Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this article, meaning at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. (Full Disclosure)
When it comes to pizza night, Pillsbury Pizza Crust is one of the most popular and convenient options. It’s quick and easy to create delicious pizzas with Pillsbury Pizza Crust, making it a great choice for busy households. But, is Pillsbury Pizza Crust vegan?
Pillsbury Mini Pizza Crusts is vegan and the other flavors are most likely vegan as well, but they contain mono & diglycerides and natural flavors, which could be derived from animals.
Below is a table showing Pillsbury Pizza Crust products and its vegan status.
| Product | Vegan Status |
| Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust | Maybe, contains Mono and Diglycerides and Natural Flavor. |
| Pillsbury Thin and Crispy Pizza Crust Dough | Maybe, contains Mono and Diglycerides and Natural Flavor. |
| Pillsbury Mini Pizza Crusts | Vegan. |
Pillsbury Pizza Crust Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Ascorbic Acid
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Cottonseed Oil
- Dextrose
- Enriched Flour Bleached
- Enzymes
- Ferrous Sulfate
- Folic Acid
- Leavening
- Mono And Diglycerides
- Natural Flavor
- Niacin
- Palm Oil
- Potassium Chloride
- Potassium Sorbate (Preservative)
- Riboflavin
- Salt
- Sodium Aluminum Phosphate
- Sodium Bicarbonate
- Soybean Oil
- Sugar
- Thiamin Mononitrate
- Tricalcium Phosphate
- Water
- Wheat Starch
- Xanthan Gum
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
This is an controversial ingredient because of the risk of bone char being used in the production process. Sugar is a common ingredient in candy and sweets and in the candy and sweets industry the most common sugar types are beet sugar and cane sugar.
Beet sugar and raw cane sugar are both vegan, but the cane sugar is often refined to fit the product and in this refining process the sugar is also bleached. A common bleaching method is to use bone char from dead cows and this is not okay with vegans.
Natural Flavor
The next ingredient is natural flavors and this is a popular ingredient in many food products. Natural flavors is an umbrella term, meaning that it often consists of several ingredients and the source of these ingredients are not disclosed on the ingredients label.
This means that natural flavors could contain ingredients sourced from animals and it would not show on the ingredients label. I therefore recommend that vegans are careful when it comes to natural flavors.
Palm Oil
Palm oil is a very controversial ingredient. Not only by vegans, but by a lot of people all around the world. The palm oil itself is indeed vegan, because it does not contain any ingredient from animals. The problem is the fact massive deforestation is taking place to make room for palm oil plantation and this forces wildlife to suffer.
But there is a way to make it vegan-friendly. This is called RSPO. RSPO stands for Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and this non-profit organisation helps companies to produce and buy sustainable palm oil with minimal impact on the environment.
Mono And Diglycerides
This ingredient can be derived from both plants and animals.
Soy
Soy is one of the most common GMO crops in the US and the problem is that it requires a high amount of herbicide. This can pollute the surrounding ecosystem and cause severe damage to the environment.
Conclusion
After I analyzed the ingredients I found that Pillsbury Mini Pizza Crusts is vegan-friendly and there is a high probability that the other pizza crust products would be vegan as well.
However they do contain some questionable ingredients that makes it harder to determine if they are 100% vegan-friendly or not. Always make sure to read the ingredients label because companies can change their recipes.
Thanks for reading, take care!
