Last Updated on April 12, 2024 by Fasting Planet
Although Nutella has been around since the 1960s, it’s become really popular in recent years. Whether you eat it straight out of the jar, use it as a spread, or get inventive and add it to baked goods, Nutella sure does hit the spot. Yet is it vegan?
Nutella is not vegan due to the inclusion of skim milk powder, which is made from cow’s milk and is an animal byproduct. Alternatives like Peanut Butter & Co.’s Dark Chocolatey Hazelnut Spread and Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut and Almond Butter fill in the gaps for vegans who want a Nutella-like treat without the dairy.
In this article, we’ll further examine Nutella, including its ingredients and nutrition. We’ll also delve deeper into why it’s not vegan and talk about lots of Nutella alternatives that are. Make sure you keep reading!
What Is Nutella?
Nutella is a sweet spread produced by Ferrero, a Piedmont, Italy manufacturer. The treat that eventually became Nutella was founded sometime in the early 1950s by company namesake Pietro Ferrero. At that point, the chocolate-hazelnut spread was more of a block. In the 1950s, Ferrero made a creamier version.
The Nutella spread as you know it debuted on store shelves in 1964. Depending on where in the world you live, its ingredients are different. Here is an overview of what could be in your jar of Nutella.
- United States: Vanillin, soy lecithin for emulsification, reduced whey minerals, cocoa, hazelnuts, palm oil, and sugar
- United Kingdom: Vanillin, soy lecithin, 7.4 percent reduced-fat cocoa, 8.7 percent skimmed milk powder, 13 percent hazelnuts, palm oil, and sugar
- Italy: Vanillin, soy lecithin, whey powder, 5 percent skimmed milk powder, 7.4 percent reduced-fat cocoa powder, 13 percent hazelnuts, palm oil, and sugar
- India: Vanillin, INS 322 lecithin, 7.4 percent low-fat cocoa powder, 8.7 percent skim cow milk powder, 13 percent hazelnuts, palm oil, and sugar
- Canada: Vanillin, soy lecithin, non-fat milk solids, 7.4 percent cocoa powder, 8.7 percent skim milk powder, 13 percent hazelnuts, palm oil, and sugar
- Australia: Vanillin, soy lecithin, non-fat milk solids, 7.4 percent cocoa powder, 8.7 percent skim milk powder, 13 percent hazelnuts, palm oil, and sugar
Two tablespoons or 37 grams of Nutella contain:
- 200 calories
- 100 fat calories
- 11 grams of total fat (17 percent of your daily recommended value)
- 3.5 grams of saturated fat (18 percent of your daily recommended value)
- 0 grams of trans fat
- 0 milligrams of cholesterol
- 15 milligrams of sodium (1 percent of your daily recommended value)
- 22 grams of carbs (7 percent of your daily recommended value)
- 1 gram of dietary fiber (6 percent of your daily recommended value)
- 21 grams of sugar
- 3 grams of protein
- 4 percent calcium
- 4 percent iron
Can Vegans Eat Nutella? Why Not?
After combing through the ingredients for Nutella, you see the problematic ingredient we discussed in the intro: skim milk powder. Yet one thing you’ve noticed is that the US-made version of Nutella doesn’t have skim milk powder listed. Wouldn’t that make Nutella vegan if you buy it on US soil?
So you would think, but no. On Nutella USA’s website, they say the following: “As part of the iconic Nutella recipe, we use skim milk powder.” It is in there!
Ferrero even goes into detail on how cow’s milk goes from liquid to powder on that page. When the milk is first collected from a cow, it’s reduced in temperature to under 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Ferrero says this helps the milk retain its quality.
The milk gets transported to the dairy factory, where it’s analyzed using microbiological and physical-chemical means. Then it’s put through a skimmer to get the skim milk and cream separated.
All milk that goes into Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread is pasteurized so it contains fewer bacteria. To pasteurize its milk, Ferrero warms the milk at 161 degrees for a quick 15 seconds and then drastically cools it. Finally, the milk undergoes dehydration after going through a spray-dry machine. This machine evaporates the water in the milk by blasting it with hot air.
The result is powdered milk. Even if the milk powder was full-fat or fat-free, vegans still can’t consume it. Cow’s milk is an animal byproduct, as is dairy like cheese, butter, yogurt, and ice cream.
