Vitamin D is one of the trickiest nutrients to get enough of on a vegan diet, but that doesn’t mean that vegans are resigned to a deficiency.
I’ve compiled a list of the best vegan vitamin D foods to help you optimize your vitamin D intake, no animal products required!
Here, you’ll also find information on vitamin D supplements and how to safely spend time in the sun to produce your own vitamin D.
The importance of vitamin D
Vitamin D1 is incredibly important for a variety of functions in the body. Some of these include:
- Working with calcium to maintain strong bones
- Helping the body absorb calcium
- Strengthening the immune system
- Preventing muscle cramps
- Reducing inflammation
Children can develop rickets, a condition characterized by soft, misshapen bones, when they don’t get enough vitamin D.
Similarly, vitamin D (and calcium) deficiencies in adults can contribute to the development of osteoporosis and an increased risk for hip and other bone fractures.
RELATED: 14 High-Calcium Foods For Vegans
Vitamin D needs
Interestingly, the amount of vitamin D we need stays relatively the same as we age.
Our needs stay at 600 IU per day for the bulk of our lives, increasing slightly for older adults.
| Age | Daily Vitamin D Needs | |
| 0-12 months | 10 mcg (400 IU) | |
| 1-13 years | 15 mcg (600 IU) | |
| 14-70 years | 15 mcg (600 IU) | |
| 71+ years | 20 mcg (800 IU) | |
An important thing to note is that the Daily Value for vitamin D is set at 800 IU, the amount needed once we reach 71 years of age. The Daily Value is the reference value you’ll see on the nutrition facts label on packaged foods.
To provide some context, using the Daily Value of 800 IU, a packaged food containing 80 IU will be labeled as providing 10% of the Daily Value of vitamin D.
This provides 10% of an elderly person’s needs. If you’re younger, it will actually provide a bit more (13%) of your daily requirements since you need less vitamin D.
Vegan vitamin D foods
The only plant-based food that naturally contains vitamin D is mushrooms.
Fortunately, many plant-based milks and yogurts are fortified with vitamin D, in addition to select brands of breakfast cereal and tofu.
Unfortunately, vitamin D-fortified orange juice is made with vitamin D3 derived from sheep’s wool and isn’t vegan-friendly. Vitamin D3 has to be made from lichen, an organism formed from a combination of fungi and algae, to be vegan.
Keep reading for a comprehensive list of the best vegan sources of vitamin D:
Mushrooms exposed to UV light
Mushrooms are unique among plant-based foods in that, like humans, they naturally produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight or UV lamps.
Most commercially grown mushrooms are grown in the dark, and sadly only contain very small amounts of vitamin D.
A few harvesters expose their mushrooms to sunlight or UV lamps post-harvest, which significantly increases their vitamin D context.
Monterey Mushrooms, a leading mushroom supplier, says their mushrooms labeled “High Vitamin D” provide 10 micrograms (400 IU) per serving. They say this includes all sliced 8-ounce and 16-ounce containers of White and Baby Bella mushrooms, in addition to 8-ounce packages of portabella mushrooms.
For other brands, however, it isn’t always easy to tell which mushrooms have been exposed to UV light.
According to the USDA, wild mushrooms like maitake, morel, and chanterelle mushrooms are excellent sources of vitamin D. It seems that despite growing in mostly shady areas, they still get enough sunlight to produce significant amounts.
| Mushroom | Serving size | Vitamin D content |
| Crimini (exposed to UV light) | 1 cup | 23 mcg (922 IU) |
| Maitake, raw | 1 cup | 19.7 mcg (784 IU) |
| White (exposed to UV light) | 1 cup | 18.3 mcg (735 IU) |
| Portabella (exposed to UV light) | 1 cup | 15.9 mcg (634 IU) |
| Morel, raw | 1 cup | 3.4 mcg (136 IU) |
| Chanterelle, raw | 1 cup | 2.9 mcg (114 IU) |
| Shiitake, cooked | 1 cup | 1 mcg (40.6 IU) |
| Oyster, raw | 1 cup | 0.6 mcg (24.9 IU) |
| Dried shiitake | 4 mushrooms | 0.59 mcg (23.1 IU) |
| Portabella, grilled | 1 cup sliced | 0.4 mcg (17 IU) |
| Enoki, raw | 1 cup | 0.07 mcg (3.3 IU) |
| Brown, Italian, or cremini | 1 cup sliced | 0.07 mcg (3 IU) |
Fortified non-dairy milks
Having two or more servings of a fortified plant milk every day is one of the most effective ways to boost your vitamin D intake through food.
When reviewing non-dairy milk for my clients, I’ve found that plant-based milk alternatives tend to vary between 2 to 5 micrograms (80 to 200 IU) of vitamin D per cup.
Keep in mind that only fortified non-dairy milks contain vitamin D. While most plant-based milks are fortified nowadays, there are a few brands that don’t do this. Always check the nutrition facts label or ingredients list to make sure yours contains vitamin D.
