Which Doritos Are Vegan?

One of the hardest things about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle is having to cut out some of your favorite foods, especially snacks for when you’re on the go, as these are harder to replicate yourself.

Doritos are a favorite choice of chips in households all over the world, but the question is, are they vegan?  

Owned by the same parent company as Tostitos, Frito-Lay, Doritos are available in a wide range of flavors, and the good news is that, yes, some of them are suitable for vegans!

Don’t get too excited though, as you can only choose from three out of twenty-one, so there’s clearly some progress to still be made in terms of being able to offer a variety for vegans. 

You just have to be careful about which flavors are vegan-friendly, as sometimes it is not always obvious. This is due to various manufacturing methods or cross-contamination, which can sometimes cause a seemingly safe flavor to actually be unsuitable for vegans. 

In fact, some vegans may choose to stay away from Doritos entirely, as they’re made in a factory that also produces milk products, therefore there is always a small chance of cross-contamination, even with the flavors which contain only vegan-friendly ingredients.

Certain flavors are off the table even for vegetarians, as they’re made with chicken-based ingredients or animal derivatives, such as milk powder or cheesy seasoning. This includes flavors such as jacked ranch dipped hot wings and salsa verde.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at which flavors are suitable for vegans and we’ll go through their ingredients so you can see for yourself. This will help you get better at spotting non-vegan-friendly ingredients, which is an essential skill for vegans. 

Doritos Flavors That Are Suitable for Vegans

Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos

Get ready to feel the heat building with every crunchy bite of the spicy sweet chili flavor Dorito chips. It’s a family favorite for many and amazingly, it’s completely vegan. That means it contains absolutely no animal products or animal-derived ingredients. 

Spicy sweet chili Doritos contain the following ingredients:

Corn, Vegetable Oil, (Corn, Canola, and/or Sunflower Oil), Salt, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Fructose, Sodium Diacetate, Soy Sauce (Soybean Wheat, Salt) Onion Powder, Maltodextrin (Made from Corn), Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Garlic Powder, Torula Yeast, Malic Acid, Extractives of Paprika, Spices, Caramel Color, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Dextrose, and Natural Flavor. 

CONTAINS WHEAT AND SOY INGREDIENTS. 

Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips Doritos

You’ll notice that the toasted corn flavor version has a much shorter ingredients list than either the spicy sweet chili or the blaze Doritos. Simple but a staple, lightly salted chips make the perfect base for so many snacks. 

Toasted corn tortilla chips Doritos contain the following ingredients:

Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, and/or Sunflower Oil, and Salt).

CONTAINS CORN AND ITS DERIVATIVES.

Blaze Doritos

The last Doritos option that makes it onto the list of vegan-friendly options is the blaze Doritos. Boasting a bold kick in every bite, the blaze Doritos are packed with all of the flavor and none of the animal byproducts. 

Blaze Doritos contain the following ingredients:

Corn, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Corn, and/or Canola Oil, Maltodextrin (Made from Corn), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Salt, Sugar, Dextrose, Spices, Garlic Powder, Monosodium Glutamate, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Jalapeño Pepper Powder, Artificial Color (Red 40 Lake), and Modified Corn Starch. 

CONTAINS CORN AND ITS DERIVATIVES. 

Dorito Flavors That Are Suitable for Vegetarians

We’ve already explained that some of the Doritos flavors contain chicken-based ingredients, which vegans and vegetarians alike would avoid for obvious reasons, but there’s another key ingredient in a number of these chip flavors that you might not already know about. 

Some cheeses contain rennet, which is animal-derived and therefore considered off-limits by a number of vegetarians as well as vegans. Unfortunately, this appears in a lot of the Dorito flavors, so this should really fall into the “not suitable for vegetarians” category. 

For this reason, we only recommend the three vegan options we’ve included in this list as ones that are okay for vegetarians, but it will ultimately come down to how strict you are and whether or not you would consider it okay. 

Vegan Dorito Dips 

You don’t have to forget about getting a dip just because you’re following a vegan diet, either! Unsurprisingly, both nacho cheese and sour cream and chive are flavors you should stay away from, but there are two dips that are perfectly fine for a vegan to dip into. 

These are the mild and hot salsa flavor dips. 

Mild Salsa Dip

The mild salsa dip is perfect for parties or for loading up your chips for a full taste sensation. It hits the sweet spot of being bold in flavor without overpowering your mouth with heat, so it’s a great alternative to the hot salsa if you’re not a fan of spicy foods. 

Mild salsa Doritos dip contains the following ingredients:

Doritos Mild Salsa Tomatoes (68%) (Puree, Diced, Crushed), Capsicum, (14%), Onion (13%), Vinegar, Salt, Sugar, Garlic, Vegetable Gum (Xanthan), Firming Agent, (Calcium Chloride), Food Acid (Citric), Coriander, Vegetable Oil, and Spice Extract (Chili).  

FREE FROM ARTIFICIAL COLORS AND FLAVORINGS.

Hot Salsa Dip

If you’re better at handling the heat and you want to feel a bit of a kick to your snacking experience then you might want to try the Doritos hot salsa dip as a spicier alternative to the mild flavor dip. It’s even bolder and more intense, and it’s great for sharing with friends. 

Hot salsa dip contains the following ingredients:

Tomato Purée (49%), Chopped Tomatoes (20%), Onion, Peppers (11%), Jalapeño Peppers (3%), Spirit Vinegar, Salt, Modified Maize Starch, Sugar, Garlic Purée, Capsicum Extract, and Coriander. 

FREE FROM ARTIFICIAL COLORS AND FLAVORINGS.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it. Three vegan options, and a few more that are suitable for vegetarians, too. Like we’ve already mentioned, the manufacturing process isn’t one hundred percent guaranteed as these chips are made in a factory that also handles milk products, so there’s no way to know what the food has come into contact with. 

Some vegans will be completely fine with this, drawing their line at the inclusion of animal derivatives in the actual food itself, but more stringent vegans may choose to avoid them altogether with a kind of ‘better safe than sorry’ stance about it. 

We hope this article has been helpful to you and that you like the sound of at least one of the flavors that are vegan-friendly! Spicy sweet chili Doritos are up there with some of our favorite chips, but to be honest we’d highly recommend them all. Why not get all three and mix them together in a bowl for you to snack on so you can find your favorite.