The food industry has seen a monumental rise in the past few years. The idea of “fast food” and “snacks for munching” has replaced the traditional meals and food dishes. These flavor-packed foods have attracted the attention of young ones and adults likewise.
However, over the years, as a result of awareness, people have chosen to shift to healthier and vegan alternatives for snacking. Luckily, food experts have come up with unique flavors and combinations that will serve your cravings through healthy ingredients. The best vegan snacks have managed to gain popularity amongst vegan and non-vegan consumers.
If you are looking to fill up your snack rack with delicious vegan munchies, then keep reading as we have the “ultimate vegan snack” list prepared for you, which will make every serious foodie fall in love.
This list includes options from Fair Trade Certified chocolate bars to Non-GMO flavorful and real ingredients. From serious foodies to professional dieticians, I have taken each of their recommendations into consideration and have made sure to present products that are clean, full of nutrients, and delicious enough to give you a food coma.
1. LARABAR
First on our list of vegan snack bars is the Larabar, though it’s not technically a bar. The company promotes this particular brand as a cashew cookie as well.
Regardless, it’s made out of whole foods and uses 2 core ingredients: cashews and dates. It’s not going to taste like a traditional cookie, but it is vegan friendly since it’s Gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, soy-free, dairy-free.
2. RAW REV
For those getting into their vegan diet and in need of a quick snack on the go, a simpler option is Raw Rev’s bars. These are more on the sugary side with flavors like birthday cake and double chocolate brownie batter.
However, they also have other unique flavors with their own benefits. For example, the peanut butter and sea salt bars have lots of protein in them.
The whole emphasis of these bars is to have good taste wrapped in a bar that’s still vegan friendly. I’d recommend these for those getting into a vegan diet as a middle ground since there are 2 grams of sugar in each bar, which is high for nutritional bars.
3. WICKEDLY
Straying a bit away from nutritional bars, you’ve got Wickedly’s peanut butter pretzels. This is an Amazon brand exclusive so you won’t find these in other stores. That said, these best vegan snacks have no sugar in them. Their main ingredients are wheat, peanut butter, and salt.
4. BARNEY Almond Butter
The food industry has changed a lot. For the longest time, companies pushed peanut butter and only that. But now that there has been more research and we’ve uncovered that some are allergic to peanuts, there are lots of alternatives. Almond butter is one of those alternatives.
Even if you don’t have a peanut allergy, almond butter is still incredible and healthy as well. Barney’s particular brand focuses on providing only the essential ingredients, avoiding the addition of sugar and salt to most other kinds of butter around.
5. LUNA BAR
Plant-based products have also grown in popularity with plant-based meat making a huge wave in recent years. Luna’s bars are along the same vein as they focus on making plant-based health snacks.
They offer between 8 and 9 grams of protein per bar and a host of flavors to pick from like lemon, sea salt caramel, and white chocolate macadamia, among others.
6. NOCOW
For those who are on the plant-based vegan snack train but want more protein, I’d turn to Nocow’s brand. With a single bar providing 21 grams of plant-based protein, you can easily reach your protein amount with no problem. If the amount of protein is concerning, rest easy because these bars are certified kosher, dairy-free, low on carbs and sugar, and Keto friendly as well.
7. PURE BARS
Another good contender for high protein is the Pure bars. These gluten-free bars boast 21 grams of protein per bar and come in a pack of 12. They also offer a wide range of flavors.
Regardless of the flavors though, you do have to be mindful of the sugar intake. Funny enough, the flavors that contain fruit have higher sugar count than the bars that are chocolate flavored. If you want the least amount of sugar, try the Lemon Cake with only 2 grams of sugar per bar.
8. KELLOG’S NUTRI GRAIN
These bars have been around for decades. You probably have had these growing up as well. Well, these bars are still around and they are still quite healthy. The fruit in the bars is pureed, and the bar itself it’s wrapped around provides 8 essential vitamins. It’s perfect for morning fuel.
9. KELLOG’S RICE KRISPIES
Another staple to kid’s lunch boxes is the Rice Krispies squares. Similar to the Nutri-grain bars, these are higher in sugar than others. However, these are still vegan friendly considering the few ingredients that are used to make these.
As an adult, these are still quite sweet and a good alternative for those who need a sugar fix and don’t want to feel guilty about it later.
10. GOLDFISH SNACKS
The classic fish that smiles back is another childhood familiar for those who had kids or grew up in the early 1990s. These of course don’t have any sugar, but they do contain salt. Though considering the size of each goldfish, it’s not something to be overly concerned about if you’re having them as a snack. The pack I suggest is the 30 pack which comes with a mixture of three flavors – including the classic cheddar flavor.
