Deliciosa Comida, Si or No-Are Tortilla Chips Vegan?

It’s impossible not to think of a bag of Doritos with a dollop of tangy salsa when you’re planning a movie night or a simple garden party. For some, tortilla chips are their go-to food whenever they need to satiate those little hunger pangs.

This popular snack with its light and crunchy texture is easy on the tummy and is readily available in all departmental stores. However, with the large variety in flavored tortilla chips, it is a valid reason to be concerned about its nutritional profile and its suitability for vegans. Read on to find out- are tortilla chips vegan or not?

Are Tortilla Chips Vegan? How Can I Find Out?

Usually, tortilla chips are considered to be VEGAN. Since they are prepared with oil, flour, water and seasonings, which are all plant-based foods, most tortilla chips are safe for vegetarians and vegans.

But, there is a crucial detail that can turn your ‘all-vegan’ chips into a farce. You need to watch out for some specific flavors though. If you are keen on following a cruelty-free lifestyle, be mindful of flavors like Cheese and Cool Ranch. It is highly possible that some variants of tortillas are sprayed with animal fats and use synthetic food colors that are tested on animals.

Another tip- if you are dining out and order a plate of nachos, do ask the fat they are fried in. If it is vegetable oil, then perfecto! Otherwise, say no to the ones fried in lard (pig fat). Although lard is uncommon, some restaurants and outlets use it to fry the chips.

Do check up with the servers about the oil in which the chips are fried. In some cases, restaurants and eateries use the same oil or fats to fry ‘vegetarian chips’ in which they have previously fried anything non-vegetarian.

If you say that this might be getting to finicky, we dare you to think the same after we tell you that frying vegetarian and non vegetarian stuff in the same oil can lead to cross-contamination. (Did you get a Kitchen Nightmares flashback there? Coincidence? We think not.)

Are Doritos or Takis Vegan?

Unfortunately, Doritos contain dairy-based ingredients in most of their variants, hence, it is NOT VEGAN.

Vegans might have to skip this one. However they can always go for other brands that offer tortilla chips that are fully organic and safe for vegans to consume. Though the basic recipe for all tortilla chips goes back to vegan ingredients like corn- it might not be as cruelty-free or vegan as much you think that it is.

But, just because most Doritos are off-limits for vegans, it doesn’t mean that all of them are. Vegan tortilla fans can try the following flavors that are absolutely safe to consume-

• Doritos Blaze Tortilla Chips
• Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips
• Doritos Spicy Sweet Chilly
• Lightly Salted Tortilla Chips

The same goes for Takis, where the four following flavors are absolutely safe for vegans to consume-

• Fuego (Purple Bag)
• Salsa Brava (Yellow Bag)
• Zombie Flavor (Green Bag)
• Nitro (Black and Red Bag)

(Source:- Cruelty-free reviews)

Just steer clear of something that has cheese in it and you’ll be good to go. Take a look at these brands below if you are intent on skipping Doritos because you’re vegan or lactose-intolerant.

5 Vegan Tortilla Chips That Are Simply Exquisito!

Taco Bell Tortilla Chips

It will be a crime for a vegan foodie to not to mention chips from one of the most vegan-friendly fast food chains. Even the peeps at PETA swears by these potato chips (yeah, yeah- we know tortillas are made from corn. But innovation with a purpose gets some brownie points!) Taco Bell’s chips come in three variants- Classic, Mild and if you’re feeling more adventurous- Fire. Make sure you check out these crunchy delights!

Whole Foods 365 Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips

If you’re looking for a flavoursome but cruelty-free option to satiate your late night tortilla cravings- this might be something to keep you company on the nights you are hustling through assignments and mails. Lightly salted and crispy, have these chips absolutely free of guilt, because it is good for you and good for nature.

Tostitos Tortilla Chips

Low in saturated fat, these chips are absolutely safe for vegans and vegetarians. All varieties of Tostitos are made from standard vegan ingredients like corn, vegetable oil and salt. The multigrain variants are even better with plant-based ingredients like brown rice flour and buckwheat. All the more reason to go for it!

Siete Lime Tortilla Chips

These chips are everything a vegan could dream of- they are gluten-free, dairy-free and woah- even grain-free? (Tortillas without grains are a thing. Yes, I was living under a rock and so were you.) These chips are made from Cassava flour.

For those who don’t know, Cassava is a root vegetable used to produce tapioca starch that features as the jelly-like bubbles in your Boba tea or sago pearls.

Made in avocado and lime oil- Siete is giving tough competition to other vegan brands out there with its unconventional and lip-smacking formula. Take a look at their webpage to learn more, here.

Xochitl Mexican Style Tortilla Chips

What’s even a tortilla if that authentic Mexican flavor doesn’t strike you as soon as you bite into it?

