Are Doritos Vegan? – List of Doritos Flavors
Chips are an all-time favorite snack for many; the perfect carry-along bag for a quick munch outside home or the best companion when binging on movies or on travel along with the other vegan travel snacks.
About Doritos Chips
Tortilla chips are the latest favorite around the world. And leading the race is undoubtedly, Doritos. This US-owned brand of flavored tortilla chips has amused nearly all taste buds since they were first launched in 1964.
Since then, the brand has been coming out with different flavors for varying tastes of its audience. Well, now there are doubts such as “Are Doritos Vegan?” and ‘Can Vegans eat Doritos?’ arising. But, most of its flavors aren’t vegan. This is why we detail here the limited specific flavors of the corn tortilla chips to choose from when on a vegan lifestyle.
Let’s take a quick look at the common dairy ingredients used in the preparation of Doritos chips which aren’t vegan-friendly:
- Whey – the remains of milk after curdling and straining it
- Skim milk – dairy
- Cheeses of different varieties as per the flavor – dairy product
- Enzymes – some of them may be animal-derived
- Buttermilk – dairy product
Besides, the process of obtaining these ingredients for Doritos chips does involve a certain level of harmful treatment to the animals. For this reason, vegans aren’t quite convinced about the vegan status of a number of Doritos flavors.
Many chips firms include Flavor Enhancers like E631 in their chips as it is an addictive. Know whether your chips have E631 in it and is E631 vegan with us. Also, you need to understand ‘If E631 is safe‘, so that even if you consider it vegan, you must know how much quantity you should have.
Now that you know the answer to “Are Doritos Vegan?”, let us have a look at some of the Non-Vegan and Vegan Doritos Flavors. Our list below will go through some of the flavors and will inform you whether they are vegan or non-vegan.
Which Doritos Are Vegan?
Are Nacho Cheese Doritos Vegan?
The most popular Doritos flavor and a high-time favorite among most people of all age groups too; sad to say but the flavor isn’t vegan. This is because the Nacho Cheese flavor obviously contains cheese – a dairy product. This removes it from the list of vegan products.
Besides the presence of several dairy components in its ingredients list, the flavor also contains food colors which, as stated earlier in the post, involve animal testing. For all these reasons, vegans should definitely steer clear off this flavor of the Doritos brand.
You can instead try the nacho cheese recipe at home which is completely vegan friendly and tasty from this article
Are Cool Ranch Doritos Vegan?
Yet again, this particular flavor too contains lactose in its ingredients, along with whey, non-fat milk, buttermilk, and cheddar cheese too. All these are derivatives of animals and this is what contributes to the non-vegan status of the flavor.
Plus, of course like most other flavors, this one too uses artificial coloring which is animal-tested. Rather you can try out for Takis, but are Takis vegan? You can find that out with us in our Vegan FAQs section.
Are Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos Vegan?
A piece of good news for vegans! The best among spicy Dorito flavors,this one’s widely accepted as the only vegan flavor from the Doritos brand.
And this is certified owing to the absence of any dairy ingredient, animal enzymes, or animal-tested food coloring in it. So vegans can safely go ahead and enjoy their perfect Doritos snack with this flavor.
Interestingly, the chips do use natural flavor as a component in their ingredient list.
Generally, it isn’t always considered vegan because natural flavor may imply inclusion of a host of ingredients, some of which may even be meat! However, it’s believed that the natural flavors used in Spicy Sweet Chilli Doritos are actually vegan. Also, the protein powder mentioned on the label substitutes whey protein with soy. All of this makes the chips safe for the vegan community.
Are Wasabi Doritos Vegan?
This one generates a mixed response among vegans. Slightly favourable because unlike the other flavors which are quite high in the presence of dairy products, the Wasabi flavor of Doritos uses none at all! Yes, there’s no dairy ingredient or any other common animal-derived product used in these chips.
But before you rejoice, here comes the non-vegan friendly news. The flavor does contain artificial colors such as yellow 5 and blue 1 lake which are tested on animals like rats, mice, and dogs. This makes the product totally non-vegan.
Are Doritos Salsa Verde Vegan?
The very popular flavor of the brand – Salsa Verde is made up of natural chicken flavor.
This means that it contains actual bits of chicken which makes this particular flavor completely unsuitable for both vegans and vegetarians.
Are BBQ Doritos Vegan?
Another perfect example of misleading label – the ingredient list of BBQ Doritos may suggest that the flavor is 100% vegan being completely free of dairy, food coloring, meat or any other animal by-product.
Well, that’s not exactly the case, sadly. There are traces of milk ingredients in the chips and this specific information is displayed behind the pack. Also, color is mentioned as one of the ingredients without a specific mention of the names/types of colors used.
This can mean any colors which are generally tested on animals. Besides, the natural flavor included in the list may mean to include dairy products too.
Is Tapatio Vegan?
Another non-vegan variety, this one includes several animal by-products – cheese, whey protein, natural flavor and artificial colors.
Some flavors of Doritos contain Pork, an animal-derived ingredient. So, before having Doritos, check which flavors of Doritos contain pork and then have it.
Summing Up
Not all of the tasty flavors of Doritos available in the market pass the vegan test, clearly. Some do and they’re perhaps safe to enjoy as well. However, if you’re on a vegan diet or lifestyle, you might want to check the label thoroughly before picking up that bag of chips at the store.
Read the ingredient list thoroughly, as some of them may be suitable for vegetarians but not for vegans. You don’t want to take a chance with your ideologies while happily munching away your favorite brand of chips. Look out for various other snacks like are pringles vegan or not and then have them.
While these are tortilla chips, you can try out preparing tortillas at home and then add natural ingredients for it to taste naturally yumm.
My life literally revolves around optimum health and sustainable living by being a devotional vegan. My mission is to create a community of like minded vegans to go forth in creating a better and brighter world for humans, animals and the planet. Just like Gandhi once said: “The greatness of a nation and it’s moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Gandhi
