Is Baking Powder Vegan or Gluten-Free?

The next time you bake, you might want to give a thought out to your vegan and gluten-intolerant friends!

What is baking powder?

Baking powder is used as a yeast substitute for many cakes and baked goods. If you were to put yeast in a cake, the fermentation flavors would overpower the cake and you’d be left with a lot of cake that no one wanted. 

Enter baking powder! Baking powder is a concoction made up of baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. It releases a type of gas and allows your cake to become light, fluffy, and risen. 

Is baking powder vegan?

There are no animal-derived products within the baking powder, so yes it is vegan. Don’t worry, you no longer have to say goodbye to your favorite treats when you switch to a vegan lifestyle. 

We cannot find any brands of baking powder that state that they are not vegan, so it is assumed that all of them are vegan with no animal products within the formula. 

Is baking powder gluten-free?

More good news is that baking powder is often also gluten-free. Some brands choose to use wheat starch instead of cornstarch making their baking powder not gluten-free, so make sure to look out for this in the ingredients list. 

The good thing is that the ingredients list for baking powder is short and sweet, so you won’t have to be looking for too long to see whether it is gluten-free or not. 

List of vegan and gluten-free baking powder brands

To take the hard work out for you, below are five brands that are verified to be both vegan and gluten-free. These brands do not have any issues with cross-contamination either,  so you don’t have to worry about the baking powder being invertedly not vegan or gluten-free.

• Bob’s Red Mill
• Davis
• Argo
• Clabber Girl
• Rumford

Summary

Baking powder is vegan-friendly and should be gluten-free as well. To ensure that it is gluten-free, check the ingredients list for wheat starch. If this is not present and cornstarch is in its place, the baking powder is gluten-free. Hooray for baked goods!

Is baking powder vegan and gluten-free?

Baking powder does not contain any ingredients that are derived from animals or the byproducts of animals, therefore it is suitable for vegans. 

There does not seem to be any variation of baking powder that is not vegan-friendly, so it shouldn’t matter which brand of baking powder you end up choosing. With that being said, if you’re ever unsure, it’s always worth checking the label for the ingredients list. 

Here is a list of brands that we know are definitely suitable for vegans as we checked them ourselves: 

• Argo (Double-Acting and Kosher) 
• Bob’s Red Mill (Double-Acting, Non-GMO, and Kosher) 
• Clabber Girl (Double-Acting and Kosher) 
• Davis (Double-Acting and Non-GMO) 
• Rumford (Double-Acting, Non-GMO, and Kosher)

Which flour is vegan?

The majority of flour you can find in your local grocery store will be vegan, but so you know which ones to look out for, here is a list where we’ve rounded up all the types of flour that are suitable vegans. 

• White flour 
• Almost flour 
• Whole wheat flour 
• Enriched unbleached flour 
• Self-raising flour
• Gluten-free flour (double-check if meant for quick breads and desserts as these may contain ingredients that are not vegan) 
• All-purpose flour 
• Bleached flour 
• Malted barley flour 
• Tapioca flour 
• Semolina flour 
• Baking flour 
• Rice flour
• Corn flour 
• Coconut flour 
• Gold medal flour 
• Sorghum flour 
• Konjac Flour 
• Cake flour 
• Chickpea flour 
• Buckwheat flour 
• Oat flour 

The only type of flour that is absolutely 100% not vegan is cricket flour. We’re not even sure that it’s deserving of being classed as flour, as it’s made of ground cricket bugs. 

What is baking powder made of?

The exact recipe will depend on the brand of baking powder that you end up buying, but as a general rule, you can expect the ingredients list of this leavening agent to include a mixture of baking soda, cream of tartar, and some form of moisture absorber (for example, corn starch). This behaves in a similar way to yeast, but at a much faster rate, which makes it perfect for use in food that doesn’t contain any acid of its own, like in batter for cookies, cakes, pastries, pies, or quickbread. 

Can vegans have self-raising flour?

Yes, self-raising flour is perfectly fine for vegans to consume. Like most flour, it doesn’t contain any ingredients that are derived from animals or animal byproducts, so there is nothing in there that would be unsuitable for someone following a vegan diet. 

Self-raising flours tend to be of the white rather than the wholemeal variety, and the only additional ingredients that you wouldn’t find in regular plain flour are baking powder and salt. This will help whatever it is you’re baking to rise better, and you can use this flour when making your favorite vegan recipe for dishes like bread, muffins, baked goods, or even pizza crusts.