Which Food Colourings Are Vegan?

Food colouring in the UK can contain animal products that you might not expect or even have heard of before. Luckily some brands are completely vegan or are clearly baked as suitable for vegans. This post contains affiliate links, marked Ad. If you buy something through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Why Aren’t All Food Colourings Vegan?

Food colouring can contain many things that aren’t vegan including –

• Carmine/Cochineal – This is a very common red food pigment made from insects and may be listed as carmine, cochineal or E120.
• Beeswax – vegans do not use any products that are derived from animals including beeswax. This may be called beeswax or E901.
• Glycerine/Glycerol – this can be made from plant or animal fats and you cannot tell from the name alone. That is why it is best to buy only food colourings that are labelled as vegan. This is called glycerine, glycerol or E422.

Recommended Brands

I like to use Sugarflair (Ad) colours in my baking. Gel and paste colours are best for baking as they do not add liquid to the bake which could ruin the recipe. I like Sugarflair because their vegan colours (of which there are many) are clearly labelled. They also clearly label whether they are gluten free so are great for free from baking. Another brand I like is Rainbow Dust as all of their gel food colouring is vegan.

Top Tips

• Food colouring ingredients can be hard to decipher and may be listed as E numbers. I find it best to just buy a food colouring that is labelled as vegan.
• Gel or paste food colouring is best for baking as using a more liquid food colouring adds extra moisture to the recipe and might even mean the recipe does not work.
• There are lots of recipes that you can use food colouring in including Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes, Raspberry Ruffle Cupcakes and Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cake.