Only around 1% of the world’s population calls themselves vegans, which is a lifestyle that avoids using or consuming animal products. As you can imagine, a vegan diet can be more restrictive than a typical Western diet, omitting meat, eggs, cheese, cow’s milk, and even more.
Vegans can still enjoy their sweets and desserts though – so which sugars are best for vegans?
While many sugars are vegan, some of the best vegan sugars include:
- Agave nectar
- Blackstrap molasses
- Brown rice syrup
- Coconut sugar
- Date sugar or date syrup
- Maple syrup
- Turbinado sugar
Which sugars AREN’T vegan?
The vast majority of sugars are plant-based, so that means most of them are vegan! There are a couple of exceptions though.
Honey is made as a result of bees, which are considered an animal byproduct to vegans, so honey isn’t vegan-friendly.
Refined cane sugar can be made white by filtering it through bone char (also called natural carbon), which is an animal product. Most vegans avoid refined cane sugar (table sugar) because of that. However, organic cane sugar doesn’t include bone char so is usually vegan-friendly.
Brown sugar that is made by adding molasses to regular refined sugar might also not be vegan if the regular sugar was processed using bone char.
Pure lactose powder also isn’t vegan because it’s made from cow’s milk – but it isn’t a very popular sweetener.
There are SO many plant-based sugars out there, though, so if you’re vegan you won’t have a hard time finding one that fits into your plant-based lifestyle.
Best sugars for vegans
Even though most sugars are vegan-friendly, we wanted to round up some of the best versatile options below!
Agave nectar
This sweetener is liquid like honey, so it can be a suitable vegan substitute for honey. Many types of agave nectar are highly refined, so you might want to look for raw agave nectars since they retain more nutrients.
Blackstrap molasses
All types of molasses are vegan-friendly, but blackstrap molasses is especially high in iron. Iron is a mineral that helps build proteins in your red blood cells which transport oxygen to your body.
Blackstrap molasses is more concentrated than regular molasses and is richer in iron compared to regular molasses. Iron is a crucial nutrient to obtain on a vegan diet since most of the best sources of iron come from animal sources, such as red meat.
Brown rice syrup
Brown rice syrup is not only vegan-friendly, but it’s also a popular sweetener used in special diets for digestive issues and bowel diseases. Why? Brown rice syrup doesn’t contain any fructose, a natural sugar that is poorly absorbed by some people.
Coconut sugar
Coconut sugar is one of the least refined sweeteners out there, and it’s also vegan-friendly. It’s not made from the coconut but from the flower buds on the coconut palm tree.
Date sugar or date syrup
Date sugar is made by drying pitted dates and grinding them up, and date syrup is made by boiling dates and water and reducing it until it forms a syrup.
Date syrup is especially popular for use as a vegan honey substitute because of its texture. Its flavor is often described as being similar to maple syrup – which we’ll cover next!
Maple syrup
Not just used for topping pancakes, maple syrup is a versatile vegan sweetener. Like agave nectar and date syrup, maple syrup’s liquid consistency makes it a good vegan honey substitute.
Turbinado sugar (demerara/”Sugar in the Raw”)
Turbinado sugar is a less refined version of cane sugar, and because it’s not processed with bone char it is vegan-friendly. (Remember that organic cane sugar is vegan because it doesn’t contain bone char.
FAQs:
Several sweeteners are ideal for vegans, including maple syrup, date sugar, and turbinado sugar. The only sugars that aren’t ideal for vegans are honey and refined cane sugar that has been processed with bone char (an animal byproduct).
If brown sugar is made with cane sugar processed with bone char, it’s not vegan-friendly. For a vegan brown sugar substitute, opt for organic brown sugar, or mix molasses with coconut sugar! Simply use more or less molasses to achieve a light or dark brown sugar.
Honey is not considered vegan-friendly because it’s a byproduct of living beings/animals (bees).
Chocolate made without added milk or refined cane sugar is vegan, such as dark chocolate containing cocoa beans and cocoa butter (despite the word butter, cocoa butter is vegan!). Milk chocolate contains cow’s milk, which is not vegan (unless it’s specifically vegan-friendly using plant-based milk).
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