Some popular fortified products include:
| Non-dairy milk | Serving size | Vitamin D content |
| Ripple Milk Unsweetened Original | 1 cup | 5 mcg (200 IU) |
| Almond Breeze Original Almond Milk | 1 cup | 5 mcg (200 IU) |
| Planet Oat Original Oat Milk | 1 cup | 4 mcg (160 IU) |
| Oatly Chilled Oat Milk Original | 1 cup | 3.6 mcg (144 IU) |
| Silk Organic Unsweet Soy Milk | 1 cup | 3 mcg (120 IU) |
| So Delicious Organic Unsweetened Coconutmilk | 1 cup | 2.5 mcg (100 IU) |
| Good Karma Flaxmilk + Protein, Unsweetened | 1 cup | 2.3 mcg (92 IU) |
| Silk Original Almond Milk | 1 cup | 2 mcg (80 IU) |
RELATED: A Vegan Dietitian’s Guide To Non-Dairy Milk
Fortified non-dairy yogurt
You can also find a few brands of non-dairy yogurt fortified with vitamin D:
- So Delicious Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk Yogurt – 2.6 mcg in ¾ cup (10% DV)
- Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk Yogurt – 3.6mcg in ¾ cup (15% DV)
Again, make sure to check the product label to make sure the yogurt has been fortified.
Fortified breakfast cereals
Cereal fans, rejoice! Some vegan breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin D to boost their nutrition profile. There aren’t a ton of them, but a couple examples include:
- Purely Elizabeth Vanilla Blueberry Almond or Chocolate Almond Superfood Cereal – 4.8 mcg (192 IU) of vegan vitamin D3 per ⅔ cup
- Kashi Blueberry Almond or Cinnamon Walnut Vitamin D Cereal – 4 mcg (160 IU) per ¾ cup from vitamin D2 mushroom powder
Fortified tofu
Vitamin D-fortified tofu exists, with the caveat that it’s pretty hard to find. The vast majority of tofu at the grocery store is fortified with impressive amounts of calcium, but not vitamin D.
The two fortified brands I was able to find are:
- Nasoya Tofu Plus – 4 mcg (160 IU) per serving
- Mori-Nu Plus Fortified Tofu – 3 mcg (120 IU) per serving
Other sources of vitamin D
Don’t like mushrooms? Prefer making your own non-dairy milk and yogurt at home? Fortunately, there are a couple other ways to meet your vitamin D needs.
Dietary supplements
Supplements are the most convenient way to boost your vitamin D intake and are necessary for the estimated 24% of Americans2 who are deficient.
Historically, vegan-friendly vitamin D supplements were made with vitamin D2 produced from fungi.
Now, more and more products are made with vitamin D3 produced from lichen rather than sheep’s wool. This is great news, as vitamin D3 is more effective than D2 at increasing the amount of bioactive vitamin D in the bloodstream.
A few vegan-friendly vitamin D3 supplements include:
- Nordic Naturals Plant-Based Vitamin D3 Liquid – 25 mcg (1000 IU)
- Deva Vegan Vitamin D3 – 25 mcg (1000 IU)
- Garden of Life Raspberry Lemon Vegan D3 Chewables – 50 mcg (2000 IU)
- Future Kind Vegan Vitamin D3 – 62.5 mcg (2500 IU)
Consult your physician or registered dietitian for personalized guidance on whether you need a supplement and the most appropriate dosage.
RELATED: Is Cholecalciferol Vegan?
Sun exposure
There’s a reason vitamin D is known as the “Sunshine vitamin”, and that’s because the human body can produce its own vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight.
Of course, sun exposure is highly dependent on the geographical area in which you live. Many areas of the world don’t get much sunlight for the majority of the year, and people who live in these areas are at higher risk for vitamin D deficiency.
Don’t forget to wear sunscreen when spending time outdoors. Sunscreen protects against sunburn and skin cancer, so we shouldn’t neglect it. Interestingly, sunscreen may not block vitamin D production3, at least not by much, so there’s no reason to skip it.
Experts suggest that 10 to 30 minutes of sun exposure a day in the summer should be enough for people with light skin. People with darker skin will need to spend longer in the sun to produce the same amount of vitamin D, but should still be careful to wear sunscreen and avoid sunburn.
Final thoughts
Vegans can meet the daily recommendations for vitamin D if they consume a variety of wild or UV-exposed mushrooms and fortified dairy-free milk, yogurt, breakfast cereals, or tofu.
Vegans (and omnivores) who don’t live in sunny areas, who don’t spend much time outside, or who have darker skin may be in greater need of a vitamin D supplement to prevent a deficiency.
Getting your vitamin D levels tested regularly can be a helpful way to see whether you need to boost your vitamin D intake through food or supplements.
The scientific information in this article was accurate at the time of publishing but may change over time as new research becomes available.
References
- National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin D Health Professional Fact Sheet. NIH website. Updated July 26, 2024. Accessed April 3, 2025.
- Amrein K, Scherkl M, Hoffmann M, et al. Vitamin D deficiency 2.0: an update on the current status worldwide. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2020;74(11):1498-1513. doi:10.1038/s41430-020-0558-y
- Raymond-Lezman JR, Riskin SI. Benefits and Risks of Sun Exposure to Maintain Adequate Vitamin D Levels. Cureus. 2023;15(5):e38578. Published 2023 May 5. doi:10.7759/cureus.38578
