Is Marshmallows vegan?
Usually no — classic marshmallows are set with gelatin.
Key facts
- Verdict
- Usually not vegan
- Category
- Packaged food
- Also listed as
- Marshmallows
- Best swap
- Aquafaba marshmallows
Why
The bounce comes from whipped gelatin. Vegan brands whip aquafaba or use carrageenan and agar, and they toast and melt almost identically.
What to check on the label
- Gelatin in the ingredients
- Vegan marshmallow brands
- Egg white in some meringue-style sweets
Swap it for
What is actually in it
A marshmallow is a foam: sugar syrup whipped with air and held there by a protein network. Gelatin does that job because its collagen strands melt around 35 °C and re-set as they cool, which is also why a classic marshmallow softens on the tongue. Gelatin in confectionery is a slaughterhouse by-product — hydrolysed pig skin or bovine hide — so no marshmallow made with it is vegan, whatever else the pack says. Plant foams use different chemistry: aquafaba (chickpea cooking water) supplies saponins and albumin-like proteins that trap air, while agar or carrageenan sets the structure at a higher melting point. That higher set point is why vegan marshmallows hold their shape longer over a fire and need a few extra seconds to go gooey. A minority of marshmallows also carry beeswax or shellac as a glazing agent, and some pastel ranges are coloured with carmine (E120), so gelatin is not the only thing worth checking.
Brand by brand
| Brand | Verdict | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dandies (Chicago Vegan Foods) | Vegan | Aquafaba-free carrageenan recipe; vanilla and mini sizes, toasts well. |
| Freedom Mallows | Vegan | UK gelatin-free range, also free from artificial colours. |
| Jet-Puffed | Not vegan | Gelatin-set; the 'fat free' variants use gelatin too. |
| Haribo Chamallows | Not vegan | Pork gelatin, like most of the Haribo range. |
| Store-brand fluff / crème | Depends on the brand | Marshmallow fluff is often egg-white based rather than gelatin — still not vegan unless labelled. |
Recipes change between markets and batches — treat this as a starting point and read the pack.
Label codes to recognise
- E441 — Gelatin
- Animal
- E120 — Carmine / cochineal
- Animal (insect)
- E901 — Beeswax glaze
- Animal
- E904 — Shellac glaze
- Animal (insect)
- E406 / E407 — Agar / carrageenan
- Plant (seaweed)
Questions people ask
Do vegan marshmallows toast?
Yes — most brown and melt over a fire much like gelatin ones.
What about mini marshmallows in cocoa?
Same rule: check for gelatin, or buy a vegan pack.
Are Lucky Charms marshmallows vegan?
The cereal marshmallows are gelatin-set, and the cereal is fortified with vitamin D3 from lanolin, so no. Several plant-based cereal brands make gelatin-free copies.
Can I make marshmallows at home without gelatin?
Yes. Whip 150 ml aquafaba to stiff peaks, stream in a 118 °C sugar syrup made with 200 g sugar and 1 tsp agar dissolved in 60 ml water, whip for eight minutes, then set in a cornflour-dusted tray for four hours.
Do vegan marshmallows work in rice-crispy squares?
They do, but they melt more slowly. Warm them with a little plant butter over a low heat and stir until fully liquid before folding in the cereal.
Is marshmallow root involved at all?
Not any more. The original sweet used sap from Althaea officinalis; industrial production replaced it with gelatin in the nineteenth century, so the name is historical.
More packaged food checks
Reviewed 2026-09-16 by the Veg.ac editorial team · Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back.