Finding vegan Halloween candy can be tricky, but there are actually great options right at your regular grocery store.
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This guide to vegan Halloween candy is meant to be last-minute. I'm not including items that you'll have to order online. These are all vegan candy options that I found in a single trip to a regular grocery store a week and a half before Halloween.
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Non-vegan ingredients in candy
There are a lot of vegan candy options out there, but finding them can involve a lot of squinting at ingredients lists. I did the squinting, so you won't have to, but just in case you want to explore further options, these are common non-vegan ingredients to look out for:
- beeswax
- butter, butterfat
- carmine
- castoreum
- confectioner's glaze
- eggs
- gelatin
- honey
- l. cysteine
- milk, milk powder
- whey
Vegan Halloween candy
Like I mentioned above, this list of vegan Halloween candies isn't all-inclusive. This is the selection I was able to find at a single trip to a regular grocery store (not a Whole Foods, Sprouts, or other specialty store).
Of course, what you find may vary. This list is meant to give you an idea of what to brands look out for when you're shopping.
One other addendum: companies sometimes change their recipes without warning. As of this writing, these candies were vegan.
Nerds and Laffy Taffy
As far as I know, all varieties of Nerds and Laffy Taffy are vegan. The variety pack that they had for Halloween 2021 had a Day of the Dead theme, and the flavors are incredible!
The bag comes with 90 pieces and includes:
- guava and pineapple flavored Laffy Taffy
- guava and mango chile flavored Nerds
Dave and I loved the mango chile Nerds! The guava Laffy Taffy was a close second for us both, too.
Vegan gummy candy
It can be really hard to find vegan gummy candy, since gelatin is normally part of the recipe. Gelatin is made from bones and ligaments, so it is not a vegan ingredient.
I managed to find a 55 piece bag of vegan gummy candy (plus lollipops). This bag contained:
- Sour Patch Kids
- Twizzlers
- Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel
- Jolly Rancher Lollipops
Most of this candy isn't new, but we'd never had the Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel before. They were a lot of fun to eat with a good, chewy texture.
We'd also both had Jolly Ranchers but never their lollipops, so we opened one of those. The pink lemonade flavor was a bit hit for me. It was nice and tart! Dave preferred the cherry, which was sweeter tasting.
Unreal Vegan Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
At the regular grocery store, vegan chocolate for Halloween is few and far between, but I did luck out and find vegan dark chocolate peanut butter cups that fit the bill!
Unreal Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are Dave's favorite PB cups, and I get it. The chocolate is rich and dark, and it works really well with the creamy, salty peanut butter in the center. These are a slam dunk!
These peanut butter cups are probably the one specialty item on this list. I found them in the "natural" section of the Kroger. On previous trips, they've also carried the Justin's miniature dark chocolate peanut butter cups. The Justin's minis are vegan and individually wrapped, so perfect for Halloween.
Ring Pops
Ring Pops will forever throw me back to the ice skating rink in 6th grade, when we'd get these at the concession stand. What a treat!
The bag I found contained 22 pops in three flavors:
- strawberry
- purpleberry punch
- blue raspberry
I normally love strawberry, but this one tasted like watermelon to me, and I do not care for watermelon-flavored candy. Hard pass.
The purpleberry punch Ring Pop was fantastic, though! It gave big blackberry flavor, and I think I'll open one right now to eat while I finish writing this.
They called these "Tongue Painters", and they will definitely turn your mouth a color. So just something to keep in mind when you're eating this one.
Boom Chicka Pop kettle corn
I know, this isn't candy, but this is the best kettle corn I've ever had, and they are selling it in single serve bags for Halloween!
Not all Boom Chicka Pop flavors are vegan, but their Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn is, and it is just so flavorful. They don't skimp on the sugar or on the salt, and I truly can't get enough of this snack!
Do you have a go-to vegan Halloween candy? I'd love to hear about your faves in the comments!
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