Are Pringles Vegan? Only These Flavors Are…

You love Pringles, but you’re vegan, or will be soon. You’ve heard they do some vegan flavors, but which ones are animal free?

Here’s a list of vegan Pringles:

  • Pringles Original.
  • Pringles Paprika.
  • Pringles Sriracha Asian Chili Sauce.
  • Pringles Wasabi & Soy Sauce.
  • Pringles Salsa de Chile Habanero.
  • Pringles Wavy Classic Salted.
  • Pringles Lightly Salted Original.
  • Pringles Kickin’ Chicken Taco and Pringles Bacon.

Below we’ll look at why these flavors are vegan, which Pringles flavors aren’t vegan, and help you decide which snacks will be best for you when embracing veganism.

Vegan Pringles Varieties

Original Pringles Are Vegan

I get asked quite a bit if the original Pringles are vegan—probably due to their unique texture. Any time a food product has a unique texture, one has to wonder whether any animal products were needed to achieve it. The texture, in this case, is achieved simply by using dehydrated potato flour. So, no problems there.

Specifically, the actual chip component of Pringles (i.e. minus flavor ingredients) contains 42% potato content (dehydrated potatoes), with the remainder being wheat starch and flours (corn and rice) along with an emulsifier, vegetable oils, and salt.4

So, these are 100% Vegan.

Do Pringles Contain Palm Oil?

No, the Pringles I’ve run across do not contain palm oil.

The ingredients label for Pringles Original Potato Crisps includes the follwing:5

  • Dried potatoes
  • Vegetable oil (corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil and/or sunflower oil)
  • Rice flour
  • Wheat starch
  • Maltodextrin
  • Salt
  • Dextrose

This is good news for vegans because many in the community want to avoid palm oil due to the devastating effects its cultivation has on the environment. The presence of palm oil doesn’t render a food product non-vegan by most standards, but many vegans do want to avoid it and it’s always nice to know when a product doesn’t contain the stuff.

Pringles® Wavy Classic Salted Are Vegan

These contain:6

  • Dried potatoes
  • Vegetable oils (no palm oil)
  • Degerminated yellow corn flour
  • Cornstarch
  • Rice flour
  • Maltodextrin
  • Mono- and diglycerides
  • Salt
  • Wheat starch

Pringles® Lightly Salted Original Are Vegan

These are also suitable for vegans.

They contain:7

  • Dried potatoes
  • Vegetable oil
  • Degerminated yellow corn flour
  • Cornstarch
  • Rice flour
  • Maltodextrin
  • Mono- and diglycerides
  • Salt
  • Wheat starch
A Note on Mono- and Diglycerides

Mono- and diglycerides are like the triglycerides (TGs) in our fat cells but contain one and two fatty acids (respectively) attached to a glycerol backbone, instead of three FAs like TGs.8

They’re used as emulsifiers to help ingredients stay mixed. Industrially, they tend to be produced by reacting triglycerides with glycerol.9

They can be animal-derived if the TGs used for the reaction are sourced from animals. However, many plants contain TGs so the ingredients are often completely vegan-friendly.

Not all vegans want to avoid these, and food products containing the additive aren’t considered non-vegan by most standards.

But, if you’re an especially prudent vegan, this is something to keep in mind. You may want to stick with the original (non-wavy) version above.

Pringles Kickin’ Chicken Taco Flavored Potato Crisps Are Vegan

Don’t ask me how this happened. But, no animal ingredients are listed on the label.

Specifically, these contain:10

  • Dried Potatoes
  • Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following: Corn Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Soybean Oil, And/Or Sunflower Oil)
  • Degerminated Yellow Corn Flour
  • Cornstarch
  • Rice Flour
  • Maltodextrin
  • Mono And Diglycerides
  • Spices
  • Tomato Powder
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Natural And Artificial Flavor
  • Monosodium Glutamate
  • Sodium Diacetate
  • Onion Powder
  • Yeast Extract
  • Paprika Extract (Color)
  • Citric Acid
  • Wheat Starch

I am curious what lurks behind “natural and artificial flavors” in this case. Generally, when “Natural and Artificial Flavors” is listed with no additional information, it means that there are no real meat derivatives in the package. When this is the case, the flavors referred to are most likely derived from dried vegetable powders, salt, and pepper, etc.

