The Complete Guide to Vegan Butterscotch Chips

Navigating the world of free-from baking can be an exciting adventure, but it’s not without challenges. One of the top cookie hurdles? Finding truly dairy-free butterscotch chips. Most brands are boldly made with milk, leaving dairy-free bakers in the lurch. This post is your comprehensive solution. I’ll not only unveil the brands that are genuinely dairy-free but also provide you with delicious recipes and answers to all your questions. Say goodbye to guesswork and hello to the decadence of vegan butterscotch chips.

Dairy-Free & Vegan Butterscotch Chip Brands

Allergen Notes: All items listed below are dairy-free by ingredients. At last check, they were also gluten-free and nut-free. But ingredients are subject to change at any time, and all products are at some degree of risk for allergen cross contamination, whether they have a “may contain” statement or not. Always read the label before consuming any food, and make sure you are familiar with this may contain information. Only you can decide what is safe for your needs.

Disclosure: This post contains some regular links and affiliate links to retailers that we buy from, too. They are all intended to be helpful.

Chocolate Emporium

This is my favorite brand of vegan butterscotch chips for taste, performance, and value. They have a sweet flavor that reminds me of butterscotch hard candy, and they hold their shape in baked goods. In terms of quality, they are free of dyes, and made by a strictly dairy-free, gluten-free, kosher parve chocolatier. As an added bonus, each bag is nearly twice the size of competitors, for the same price!

• Best For: Overall Value & Better Ingredients
• Certifications: Kosher Parve
• Top Allergens: soy
• Full Ingredients: sugar, palm kernel oil, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, soy lecithin, artificial flavor
• Cost: $5 per 16-ounce bag (free shipping with larger orders)
• Where to Buy: Online via Chocolate Emporium

King David Butterscotch Chips

This is probably the most popular brand of vegan butterscotch chips. They are supplied by Oppenheimer USA, and have that classic look of butterscotch chips, ample sweetness, and a good melt.

• Best For: Classic Flavor & Wider Availability
• Certifications: Kosher Parve
• Top Allergens: soy
• Full Ingredients: sugar, palm fat, soy flour, emulsifiers (mono and diglycerides, polyglycerol polyricinoleate), soy lecithin, cocoa butter, salt, flavors, vanillin, food colorings: tartrazine – fd&c yellow #5 allura red – fd&c red #4
• Cost: $4.50 to $6.50 per 8.8-ounce bag
• Where to Buy: Local kosher markets, the kosher section in some grocers; Online via Amazon

Lieber’s Butterscotch Chips

This is the only store-bought brand of vegan butterscotch chips that is also soy-free. They aren’t high in natural ingredients, but they do hit the butterscotch mark. They also have a very high heat tolerance, helping them to hold their shape rather than melting into the cookies. But this brand can be elusive, and is more readily found where kosher products are sold than online.

• Best For: Soy-Free &
• Certifications: Kosher Parve
• Top Allergens: none
• Full Ingredients: sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, natural and artificial flavors, artificial colors (fd&c yellow #6 aluminum lake, fd&c yellow #5 aluminum lake, fd&c blue #2 aluminum lake), salt and sunflower lecithin
• Cost: $4 to $7 per 9-ounce bag
• Where to Buy: Local kosher markets, the kosher section in some grocers (H-E-B, Kroger, etc); Online via Amazon

Butterscotch Adjacent: Caramel Chip Brands!

For similar, sweet richness, the brands below offer dairy-free caramel baking chips. The first four are readily sold in kosher markets and kosher sections of grocery stores.

• Baker’s Choice
• Dee Best
• King David
• Lieber’s
• Oh! Nuts
• Olivenation

Vegan Butterscotch Chips FAQs

Do any Mainstream Chocolate Brands Make Vegan Butterscotch Chips?

No, unfortunately the major brands do contain milk, including Nestle, Hershey’s, Guittard, and even Lily’s sugar free.

Are there any Generic Dairy-Free Butterscotch Chips?

Formulas change over time, but at present, we could not find any store brands of dairy-free and vegan butterscotch chips. And I looked at nearly every store we could think of, from Walmart’s Great Value to smaller chains like Hy-Vee. But if you find one, please do let me know!

Why Aren’t More Butterscotch Chips Vegan?

To help make the chips firm, stable, and creamy, most brands contain milk as one of the first ingredients. They’re similar to standard white chocolate, but with butterscotch flavor added. Crafting butterscotch chips without milk isn’t easy, and is something that only kosher parve companies have found worthwhile.

Are there Sugar-Free Dairy-Free Butterscotch Chips?

We haven’t found any as of yet, but will update if we learn of any.

Are there any Natural Brands of Vegan Butterscotch Chips?

Chocolate Emporium is as natural as it gets at this time, but we’ll update if we find any craft chocolatiers with more wholesome options. In the meantime, you can make your own dairy-free butterscotch chips with the recipe below!

Dairy-Free Butterscotch Chip Recipes

Homemade Dairy-Free Butterscotch Chips

This simple candy-making recipe calls for just 4 ingredients. You can make them rustic like Sarah does (shown below) or make rounded “chips” with a chocolate chip mold. Please note that homemade butterscotch chips aren’t stabilized like mass produced ones, so they melt more readily.

Dairy-Free “Tollhouse” Butterscotch Cookies

These delicious cookies are the perfect combination of soft, chewy, crispy, sweet, and buttery. Trust me, everyone will love them!

Dairy-Free Oatmeal Scotchies

This recipe is based on the classic Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies on the bag of Nestle’s Butterscotch Chips. But of course, my version is dairy free!

Vegan 7 Layer Bars

Sarah actually uses her homemade butterscotch chips in this recipe, but store-bought work great in these indulgent treats.

Also See Our Complete Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips Guide

This big list includes all of the white chocolate, dark chocolate, butterscotch, minis, and other dairy-free chocolate chips we could find.