Whether you’re shopping for Halloween or just to satisfy your sweet tooth, vegan candy is easy to find. You can stay away from brands that contain milk and animal byproducts by choosing the candies featured on this page.
The Vegan Status of Sugar and Honey
Candies almost always contain sugar as a main ingredient. This sugar is commonly processed using bone char. I’ve covered the ethical dimensions of this topic on my sugar page. Some candy products also contain honey, which vegans avoid for a number of reasons.
If you’re willing to look past the issue of bone char, you can consider all of the products below as vegan.
Hard Candy
Chewy Candy
- Airheads
- Annie’s Organic Fruit Snacks
- Dandies Vegan Marshmallows
- Dots Gumdrops
- Lovely Organic Chewy Candies
- Red Vines
- Skittles
- Sour Patch Kids
- Swedish Fish
- Twizzlers
Vegan Chocolate
Many high-quality dark chocolate bars are vegan, but always check the ingredients for milk products. An increasing number of dark chocolate brands now carry a vegan seal.
My vegan chocolate page offers detailed coverage of this topic along with a list of popular brands. On that page, you’ll also read about the chocolate industry’s widespread exploitative labor practices, and why choosing fair-trade certified brands can help remedy an intolerable situation.
Vegan Candy Bars
Unlike dark chocolate bars, very few traditional candy bars are vegan. Here are a few vegan products that are intended to go head-to-head with mass-market non-vegan candy bars like Snickers Bars:
- Equal Exchange (some products are vegan)
- Go Max Go Foods (all products are vegan)
- Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews
