Answer: Yes.
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Are Quaker Rice Cakes Vegan?
Quaker Rice Cakes has a delectable set of flavors that we would love to have any time of day. The food manufacturer ensures that every product they release makes a great snack or meal for everyone. Their rice cakes, for instance, are rich in vitamins, but for vegans, we have to check more of their products before adding them to the cart.
Most Quaker Rice Cakes are gluten-free may it be vegan or non-vegan. They are ideal for those with low gluten tolerance. But some gluten-free Quaker Rice Cakes flavors aren’t vegan-friendly, including their Chocolate Rice Cakes.
If you’re vegan and a fan of rice cakes, it’s important to check the ingredients before anything else to ensure they don’t contain animal byproducts. For Quaker Rice Cakes, let’s find out more about it in this article.
What Are Quaker Rice Cakes?
Rice Cakes are puffed rice, a typical food snack made with whole grain, condensed and shaped into a circular cake. They are a prevalent snack in Asia, including Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Rice cakes are the go-to snack in the ’90s that offers low calories and are mostly gluten-free. Quaker Rice Cakes are no exception, which was founded in the ’80s as an alternative to bread offering low carbs, targeting women and working moms as their go-to snack, especially at work.
Quaker Rice Cakes are baked to crispy perfection and come in many different flavors that you can eat right out of the bag or have them with healthy toppings. Popular toppings include avocado, jelly, peanut butter, yogurt, granola, chili flakes, hummus, cucumber, and spinach, among others. For vegans, you can pick the vegan flavors and toppings, which make a healthy snack at any time of day.
Vegan Quaker Rice Cakes
I can’t remember the last time I held one of Quaker Rice Cakes, but one thing is for sure, they’re tasty and are quick and easy to prepare at home. What you’d like the most is that Quaker made some of its flavors safe for vegans. You can check them out below.
- Quaker Rice Cakes Lightly Salted Flavor. It’s made with whole-grain brown rice and rice, baked crispy, with only 35 calories, and gluten-free. It contains no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavor, or added colors. You can top it with vegan Greek Yogurt or Raspberries and Lemon Zest.
- Quaker Salt-Free Rice Cakes. Here’s another gluten-free flavor that’s made only with whole-grain brown rice. It’s vegan-friendly with no added preservatives. It’s best served with hummus, cucumber, and vegan tomato and feta.
- Quaker Apple Cinnamon Rice Cakes. This is made with whole-grain brown rice, sugar, fructose, maltodextrin, cinnamon, natural flavor, and soy lecithin. Looking at the ingredients, this flavor is safe for vegans. It’s gluten-free, low cholesterol, with no high fructose corn syrup. It gets tastier when served with vegan yogurt, dried cranberries, and pecans.
- Quaker Caramel Corn Rice Cakes. It’s made out of whole-grain brown rice, degerminated milled corn, sugar, fructose, maltodextrin, caramel color, salt, natural flavor, and soy lecithin. If you’re wondering about the caramel color, Quaker did not identify if there’s condensed milk included in it, as it can be an allergen. It’s gluten-free with no artificial flavors. Serve it with vegan sweeteners, and you’re good to go!
Non-Vegan Quaker Rice Cakes
So, at least four of Quaker Rice Cakes are vegan-friendly that you can add to the cart when you go to the grocery. But you also need to know the other flavors that are non-vegan to ensure you don’t consume them by accident. Most of these flavors contain milk, which makes them non-vegan.
- Quaker Buttered Popcorn Rice Cakes. It’s made with whole-grain brown rice, degerminated milled corn, salt, and natural flavor. The main ingredients could have been enough if only milk isn’t involved. According to its product label, it contains milk ingredients, which makes it non-vegan.
- Quaker Chocolate Rice Cakes. The product labels say that the ingredients include dry whole milk, which is animal-sourced. The chocolate flavor is also gluten-free, except that it has milk ingredients.
- Quaker Tomato and Basil Rice Cakes. While the name itself is very tempting for vegans, unfortunately, this also contains milk ingredients. It’s gluten-free, though.
- Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes. Cultured cheddar cheese can be vegan-friendly, depending on how and what was used in the process. But for this flavor, milk is involved, which is not plant-based. This is also certified gluten-free.
