Are Rice Cakes Vegan?
Are you following a vegan lifestyle and want to know if rice cakes are vegan? Usually, they are just made from rice and salt… so they have to be vegan right? While most rice cakes are vegan, not all of them are. Keep reading to learn more.
What are Rice Cakes?
Before we can answer the question of “are rice cakes vegan?”, we need to know what rice cakes are. Rice cakes are made from puffed rice that is usually shaped into a circle. The simplest rice cake ingredients include rice and salt. That’s it.
Because rice cakes often are bland and made of mostly rice, they are often used for snacks and sides. You can find people drizzling chocolate on top or enjoying them with peanut butter.
What is a Vegan Diet?
Now that we know what rice cakes are, we need to know what vegan means in order to know if rice cakes are vegan. A vegan diet is a diet that avoids all products derived from animal products. This is also extended to all other products used in someone’s life.
This means that on a vegan diet, someone will not use products made from animals. Meaning ingredients like milk, cheese, meat, and eggs are off-limits. This often also includes honey but this is somewhat of a debate in the vegan community.
Are Rice Cakes Vegan?
So are rice cakes vegan? Now that we know what rice cakes are and what a vegan diet entails, we can unpack this question.
As discussed earlier, the most basic rice cakes are made of just rice and salt. These two ingredients do not involve animals and are 100% plant-based. So most rice cakes following this recipe will be vegan.
The issue is often rice cakes can be flavored or topped with ingredients that are not vegan. Because of this, you’ll want to check the food label to make sure you’re buying vegan varieties. (By the way, did you know Drizzilicious Rice Cakes are ALL vegan?).
Animal-Based Ingredients Found in Rice Cakes
While most rice cakes are vegan, you will need to check the label to make sure they are. But what are you looking for?
Ingredients like milk, cheese, whey, buttermilk powder, milk powder, and butter can be used in different rice cakes. Including cheesy or chocolatey ones. If they are sweet flavors they may be made with honey. Additionally, natural flavors can be sourced from animals, so if you see them on a package that’s not marked as vegan, you’ll want to check with the brand to make sure they aren’t coming from animals.
These ingredients are a good starting place when reviewing rice cake food labels for animal products. However, it’s not all-inclusive so keep your eyes out!
What Flavor Rice Cakes are Vegan?
Now that we know what to look for on ingredient labels in order to verify rice cakes are vegan, let’s talk about the higher-risk flavors to keep your eye on.
As we mentioned above, cheesy and chocolatey flavors tend to be the riskiest when it comes to finding animal products in the ingredients. This is because cheese and cheese flavors often come from animals. And chocolate often has milk in it. These would be the higher-risk flavors if you’re going to buy rice cakes.
That said, if you’re looking to make life simple, remember, ALL Drizzilicious chocolate drizzled rice cakes are vegan. Meaning, you don’t have to worry about our chocolate-containing dairy.
Do Rice Cakes Have Dairy in Them?
As discussed above, not all rice cakes are vegan because they can have dairy in them. This is most often found in cheesy and chocolatey rice cake flavors. You might see this in the form of milk in the chocolate coating on rice cakes. Or buttermilk powder, whey and cheese in cheesy rice cake flavors.
The Bottom Line? Most Rice Cakes are Vegan
While there is a risk that some rice cakes can contain animal products, most rice cakes are vegan. Just be sure you’re checking the label when buying rice cakes. And if you want an easy and delicious choice, Drizzilicious is here for you!