11. SNYDER PRETZEL STICKS
If you love goldfish but are looking for something with less gluten in it, one option is Snyder’s pretzel sticks. They don’t have any cheese flavored ones, but you can still get your salt needs while having something slightly healthier to munch on. Each bag contains 100 calories, so be mindful of how many bags you take.
12. QUEST COOKIES
Vegan cookies are hard to come by with many companies opting for bars. That said, Quest Cookies is one that makes cookies that you’ll be sure to fall in love with. What’s also surprising is that despite this being a cookie, there’s less than a gram of sugar per cookie and about 15 grams of protein!
13. LOTUS BISCOFF
Another one of the best vegan snacks you can look to is Lotus’s brand of biscuits. These are certified vegan and GMO-free. The flavor is different from other biscuits because it follows European cookie making. Regardless, these are light and easy to snack on for yourself or guests.
14. POPCHIPS
Normally, chips wouldn’t make it to these lists, but similar to plant-based products on the rise, chip companies have also put in the effort to provide other chip alternatives. They are no longer covered in an insane amount of salt and artificial flavoring.
While the chips will certainly have salt, Popchips and other healthy brands will be cutting back considerably on the amount of salt. In this case, these chips have 150 to 160 mg of salt which is about 7% of your daily intake of salt. Furthermore, they also have fewer calories than traditional chips.
15. HEALTH WARRIOR
Another good contender in our healthy vegan snacks is the Health Warrior brand of bars. The big thing you need to know about them is their prime ingredient is chia seeds. Despite their size, seeds are surprisingly filling and offer a wide variety of nutrients. The only thing you may need to be wary about is that each bar contains about 3 grams of sugar.
Aside from that, these can easily be considered as healthy granola bars considering they are plant-based, kosher, vegan-friendly, and verified non-GMO.
16. GOGO SQUEEZE
One other good snack is apple sauce. It may have been a while since you’ve had some, but it’s still quite tasty. But since then, a lot of companies have emerged to provide their own brand of applesauce. For this section, I want to focus on GoGo’s. They have a unique package (requiring you to squeeze the container to get to the apple sauce) but also ensure the apple sauce is 100% fruit-based.
17. YUMEARTH
Lollipops can be a dentist’s nightmare, but you won’t run into that situation with Yumearth’s brand. They provide lollipops that are organic. They avoid artificial flavors, dyes, and take pride in having no fructose syrup in them either. They offer a wide range of flavors as well and, above all, are free from the top 8 allergens you can find in most traditional healthy snacks.
18. HAPPY BABY
Despite the name, this is not baby food of any sort. That said, these are foods that even babies can enjoy if you’re the type of parent who gives sugar-free vegan snacks.
What’s nice about these particular products is these are packed with various superfoods, typically a combination of fruit and a vegetable. Despite the unusual combination, these are very healthy, considering the fruits and veggies being superfoods and quite tasty.
19. BELVITA BREAKFAST
Another option for breakfast biscuits is Belvita’s brand. These have no high-fructose corn syrup and no artificial flavors or sweeteners, making them ideal for vegans and also great in general for breakfast.
20. KASHI BARS
Have you been searching for the ideal healthy granola bar? Well, look no further than Kashi’s brand of granola bars.
\Kashi offers a wide variety of flavors for you to munch on and are overall a feel-good snack. it offers 23 grams of whole grain, 4.5 total fat, and 3 grams of fiber per 40-gram serving. Furthermore, these are quite filling since they also throw chia seeds into the mix.
21. CLIF ENERGY BARS
The final item on our best vegan snacks list is the Clif energy bar. This brand is everywhere in stores with the iconic man climbing up the side of the cliff. Clif is designed to give you a lot of protein and fuel.
The brand offers a wide variety of flavors and each bar provides roughly 9 grams of protein. The only thing is, convenience does have a price and the only serious drawback from these bars is the 21 grams of sugar in each bar. Consider these as a treat at the end of the month if you really need sugar.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are loads of options for vegan snacks to try out. From familiar brands to other brands you haven’t heard of, each company offers quality bars or other vegan snacks for you to consider.
The only thing to be mindful is to not indulge in these too much as some of them have decent sugar and salt amounts but can get out of hand if you munch on too many.
More Tips About Vegan Diet
- 10 Highly Healthy And Delicious Vegan Snacks Recipes
- 10 Unprocessed, Vegan Protein Options
- How Vegan Bodybuilding Diet Keeps Hunger at Bay While Plant Based
Featured photo credit: Anna Pelzer via unsplash.com
