Are Kit Kats Vegan? (Vegetarian and Gluten-Free)

I love a good chocolate bar, although it’s rare to find vegan chocolate bars, but are Kit Kats vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free?

No, Kit Kats are not vegan since they contain dairy. A typical Kit Kat has 76% milk chocolate, which isn’t vegan. Milk chocolate can technically be vegan, if it’s made with vegan kinds of milk, like rice milk. However, Kit Kats are not as they use regular milk. So it might not be vegan, but many flavors are entirely vegetarian. Kit Kats are made with milk but without products from the actual animal. Thus, vegetarians can eat many of the regular Kit Kats. However, it’s still important to make sure whether or not a specific flavor is vegetarian before purchase. Ingredients differ from country and change over time, so make sure to check regularly. People following a gluten-free diet are not as lucky. None of the Kit Kat flavors are gluten-free and are not suitable for anyone with gluten-intolerance.

So, there’s some good news and some bad news, depending on your diet group. Read along as I show what Kit Kats you can eat and also a great vegan chocolate bar alternative.

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Are Kit Kats Vegan?

Vegans are against the use of any animal products. That includes everything dairy, such as milk, yogurt, and whey powder. Alongside eggs and all other products that come from an animal. All animal products are seen as a form of animal exploitation and are avoided by vegans. So, do Kit Kats have any animal products that make them non-vegan?

Kit Kats contain various animal products that make them non-vegan. It’s no surprise as the popular candy bar contains milk chocolate. A regular Kit Kat is 76% milk chocolate. However, that’s just one of the many non-vegan ingredients present in Kit Kats. Let’s have a closer look at these and why they are not suitable for vegans.

Ingredients In Kit Kats

The following are the ingredients in a typical Kit Kat with milk chocolate. As you can see, it’s packed full of dairy products. The dairy product, as seen in this ingredient list, is full cream milk powder.

Ingredients: Sugar, Full cream milk powder, Cocoa butter, Wheat flour, Vegetable fat [Emulsifier (Soy lecithin)], Cocoa mass, Emulsifiers (Soy lecithin, 476), Cocoa, Yeast, Raising agent (Sodium bicarbonate), Flavours, Salt.
Product contains 76% Milk chocolate and 24% Wafer fingers. Milk chocolate contains minimum 22% Cocoa solids and 25% Milk solids.

Kit Kat Milk Chocolate

However, one great thing about Kit Kats is that they are free from gelatin. That’s excellent news for vegetarians as it means Kit Kats are free from actual animals.

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Vegan Kit Kat Alternative

If you are like me, you love chocolate bars. Or at least you used to. However, did you know that there are many vegan alternatives to candy bars like Kit Kats? It’s a bit surprising since there’s often quite a lot of dairy in chocolate. So, in case you are a vegan who loves chocolate, you should see this!

Enjoy Life Chocolate Bars

These vegan chocolate bars are also way better in many regards. They are gluten-free, without GMO’s, and verified vegan. So take a look at these if you are disappointed that Kit Kats are not vegan. Additionally you could opt for a Clif bar, as almost all of these are vegan.

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Are Kit Kats Vegetarian?

Vegetarians usually have it a lot easier in terms of snacks. It’s a diet that excludes all products which contain the actual animal. Meaning they can consume anything from an animal, but not the animal itself. So vegetarians can have all the dairy products they desire and still adhere to the diet.

However, there are often a lot of hidden animal products in snacks. Ingredients such as “Natural Flavor” usually means animal products are used. It’s technically accurate, but a little misleading for vegetarians. Nevertheless, Kit Kats are free from all these hidden ingredients.

The only potentially misleading ingredient of Kit Kats is “Emulsifiers (Soy lecithin, 476) “. However, this number, often listed as PGPR, is short for Polyglycerol polyricinoleate. That might sound worrisome, but it’s 100% vegetarian.

So yes, vegetarians can safely eat Kit Kats. They might contain many animal products, but are free from the actual animal.

Vegetarian Kit Kats

It’s important to stress that not all Kit Kats are vegetarian. There are quite a few vegetarian options, but there are also many flavors. Meaning it’s necessary to make sure your favorite flavor is vegetarian. Luckily, Nestle has provided a list of their vegetarian flavors. These are as follows.

• Milk Chocolate Biscuit
• Dark Mint Chocolate Biscuit
• Orange Chocolate Biscuit
• Toffee Treat Chocolate Biscuit
• Dark Chocolate Biscuit
• Cookies & Cream Chocolate Biscuit
• Finger Milk Chocolate Bar
• Dark Chocolate Bar
• Chunky Milk Chocolate Bar
• Chunky White
• Senses Mix
• Chunky Orange Snacksize 4 pack
• Chunky Peanut

These are the vegetarian flavors as certified by Nestle, the owners of Kit Kat. Note that this list is of the UK products, so it might not be relevant to you. However, it’s the only available list, and it should give you an idea of which are vegetarian. Make sure to read the ingredients list before purchase and make sure it’s vegetarian-friendly.

Are Kit Kats Gluten-Free?

Many people either follow a gluten-free diet or have an actual intolerance to gluten. Less than 1% of the world has a genuine intolerance to gluten, but many see health benefits in avoiding it nevertheless. So if you are one of these you might ask yourself, are Kit Kats Gluten-Free?

Unfortunately no, Kit Kats are not gluten-free as they have wheat flour. They are not a suitable snack for anyone with celiac disease or those who follow a gluten-free diet. In fact, there is not a single Kit Kat flavor that’s gluten-free.

Conclusion

Kit Kat is a milk chocolate bar, and as with most similar bars, it has dairy. The chocolate is made from cows milk and thus is not vegan. However, Kit Kats are entirely vegetarian as they don’t contain any animal. Although it’s essential that you read the ingredients list before purchase. Recipes differ from countries and over time, so do this regularly. The gluten-free and gluten-intolerant are out of luck in terms of Kit Kats. There are no gluten-free flavors of Kit Kat, so these should be avoided if you are gluten-free.