Chocolate and ice cream are perhaps two of the most delightful sweets that you worried about leaving when you chose to be vegan. It may seem that after every great and hearty meal, you’re craving a dessert that may consist of either or both of the two, and you remember that since you’ve chosen the cleaner path, you just can’t enjoy the ones that are readily available at the local store anymore. Well, fret not, my friend, because there are nice places and products that would save the day.
Kilwins is well-known for its sweet and yummy treats. Their sorbetto and their dark chocolate bars are the only realistic options here, and their original recipe for their ice cream remains unchanged and strongly consists of milk and cream, which are staple ingredients for the parlor.
One thing to be clear about up front: Kilwins never describes anything on its menu as vegan, and it deliberately declines the weaker claim too. Of its sorbetto the company says: “Kilwins Sorbetto does not contain dairy ingredients. However, we do not classify it as dairy-free because it is prepared in a facility that also handles dairy products.” Of its ice cream: “since our stores are shared surface facilities, we do not guarantee any of our ice creams are free from dairy or other allergens due to the potential for cross-contamination.”
Kilwins also publishes ingredient information unevenly. Some online-store products carry a full ingredients and allergen block; others have an Ingredients tab that renders completely empty. For anything made in store, the company’s stated policy is in-store only: “We are happy to provide nutritional information on any of our products in-store upon request so that our Guests can make their own nutritional decisions.” Where that block is missing below, we say so rather than fill the gap.
Kilwins Sweets Since 1947
Kilwins has a very humble background that started from couples Katy and Don Kilwin in Petosky, Michigan. The first Kilwin’s Candies and Gifts is still the same headquarters of the franchise today. There are over 140 locations in 25 states that bring the joy and originality of Kilwin’s sweet recipes.
They mainly produce hot fudge, chocolates, and their signature ice creams, but other candies, barks, brittles, popcorn, truffles, and candied fruits are also available. Their methods of production remain unchanged, and so they kept well to their origins of making the finest quality ice cream and confections for their customers. Their equipment is also very traditional, as they use old-school copper kettles for their caramel and marble cooling tables for their fudges. Due to their unique and conventional procedures, people tend to call them “old-fashioned sweets.”
What’s best about Kilwins is that all of their products are fresh, right out of the kitchen, and perfectly prepared with the most caring hands of their chefs and staff. Besides that, the sweet smells, dazzling live preparations, and friendly ambiance would definitely strike any newcomer and frequenters in awe. The products and branches of Kilwins are highly rated in food and travel reviews, including Trip Advisor.
Today, the company is owned by African-American couples Don and Robin McCarty, who were also co-founders of the South Africa Medical Expedition (SAME).
Vegan Options at Kilwins Chocolates
As I’ve said, there’s a great need for a vegan-friendly expansion at Kilwins that would allow our vegan friends to partake in the sweet indulgence of their finely-crafted ice cream and confections that are famed to be one of the best of their kind.
Kilwins is graded by name in PETA’s ice cream chain ranking. Checked in July 2026, that ranking places Kilwins in Grade D, with PETA writing: “Kilwins carries only raspberry- and lemon-flavored vegan sorbet options and has no vegan ice cream options.” PETA does not date the page and states that the “ranking is dynamic, and the information will change as we receive updates from chains or learn of new menu options” — so treat the grade as a snapshot and check PETA’s page for the current one.
For now, you can only count their plant-based choices on one hand — and none of them carry a vegan label from Kilwins. The in-store case is largely out: every fudge flavour is stated to contain dairy and soy, and Kilwins publishes no ingredient information at all for the brittles, barks, popcorn and candied fruit made in its stores.
Lemon Sorbetto
Textured frozen ice with real lemon juice flavor, a perfect cup of goodness to beat the summer heat or simply to cure your taste buds of boredom and savors. Kilwins describes it as “made with real lemon juice and bright citrus flavor” and says its sorbetto generally is “made with water, sugar, and real fruit ingredients, including fruit purée or fruit juice concentrate.” No per-flavour ingredient list and no nutrition panel are published, so honey, egg or colourings cannot be ruled out from what Kilwins puts in writing.
Raspberry Sorbetto
Their second dairy-free-ingredient sorbetto, described by Kilwins as “a vibrant raspberry sorbetto made with real raspberry purée.” Its light red colour is very appealing. As with the lemon, no ingredient list or nutrition panel is published for it.
Limited Edition Mango Sorbetto
A newer addition Kilwins describes as “smooth & creamy frozen mango ice made with real mango puree.” The same two brand statements apply: no dairy ingredients, but not classified as dairy-free because of shared facilities, and no per-flavour ingredient list published.
