Vegan Nutella Alternatives (with no palm oil)
The name Nutella sparks up images of crunchy hazelnuts blended with cocoa, but reality is much more sugar-laden. Sugar leads the list, making up the largest part of each jar. Hazelnuts, which should be the star, often take a back seat.
Obviously keep any Nutella away from young children and pets, due to nuts and chocolate. Read more on food safety for people and pets.
Check any Nutella jar and you’ll see:
- Over 55% sugar by weight
- Around 13% hazelnuts (despite the nutty reputation)
Here’s a simple breakdown for a standard 400g jar:
Many parents were surprised to learn just how much sugar Nutella contains. A lawsuit in the US in 2011 challenged the idea that Nutella was a “healthy breakfast” option, forcing Ferrero (the brand that owns Nutella) to pay and change their advertising. The company promised to use clear language, but the recipe did not change.
Even plant-based ‘Nutella alternatives’ sometimes copy the same formula, swapping out the dairy but sticking with high sugar and palm oil. So if you’re hoping to avoid sugar or seek nut-rich spreads, reading labels is the only safe bet.
In England, Nutella is now more popular than jam, peanut butter and even Marmite. But this gives more concern over the ingredients, which include palm oil and lots of refined sugar.
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say you’re probably not spreading Nutella on celery sticks. It’s going on toast (probably the gluten-packed white kind). When the sugar from the refined carbs meets the sugar from chocolate spread, boom! There goes your energy and blood sugar balance for the day. Meghan Telper (nutritionist)
Why People are Avoiding Palm Oil
Palm oil often slips under the radar, but it’s a central ingredient in Nutella. It gives that smooth texture but comes at a heavy cost.
Palm oil production means massive plantations. Forests get cleared for new trees, which destroys precious animal habitats. Orangutans and tigers lose their homes, and some species are threatened with extinction. Widespread burning adds to air pollution and carbon emissions, increasing climate worries.
When you see “sustainable palm oil” on a label, it might not mean as much as you think. Most palm oil still comes from large-scale farms that harm wildlife and local communities.
Why avoid it? Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Deforestation: Rainforests cut down to make way for plantations.
- Animal suffering: Endangered wildlife face shrinking habitats.
- Climate impact: Land clearing releases stored carbon into the air.
According to Greenpeace, this term has no legal meaning and is as useful as a chocolate teapot. Not so long ago, Hope the orangutan was shot 74 times (she was blinded and her baby died on the way to the sanctuary). Orangutan babies have been found clinging to mothers burned to the ground, by ‘sustainable palm oil’ companies.
Plastic Packaging and The Ferrero Connection
Ferrero, Nutella’s parent company, is not only a giant in chocolate but also in plastic use. Nutella comes in plastic tubs or glass jars with plastic lids, which rarely get recycled into new food packaging.
Ferrero also makes Kinder chocolates, Ferrero Rocher, and other famous brands. Most of these come wrapped in single-use plastics or foils. These bits of packaging end up in landfills or stuck in rubbish streams that are hard to clean.
Why does this matter? All that plastic sticks around for decades, adding to the global waste problem. Most council recycling can’t handle complicated wrappers or mixed materials. Choosing palm-oil-free, vegan spreads packed in glass jars or paper helps cut waste and sends a message to food giants to rethink packaging.
In the USA, Kinder eggs are banned for import, due to the toys inside (choking hazards).
Pip & Nut Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
Pip & Nut has made waves with its vegan chocolate hazelnut spread. It skips palm oil in favour of cold-pressed sunflower oil and gets its creamy texture from a high percentage of roasted hazelnuts. The recipe is short, simple, and easy to understand—hazelnuts, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, sunflower oil, and a splash of sea salt.
A few things make Pip & Nut stand out:
- All ingredients are 100% vegan and palm-oil-free.
- They use Tony’s Open Chain cocoa, which pushes full traceability and open supply relationships between farmers and buyers.
- The cocoa comes from ethical, fair sources, supporting better practices across cocoa farms and local communities.
- The spread comes in a glass jar with a metal lid, so it’s easy to recycle.
Other Noteworthy Brands of Vegan Nutella
Meridian Chocca Spread is not just vegan and free from palm, but this charity jar donates a portion of proceeds from each sale to orange welfare charities. It contains hazelnuts with peanuts and hazelnuts, along with cocoa.
Mr Organic Dairy-Free Chocolate Hazelnut Spread has a deep flavour blended rich cocoa and toasted hazelnuts from Italy for a sweet nutty spread. No palm oil – so you know what you have to do – stir the jar! That’s the reason main brands import palm oil. Grab your spoon and save orangutans!
Bettr Hazelnut Cocoa Spread is not just vegan, but also free from palm oil. Made with organic ingredients, it’s sweetened with coconut sugar and sold in a zero waste jar with metal lid, so easy to recycle. We also like their strawberry cashew spread and raspberry rumble cashew nuts.
Homemade Vegan Nutella Recipes
Homemade Nutella (Happy Vegannie) only needs a few ingredients, is super-simple to make and tastes delicious. More hazelnuts, and no animal ingredients, refined sugar, palm oil or packaging. And it’s cheaper too. All you need are hazelnuts, brown sugar and cocoa powder.
Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Recipes
Nutella is basically a flavour combination of chocolate and hazelnut. So if you’re a fan of Nutella, you will love the taste of these simple recipes. This Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse (Full of Plants) only has 5 ingredients, and is naturally sweetened with coconut sugar.
Nutella Fudge (Rainbow Plant Life) only has 5 ingredients. It uses toasted hazelnuts, to taste a bit like Ferrero Rocher.
No-Bake Nutella Cake (Rainbow Plant Life) only needs a few ingredients, and nearly all the work is done by your food processor.
Do You Really Spoil Us, Ambassador?
Fererro Rocher is touted as a ‘luxury chocolate treat’. When it has no better ingredients than cheaply-made chocolate bars (factory-farmed milk, refined sugar, palm oil). Using the flavour combination of chocolate and hazelnuts, again it’s easy to make your own:
These homemade ferrero rocher (Ela Vegan) only need a few ingredients, and are super-simple to make. Sweetened with maple syrup, firm in the fridge for 30 minutes, or freeze, where they will keep for a few months.
