Can Vegans Eat Chocolate? Ingredients To Look For

Most vegans are all too familiar with scouring the food labels on their favorite treats to check for hidden animal ingredients, and chocolate is no exception to this.

Can vegans eat chocolate? Whether you’re a chocolate lover looking for vegan chocolates to enjoy yourself or want to surprise your vegan loved ones with a sweet treat, this post is for you.

I’ll show you which non-vegan ingredients to watch out for and share a helpful list of vegan-friendly chocolate brands to help cut down on the guesswork!

What do vegans eat?

To really understand whether or not vegans eat chocolate, we need to understand which foods vegans eat and which foods they avoid. 

A vegan diet is a 100% plant-based diet, meaning vegans can eat any food of plant origin. Broadly, this includes: 

• Beans and legumes (including soy)
• Grains (including grain-derived foods like seitan)
• Fruits
• Vegetables 
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Plant-based oils

Vegans avoid all foods and ingredients obtained from animals, such as:

• Meat (beef, lamb, pork, etc.)
• Seafood (fish, shellfish, etc.)
• Poultry
• Eggs
• Dairy
• Honey
• Gelatin
• Cochineal extract/carmine (food dye made from red beetles)
• Beeswax
• Lanolin (often used to make Vitamin D3 supplements)

Vegans also avoid foods that have been processed with animal-based ingredients. Examples include:

• White cane sugar purified with animal bone char (common in the United States)
• Alcohol fined with isinglass (fish bladder), gelatin, or egg albumen

RELATED: Vegan Food List For Beginners

Can vegans eat chocolate?

Plain, unsweetened cocoa powder is always vegan since it’s made from cacao beans, a naturally plant-based food. Vegans can also eat chocolate that doesn’t contain dairy products, sugar that has been processed with animal bone char, or honey. 

Milk

Most dark chocolate is okay for vegans because it’s usually free from milk or cream, although it’s always important to read the ingredients list on the food label just to make sure. 

An easy way to check whether your chocolate is dairy-free is to look for the allergen statement on the back of the food label near the nutrition facts panel. If your chocolate contains dairy, “MILK” will be included in the allergen statement. 

What about the phrase “May contain milk”? Many people think this means that milk could have been used as an ingredient, but this isn’t the case. 

It refers to the fact that the chocolate was produced in a facility that also handles milk products, so it’s possible that the chocolate could have been cross-contaminated with milk if for some reason the equipment wasn’t cleaned as well as it should have been. 

If milk is intentionally used as an ingredient, it will always be listed in the ingredients list. Note that packaged hot chocolate mixes may contain powdered milk. 

Sugar

Unfortunately, most conventional, white sugar in the United States is filtered through animal bone char to remove impurities. This sugar isn’t vegan-friendly. 

Fortunately, USDA Organic sugar is not allowed to use bone char, so the sugar in organic chocolate is okay. Raw sugar is also vegan. 

It seems that some food manufacturers may be moving away from using sugar processed with bone char. As you’ll see below, major brands like Hershey’s and Lindt have plant-based chocolate bars made with non-organic sugar that hasn’t been filtered through bone char.

Honey

Honey is sometimes used as a flavoring agent in chocolate but isn’t vegan-friendly. It will be listed in the ingredients list if present, so it’s easy to avoid. 

RELATED: Coffee Beans vs. Cocoa Beans

Can vegans eat white chocolate?

Like regular chocolate, most white chocolate is made with milk and isn’t vegan-friendly.

However, vegan-friendly white chocolate bars and chocolate chips are available from select brands, as you’ll see below. 

Vegan-friendly chocolates

So which chocolates are vegan-friendly? I’ve helped you out by listing some of the best, most popular products below! 

Vegan dark chocolate

1) Equal Exchange Organic Dark Chocolate – This brand of fair-trade chocolate offers a variety of vegan options, including their indulgent Organic Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt made with non-dairy caramel! Just be sure to avoid their classic milk chocolate as it contains dairy.

2) HU Dark Chocolate Bars – HU is another fair-trade brand with dark chocolate in a ton of great flavors. Their chocolate base is made from 3 ingredients: cacao, coconut sugar, cocoa butter. Their milk chocolate bars do have milk, FYI.

3) Vego Whole Hazelnut Chocolate Bar – One of my personal favorites, this dark chocolate bar contains whole hazelnuts and is fair-trade. 

4) Lindt EXCELLENCE Dark Chocolate Bars – The 70%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 99% and 100% Cacao bars are all vegan-friendly, containing no sugar processed with animal bone char. This was confirmed in my email correspondence with Lindt:

““We can confirm that no bone char is used in the processing of the sugar in our LINDOR Non-Dairy Oatmilk Truffles or our Oatmilk Bars.”