A lot of non-animal-derived ingredients impart a savory meat flavor (think MSG). Umami is a category of taste in (like sweet, sour, bitter, and salt), that corresponds to the flavor of the amino acid glutamate which is found abundantly in non-animal sources.

Pringles Bacon Flavored Potato Crisps Are Vegan

Another surprising one.

These include:11

  • Dried potatoes
  • Vegetable oil
  • Corn flour
  • Wheat starch
  • Maltodextrin
  • Mono- and diglycerides
  • Salt
  • Rice flour
  • MSG
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Yeast extract
  • Torula yeast
  • Sugar
  • Spices
  • Caramel color
  • Dextrose
  • Citric acid
  • Disodium inosinate
  • Disodium guanylate
  • Coffee
  • Paprika extract (for color)
  • Natural flavors (including natural smoke flavor)

A Note on Smoke Flavor

I get asked a lot of liquid smoke is vegan. The stuff is actually made from smoke, so it’s 100% vegan-friendly.

Wood chips and sawdust are burned at high temperatures, at which point the particles of the smoke are put into condensers. The process results in a concentrated liquid with a strong smoke flavor.

A Note on Caramel Color

Caramel is a popular non-vegan candy so folks often want to know if caramel color is derived from actual caramel. It is produced in a manner very similar to caramel via a browning reaction using simple sugars. But, the type of sugar used to produce caramel color tend to be sugars other than lactose.12

So, caramel color is perfectly vegan-friendly.

Pringles Sriracha Asian Chili Sauce Potato Crisps Are Vegan

Ingredients include Original Pringles ingredients plus:13

  • Mono- and diglycerides
  • Sodium diacetate
  • MSG
  • Hot sauce (red peppers, vinegar, salt, garlic)
  • Citric acid
  • Natural and artificial flavors
  • Chii pepper
  • Disodium inosinate
  • Disodium guanylate
  • Malic acid
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Paprika extract
  • Red 40 Lake

A Note on Red 40

Red 40 or Allura red is not to be confused with Red 4 (carmine). They have a similar color and name so they’re often confused with each other. The above contains Red 40 which is derived from petroleum. Red 4, on the other hand, is derived from beetles. Thankfully, Pringles don’t make use of Red 4.

Pringles Wasabi & Soy Sauce Potato Crisps Are Vegan

These contain the usual ingredients plus a few extra spices and additives, all of which are vegan-friendly. They also contain mono- and diglycerides, so they may not be suitable for extra strict vegans.14

Pringles Salsa de Chile Habanero Potato Crisps Are Vegan

These contain the usual ingredients with extra spices you’d expect in a salsa-flavored snack. They don’t contain glycerides, so they’re suitable for vegans who want to restrict this ingredient.15

Are There Any Vegan BBQ Varieties?

Unfortunately, barbecue Pringles are not vegan as they contain whey protein as an additive.

At least, according to the website.32

But, great value puts out a food product called Stack Attack which is basically the same thing. Their BBQ doesn’t have any animal products.

I’ve tried them before, and they’re really good.31

Non-Vegan Pringles Varieties

Pringles® Salt & Vinegar Aren’t Vegan

This was really surprising. Salt and vinegar should be an “accidentally vegan” flavor in snack foods.

But, unfortunately, these contain lactose in addition to the Original Pringle ingredients:16

Lactose is the simple sugar found in milk. Milk is made up of about 2–8% lactose by weight and several million tons of the stuff is produced annually as a by-product of the dairy industry.17

Pringles® Screamin’ Dill Pickle Aren’t Vegan

These contain lactose and whey protein.18

When I first saw the ingredients in the Salt and Vinegar flavor, I thought “that’s okay, I’m sure the dill pickle flavor will be good to go.” Yet another almost vegan snack food fallen prey to milk products.

