Why Sugar Isn’t Always Vegan

Sugar is a staple pantry ingredient, and even if you don’t bake a lot you likely keep it on hand to mellow a cup of bitter black coffee, balance a sauce, or aid browning in roasted vegetables.

Sugar is made from plants (either sugarcane or sugar beets), so one would assume that it’s vegan, meaning it isn’t made from meat or using animal products. All you need to do to make your favorite brownie recipe vegan is to use an egg substitute and swap butter for vegetable oil, right? 

But that isn’t always the case. 

The majority of granulated sugar sold at supermarkets in the United States is made from sugarcane. Granulated cane sugar has to go through multiple filtration processes to reach the result most of us know and stock in our kitchens: a uniformly fine, stark white substance. 

Unless it’s a certified vegan or organic product, it’s processed using a substance called bone char, a type of charcoal made from animal bones. This is to decolorize the sugar and achieve the white color that consumers expect. 

Many types of organic, raw granulated cane sugars are certified vegan, meaning they don’t use bone char in their processing. As a result, these products have a off-white to tan color. You can learn more about our findings on baking with these sugars in our review. 

Some sugar is made from sugar beets. Beet sugar doesn’t require the same processing as sugarcane, so it is always vegan. But it can be difficult to tell whether sugar is made from beets. In most areas, bags of sugar aren’t advertised as beet sugar (manufacturers don’t have to specify the source in the ingredient list).

To be safe, look for sugar marked as organic or certified vegan. 

Most nonorganic brown sugar is not considered vegan. While it may appear to be a less processed product, it is usually conventional white cane sugar that has had molasses added back to it. 

The same rules apply: If the package says that the sugar is certified vegan or organic, the sugar is vegan.