Accidentally Vegan Products (South Africa)

Who would’ve thought it? Lots of what you already eat is vegan! Many well-known products are accidentally vegan, and we’ve listed some of our favourites below…

Original Oreos
Image Credit: Unsplash

The Obvious:

  • Pasta (dry)
    Almost all dried pasta is made without egg and is therefore 100% vegan.
  • Baked Beans
    (original recipe, without cheese or sausages etc)
  • Tinned/Canned Spaghetti
    (original recipe, without cheese or sausages etc)
  • Yeast extracts like Marmite
  • Bread
    Most fresh bread is vegan and Ciabatta, by its very nature, is always vegan as it is made with olive oil
  • Peanut Butter
  • Tomato Sauce/Ketchup
  • HP/Brown sauce
  • Mustard
    Whether it’s Dijon, wholegrain, English or American(note: Steers mustard is not vegan)
  • Branston Pickle
  • Hot Sauces
    Tabasco, Sriracha, and Sriracha Mayo
  • Rice
  • Rice noodles
    When ordering a Chinese takeaway, ask for rice noodles instead of egg noodles.
  • Jam
    Typically made with pectin (to thicken) rather than gelatin (Pick n Pay jams are labelled vegan)
  • Hummus
  • Chips/French fries
    If cooked in veggie oil then they are vegan!
  • Porridge/Oatmeal
    When made with water or plant milk
  • Bagels
    (mostly vegan, check that it’s not brushed with egg)
A bowl of oatmeal with nuts
Image Credit: AdobeStock

The Surprising:

  • Oreos
    Original and Golden
  • Dark Chocolate Jungle Energy Bars
  • Doritos
    Sweet Chilli Pepper and Chilli Rib flavour
    (not cheese or cream flavours)
  • Pringles
    Original
  • McVities Fruit Shortcake Biscuits
  • Ritz Crackers
  • Kettle Chips
    Sea Salt, Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar
  • Ritter Sport chocolate
    Dark, Extra Fine Dark, Dark Marzipan
  • Chocolate
    Albany Classic and Almond, Beacon Midnight Velvet, Beacon dark Orange and Almond, TV bar dark (slab only), Aero dark, Woolworths dark chocolate, De Villiers dark chocolate and dark chocolate thins (not salted caramel), Woolworths dark chocolate covered almonds, ginger, and orange peel
  • Spar Squillos Chocolate Spread
  • ProNutro
    Original and Wholewheat
  • Spar Rice Crackers
  • Moir’s Instant Pudding
    Butterscotch and Chocolate flavour
  • Bakers Biscuits
    Ginger Nuts, Mini Ginger Nuts, Romany Tarte, Original Digestive and Snacktime Golden Grain
  • Ina Paarman Cake Mix
    Vanilla, Chocolate, Red Velvet
  • Ina Paarman
    Brown Gravy, Chicken Flavour Stock and Beef Flavour Stock Powders (Note: the liquid stocks are not vegan!)
  • Lay’s Potato Chips
    Classic, Salt & Vinegar, Thai Sweet Chilli, Caribbean Onion & Balsamic Vinegar
  • Kellogg’s breakfast cereal
    Strawberry Pops, Coco Pops, All Bran, Corn Flakes, Froot Loops, Special K
  • Ouma rusks
    Muesli and Condensed milk rusks.
  • Pick n Pay rusks
    Plain/original rusks
  • Cape Cookies
    Choc Chip and Crunchy Shortcake
  • Gullon biscuits
    Sugar-free choco-chip, sugar-free fibre, sugar-free wafers, gluten-free maria cookies, gluten-free cookies (plain)
  • Cadbury Hot Chocolate Powder
  • Woolworths hot cross buns
    All except the buns with white chocolate chips
  • Woolworths ancient grain rice crackers
    Plain and Mexican Jalapeño flavour
  • Pesto
    Pesto Princess basil & chili pesto, red pesto, coriander & chili pesto, basil & lemon pesto, Ina Paarman coriander pesto, and sun dried tomato pesto
  • Salad dressings
    Ina Paarman creamy herb dressing, classic balsamic  vinaigrette, classic red wine vinaigrette, reduced oil balsamic, reduced oil greek, reduced oil lime & coriander
  • Dry Cook-in-Sauces
    Knorr naturally tasty range, Robertson’s Rajah Easy Indian curry cook in sauces
  • Wet Cook-in-Sauces
    Pakco curry made easy chicken korma, beef curry, malay curry, Royco recipe base b
    utter chicken (no dairy)
  • Monteverde pasta sauces
    (available at Checkers)
A cup of hot chocolate
Image Credit: Unsplash

Beers and Ciders:

  • Heineken
  • Carlsberg
  • Amstel
  • Peroni
  • Castle
  • Carling Black Label
  • Corona
  • Devil’s Peak
  • Foundry
  • Grolsch
  • Hansa
  • Hunters
  • Miller
  • Savanna
  • Stella Artois
  • Tafel Lager
  • Windhoek
  • Brutal Fruit ( Manic Mango, Luscious Litchi, Lavascious Lemon, Sultry Strawberry, Passionate Peach, Cheeky Cranberry, and Apple-Ginger)

For more information on alcohol please have a look at our Label Reading Guide.

A crate of Heineken beers
Image Credit: Unsplash

Wines:

Have a look at the Barnivore website.

Please note:

We have not included the obvious plant foods in the lists below (fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes, dried fruit, nuts, pickled vegetables, olives etc.), but they are most definitely vegan! Check out our Vegan Food Essentials guide.

Ingredients can alter from brand to brand, so do not assume just because an item is vegan in one store that it will also be in another.

On Instagram? Follow @weareveganuary for regular Accidentally Vegan product posts!

Something missing? Know of an accidentally vegan product that’s not listed above? Please contact us on FacebookTwitter or email us at “[email protected]” mentioning that you’re from South Africa and we will add it to this blog. Thank you!

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