Oreos vegan? That’s a common vegan ‘lifestyle’ question we can answer!
Well, you’ve come to the right place. While you might be tempted to check the ingredient list on your Oreo packaging, you’re wondering if Oreos are plant-based milk’s favorite cookie, too.
These sugary things – Oreo cookies – aren’t made with any animal products.
No animal products?
That’s right. Most of us grew up eating a non vegan Oreo off the snack menu; we didn’t know any better! Whether we broke the cookies apart to eat the cream first or found yourself drowning the entire cookies in milk to soften them up, Oreos usually hold a special place in our hearts.
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Is it true that Oreos are vegan?
Oreos vegan? Yes, the vegan Oreo is part of this lifestyle because they’re made without any animal products. While the company admits to making these sandwich cookies in facilities handling milk, the cookies themselves aren’t made with dairy.
Since these cookies don’t include any animal-derived ingredients, vegans can eat them without feeling too guilty – besides the guilt from the sugar and calorie intake, of course. However, as previously stated, they could contain some milk in them as a result of cross-contamination.
You’re probably wondering what’s in Oreos. Here’s some insight into their ingredients.
Looking at the packaging, Oreos are vegan. This is where the list includes unbleached enriched flour, sugar, palm and/or canola oil, cocoa, and high fructose corn syrup. But there’s more!
More Insight into the List
‘More’ as in leavening, corn starch, salt, soy lecithin, vanillin, and unsweetened chocolate. Probably not the more you were looking for!
Since these cookies’ packaging doesn’t highlight dairy or egg use, the sugary snacks are relatively safe for vegans. However, it’s essential to note that the company does not consider its vegan cookies “suitable for vegans.”
Here’s a link to the FAQ page.
According to the FAQ page, “Oreos have milk as cross-contact and therefore are not suitable for vegans.” But just because that page says that doesn’t mean vegans can’t consume these tasty, chocolatey cookies.
Have Oreos always been vegan?
While Oreos don’t contain any animal product now, in previous years, trace amounts of lard were involved in the process. This pig fat was used up until the mid-1990s when health became a concern. Oreo’s parent company, Nabisco, made a decision to replace the pork fat with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil – delicious!
The Change
Eventually, other health concerns pushed Oreo to replace trans fat. Non-hydrogenated oils became the company’s go-to. However, the recipe still called for whey protein, which is one of the more common milk products on the menu. It wasn’t until 2013 in the UK and 2014 in the US that the Oreo cookie no longer contained milk.
Which Oreo flavors are vegan?
At this point, we’re uncertain which Oreo flavors have the highest chance of coming into contact with animal products. With this in mind, cross-contact is possible. However, cross-contact isn’t a sure thing with any of Oreo’s flavors. While one Oreo cookie flavor could have the potential to experience cross-contact with milk, some of the most well-known vegan authorities state that it’s not something worth worrying about.
All Oreo cookies are vegan. While the ingredients in these products aren’t exactly healthy, canola oil and other products used in Oreos are free of animal products. Simply put, the cookie isn’t healthy, but it is animal product-free.
Are Oreos dairy-free?
This is an especially important question, especially when considering the fact that even a trace amount of milk is problematic. With this in mind, we decide to check PETA for some insight into milk and other products we want to avoid.
PETA delivered an entire statement regarding food that contains trace amounts of animal products. It reads:
“Some packaged foods have a long list of ingredients. The farther an ingredient is down the list, the less of that ingredient is in the food. People who have made the compassionate decision to stop eating animal flesh, eggs, and milk products may wonder if they need to read every ingredient to check for tiny bits of obscure animal products. Our general advice is not to worry too much… The goal of sticking to a vegetarian or vegan diet is to help animals and reduce suffering; this is done by choosing a bean burrito or a veggie burger or chicken flesh or choosing tofu scramble over eggs, not by refusing to eat an otherwise vegan food because it has 0.001 grams of monoglycerides that may possibly be animal-derived.”
It’s best not to sugar-coat the truth; even though vegans can eat Oreos doesn’t mean they should. The fact that these don’t contain any whole, real foods should scare us into making better choices for our health. Similar to other processed foods, Oreos have genetically engineered and detrimental ingredients like soy lecithin (a soybean-derived emulsifier) and high fructose corn syrup. While tasty and plant-based, these cookies aren’t the epitome of healthy.
The ethics behind Oreos go far beyond dairy woes. Besides the dairy dilemma, one of the primary ingredients in these cookies is palm oil. If you don’t know about the problems surrounding palm oil, here’s some insight.
What’s wrong with palm oil?
Palm oil is processed and terrible for human health. But the palm oil plantations are where this ingredient really gets awful. The lush tropical forests that have been cleared for palm oil production result in destroyed habitats.
Concluding on Everything that is Vegan Oreos
As conscious people, we should go beyond considering whether Oreos have dairy products or animal fat. Instead, we should look at the company’s impact on animals, sugar, and data showing how unhealthy Oreo cookies actually are.
So, are Oreos plant-based milk’s favorite cookie? Maybe not, but the fact of the matter still stands: this is a cookie that contains all vegan ingredients, despite the fact that it’s a product that negatively impacts animals and their habitats.
Bonus: One of the Best Recipes for Healthier Vegan Oreo Cookies
Look for a healthy alternative to Oreos you can make on your own? We have some recipes for you here and now. While this food is still sugary, we’re substituting the processed food ingredients for whole food ingredients in these fabulous recipes:
Chocolate Covered Katie’s Recipe for Homemade Vegan Oreos
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 20-24 vegan sandwich cookies
What You’ll Need:
- 3/4 cup white or oat flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp dutch cocoa powder (can use regular cocoa powder)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unrefined or regular sugar, or xylitol for sugar-free
- 1.4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp vegan milk of choice
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup, agave, or honey
Instructions for this Vegan Chocolate Cookie Recipe
To make the filling, beat 1/2 cup powdered sugar or sugar-free powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup melted coconut oil. Beat this together until it’s totally smooth.
To create your vegan cookie sandwich discs, you’ll combine your flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda together. Then add the remaining components to create your dough. Refrigerate it for 30 minutes before you bake it. Preheat your oven to 300 F.
After you remove your dough from the fridge, put it in a plastic bag and shape it into a ball. Roll it out into a thin dough and cut flat circles out using either a circle-shaped lid or cookie cutter.
Bake your cookies on a greased cookie tray for 10 minutes at 300 F. They will look underdone when you remove them from the oven – but don’t worry. Let them cool for 10 minutes before you take them off of the tray. This will give the cookies a chance to become firm.
Now that your cookies are done, add a teaspoon on half of your cookie discs and close your cookies. Put them in the fridge to let them set. You can store them in the fridge to ensure your filling remains hard.
Questions? Contact us and we’ll do our best to answer them!