Whether nougat is also available vegan is an important question for many beginners in this field – after all, the sweet mass is essential for various dessert recipes. We’ll tell you what you, as a vegan, have to look out for when buying.

Is nougat vegan?

Nougat is a popular ingredient in the world of desserts and cakes: the creamy mass is often used, for example, as a fine filling for pralines and the like. Nut nougat creams are also real classics among sweet spreads.

In itself, it is not a problem to make vegan nougat. The essential basic ingredients are hazelnuts and cocoa. In addition, the dark nut mass usually consists of sugar, fat (usually cocoa butter or palm fat) and vanilla flavoring. In addition to dark hazelnut nougat, there are many other types of nougat made from almonds, pistachios and other types of nuts, for example.

It is not uncommon for manufacturers to add animal ingredients to nougat and especially nougat creams, such as milk powder or butterfat. If you want to buy vegan nougat, you should therefore pay attention to vegan-certified goods or read the list of ingredients carefully beforehand.

Nougat: Vegan recipe ideas

You can also easily make nougat yourself at home. Here we show you a recipe for vegan nougat with coconut fat: Make nougat yourself: Recipe and tips.

You can find instructions for vegan nougat pralines in this article: Vegan pralines: 3 delicious recipes to make yourself.

In addition, nougat is suitable as an ingredient for:

Nougat thalers and cookies
cakes and muffins
Pie fillings and cupcake frostings
Fillings for croissants
Ice Cream and Parfaits

What about organic, fair trade and palm oil?

Even if nougat is vegan, it is not automatically a sustainable product. In order to really fall back on socially and ecologically responsible products, you should also pay attention to organic and fair trade seals when buying.

Organic seals guarantee, among other things, that no pesticides that are harmful to the environment or health were used in the cultivation of the ingredients. The Fairtrade logo assures you that everyone involved in the production chain has worked under fair working conditions and for a fair wage. This is particularly important with cocoa. You can find out more about this here: Fairtrade cocoa: you need to know that.

After all, some nougat fillings contain palm fat. Palm oil production is significantly involved in the clearing of rainforests and thus in the extinction of species and the progression of the climate crisis. In order not to support these abuses, you can use palm oil-free products. Alternatively, there are certifications for sustainably produced palm oil.