Are Oreos Vegan In 2024? Here’s What You Need to Know
These crunchy chocolate sandwich biscuits are popular with adults and children alike. They come in many different flavours and are enjoyed in many countries across the world. The one question on everyone’s lips is “Are Oreos vegan?” Let’s take a look at that!
Oreos are small, round sandwich biscuits. They’re made up of two embossed crunchy chocolate biscuits that are stuck together with a delicious vanilla cream filling. According to Mondelez, they have been around in the US since 1912 and have since become the world’s top selling cookie. They are perfect enjoyed alone or can be used to bake some tasty Oreo desserts.
Oreos come in many different flavours. In fact, there have been over 85 different flavours released over the years! Some flavours are sold permanently but many are released for only a short period of time. In the USA, they have flavours such as chocolate peanut butter pie, caramel coconut, java chip, and fudge covered Oreos. In the UK, aside from the original Oreos, current options include golden Oreos, brownie, birthday party and Oreo thins. If you’re lucky, you may still be able to find some of the flavours that were discontinued in the UK, such as mint or strawberry cheesecake.
If you were outraged that I called Oreos biscuits in the opening paragraph of this post, I apologise, LOL. In the UK, we call most crunchy ‘cookies’ biscuits. A cookie to us is usually the larger, softer bakery treat.
In the US, the Oreo packaging says ‘chocolate sandwich cookies’ but in the UK, most packaging says ‘chocolate sandwich biscuits‘. So I guess whether an Oreo is a biscuit or a cookie just depends on where you’re from!
Do Oreos contain milk?
No, Oreos do not have milk in them, despite popular belief! Although the filling is called ‘creme’, Oreos do not contain dairy at the time of writing this in 2024. Instead, the creamy filling is made with oil, syrup, emulsifiers and flavourings. There are one or two flavours that may contain milk but for the most part, Oreos are dairy-free.
What about the chocolate part? Well, that’s dairy-free too! The cookies are made with wheat flour, sugar, oils, starch, syrup and raising agents. It’s surprisingly easy to make cookies and biscuits dairy-free.
An important thing to note is that Oreos have a risk of cross-contamination with milk products. So although the recipe does not contain milk, it’s possible there may be traces of milk due to other products being made in the same factory. This would be a tiny amount if any but it is stated on the packaging simply to make those with milk allergies aware.
Do Oreos contain eggs or nuts?
No, Oreos do not contain eggs or any egg-derived ingredients. Most flavours are also free from nuts.
It’s important to note that Oreo ingredients in the UK differ from those in the USA. When the UK had peanut butter Oreos, they did not actually contain nuts but they were one of the few flavours that did contain milk. On the other hand, USA peanut butter Oreos do contain nuts but do not have milk in them. According to the Oreo website, UK Oreo products do not contain nuts or nut traces.
Are Oreos vegan?
If they don’t contain milk or eggs, are Oreos vegan? Yes, original Oreos are vegan and most other flavours are vegan too! They’re what is known as ‘accidentally vegan biscuits‘, meaning they weren’t specifically targeted towards vegans but are made to a vegan recipe. Let’s take a look at the original Oreo ingredients in the UK:
Wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, rapeseed oil, fat reduced cocoa powder 4.3%, wheat starch, glucose-fructose syrup, raising agents (ammonium carbonates, potassium carbonates, sodium carbonates), salt, emulsifier (soya lecithins), acidity regulator (sodium hydroxide), flavouring.
As you can see from the ingredients list, there is no milk, butter, eggs, honey or gelatine in Oreos. Sugar is always vegan in the UK, so we can conclude that Oreos are vegan in the UK. At the time of writing this post in 2024, the Oreo UK website states the following:
“Many Oreo products are suitable for Vegans but may include cross-contaminants of milk, so please check allergen advice. You can find a complete list of our Vegan certified products on The Vegan Society Website.“ This means that although Oreos do not actually contain milk, they may not be suitable for milk allergy sufferers.
Are Oreos vegan in the US?
In the US, original Oreos are made with the following ingredients:
Unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate {vitamin B1}, riboflavin {vitamin B2}, folic acid), sugar, palm and/or canola oil, cocoa (processed with alkali), high fructose corn syrup, leavening (baking soda and/or calcium phosphate), salt, soy lecithin, chocolate, artificial flavor.