5) Endangered Species Chocolate Bars (select flavors) – You’ll have to do some searching, but Endangered Species offers some flavors that are certified vegan. Some flavors have milk or cream, so check the ingredients and allergen statement. A few vegan options include: 

• Espresso Beans + 72% Dark Chocolate
• Forest Mint 72%
• Almonds & Sea Salt
• Cinnamon Cayenne & Cherries
• Rice Crisps with Oat Milk (55%)

6) Raaka Chocolate Bars – These 100% vegan bars are made in Brooklyn using unroasted chocolate for a lighter, fruitier flavor. A few flavors are Rose Cardamom, Raspberry Waffle Crunch, and Bourbon Cask Aged Dark Chocolate. 

Vegan milk chocolate

1) Hershey’s Plant Based – Classic milk chocolate lovers rejoice! Hershey’s plant-based milk milk chocolate bars are made with oat flour instead of milk, and the company has confirmed that they’re also made with vegan sugar.

2) Lindt Oat Milk Chocolate Bars – Another vegan milk chocolate bar made with oats. 

3) Lindt Vegan Smooth and Vegan Hazelnut – These are made with oat flour and almond paste. While delicious, they aren’t appropriate for those with tree nut allergies. These are labeled vegan on the front of the package. 

4) Baiani Vegan Milk Chocolate – This milk chocolate bar is made with single-origin cacao beans from Brazil and gets its creamy consistency from coconut milk.

5) Ritter Sport Vegan Smooth – This milk chocolate from the popular German brand is labeled vegan on the package.

6) Vegan KitKat – These KitKats are made in the UK, but you can find them on Amazon. Bonus: they’re made with Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa.

Vegan chocolate chips

1) Enjoy Life Baking Dark Chocolate Morsels – This well-known allergen-friendly brand is free from 14 major allergens, including dairy. 

2) Goodsam Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate Chips – Those watching their sugar intake don’t need to feel left out! Goodsam offers vegan-certified, sugar-free chocolate chips made with allulose, a sugar alcohol, for all your baking needs. Their cacao is sourced from Columbia. 

3) Hu Dark Chocolate Baking Chips 65% Cacao – These chips are made with dark chocolate rather than semisweet, making them a great option for dark chocolate lovers. They’re made purely from fair-trade and organic cacao, coconut sugar, and cocoa butter.

4) Nestle Toll House Allergen-Free Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips – Nestle offers vegan-certified, dairy-free chocolate chips. They’ve also come out with Nestle Plant-Based Chocolate Chips which aren’t certified vegan, so it isn’t clear whether the sugar in those chips is vegan or not. 

Vegan chocolate truffles

1) No Whey Foods Everything Good Truffle Collection – No Whey sells some truffles on Amazon, but has many more options available on their website.

2) Dallman Fine Chocolates Build Your Own Vegan Chocolate Box – A great option for those looking to customize their own assortment of chocolates.

3) HEB Central Market Organic Chocolate Truffles – Available in HEB and Central Market grocery stores, these organic truffles are dusted with a fine layer of cocoa powder.

4) Lake Champlain Vegan Chocolate Truffles Assortment – Instead of dairy, these decadent truffles are made with coconut cream.

5) Lindt LINDOR Oat Milk Dark Chocolate Truffles – Lindt makes two vegan versions of their classic LINDOR truffles, available in dark chocolate or milk chocolate. 

Vegan White Chocolate

1) Raaka Cranberry Orange White Chocolate Bar and Cookies & Cream Bar – Raaka offers two unique white chocolate bars made with 100% organic ingredients and coconut milk powder in place of milk.

2) Pascha Organic Vegan White Chocolate Bar and Organic White Chocolate Chips with Oat Milk – Pascha has you covered with white chocolate bars and chips. 

3) Enjoy Life Baking White Chocolate Mini Chips – A popular offering from the allergen-friendly brand Enjoy Life. While technically not considered true white chocolate due to the lack of cocoa butter, these still taste great.

4) King David Vegan White Chocolate Flavored Chips – These Kosher chips are dairy-free and made in Israel.

5) Azure Market Organics White Chocolate Chips – These organic, dairy free chocolate chips are made in Peru. 

Looking for ways to use white chocolate chips? Give my fudgy Vegan White Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies a try!

Final thoughts

Vegans can eat chocolate made without dairy, honey, or sugar that has been processed with animal bone char. 

While this eliminates most conventional chocolate, many brands offer vegan-friendly dark chocolate, “milk” chocolate made with oat flour, chocolate truffles, and even white chocolate bars and chips. 

This means vegans can still enjoy a square of high-quality dark chocolate or other indulgent treats to satisfy their sweet tooth. 

New to the vegan lifestyle? Check out my best Vegan Tips For Beginners!