Best Vegan Sprinkles For Baking (UK)

Wondering which sprinkles are vegan in the UK? This post will help. It includes all of the best vegan sprinkles for baking in 2023. From accidentally vegan options to speciality sprinkles, there’s something out there to suit your needs!

If you’re a baker or cake lover, you’ve probably tried your fair share of sprinkles. They’re great for decorating cakes and cupcakes, and even for adding to you cake or cookie batter. But if you’re trying to avoid animal byproducts, your options may be more limited than you realise.

Are sprinkles vegan?

No! It may be surprising to learn that not all cake sprinkles are vegan-friendly. That’s right! Although it may not be obvious at first glance, even the sprinkles without dairy, honey or gelatine may not be free from animal byproducts. And that’s largely because of the flavourings, colourings or coatings.

When I first went vegan a few years ago, I didn’t actually realise that there was more to it than avoiding dairy, meat and eggs. So I accidentally used non-vegan cake decorations baking. Woops!

I soon learned about all of the different e-numbers and that actually, quite a lot of them are not vegan-friendly. Check out my list post if you’d like to learn more about which e-numbers are or aren’t vegan.

What makes them not vegan?

As noted above, it’s mostly e-numbers that make some sprinkles unsuitable for vegans. And of course, some sprinkles can contain milk, egg or gelatine too. Here are some of the non-vegan e-numbers you might find in cake decorations:

• Shellac. Shellac is a glazing agent, which is used to make the outside of the sprinkles look shiny and smooth. This is actually an ingredient that comes from bugs so it’s not vegan-friendly. Its e-number is E904.
• Beeswax. Beeswax is another common glazing agent which (unsurprisingly) comes from bees. It’s also known as E901.
• Carmine. Carmine is a red food colouring made from insects. It used to be added to sprinkles a lot but it seems to be less common in the UK these days, with companies preferring to use fruit and vegetables for colouring instead. Other names for this ingredient are Cochineal, Carmine and Carminic acid. Its e-number is E120.

Are Dr. Oetker sprinkles vegan?

Not all Dr. Oetker sprinkles are vegan but they do have some accidentally vegan options. The options are:

• Unicorn confetti. These are brightly coloured rainbow sprinkles that look great on any cake. They’re what I used for my vegan sprinkle cake.
• Unicorn head sprinkles. More vegan rainbow sprinkles! These contain colourful strands and some unicorn-shapes.
• Dinohead sprinkles. Similar to the unicorn head sprinkles, these dinohead sprinkles include dinosaur-shaped sprinkles plus some colourful strands.
• Sugar strands. Simple rainbow strand sprinkles that go well with anything!
• Chocolate strands. These chocolate strands contain no dairy, hurrah!

Are rainbow sprinkles vegan?

Aside from the Dr. Oetker rainbow sprinkles mentioned above, the other vegan rainbow sprinkle options are:

• Baking Time Club sell many varieties of rainbow sprinkles.
• Let Them Eat Cakes UK sell vegan rainbow strands, pearls sugar strands (similar to hundreds and thousands) and rainbow stars.
• Tesco multi coloured stars. Pastel coloured, star-shaped sprinkles. Asda, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose all sell very similar sprinkles.
• Tesco multi coloured unicorn sprinkles. Blue, pink, purple and white unicorn-shaped sprinkles.
• Colour Blast confetti sprinkles. Confetti dots in a variety of colours.

Are chocolate sprinkles vegan?

There are some chocolate sprinkles out there. Many contain milk, shellac or beeswax but the following options are vegan-friendly:

• Sainsbury’s chocolate vermicelli. These were the only supermarket brand of vegan chocolate sprinkles I could find!
• Dr. Oetker chocolate strands. I mentioned these further up in the post but they’re worth another mention here! I have never seen these in any of my local stores but you can purchase them from Ocado.
• Sephra chocolate vermicelli (bulk bag). Perfect for those who have a lot of baking to do and prefer to buy in bulk.

What other sprinkles are vegan?

So aside from the chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, there are still a few more options for us vegans! Let’s take a look:

• Let Them Eat Cakes UK. I’ve ordered from this Etsy store before and was so happy with the sprinkles. They have lots of cute sprinkles for any occasion.
• Baking Time Club. A lovely UK-based company that sell lots of themed vegan sprinkles.
• Tesco pink & red heart sprinkles. Great for decorating Valentine’s Day cookies.
• Morrison’s love heart sprinkles. Similar to the Tesco ones, perfect for Valentine’s baking.
• Sainsbury’s sparkles snowflakes. Use these festive sprinkles for Christmas or just general Winter-time baking.
• Waitrose jelly diamonds. These aren’t sprinkles as such but they still make a great cake decoration!
• Waitrose pink & red hearts. Again, these are similar to the Tesco pink and red hearts.
• Amazon sprinkles. Amazon have tonnes of different options- have a look and see what you fancy!

Are sprinkles gluten-free?

The majority of sprinkles are gluten-free but some do contain wheat. It’s best to double check the ingredients before purchasing. It’s also worth noting that unless the sprinkles state explicitly that they’re gluten-free, there may be a risk of cross-contamination. If you have allergies, look for sprinkles that state gluten-free on the packaging.

I hope you enjoyed this vegan sprinkles post. If you find it useful, please give it a share using the buttons on this page so we can help other vegan bakers! xo