72% Cacao Dark Chocolate
Sold at $5.99 per 2.25 oz. It can be enjoyed as a dessert bar or for baking purposes.
This is the one Kilwins product on this page with a full, published ingredient block, and it is the strongest option here. Kilwins lists it verbatim as: “INGREDIENTS: chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla. CONTAINS: SOY. PROCESSED IN A SHARED SURFACE FACILITY THAT ALSO PROCESSES EGG, MILK, PEANUT, TREE NUTS AND WHEAT.”
No animal ingredient appears in that list. The shared-facility line is the caveat, and it is Kilwins’ own wording rather than ours — that’s another area they have to improve upon.
Dominican Dark Chocolate
Kilwins describes it as “a dark and bold single origin Dominican chocolate with earthy undertones and hints of spice”, sold at $5.99 per 2.25 oz. It is live on their store.
Beyond that, there is nothing to report, and that is the point: the Ingredients and Nutrition tabs on this product’s page are empty. No ingredient list, no allergen statement, not even a cacao percentage. An earlier version of this page carried confident ingredient and calorie detail for this bar; none of it can be sourced to Kilwins, so it has been removed. Ask in store.
Peruvian Dark Chocolate
Kilwins describes it as “a robust, yet smooth, slightly sweet single origin Peruvian chocolate with a hint of fruit”, also at $5.99 per 2.25 oz.
It is in exactly the same position as the Dominican bar: the Ingredients and Nutrition tabs are empty. The claim that it uses the same base recipe as the 72% Cacao bar, the “contains soy” note and the calorie and macro figures this page used to carry were not sourced from Kilwins and have been removed.
The Best Vegan-Friendly Shops by PETA
If Kilwins can’t serve you, PETA has published a list of shops that can. In a news release dated 15 July 2021, “PETA Gives the Scoop on the Best Shops for Vegan Ice Cream”, PETA named these national chains:
- Dairy Queen — we cover its vegan options here
- Ben & Jerry’s
- Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
- Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream
Best Vegan-Friendly Shops by Regions
The same PETA release named these regional shops:
- Amy’s Ice Creams – TX
- Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop – San Leandro, CA
- Halo Top – LA
- McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams – CA
- OddFellows Ice Cream Co. – Brooklyn, NY
- Perry’s Ice Cream – Northeastern U.S.
- Salt & Straw – West Coast
- Stewart’s Shops – NY
- Van Leeuwen – LA and Brooklyn, NY
Two things to keep in mind before you act on that list. First, it is from 2021. We have not independently verified what any of these shops serve today, so treat it as a starting point and check the shop’s own current menu. An earlier version of this page listed specific flavours and product lines for several of these brands; none of it could be traced to a source, so it has been removed rather than restated.
Second, PETA’s separate, continuously updated ice cream chain ranking no longer treats every name above the same way. As checked in July 2026, Salt & Straw sits under PETA’s “Grade in Detention” heading, where PETA writes that it “may offer unique vegan flavors… but it also has sold foie gras ice cream and has used pig’s blood in previous flavors.” That is how quickly these lists move.
One chain in PETA’s current top grade that we cover ourselves is Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, which PETA places in Grade A (checked July 2026).
Whichever you pick, the point for this page stands: Kilwins is not one of them. Kilwins’ ice cream is a dairy product by its own description, and the only frozen thing in a Kilwins store made without dairy ingredients is the sorbetto, which the company still declines to call dairy-free.
Final Toppings
Here we are at last, and honestly, my mouth was watering as my stomach was growling while I was looking into those vegan-friendly desserts myself.
Anyway, not to lose vision of what we actually talked about here, Kilwins is a great place with awesome treats and awesome people dedicated to putting a sweet smile on your face as you taste one or any of their heartfelt concoctions. However, since they haven’t fully opened their doors yet for a more vegan-friendly ambiance and menu, mostly because of their steadfast adherence to their 70+ years of special recipes, this may not be one of the best vegan-friendly ice cream parlors for now.
If you do come across a branch, you would want to check it out still and have a go with their vegan-friendly options just to show that the plant-based market is growing, and they need to make some changes to accommodate that. Also, if you’re a more prudent vegan, then you might be worried about cross-contamination in their food, and that is certainly up to you.
Just remember that the more you show unwary restaurants that the vegan market is wide open and yearning for more vegan-friendly meals, desserts, and treats, the more they are likely to think of partaking in that rising action and thus will immediately help propagate awareness and care for our precious environment and inhabitants. That’s it for today, and don’t be dismayed by just one great ice cream parlor being short of vegan-friendliness; there are tons more right next door.
