Are Doritos Vegan?
If the cheese-covered fingers don’t give it away, many flavors of Doritos are not vegan. But, you’ll be happy to learn that there is a flavor of this popular chip brand that is entirely plant-based!
✅ NO Dorito flavors are guaranteed to be vegan. But, there is one flavor of Doritos that is plant-based. (Yes, there’s a difference.)
Vegan Doritos Flavors ✅
While there are no guaranteed vegan Doritos flavors, one flavor of Doritos is plant-based, meaning that it does not contain any animal products. Why is this product plant-based but not vegan?
- Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos
Non-Vegan Doritos Flavors ❌
These popular varieties of Doritos are NOT vegan or plant-based because they contain one or more animal products:
- Nacho Cheese “red-bag Doritos”
- Cool Ranch “blue-bag Doritos”
- Poppin’ Jalapeño
- Blazin’ Buffalo Ranch
- Salsa Verde
How to Tell If Doritos Are Vegan
Don’t just take my word for it—see for yourself! It takes a little bit of investigative work, but you can easily determine which flavors are plant-based.
According to the Frito-Lay website (Doritos is a brand by Frito-Lay, which is owned by PepsiCo), animal flavors will never be hidden under the term “natural flavors.” Therefore, you don’t have to worry about them sneakily adding in something like “chicken flavor” without fully disclosing it.
The Frito Lay website also has a very helpful feature that allows you to filter their products that eliminate those with a specific allergen or dietary concern. The feature is updated regularly, and you can filter for products that are dairy-free, gluten-free, USDA organic, containing egg, pork-enzyme free, nut-free, and Kosher certified.
While there is no filter for vegan or plant-based products, this feature gives us enough information to determine which Doritos are plant-based.
Frito Lay states clearly that they sometimes add pork enzymes to their cheeses, but because we will already be filtering for dairy-free, you don’t have to worry about this filter.
To determine what Doritos are vegan, a product must meet four criteria:
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- It falls under the category “dairy-free”
- It is not found in the category “contains egg.”
- No animal products, such as “chicken flavor,” are listed on the label
- If sugar is an ingredient, it must be certified organic.
If the product meets all four criteria, it is vegan. If the product only meets criteria 1–3, it is plant-based but not vegan.
Why a Doritos Flavor is Plant-Based But NOT Vegan
Sugar is a common ingredient in Doritos products, and sugar is not always considered vegan because refined sugar is occasionally filtered with bone char. However, USDA organic products can never be processed with bone char.
But, since no bone char is actually in the final product, it is still considered a plant-based product; it just can’t be considered vegan.
Is the Sugar in Doritos plant-based or vegan?
The sugar in Doritos is plant-based, but not guaranteed to be vegan. This information is not available on their website, so I reached out to consumer relations. The representative confirmed that their sugar comes from many sources, and they are unsure whether or not it is filtered with bone char.
Because PepsiCo cannot guarantee that the sugar in their products is vegan, nobody can say for certain that the Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos are vegan. Although for some reason, many claim that they are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Cool Ranch Doritos vegan?
No, Cool Ranch Doritos are NOT vegan. This Doritos flavor contains many animal products, such as lactose, whey, skim milk, cheddar cheese, and buttermilk.
Are Nacho Cheese Doritos vegan?
No, Nacho Cheese Doritos are NOT vegan. This product contains many animal products, such as cheddar cheese, whey, buttermilk, romano cheese, lactose, and skim milk.
Are Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos vegan?
This flavor is plant-based, but the manufacturer cannot guarantee that it is vegan.
Are Blaze Doritos vegan?
Doritos Blaze has been discontinued and is no longer available, but it was once considered plant-based but not vegan, similar to Spicy Sweet Chili.