- Quaker Everything Rice Cakes. Here’s another gluten-free flavor that uses milk in the process, which is not suitable for vegans like you.
So there you have it. It’s definitely worth checking out the Quaker Rice Cakes to see which flavors you can include in your vegan diet.
But let’s find out how healthy rice cakes are.
Are Rice Cakes Healthy?
Low calories. Low fat. These are among the top qualities that rice cakes offer, which is great for those who don’t want to gain more weight. But rice cakes don’t provide very helpful nutrients to consumers. They also provide low content of vitamins and minerals.
The process of puffing rice also lowers the antioxidants present in the rice itself, which is not a great attraction to decreasing the risk of heart diseases and certain cancers. Rice cakes are fat-free and contain little to no protein or fiber. And just like any other brand, Quaker Rice Cakes are no exception.
When eaten alone, rice cakes will likely increase your blood sugar, which is also not good for those who have diabetes. This is why it’s recommended to eat them with vegan toppings that are rich in protein and fiber. Quaker Rice Cakes, for instance, are mostly carbs with less than 1 g of protein per serving/cake.
Apparently, Quaker Rice Cakes isn’t a very healthy option for a snack. The only thing that’s good about eating these is they’re fat-free and low in calories, which don’t gain you more weight. Quaker Rice Cakes only contain 50 calories or less.
Rice Cakes Nutritional Information
While rice cakes are among the easiest and go-to snacks, they don’t provide impressive nutrients, especially when eaten alone. Check out this nutritional information, which most rice cakes, including Quaker Rice Cakes, have.
- Calories: 35 – 50
- Carbs: 7 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Fat: 0 g
- Niacin: 4% of the daily value (DV)
- Pantothenic acid: 2% of the daily value
- Manganese: 15% of the daily value
- Copper: 4% of the daily value
- Selenium: 4% of the daily value
- Magnesium: 3% of the daily value
- Phosphorus: 3% of the daily value
- Zinc: 2% of the daily value
On the plus side, rice cakes are typically made with whole-grain brown rice, which is known for lowering the risk of chronic diseases. According to experts, those who include whole-grain in their diet have a 17% lower risk of mortality than those who don’t.
So before adding rice cakes to the cart, check the ingredients if they are whole-grain brown rice. Quaker Rice Cakes are made with whole-grain brown rice, which is a good attribution for this go-to snack.
Vegan Rice Cakes Options
Not all rice cakes are vegan, which makes Quaker Rice Cakes one of them. To give you more alternatives, we checked some of the best vegan rice cake brands that you can consider the next time you make a trip to the grocery.
- Lundberg Organic Sea Salt. The company itself certified this flavor vegan.
- Kim’s Magic Pop Original Flavor. These have no added sugar or fat. They’re also vegan-friendly.
- Paskesz Ultra Thin Rice Cakes with Quinoa. Although it’s listed as gluten-free, the label says it can have some or a few traces of gluten, which is not ideal for those who are gluten-sensitive.
- Landau Thin Cakes. Here’s another vegan rice cake brand that only involves whole-grain brown rice and salt in the making.
- Kim’s Deli Pop Cinnamon Flavor. Cinnamon is one of the best flavors for rice cakes, and Kim’s Deli did not disappoint with this tasty snack.
- Lundberg Organic Cinnamon Toast. Although not all cinnamon is vegan, Lundberg Organic’s cinnamon rice cakes are. They mostly use organic ingredients for these rice cakes, and they taste really good too!
The Bottom Line
Just like other rice cake brands, Quaker Rice Cakes aren’t the best option for a healthy go-to snack. However, one of their main ingredients, like whole-grain brown rice, provides great benefits when it comes to reducing the risk of chronic diseases. But rice cakes can also increase your blood sugar.
On the bright side, if you are a fan of Quaker Rice Cakes, always consider having it with healthy toppings such as fruits and other vegan jams or sweeteners that are rich in protein and fiber. This can help balance the nutrients you can get out of eating rice cakes as part of your vegan diet.
What’s important is you’re living a healthy lifestyle, which is one of the top priorities for vegans.