Promising an authentic recipe, Xochitl offers foodies its whole range of chips and dips that is made from sustainably sourced palm oil and is Non-GMO verified. It’s kosher too!

Make sure you dig into their no salt chips if you aren’t too keen on a bag full of sodium.

Your DIY Vegan Tortilla Chips Recipe

If you want to bowl your friends and relatives over with your cooking skills and expand your portfolio beyond cooking a pot of instant ramen and messing up even boiled water, then you should try this easy-peesy (don’t forget the lemon squeezy) tortilla chips recipe that is fully vegan!

You need the following ingredients-

• 350 grams of precooked white corn flour
• 2 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil or any plant-based oil you like
• Onion Powder
• Cayenne Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast

You’re good to go with the actual process now, which is not going to be a Mexican celebration but the taste will be worth the effort. Just follow these steps-

For tortilla chips, first of all, you need…

Tortillas. (No big deal.)

• Knead a soft dough by combining the corn meal, water and salt. Make sure that you are using warm water, because you don’t want your tortillas to break before you cut them up into chips.
• Make as many little balls from the kneaded flour according to how many you need. Roll them into the thinnest round sheets you can manage and place them on a skillet to cook. You do not have to wait till the tortillas turn black and bitter, just enough to cook them.
• After the tortillas are cooked, cut them up into triangles or any shape you desire. Baste both the sides with oil and place them on a tray lined with parchment paper.
• Bake them! If you are using the oven, bake tortillas for 5 minutes at 200ºC. You can also use an air fryer, but take care that your tortilla chips don’t burn.
• Mix all the powdered spices separately in a bowl till the chips are sitting in the oven. Once they are out, let them cool down. Put the spice mix liberally on the chips and mix them well.
• You can serve your chips with salsa or some guacamole and relish them to your heart’s content.

And Some Vegan Dips for Tortilla Chips!

If you think we only sing the praises of tortilla chips supremacy without mentioning some zingy vegan dips for tortilla chips, we can’t commit that blasphemy.

So, if you are so keen on asking are tortilla chips vegan, might as well ask that about dips too. Mexican recipes are the vegetarian’s spicy haven- don’t think that the only dip you can manage is a dollop of ranch dressing or mayonnaise. What fun are tortillas if they aren’t served with spicy salsa? Or some guac? Or vegan cheese?

Read below to find out how can you serve your tortillas without being boring. And if it comes to it, you can take a break from tradition and switch things up a bit.

Homemade Tomato Salsa

Tortillas are best paired with their soulmate…in fact, if you want to propose your S/O, do pop in the dorky question if they will be the salsa to your tortilla chips.

Also known as Pico de Gallo, a good homemade tomato salsa will pack the punch in your snack time. It’s easy to make- all you need is to roast an onion on an open flame and mix it up with tomatoes, green chilies and coriander.

Season it with salt, paper and lemon juice for some acidity and Voila!

The salsa will sit nice and smoking hot on those chips. You can always add more chili for taste, just take care that you’re not the one doing the salsa in the loo next morning.

Holy Guacamole

Aztec cuisine without guacamole does not exist. This vegan dip is perhaps the easiest to make and project all your desired flavors in it given that avocado is practically a buttery tabula rasa. You can never go wrong with guacamole.

Do the classic by just mashing avocados and mixing them with salt. Or for a dash of tangy, mix that tomato salsa in the mashed avocados. Or, you can check out this recipe if you want something different!

Hummus

Mix the Middle East with Mexico and you will get one of the most bombastic and healthy combinations to snack on.

Hummus is usually made with chick peas, tahini and lemon juice. But you can make red pepper hummus by blending roasted chilies in the classic recipe. Add some ground cumin, garlic and salt and watch it take hold of your senses so much so that you will love to have a jar of hummus in your fridge at all times.

The Vegan Cheese

We know, we promised dairy-free a few minutes ago- but this cheesy dip is not your regular melted cheddar.

You can actually make this with potatoes and carrots. Boil and blend them with onion powder, garlic powder, olive oil and nutritional yeast in a super powerful blender.

Make it smooth and slick like John Travolta’s hook step in Saturday Night Live and you end up with a good cheesy dip which is a deception. If this isn’t finger-lickin’ good and vegan, then we don’t know what is.

What Do We Think About Vegan Tortilla Chips and Dips?

Our answer to ‘are Tortilla chips vegan?’ is in affirmative, however, if you wish to adopt veganism as a lifestyle- you can always look for cruelty-free, organic alternatives in your edibles.

The best part about Mexican cuisine is that vegetarians and vegans have no trouble adapting to it and they don’t have to stare at a dreary plate of fading microgreens. You can always make vegan tortillas and dips- you can even introduce some colour in your tortillas by mixing beetroot or spinach puree and making it even better!