Are Funyuns Vegan?

If you’re a fan of onion rings then you’ve probably heard of Funyuns. And if you’re thinking about going vegan, you might be wondering if they contain any animal products. Let’s find out…

Are Funyuns Vegan?

Unfortunately, Funyuns are not vegan because they contain dairy in the form of buttermilk powder. They are still vegetarian-friendly but we vegans opt to stay away from items with any animal products at all, including milk.

Ingredients

Let’s have a look at the ingredient statement to learn more…

• Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)
• Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Corn And/Or Canola Oil)
• Salt
• Corn Starch
• Sugar
• Corn Flour
• Buttermilk Powder – culprit non-vegan ingredient
• Maltodextrin (Made From Corn)
• Onion Powder,
• Monosodium Glutamat
• Hydrolyzed Corn Protein,
• Dextrose
• Garlic Powder
• Natural Flavors (Including Natural Onion Flavor)
• Gum Arabic

I’m honestly really not sure why they put buttermilk powder on it at all. It cannot possibly add that much to the flavor and all they would have to do is take it out to make it vegan-friendly.

Alternatives

Takis

Let’s face it, if you’re after funyuns than maybe living a healthy lifestyle isn’t your number one priority. That’s ok, you can still be vegan.

There are other snack foods like Takis that have vegan flavors. Just make you’re you’re buying the correct ones and always double check the label.

Homemade Onion Rings

Did you know that you can actually make really delicious oven rings in the oven? And you don’t even have to use any oil or anything unhealthy? 

All you need to do is the following…

• Remove the skin and cut your onions into rings.
• Take your favorite flour (oat flour works great) and mix in a few drops of water at a time until you form a thick batter.
• Dip the onion rings in the batter.
• Lay on an oven-safe baking tray and sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper.
• Bake until golden brown – around 20-30 minutes.
• And voila! You have much healthier versions of onion rings!

Dehydrating Onions

Dehydrating onions with just a little bit of salt can be just as good as funyuns.

This one is easy…

Simply slice your onions and stick them in a dehydrator. Depending on what kind you have, you can probably set it and forget it until they are good to go!

Enjoy!

Wrap Up

So are Funyuns vegan? Even though we’ve established that the answer is no, that doesn’t mean you should fret. There are plenty of other vegan snacks to enjoy. By experimenting, you might even find some that you didn’t even know you liked!

Joey Bruno

Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!