Pringles® Memphis BBQ Aren’t Vegan

At first, I thought  “yayy, a BBQ flavor without honey.” But, not so fast. These have milk obscured in the natural and artificial flavors. Specifically, it’s listed as “Natural and artificial flavors (contains milk).”19

Pringles® BBQ Aren’t Vegan

I was surprised and disappointed to have to inlude these on the list of non-vegan Pringles. BBQ tends to be vegan, but this version contains whey protein. Whey is a protein that makes up about 20% of the proteins found in milk. It’s used to boost nutrition and improve mouthfeel.

These contain ingredients for the original Pringles plus:20

  • Sugar
  • Mono- and diglycerides
  • Tomato powder
  • Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
  • Citric acid
  • Onion powder
  • Spices
  • Garlic powder
  • Yeast extract
  • Hydrolized corn protein
  • Malted barley flour
  • Malic acid
  • Disodium inosinate
  • Disodium guanylate
  • Paprika extract color
  • Natural flavors
  • Whey
  • Wheat starch

Pringles® Cheddar Cheese Aren’t Vegan

This one’s obvious. Cheese flavor, even if it’s far from all-natural, contains a number of milk products.

These contain:21

  • Whey
  • Pasteurized milk
  • Cheese cultures
  • Enzymes
  • Buttermilk
  • Butter (cream and salt)
  • Nonfat milk

Pringles® Cheddar & Sour Cream Aren’t Vegan

These contain:22

  • Milk
  • Cheese cultures
  • Sodium caseinate
  • Cream
  • Nonfat milk
  • Reduced lactose whey
  • Blue cheese
  • Cultured non-fat milk

Pringles® Pizza Aren’t Vegan

These contain:23

  • Whey
  • Milk
  • Cheese cultures
  • Buttermilk

Pringles® Ranch Aren’t Vegan

These contain:24

  • Buttermilk
  • Cultured non-fat milk
  • Cream

Pringles® Sour Cream & Onion Aren’t Vegan

These include:25

  • Whey
  • Cream
  • Non-fat milk
  • Buttermilk
  • Cultured non-fat milk

Pringles® Buffalo Ranch Aren’t Vegan

These contain:26

  • Whey solids
  • Buttermilk
  • Whey protein concentrate

Pringles® Honey Mustard Aren’t Vegan

You guessed it… these contain honey.

They also contain lactose which, unlike lactic acid (often derived from beets), is always non-vegan.27

Pringles® Jalapeño Aren’t Vegan

Another not-so-obvious one. I really got my hopes up for this one because I love jalapeno-flavored snacks. But, alas, it contains whey protein as a food additive.28

If you’ve ever had these, you probably noticed they’re a bit on the creamy side which is always a red flag. Anyway, you were astute to check with this article first.

Pringles® Extra Hot Aren’t Vegan

Looks like we lost another hot and spicy flavor.

These include whey protein in the ingredients.29

Pringles French Onion Dip Potato Crips Aren’t Vegan

These contain:30

  • Non-fat milk
  • Cultured non-fat milk
  • Cream

Are Pringles Vegan? Final Thoughts

Yes some flavors of Pringles are vegan, namely: Pringles Original, Pringles Paprika, Pringles Sriracha Asian Chili Sauce, Pringles Wasabi & Soy Sauce, Pringles Salsa de Chile Habanero, Pringles Wavy Classic Salted, Pringles Lightly Salted Original, Pringles Kickin’ Chicken Taco and Pringles Bacon.

Pringles is a popular brand of potato and wheat-based stackable chips. They’ve been around since the 60s where they were first marketed as “Pringle’s Newfangled Potato Chips.” Eventually, the brand was sold to Kellogg’s in 2012 and the products are now sold in more than 140 countries.1,2

They’re among the most popular snacks alongside Lay’s, Cheetos, and Doritos with 2.2% market share globally.3

They come in dozens of flavors these days, so answering the question “are Pringles are vegan?” makes little sense. That’s why we decided to break things down, flavor by flavor.

I don’t know about you, but that was enlightening for me. Of the classic flavors—listed as favorites on the Pringles website—all but the Pringles Original are non-vegan. Even flavors like salt and vinegar make use of milk derivatives.

