Are Oreos Vegan and Dairy-Free? (Golden Oreos, Thins, etc.)

When you go vegan, a lot of candy that you might have eaten before becomes off-limits.

A lot of people online, particularly new vegans, happily exclaim: “Oreos are vegan!”

While oreos are dairy-free, they also contain 2 controversial ingredients among vegans.

Types of Oreos

There are over 180 oreo products:

Most have similar ingredients, and they’re just variations of the same main products.

In this post we’ll look at the main types:

• Classic oreos
• Oreo thins
• Golden oreos

Keep in mind that they may have different ingredients based on country. In this post I’ll be going off the ingredients listed on Oreo’s official site.

These are for Oreos in the U.S. The ingredients in the ones in Canada that I see are a bit different, but still have the same non-vegan ingredient.

Are Classic Oreos Vegan?

Here’s the full ingredient list for your standard oreo, straight from its product page:

UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, 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.

All of those appear to be plant-based, but that doesn’t mean they are vegan.

There are 2 main potential issues here:

1. Sugar – White sugar in North America is often not vegan because it’s processed with bone char. There’s a very high chance that Oreos contain this sugar, which most would not consider vegan. If your Oreos in another country are manufactured outside of North America, they’re probably safe.
2. Palm oil – Many vegans don’t consume palm oil. Harvesting palm oil typically causes a lot of animal suffering (much more than other crops).

If you’re interested in learning more about palm oil, read my full post about why vegans often avoid palm oil.

In short:

• Palm oil plantations have numerous human right violations.
• Tigers are driven off their land and have reached endangered numbers.
• Orangutans are beaten, killed, and burned alive while clearing new land for palm trees (where the oil comes from).

Are Golden Oreos Vegan?

Next up are the popular golden oreos.

Here’s the full list of ingredients:

INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), PALM AND/OR CANOLA OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, BAKING SODA, SOY LECITHIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, NATURAL FLAVOR.

Slightly different order, but mostly the same ingredients.

Again, there’s sugar and palm oil in it, which just isn’t vegan to most vegans.

Are Oreo Thin Cookies Vegan?

Not surprisingly, Oreo thin cookies have almost the same ingredient list as classic oreos.

INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), PALM AND/OR CANOLA OIL, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, SOY LECITHIN, BAKING SODA, CHOCOLATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

You probably see a pattern, there’s sugar and palm oil in just about every Oreo product.

Summary

While Oreos are not the worst offenders when it comes to junk food, it seems that most (if not all) Oreo products might not be vegan.

I’ve contacted customer support multiple times over the years, and every time I get a “non answer” that won’t clarify if any of the sugar was processed using bone char.

Aside from that, palm oil is an issue for many vegans, and is found in every Oreo product.

There are alternative cookies that don’t have these issues. I’ve seen a few different brands at Whole Foods who offer Oreo-style cookies, but are vegan-friendly.