Are Salt and Vinegar Chips Vegan? Can Vegans Eat Salt and Vinegar Chips?

Are Salt and Vinegar Chips Vegan?

Chips are the top go-to snacks when one feels like having something easy, convenient, tasty, and crunchy. They are found everywhere, and even when unsure of what snacks you want, a packet of chips is usually a safe bet. It is not as simple for vegans as grabbing a box of chips with the flavoring you like. You have to check the label for any ingredients that are not vegan-friendly. 

Fortunately, though some salt and vinegar chips may contain milk products, there are popular vegan alternatives that you can easily find. Some are accidentally vegan, while others more consciously cater to providing vegan-friendly options. Either way, salt and vinegar chips seem to be a safer option than other flavors.

Vegan-Friendly Salt and Vinegar Chips

With simple enough ingredients, salt and vinegar are popular choices for a quick and easy vegan snack. What’s better is that popular brands like Lays, Cape Cod, etc., have vegan-friendly salt and vinegar chips. So it is very easy to find them at grocery stores and quick stops. Even then, checking the ingredients and the back of the pack is always safer. Often, the companies change their methods and materials in the production of the chips, so it does not harm to confirm.

The regular Lays Salt And Vinegar Chips are vegan-friendly, but Kettle Cooked Sea Salt And Vinegar Chips are not. It contains milk and does not comply with vegan-friendly standards.

Other than Lays, several additional salt and vinegar chips are safe for vegans to snack on happily. 

Cape Cod Salt And Vinegar Potato Chips and Popchips Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips are good options. They perfectly capture the salty flavor with the vinegar’s satisfying tartness and will satisfy all your salt and vinegar cravings. 

The 7-Eleven Select Kettle Style Salt And Vinegar Chips are also very conveniently vegan and are available everywhere. 

Non-vegan Salt and Vinegar Chips

Even seemingly harmless flavors like plain salt, vinegar, lemon, etc., can contain ingredients that make them unsafe for vegans. It is frustrating when you only want simple chips of your favorite seasoning, but you must thoroughly inspect every detail on the packet’s back. Most brands indicate if the product contains milk, but the non-vegan ingredient can often be hidden between the seemingly harmless ingredients. Sometimes the source of the component is not even specified. But since salt and vinegar chips do not use various elements, they are mostly safer for vegans. 

However, many salt and vinegar chips have lactose and milk. It could be cross-contamination, where the words May Contain Milk are seen on the package’s back. In other instances, milk powder and lactose may be used as blending agents to temper the vinegar. 

Sadly, those chips are better avoided and substituted with vegan-friendly alternatives.

Here are some chips that are not vegan-friendly.

• The Lay’s Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips
• Dirty Kettle Chips Bag, Sea Salt And Vinegar chips
• Miss Vickie’s Sea Salt Vinegar Flavored Kettle Cooked Potato Chips 
• Herr’s Salt Vinegar Potato Chips
• Pringles Salt And Vinegar Potato Crisps

Many of these chips contain milk, lactose, and buttermilk, which are not safe for vegans. Although the salt and vinegar flavor may not be vegan, many of these companies have other flavors that are entirely vegan-friendly and can be a snack if you want to change your tastes. Some include chips from Lays, Pringles, Fritos, Doritos, and more!

What Are Salt and Vinegar Chips Made Of?

Most salt and vinegar chips typically contain the same ingredients, although there may be a few differences depending on the brand. Here are the common ingredients used to be completely cruel and animal-free, making them a safe vegan choice:

• Oil – mostly sunflower oil, canola oil, or corn oil is used
• Potatoes
• Salt (or sea salt)
• Vinegar
• Maltodextrin (plant-based)
• Malic acid
• Sodium diacetate
• Sugar 
• Citric acid
• Natural flavors

There may be additional ingredients that could be included depending on the brand. It is important to note that the maltodextrin included in your chips should be derived from plants. It is usually mentioned if it is plant-based, as most maltodextrin for chips is taken from corn.

Another point is that the natural flavors included in the chips may or may not be from plants. A lot of times, it is not specified, and there is no surefire way to confirm. It should typically be vegan and taken from plants, but there will be some dubiousness around the natural flavors.

While Lays in the US doesn’t contain any milk products in their salt and vinegar chips, the flavor in other countries might contain milk products, so it is always good to be cautious. There is a possibility there are no actual milk products in them, but due to cross-contamination, they could be deemed unfit for vegans. Companies often find it easier to include a warning than details about the source, which is a frustrating reality.

Another ingredient to be careful about is sugar. Sugar is mostly from natural plant sources like sugarcane, but sometimes, there may be a little cross-contamination with bone char involved. However, this is becoming increasingly rare as the bone char is replaced with activated carbon and ion exchange resins.

Are Salt and Vinegar Chips a Healthy Snack?

Truth be told, they’re not very healthy. Sure, they’re delicious and satisfying and are a perfect choice when one is chilling or wants a light snack, but they don’t necessarily contain healthy ingredients. Even if they do, their production method, additives, and preservatives make them an unhealthy option. 

You can have them occasionally, but you must follow up with a healthy meal and not just depend on chips for your nutrition and calories. Since the chips are usually deep-fried, they have many carbs and fat. They also contain a lot of sodium, and Harvard Health Publishing has urged towards choosing healthier alternatives to junk foods like chips. 

That is why it is vital to limit your salt and vinegar chips intake.

One way to make salt and vinegar chips healthier would be to make them at home. This way, you can control what goes in. Alternatively, you can bake them instead of deep-frying them, which would cut the fat considerably. You can even season your kale and zucchini chips with salt and vinegar flavorings as they would make a much healthier snack than the packaged ones.

Healthy Vegan Alternatives to Salt and Vinegar Chips

Though having salt and vinegar chips is handy and time-efficient, it is not healthy. With a little effort and some tricks, you could make yourself healthy alternatives to your favorite salt and vinegar chips. You can consume them guilt-free, and a big plus point is that they will only include the ingredient you put in. You can control and customize it according to your tastes. A popular healthy and vegan alternative to salt and vinegar chips is roasted chickpeas. You can flavor these roasted chickpeas with salt, vinegar flavoring, or any other you like. They’re delicious, simple, and entirely too tempting. 

Another healthy alternative would be kale chips. Since they retain their nutritional value even after turning into chips, they’re a highly recommended snack. You can flavor them with your favorite seasonings and customize them according to your taste. That is the beauty of cooking and making things yourself.

You can even add dehydrated salt and vinegar flavoring to your popcorn. That is sure to take your popcorn to another level. Lastly, you can make zucchini chips and season them with salt and vinegar seasoning. You might be surprised at how good they turn out.

Final Thoughts

Salt and vinegar chips are a great option when looking for an easy vegan snack. It is essential to be careful about the ingredients listed on the back as they can often contain milk products and lactose. Compared to other flavors available for chips, salt and vinegar are a much safer option for vegan snacks. They’re crunchy and irresistible but not very healthy, so be sure to control your consumption and balance it with healthy snacks.