The Common Chip Flavor That's Strangely Not Vegan-Friendly

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If you're vegan, you'll already be aware of how animal-based ingredients and derivatives, like milk, honey, or gelatin, can sneakily feature in packaged foods that you'd never consider to be unsuitable for vegans at first glance. For example, Worcestershire sauce, nonorganic sugar, and even some types of bread are common foods that seem vegan but aren't. Another such product is the humble potato chip, namely of the salt and vinegar variety.

This common chip flavor is strangely not vegan-friendly in several cases because some brands use lactose, a type of sugar that comes from milk, in their seasoning blends. This ingredient is added to salt and vinegar chips to mellow out the tangy notes of the vinegar and curb its acidity. It also cleverly lends the chips a creamier texture and a cheesier quality that balances out the sourness of the vinegar to produce a product with a complex, layered flavor.

Some salt and vinegar flavored chip brands that aren't vegan-friendly include Dirty Chips, Herr's, and Lay's Kettle Cooked, which all contain lactose. Pringles' Salt & Vinegar Chips also include milk in the ingredients list. So if you're vegan, you should leave them on the shelf and select a different brand or flavor.

If you didn't know that animal-derived ingredients are used to make some varieties of potato chips, you're not the only one. One commenter on Reddit, when replying to a question about what surprised them when they first started their vegan journey, said, "While many [salt and vinegar chips] are vegan there are also many that use milk in the ingredients, something I had found out after buying a giant Cosco size bag of [Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar Kettle-Cooked Potato Chips] back when I first went vegan." Take a look at the label, and sure enough, these chips include milk.

Having said all this, there are some salt and vinegar chips that seem suitable for vegan diets. For example, Cape Cod Sea Salt & Vinegar Kettle-Cooked Potato Chips don't appear to include animal products. Incidentally, this flavor was the winner in our list of 13 salt and vinegar chips, ranked worst to best, illustrating that opting for a vegan chip doesn't have to mean sacrificing on taste. These chips were fresh-tasting and had a punch of tangy vinegar that easily beat the other contenders. Siete's Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips are also vegan, as are WonderSlim's Salt & Vinegar Chips.

Want to make salt and vinegar flavored chips at home? Experiment with nutritional yeast to mimic that cheesy note that comes from lactose. Known as nooch, this vegan-friendly ingredient is made from brewer's yeast and lends dishes a meaty depth and rich quality.