There are few snacks as time-tested as potato chips … and there are few brands quite as iconic as Lays! Whether you’re chowing down on these classic potato chips on their own or using them as the foundation for your favorite chips and dip combo, there’s something so quintessentially American about them. So much so that they’re consistently ranked among the most popular chips year after year. It’s no wonder their slogan is “Happiness in every bite!”
But are Lays potato chips vegan-friendly? Let’s take a closer look at these iconic chips to see whether or not they’re an appropriate choice for vegans and plant-based eaters. (Spoiler alert: while some flavors of Lays are okay for plant-based eaters, many of them contain milk products.)
What makes a food vegan-friendly?
Whether you’re brand new to veganism, a lifetime subscriber, or are just curious, it’s helpful to get a refresher on what makes a food vegan to begin with.
Veganism is a dietary practice in which you abstain from eating animals and animal byproducts. People practice veganism for a variety of reasons. For example, one of the most popular reasons behind plant-based eating is to protest the unethical treatment of animals that are raised as livestock. However, others also practice veganism to minimize their carbon footprint or for health reasons.
So what makes veganism different than vegetarianism? In addition to red meat, poultry, and seafood, vegans also avoid foods made with animal byproducts like dairy and honey. Some vegans also abstain from using refined sugar, since it is sometimes filtered through bone char.
Are Lay’s Classic Potato Chips Vegan?
Let’s start with the most iconic flavor of the bunch: the Lay’s Classic Potato Chip.
According to the Lay’s official website, the only ingredients that can be found in Lay’s potato chips are:
- Potatoes
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt
None of these ingredients are made using animals or animal byproducts. So yes, Lay’s Classic Potato Chips are vegan.
What about the other kinds of Lay’s potato chips?
Of course, while the Lay’s Classic Potato Chips are certainly a staple for snackers around the world, they aren’t the only Lay’s flavor out there. So how do the other popular Lay’s potato chips fare when it comes to their vegan-friendly status? As it turns out, not very well.
Are Lay’s BBQ Potato chips vegan?
Lay’s iconic Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips may or may not be vegan, depending on whether or not you consider sugar to be a vegan-friendly ingredient. While sugar itself is a plant-based ingredient, some vegans choose not to eat refined sugar because is often filtered through cattle bone char to get that pure white color.
Are Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips Vegan?
Unfortunately, Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion chips are not vegan. As you may be able to guess from the name, these potato chips use sour cream as a flavoring. Since their sour cream seasoning is made with ingredients like skim milk, cultured cream, lactose, whey protein concentrate, and buttermilk, these chips are not suitable for vegans or anyone else looking to avoid dairy.
Are Lay’s Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips vegan?
No. Lay’s Cheddar & Sour Cream flavored potato chips contain plenty of dairy products, including cheddar cheese, sour cream, milk, cheese cultures, buttermilk, butter, lactose, blue cheese, whey protein isolate, and milk protein concentrate.
Are Lay’s Cheddar Jalapeno Potato Chips vegan?
No, these chips are not vegan. They contain milk ingredients like cheddar cheese, whey, sour cream, and blue cheese, making them unsuitable for vegans.
Are Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Potato Chips vegan?
No, unfortunately. Lay’s Flamin’ Hot flavor uses whey protein, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, buttermilk, lactose, sour cream, and butter.
Are Lay’s Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips vegan?
Yes, the salt & vinegar variety appears to be suitable for plant-based eaters. The only ingredients listed for these chips are potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt & vinegar seasoning, none of which seems to be derived from animal products.
Are Lay’s Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue Potato Chips vegan?
No. This version of the BBQ chip contains cream, skim milk, cheddar cheese, and whey, all of which are dairy products.
Are Lay’s Honey BBQ Potato Chips vegan?
This depends on whether you consider honey and sugar to be vegan-friendly ingredients. Most vegans consider honey to be a non-vegan ingredient because it comes from bees. Additionally, many vegans choose to avoid added sugar because of the possibility of it being filtered through animal bone char.
Are Lay’s Chile Limón Flavored Potato Chips vegan?
Unfortunately, no. The Chile Limón Flavored Potato Chips are made with milk protein concentrate as part of their seasoning mix.
Are Lay’s Limón Flavored Potato Chips vegan?
Lay’s Limón flavored potato chips can be considered vegan-friendly as long as you are okay with added sugars.
Are Lay’s Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips vegan?
Yes, the Dill Pickle flavor of Lay’s is vegan. It only contains potatoes, vegetable oil, and a dill pickle seasoning made of ingredients that aren’t animal-based.
Are Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Potato Chips vegan?
Unlike the normal Dill Pickle variety, the Flamin’ Hot version is not vegan-friendly due to its inclusion of cultured cream, skim milk, and whey in its Flamin’ Hot seasoning.
Are Lay’s Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice Potato Chips vegan?
Surprisingly, yes! The Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice chips are made with potatoes, vegetable oil, and a seasoning mix that doesn’t appear to contain any animal products. However, it does include “natural flavors” as part of its ingredients, which may or may not contain animal products.
The bottom line: Are Lay’s vegan?
The answer to this question depends on the specific flavor you’re interested in, but the news isn’t good for most options. While its flagship product, the Original Potato Chip, is simple and has no animal-based ingredients, many of the other products do contain ingredients that make them unsuitable for vegan eaters.
So if you love a flavorful potato chip but also want to eliminate animals and animal by-products from your diet, you may need to look elsewhere for some vegan snacks.
Photo by Erik Mclean: https://www.pexels.com/photo/unrecognizable-man-with-bag-of-chips-4061441/
