Voodoo Doughnut is a popular doughnut shop based in Portland, Oregon that is known for its creative and unusual doughnut flavors. From maple bacon bars to cereal-topped doughnuts, Voodoo Doughnut offers a wide selection of innovative creations. However, many people wonder if Voodoo Doughnuts are vegan friendly. As a vegan doughnut lover, you may be curious if you can indulge in Voodoo Doughnuts guilt-free. In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into Voodoo Doughnuts and determine if they offer any vegan doughnut options.
About Voodoo Doughnut
Voodoo Doughnut first opened its doors in Portland, Oregon in 2003. The founders, Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon, wanted to create a doughnut shop that was quirky, fun, and a bit mysterious. The original Old Town Portland shop had an eclectic design with characters painted on the walls and funky decor. Customers could watch the bakers make fresh doughnuts while they waited in line.
Part of Voodoo Doughnut’s innovation was their unique doughnut flavors. They stepped beyond traditional flavors like glazed and chocolate to create doughnuts with peanut butter, fruit loops, Oreos, and other unorthodox ingredients. Over the years, Voodoo Doughnut has introduced special monthly menu items and seasonal doughnuts as well.
The Voodoo Doughnut brand quickly took off. Long lines formed outside their shops, with customers eager to try their creative concoctions. Voodoo Doughnut has expanded over the years to open 7 locations across 4 states, including Oregon, Colorado, Texas, and California. They’ve also partnered with Universal Studios to open Voodoo Doughnut locations in their theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando.
Are Traditional Doughnuts Vegan?
To understand if Voodoo Doughnuts can be made vegan, let’s first look at the ingredients in traditional doughnuts:
Dough: The dough itself is typically made from enriched white flour, sugar, butter or oil, milk, eggs, yeast and leavening agents like baking powder or baking soda.
Glazes and Icing: Glazes and icings often contain milk, butter, or cream.
Fillings: Fillings like cream, custard, or jelly may contain dairy.
Toppings: Some common doughnut toppings like chocolate sprinkles, crushed nuts, and coconut are usually vegan. However, toppings like caramel, chocolate, and fruit preserves may contain milk or butter.
Looking at the typical ingredients, traditional doughnuts are not vegan as they contain eggs, dairy, and sometimes animal-derived fats like butter. To make a doughnut vegan, it would need to exclude all animal products.
Are Voodoo Doughnuts Vegan?
Now that we know what makes a doughnut vegan or non-vegan, let’s examine Voodoo Doughnut’s ingredients more closely.
Dough: Voodoo Doughnuts use a yeast-raised dough. According to their website, the standard dough contains wheat flour, sugar, soybean oil, and other leavening ingredients. Their vegan dough replaces the eggs in a traditional doughnut dough with ener-g egg replacer, making the dough completely vegan.
Glazes and Icing: Voodoo Doughnuts offer some iced doughnuts with vegan glazes made without milk or butter. They have vegan options for chocolate, maple, and vanilla glazes.
Fillings: Most of the creamy fillings contain dairy products like cream or butter. However, they do offer some vegan fillings like fruit jams and coconut cream.
Toppings: Many of the doughnut toppings at Voodoo Doughnuts are vegan. This includes cereals, crushed cookies, nuts, sprinkles, and coconut flakes. However, customers need to watch out for non-vegan toppings like chocolate chips, caramel, and bacon crumbles.
Here are some key things to know about vegan Voodoo Doughnuts:
- They have a vegan dough recipe without eggs or dairy.
- Some of their glazes and a few fillings are vegan.
- Many toppings are vegan but some popular ones like bacon are not.
- They do not use butter or other animal fats in their fryers.
So in summary – yes, Voodoo Doughnuts does offer vegan doughnut options! While not all of their unique creations can be made vegan, they have a vegan dough and glaze along with vegan-friendly toppings to build customized vegan doughnuts.
Vegan Doughnuts at Voodoo Doughnut
If you want to indulge in vegan Voodoo Doughnuts, here are some tips for ordering:
- Ask for any doughnut to be made with vegan dough
- Select a vegan glaze like chocolate, maple or vanilla
- Choose vegan friendly toppings like coconut, nuts, cereals or sprinkles
- Ask them to hold any dairy-based fillings
- Avoid bacon, chocolate chips and other non-vegan toppings
Some examples of vegan Voodoo Doughnut options include:
- Glazed doughnut with vegan dough and maple glaze
- Chocolate doughnut with vegan chocolate glaze
- Old Dirty Bastard doughnut with vegan dough, vanilla glaze, and Oreo cookie crumbles
- Memphis Mafia doughnut made with vegan dough, vanilla glaze, peanut butter, and chocolate chips
- Coconut doughnut with coconut flakes
They are also open to customizing other doughnuts to be vegan. Just ask! The vegan dough and toppings allow you to get creative.