The only flavors that qualified as vegan were the original (including wavy and reduced-salt) and some, but not all, of the obscure flavors. I don’t know how long some of the fringe flavors have been around, or how long they’ll continue to be available.

All we can hope for is that Pringles moves away from using some of the animal-derived ingredients they’re currently using.

Anyway, I hope that was helpful. Thanks for reading.

References

  1. “Kellogg Company Completes Pringles Acquisition”. Kellogg Company. 31 May 2012. http://newsroom.kelloggcompany.com/2012-05-31-Kellogg-Company-Completes-Pringles-Acquisition
  2. Chapman, Michelle (6 April 2011). “Pringles sold to growing empire”. The Sun News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. https://archive.is/20130204030823/http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/04/06/2083370/pringles-sold-to-growing-empire.html
  3. Culliney, Kacey (17 June 2013). “Kellogg inks Pringles EMEA expansion plan”. Bakeryandsnacks.com. https://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Article/2013/06/17/Kellogg-Pringles-expansion-in-Europe
  4. Pringles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringles
  5. Pringles Original Potato Crisps, 1.3 Oz. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pringles-Original-Potato-Crisps-1-3-Oz/103897471
  6. Smart Label. Pringles Wavy Classic Salted. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000202278#ingredients
  7. Smart Label. Pringles Lightly Salted. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138812#ingredients
  8. IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the “Gold Book”) (1997). Online corrected version: (2006–) “glycerides”
  9. Sonntag, Norman O. V. (1982). “Glycerolysis of fats and methyl esters — Status, review, and critique”. Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society. 59 (10): 795A–802A. doi:10.1007/BF02634442. ISSN 0003-021X
  10. Pringles Kickin’ Chicken Taco Flavored Potato Crisps. https://www.instacart.com/kroger/products/17090649-pringles-potato-crisps-chips-kickin-chicken-taco-5-5-oz
  11. Pringles Bacon Flavored Potato Crisps, 5.96, Oz. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pringles-Bacon-Flavored-Potato-Crisps-5-96-Oz/35137211
  12. Caramel Color. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color#Production
  13. Pringles Sriracha Asian Chili Sauce Potato Crisps. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pringles-Sriracha-Asian-Chili-Sauce-Potato-Crisps-5-96-Oz/35137210
  14. Pringles Wasabi & Soy Sauce Potato Crisps, 5.96 Oz. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pringles-Wasabi-Soy-Sauce-Potato-Crisps-5-96-Oz/43852058
  15. Pringles Salsa de Chile Habanero Potato Crisps, 6.38 Oz. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pringles-Salsa-de-Chile-Habanero-Potato-Crisps-6-38-Oz/23711693
  16. Smart Label. Pringles Salt and Vinegar. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138607#ingredients
  17. Lactose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose#Occurrence_and_isolation
  18. Smart Label. Pringles Screamin’ Dill Pickle. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000139277#ingredients
  19. Smart Label. Pringles Memphis BBQ. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000139048#ingredients
  20. Smart Label. Pringles BBQ. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000183713#ingredients
  21. Smart Label. Pringles Cheddar Cheese. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138577#ingredients
  22. Smart Label. Pringles Cheddar Sour Cream. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138973
  23. Smart Label. Pringles Pizza. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138638#ingredients
  24. Smart Label. Pringles Ranch. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138720#ingredients
  25. Smart Label. Pringles Sour Cream and Onion. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138430#ingredients
  26. Smart Label. Pringles Buffalo Ranch. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000139192#ingredients
  27. Smart Label. Pringles Honey Mustard. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000183928#ingredients
  28. Smart Label. Pringles Jalapeno. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000138874#ingredients
  29. Smart Label. Pringles Extra Hot. http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000180606#ingredients
  30. Pringles French Onion Dip Potato Crips. https://ship.kroger.com/p/038000138744/kelloggs-pringles-potato-crisps-french-onion
  31. Great Value Stack Attack Barbecue Potato Crisps . https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Stack-Attack-Barbecue-Potato-Crisps-5-5-Oz/554748898
  32. Pringle’s Barbecue Flavor. https://www.pringles.com/us/products/favorites/bbq.html