Is Huel Vegan?

Ever since we started our company in 2015, Huel products have always been vegan. And even though our range of nutritionally complete meals, powders, and snacks has grown a lot since then, everything we make is still 100% plant-based. 

Want to know more about vegan Huel meals? In this article, we answer all your questions:

• Are all Huel products vegan?

• Why Huel is vegan

• Where we stand on a vegan diet

• Why Huel vegan food is a good option regardless of your dietary preferences

• Misconceptions around Huel vegan meals

So, is Huel vegan?

Yes, all Huel products are 100% vegan. If you’d like to check for yourself, simply click/tap on the Nutrition & Ingredients button on any of the product pages, where we list everything that goes into each meal. 

You’ll also notice the Vegan Trademark displayed on all our products too. To get permission to use this logo on our packaging, all our foods need to be independently audited by The Vegan Society. They rigorously check all ingredients and conduct other procedures to confirm our meals are indeed vegan. 

None of our factories produce foods for other companies, so you can also be confident that there’s an extremely low risk of cross-contamination with non-vegan products. 

So, you can trust that Huel vegan meals are indeed suitable for a vegan diet. 

Why is Huel vegan?

There are several reasons we choose to make purely plant-based products:

It’s better for the planet

It is very well established that plant-based diets have lower associated greenhouse gas emissions than those that are based primarily on meat, dairy, and fish. If everyone shifted towards getting a higher proportion of their calories from plant-based foods, emissions of methane, CO2 and other greenhouse gases would be significantly lower. That would, in principle, help slow down climate change. 

We calculated the carbon footprint (CO2 equivalent) of a range of meals, including Huel vegan protein meals and Huel vegan powder. As the chart below shows, Huel meals have a significantly lower footprint than many other kinds of popular food.  

Avoids animal products

Consuming a Huel vegan meal replacement means you can get a nutritionally complete breakfast, lunch, or dinner, without needing to consume animal products. 

At Huel, we’re definitely not here to criticise carnivores or the farming industry - and there are many people producing animal products while following the highest welfare standards (indeed, our founders don’t claim to be vegan themselves - though they advocate plant-rich diets). Nonetheless, if you want to avoid or reduce the amount of animal products you consume, Huel is a great option. 

It’s good for you

Numerous researchers and nutrition experts have concluded that a plant-rich diet is very good for your general health and is associated with reduced risk of various chronic diseases. Consuming a range of plant-based foods gives you an enormous variety of vitamins and minerals - and our nutritionally complete meals contain all the nutrients you need to thrive. 

Suggested: How to eat more plant-based foods

Does Huel promote veganism?

We are not here to tell you how to live your life or to say exactly what you should eat. Generally speaking, we support the notion of a ‘plant-rich’ diet. As mentioned above, getting most of your calories from plants is better for the planet and is also really good for you. 

Speaking to The Guardian in early 2025, our co-founder James Collier suggested that a plant-rich diet might include about 10% animal-based products: “Considering the western average is 28-30% [animal-based], we can reduce that by two-thirds. What that looks like is having a couple of days a week without any animal-derived calories, and reducing what we have on other days. Also, really, really try to avoid intensively farmed red meat and poultry”. 

If you are vegan, then Huel is of course a great choice. Our meals are nutritionally complete, meaning you can get all the vitamins, minerals, and protein you need in Huel vegan shakes, meals, snacks, or drinks. 

But at the same time, our products aren’t designed excl

usively for vegans. They can easily integrate into many different types of diets. Whether you mainly eat meat, are a flexitarian, vegetarian or anything else, you can easily swap out some animal-based meals with Huel - you definitely don’t have to be vegan to enjoy our products!

Related: What’s the difference between plant-rich and vegan?

Can vegan Huel food really give you all the nutrients you need?

Yes, absolutely. A common misconception about vegan diets is that it is not possible to get all the essential amino acids, protein or minerals/vitamins (such as calcium, vitamin B12 etc.) you need to stay healthy. But this is categorically untrue - so long as you plan carefully. 

All Huel vegan food is ‘nutritionally complete’, based on an average 2000 kcal daily intake. We define nutritionally complete food as that which has: “ideal amounts of all essential nutrients as well as beneficial levels of other important nutrients for optimum health, energy and performance”. 

Basically, consuming 2000 kcal of Huel vegan drink, powder, or meals each day would mean your intake of nutrients would be in line with UK and European dietary recommendations.

In terms of veganism, consuming Huel can give you all the

protein, vitamins, and minerals you need in each meal - without needing to take separate supplements. 

While you can use Huel for all your meals, we generally recommend eating other kinds of food each day (e.g. Huel for one meal and a snack, other foods for the rest of your intake). If you’re following a strict vegan diet and are using Huel alongside other meals (store-bought or homemade), you might still need to check you are getting adequate nutrients from your other meals. 

For example, if you had a ~400 kcal Huel hot meal pot for lunch, that might cover a good proportion of your daily requirements, but wouldn’t necessarily cover all your needs. You’d therefore need to check if your other meals were meeting your intake requirements. 

Inspiration: Check out our plant-based weekly meal plan

Nutritionally complete, vegan Huel food for all

Whether you’re entirely plant-based, vegetarian, you’re doing ‘veganuary’ or just curious about how to follow a more plant-rich diet, Huel vegan meals are a great way to get healthy, affordable, quick, tasty, and nutritious foods into your day. 

And while a plant-rich diet definitely has clear benefits, we Hueligans are a welcoming bunch. Whether you treat yourself to the occasional beef burger or are 100% vegan, our goal is to give you nutritionally complete meals — not tell you what to eat.