As we’ve written about a lot on the blog this week, to make the cow’s milk that’s heated into a powder and then put into your jar of Nutella, female cows are impregnated from a very young age so they keep producing milk.
Although Ferrero says they only work with “reliable milk producers with whom we have cultivated longstanding relationships” and that they have very strict standards on the cow’s milk they accept, Ferrero mentions nothing about the cows themselves.
Even farms that produce the tastiest, creamiest milk on the market still have to get that milk from somewhere. Since cows only produce milk to feed their newborns and that milk does eventually dry up, dairy farmers are not going to accept that small quantity of milk from the cow and then let her take up room on the farm. No. She’s either routinely impregnated or killed, and that’s the grisly reality.
What about humane farms? Don’t they treat their animals better? Again, we refer you to the paragraph above. A farm is a money-making business. If a farmer can a.) make a lot of money from the same cow but maybe not treat her fairly or b.) use a cow once, make little money from her, but have her live a healthy life, they’re going to choose option A every time.
Vegan-Friendly Nutella Alternatives
Does this mean you can never eat Nutella again as long as you’re on the vegan diet? Well, technically yes, but you don’t have to forego the delicious combination of hazelnuts and chocolate altogether.
The following vegan-friendly spreads will make you forget all about Nutella.
Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolatey Hazelnut Spread
Peanut Butter & Co. makes Nutella-like spreads even more delectable with their Dark Chocolatey Hazelnut Spread because yes, it’s dark chocolate instead of milk! As sinful as it tastes, this spread slashes the sugar by 25 percent compared to Nutella yet has twice the protein.
The ingredients include natural flavoring, sunflower lecithin, chicory root extract, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa powder, and cane sugar. Peanut Butter & Co.’s Dark Chocolatey Hazelnut Spread has zero trans fats. It’s also kosher, gluten-free, and non-GMO.
Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut and Almond Butter
If you love Justin’s brand for their vegan-friendly peanut butter cups, wait until you try their Chocolate Hazelnut and Almond Butter. With organic chocolate and Booyah hazelnuts, the other ingredients are sea salt, palm oil, organic cocoa butter, organic tapioca starch, organic cane sugar, organic powdered sugar, dry-roasted almonds, and dry-roasted hazelnuts that are vegan-safe.
Rawmio Beyond Gourmet Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
Rawmio’s Beyond Gourmet Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Spread is crafted by hand and totally delicious. The hazelnuts that go into this Nutella alternative are organic, fresh, and grounded by stone. Organic cacao nibs deliver an authentic chocolatey flavor that you can feel good about.
Olivier’s & Co. L’Extreme Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
It doesn’t get much more chocolatey than this! Olivier’s & Co. L’Extreme Chocolate Hazelnut Spread is super-duper delectable. Made in France, the ingredients include vanilla extract, soy lecithin, 4.9 percent hazelnut paste, 18.5 percent skimmed cocoa powder, 20 percent extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil, and sugar.
The chocolate ganache is the real star here. You won’t crave Nutella for a second if you can get your hands on this amazing chocolate hazelnut spread instead.
JEM Organics Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
JEM Organics, which is short for Just Eat Me, produces a decadent chocolate hazelnut butter. The ingredients once included sunflower lecithin and cacao butter, but the recipe has since been upgraded with the inclusion of sea salt and cacao powder.
The full list of ingredients is as follows: vanilla, Jacobsen sea salt, cacao powder, cacao nibs, coconut sugar, and sprouted hazelnuts. JEM’s chocolate hazelnut butter is low-sodium, non-GMO, vegan, Paleo, and free of palm oil, soy, peanuts, gluten, and dairy.
Askinosie Hey, Hey Hazelnut! Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
Filler and additive-free, Askinosie’s Hey, Hey Hazelnut! Chocolate Hazelnut Spread uses Washington’s own Holmquist Orchards as the source of their DuChilly hazelnuts. The cacao nibs are roasted to perfection and the cane sugar in this spread is organic.
Conclusion
Nutella is perfectly vegan until you get to the skim powdered milk, which uses real dairy milk. Although Nutella is off-limits for vegans, with so many dairy-free Nutella-like spreads out there, that’s not such a bad thing. Many of these vegan chocolate hazelnut spreads slash calories and sugar too, making them a somewhat healthy treat to indulge in!