (for some red colorings.)
Now trying to find the perfect vegan candy can be quite tricky, especially if you have no idea what ingredients are in your favorite candy bars.
But don’t worry, we got you covered!
Below, you’ll find a complete listing of all candies that are animal-free. But before we get to the vegan candy listing, you must first know about the main ingredients you need to look for when trying to find animal-free candies.
Non-Vegan Ingredients To Watch Out For
There are a few ingredients you need to watch out for when looking for vegan candies.
1. Gelatin – Gelatin is made by boiling the skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones of pigs and cows.
2. Shellac – Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand that gives the candy a glossy appearance (aka confectioners glaze).
3. Carmine – Carmine is a red pigment is made from some scale insects such as the cochineal scale and certain Porphyrophora species.
4. Bone Char – Bone Char is the bones form cattle that is used to process sugar, while also giving it that bright white appearance. You can learn more about bone char and it’s alternatives by checking out this in-depth article by PETA.
Okay so now that you know which ingredients to look for in candy, let’s go straight into the animal-free candy listing!
Vegan Candy List
Here’s the complete listing of all the candies that are vegan, most of which are approved by PETA.
Please note that ingredients always change so this listing may not always be 100% accurate. Also, even though most of these candies are approved by PETA to be vegan, some may be 99.9% vegan.
Airheads
Atkins Peanut Butter Bar
Big League Chew
Blow Pops
Bottlecaps
Brach’s Cinnamon Hard Candy
Brach’s Hi-C Fruit Slices
Brach’s Hi-C Orange Slices
Brach’s Root Beer Barrels
Brach’s Star Brites
Charm Lollipops
Chew-et’s Peanut Chews
Chick-O-Sticks
Chocolove Dark Chocolate Bar
Chocolove Cherries and Almonds Dark Chocolate Bar
Chocolove Crystallized Ginger Dark Chocolate Bar
Chocolove Orange Peel Dark Chocolate Bar
Chocolove Raspberry Dark Chocolate Bar
Chick-O-Sticks
Cry Babies
Dem Bones
Dots
Dum-Dums
Fireballs
Fruit By the Foot
Fruit Roll-Ups
Fun Dip
Gobstoppers
Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews
Hubba Bubba Bubblegum
Jolly Ranchers (Lollipops and Hard Candy)
Jujubes
Jujyfruits
Laffy Taffy
Lance Peanut Bar
Lemonheads
Mamba Fruit Chews
Mary Janes (Regular and Peanut Butter Kisses)
Nerds
Now and Later
Panda Licorice
Pez
Pixy Stix
Red Vines
Ring Pops
Skittles
Smarties (U.S. Brand)
Smart Sweets (all flavors except fruit gummy bears)
Sour Patch Kids
Starburst Minis
Super Bubble
Swedish Fish
Sweet Tarts
Twizzlers
Zotz
…
Thank you so much for reading and if you have any other vegan candy suggestions that you would like to see added to this listing, please leave a comment below.
Looking for more vegan chocolate?
Be sure to check out our new, complete listing of vegan chocolate bar brands.
Thanks again for reading and be sure to SHARE this plant-based candy list with anyone you know would find it beneficial.
Cheers.
P.S. Be sure to check out our in-depth vegan alcohol list and vegan snack list too! (And for peanut or tree nut allergies, you can cross reference the vegan peanut free candy options in this listing.
Aricka
Thank you for this list. I gave up candy for lent and since reading all about the bugs lately, I’m not sure I’ll be eating much candy after Easter. Vegan or not. I’ve looked at countless labels and with all the dyes and knowing now what I know, I don’t know how ill enjoy my guilty pleasure.
Anonymous
Mambas are not vegan they have gelatin
Peacefeline
Unfortunately lemon heads and the other flavors of heads list shellac as an ingredient. Not vegan 🙁
Asher
Can I please get a list of all vegan candies
Birth
🙁
Lisa Ryan
Mamba, Nerds, and Sour Patch may now all contain animal based ingredients 🙁
Anonymous
Wheat is vegan.
Anonymous
Which is vegan.
June
Thank you
Leslie Jacobs
Twizzlers have wheat flour.
Christina Toti
Hot Tamales?
Louann
What about Bit ‘o Honeys?
Jayda
Honey…
Marilyn
Bit o honey has milk in it.
Dre
Many of these candies listed are not vegan. Sugar, not defined as brown or raw cane is most likely white and processed with bone char. Confectioners glaze crushed bugs. As for all the artificial dyes/colors/flavors….would you really to eat that anyways?
Simon
What about the food coloring? In sour patch kids they list yellow 5&6, red 40, and blue 1. As far as I am aware, all four of those are tested on animals. Please correct me if I am mistaken but surely that does not count as vegan?
Michelle
I am looking at the ingredients of Swedish Fish and my bag lists Beeswax as one of the ingredients. Not Vegan 🙁
Josh
Lemonheads are not vegan. They contain confectioner’s glaze.
Cat
Umm, don’t smarties have milk chocolate in them?
SD
This is Smarties US brand: http://www.smarties.com/
Nancy stone
Gobstoppers are not vegan they have carmine which is crushed bugs
Mystique
Starburst Minis Unwrapped has confectioners glaze as the last ingredient. So disappointed.
Rachael
Nerds are not vegan either if you get the strawberry or the rainbow that mixes them (or any red colors I assume) Because of carmine.
Willow
Now and Later SOFT is NOT vegan. Contains egg whites 🙁
Becky
Laffy Taffy contains egg albumen. Not vegan. Bummer!
Jena Chambers
Pandora’s Pops, plant-powered candies, are also vegan!
8ivion8-Youtube's Largest (Searchable) Vegan Playlist
Thank you,these look amazing.