Sorry to disappoint my fellow vegans, but Snickers are clearly not vegan-friendly.
They have multiple animal products in them, so there’s no debate (unlike some candy like skittles).
On a related note, Snicker bars might be vegetarian depending on your diet and how you view palm oil.
Table of Contents
Ingredients in Snickers
It may vary a bit by country and type of bar, but the original Snicker bars contain:
- Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor) – With multiple dairy ingredients, milk chocolate is not vegan.
- Peanuts – A great plant source of protein and fat.
- Corn Syrup – Sugar unhealthy, but this sugar syrup derived from corn is vegan-friendly.
- Sugar – Most sugar is vegan. If the rest of the ingredients were different, we might look at this more closely.
- Palm Oil – Palm oil is controversial among vegans due to the environment destruction around growing it. Still, it’s technically vegan according to most.
- Skim Milk – Milk is an animal product and not vegan friendly.
- Lactose – A sugar derived from milk, so it’s not vegan either.
- Salt – Vegan of course.
- Egg Whites – Another animal product that isn’t suitable for vegans.
- Artificial Flavor – Artificial flavors are made synthetically and are vegan-friendly.
They’re are multiple dairy ingredients, plus the egg whites that make Snickers not vegan-friendly.
Are Snickers Vegetarian?
Depending on the type of vegetarian, Snickers might be okay.
As we saw above, there are multiple dairy ingredients plus eggs.
This makes Snickers okay for lacto-ovo-vegetarians, but no other types of vegetarians.
Is Palm Oil an Issue?
For the same reasons that many vegans don’t eat palm oil, many vegetarians don’t either. The palm oil industry is filled with unethical practices.
I don’t think it’s as “big” of an issue among vegetarians, but it is something to consider.
Whether or not you’re okay with palm products is up to you.
Vegan-Friendly Snickers Alternatives
Most chocolate bars can be veganized quite easily, Snickers aren’t really an exception.
Sure it won’t be the exact same, but it’ll be close.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to find a close alternative in stores. For example, Go Max Go is a brand that makes bars that are awfully similar, although they do contain palm oil, which kind of sucks.
The better option in my opinion is to make your own bars.
It is a lot of work at first, but I think it’s worth it. It’s also good to visually see just how much sugar is going into your food.
Here’s a great recipe from From My Bowl that has under 10 ingredients and is much healthier than an actual Snickers bar.
If I find any new brands of vegan-friendly chocolate bars in stores or online, I’ll add them to this page.