Again, the ingredients list is free from milk, butter, eggs honey and gelatine. However, it is unclear if the sugar used is processed with bone char, which is often the case in the USA. I couldn’t find a clear answer on this one and the US Oreo website does not have any further information that I could find. Many vegans in the US do eat Oreos so it’s down to your personal judgement on this one!
Are double stuffed Oreos vegan?
Yes, double stuffed Oreos are vegan. They do not have milk, eggs, honey or gelatine in them. The ingredients list is as follows:
Sugar, Wheat Flour, Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Wheat Starch, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder 3.3%, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Raising Agents (Ammonium Carbonates, Potassium Carbonates, Sodium Carbonates), Salt, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Hydroxide), Flavouring.
Are golden Oreos vegan?
Yes, golden Oreos are vegan. The ingredients are extremely similar to the ingredients in the original Oreos, just without the cocoa powder. The ingredients are:
Wheat Flour, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Wheat Starch, Raising Agents (Sodium Carbonates, Ammonium Carbonates), Salt, Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, Sunflower Lecithin), Flavourings.
What about mini Oreos?
Yes, mini Oreos are vegan. They are made with the same ingredients as the larger version:
Wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, rapeseed oil, fat reduced cocoa powder 4.3%, wheat starch, glucose-fructose syrup, raising agents (ammonium carbonates, potassium carbonates, sodium carbonates), salt, emulsifier (soya lecithins), acidity regulator (sodium hydroxide), flavouring.
Are birthday party Oreos vegan?
Yes, birthday party Oreos are vegan. Birthday cake Oreos, which are a similar flavour sold in the US, are also vegan. Birthday party Oreos contain the following ingredients:
Wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, rapeseed oil, fat reduced cocoa powder 4.3%, wheat starch, glucose-fructose syrup, raising agents (ammonium carbonates, potassium carbonates, sodium carbonates), salt, emulsifier (soya lecithins), flavourings, acidity regulator (sodium hydroxide), spirulina extract, red radish extract, red cabbage extract, turmeric extract.
As you can see, the sprinkles inside the filling are coloured with vegetable extracts instead of non-vegan e-numbers. Yay!
And brownie Oreos?
Yes, choco brownie Oreos are vegan. Despite being so deliciously chocolatey, they do not contain milk. The Ingredients are:
Wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, rapeseed oil, fat reduced cocoa powder 6.6%, wheat starch, glucose-fructose syrup, raising agents (ammonium carbonates, potassium carbonates, sodium carbonates), salt, emulsifier (soya lecithins), acidity regulator (sodium hydroxide), flavourings.
Which Oreos are not vegan?
There are a few types of Oreos that may not be suitable. As mentioned earlier, peanut butter Oreos contained milk when they were sold in the UK. The current Oreo products for sale in the UK which are not vegan are:
- Oreo crunchy bites dipped
- Oreo Cadbury coated
- Oreo ice creams and Oreo doughnuts
The above products contain milk and are therefore not suitable for vegans or those avoiding dairy.
When it comes to Oreos in the US, the following products are unsuitable for vegans:
- Oreo cakesters (contains milk and egg)
- Toffee crunch Oreos (contains confectioner’s glaze AKA shellac)
- Fudge covered Oreos (contains milk)
- Oreo ice creams (contains milk)
Are Oreos gluten-free?
No, Oreos are not gluten-free because they are made with wheat flour. Gluten-free Oreos do exist in the US but they are harder to find if you’re in the UK. Amazon UK sell the official gluten-free Oreos or you can buy one of the following ‘off-brand’ alternatives:
- Asda free-from cookies and cream biscuits
- Tesco free-from cookies and cream biscuits
- Morrison’s free-from cookies and cream cookies
- Sainsbury’s free-from cookies and cream biscuits
Summary
So, are Oreos vegan? Yes. Original Oreos and most other flavours are suitable for vegans in 2024 if you’re eating them in the UK. They do not contain any animal-derived ingredients such as milk, eggs, honey or gelatine. It’s unclear if US Oreos are vegan. They do not contain animal-derived ingredients but they do contain sugar, which is often processed using bone char in the USA.
Oreos are not gluten-free by default but gluten-free Oreos are sold in the US. They can be purchased in the UK online or you can buy supermarket own-brand gluten-free ‘cookies and cream’ biscuits which taste similar.