Vegan Doughnuts at Other Locations
Voodoo Doughnut now has locations outside of their original Portland shops. Here is the vegan doughnut situation at the other stores:
Eugene, Oregon: Offers vegan dough and toppings
Denver, Colorado: Has vegan options
Austin, Texas: Carries vegan doughnuts
Hollywood, California: Serves vegan doughnuts
Orlando, Florida: No vegan doughnuts currently but they hope to offer them in the future
So fortunately, vegan customers can enjoy animal product-free Voodoo Doughnuts at any of their shops. The availability and options may vary slightly by location, but they aim to provide vegan doughnuts wherever Voodoo Doughnuts exist.
Why Voodoo Doughnuts Appeal to Vegans
Here are some reasons why vegans appreciate Voodoo Doughnut as a doughnut option:
- Dedicated vegan ingredients – Having an egg-free, dairy-free dough along with vegan glazes and toppings means vegans don’t have to make substitutions or special requests. Voodoo Doughnut put thought into creating versatile vegan ingredients.
- Creative flavors – Part of the fun of Voodoo Doughnuts is exploring the wild flavors. Vegans can get in on the excitement with combinations like their Memphis Mafia doughnut.
- Customizability – With the ability to choose vegan dough, glazes and toppings, you can build a customized vegan doughnut creation.
- Clear labeling – Voodoo Doughnuts have signs and menu indicators that make it easy to identify which options are vegan.
- Understanding of dietary needs – The Voodoo Doughnut staff seem knowledgeable and accommodating of vegan customers.
While traditional bakeries and doughnut shops often have just one vegan option like a plain cake doughnut, Voodoo Doughnut provides a variety of ways to enjoy fun, over-the-top vegan doughnuts. Their commitment to offering vegan ingredients makes the brand popular with vegans.
Nutrition of Vegan Voodoo Doughnuts
Like all doughnuts, Voodoo’s vegan doughnuts are a sweet indulgence best enjoyed in moderation. Here is the nutrition breakdown for a standard Voodoo vegan doughnut:
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | 220 |
| Fat | 8g |
| Carbs | 34g |
| Sugar | 13g |
| Fiber | 1g |
| Protein | 3g |
Vegan Voodoo doughnuts provide vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, calcium, and iron. However, they are high in calories, carbohydrates, and sugar, so enjoy in moderation. Making vegan doughnuts at home can allow you to cut down on oil and sugar. But for an occasional splurge, Voodoo’s fun vegan creations definitely hit the spot for vegans with a sweet tooth!
Finding Other Vegan Doughnuts
Voodoo Doughnut makes it possible for vegans to indulge in the over-the-top doughnut flavors it has become famous for. But it’s not the only place to find vegan doughnuts. Here are some other options for vegan doughnuts:
Specialty vegan bakeries – Major cities often have dedicated bakeries creating amazing vegan baked goods, including doughnuts. These are great options for exciting flavors and high-quality ingredients.
Small local doughnut shops – Your own community may have independent doughnut shops that are willing to make vegan doughnuts with a little advanced notice.
Grocery store vegan doughnuts – Several mainstream grocery store chains now carry vegan doughnut options in their bakery sections.
DIY vegan doughnuts – For the ultimate freshness and ingredient control, try making easy vegan baked or fried doughnuts at home.
So whether you’re craving a chocolate glazed or blueberry cake style, there are more and more ways for vegans to get quality doughnuts without animal products. Voodoo Doughnut paved the way by proving that vegan doughnuts can be just as innovative and delicious.
The Bottom Line
Voodoo Doughnut, known for unique creations like the Voodoo Doll doughnut and Cock-N-Balls doughnut, offers more than just a gimmick. They provide a variety of delicious vegan doughnuts that allow their vegan customers to fully enjoy the Voodoo experience. By making dedicated vegan doughs, glazes, fillings and toppings, Voodoo Doughnut has shown a real commitment to accommodating all dietary needs. So if you’re a vegan in Portland, Oregon or anywhere else they have shops, you can feel confident stopping by Voodoo Doughnut for mouthwatering and fun vegan doughnuts.