What Are Vegan Broth and Bouillon Brands, Exactly?
Broth and bouillon sit in a strange blind spot for a lot of vegans. Nobody thinks twice about checking a burger patty or a tub of "ice cream" for dairy, but the little jar of bouillon base sitting next to the stove gets a pass more often than it should. That's a mistake, because bouillon is one of the most common places animal products sneak into an otherwise plant-based meal — soups, risottos, gravies, rice, braised vegetables, and stuffing all lean on it for flavor, and a single spoonful of the wrong "chicken" or "beef" base can undo an entire vegan dish.
The good news is that the plant-based broth and bouillon category has gotten a lot deeper over the last few years. What used to mean a single dusty box of vegetable bouillon cubes at the health food store now includes concentrated pastes, shelf-stable cartons, cubes, and powders from brands that specifically formulate "no-chicken" and "no-beef" flavors so you don't lose the umami depth those flavors bring to a dish. We tested and researched five of the most widely available vegan broth and bouillon products in the US to see which ones are actually worth keeping in the pantry, and which ones are just vegetable broth wearing a fancier label.
What to Watch For in the Ingredients
The animal-derived ingredients that show up in broth and bouillon are usually more obvious than the ones hiding in packaged snacks, but they're easy to miss if you're grabbing a jar off the shelf without reading it. Here's what to look for:
- Chicken fat or chicken meat — listed plainly on most "chicken base" products, including ones marketed with vegetable-forward packaging.
- Beef fat, beef extract, or beef stock — the same issue on the "beef" side of the aisle.
- Lactose or milk solids — occasionally used as a carrier for flavorings or as an anti-caking agent in powdered bases.
- "Natural flavor" derived from meat, chicken, or dairy — this is the vaguest and most common trap. Unless a bouillon is explicitly labeled vegan or vegetarian, "natural flavor" on a chicken- or beef-flavored product is very often derived from the animal it's imitating.
- Honey — shows up occasionally in "sweet and savory" specialty broths, though it's rare in standard bouillon.
If a label doesn't say "vegan" or "vegetarian" and it's flavored like meat, don't assume. When in doubt, run the ingredient list through the spvegan.com ingredient checker before you toss it in the cart — it takes the guessing out of ambiguous terms like "natural flavor" and "spice extractives."
Are Broth and Bouillon Brands Vegan?
Not by default — you have to check every single one. Most mainstream bouillon brands, including the regular chicken and beef lines from Knorr, Herb-Ox, and Swanson, are not vegan; they use real chicken fat, beef extract, or animal-derived flavoring to hit that meaty taste. The vegetable-flavored bouillon from those same brands is sometimes vegan and sometimes still contains dairy-derived flavoring agents, so it's not safe to assume "vegetable" automatically means plant-based either.
The five products below are ones that are explicitly labeled vegan or vegetarian with no animal-derived ingredients in the formula, based on the ingredient lists published by each manufacturer. As always with packaged food, formulas can change, so it's worth a quick label check even on a brand you already trust.
The Best Vegan Broth & Bouillon Brands, Ranked
1. Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base
Better Than Bouillon's concentrated paste format has basically become the default "better than a cube" option in a lot of vegan kitchens, and the No Chicken Base is the reason why. It's a thick, savory concentrate you spoon into hot water rather than a dry cube or powder, which means it dissolves faster and gives a rounder, less salty-forward flavor than most cubes. The company sells this specific SKU as "Vegan Certified," which puts it a notch above the merely "vegetarian" label some of its other bases carry.
Ingredients: mirepoix (carrots, celery, onion), salt, hydrolyzed corn protein, sugar, water, canola oil, yeast extract, potato flakes, maltodextrin, turmeric, natural flavors. One 8 oz jar makes roughly 9.5 quarts of broth and typically runs somewhere in the $6–$8 range, which works out to some of the cheapest broth per quart on this list once you factor in how concentrated it is.
Taste-wise, it leans more savory-vegetable than convincingly "chicken," but the yeast extract and hydrolyzed corn protein give it a rounder umami backbone than a straight vegetable broth, which makes it a solid stand-in for chicken stock in soups, gravies, and risotto where you want depth more than a literal chicken flavor.
2. Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth
Pacific Foods skips the concentrate format entirely and sells a ready-to-pour carton, which makes it the simplest option if you don't want to measure paste or dissolve cubes. It's built from vegetable juice concentrates rather than dehydrated vegetable scraps, which gives it a cleaner, brighter flavor than some of the more processed-tasting bouillon options.
Ingredients: water, organic carrot juice concentrate, sea salt, organic celery juice concentrate, organic garlic, organic leek juice concentrate, organic onion juice concentrate, organic tomato paste, organic mushroom juice concentrate, organic spices, organic apple cider vinegar. It's certified organic and vegan, with 10 calories and about 520mg of sodium per cup.
Because it's a straight vegetable broth rather than a "chicken" or "beef" substitute, don't expect the depth of the concentrated bases above — this one reads as honestly vegetable-forward, with the mushroom juice concentrate doing a lot of the umami heavy lifting. It's a good base for soups where you want the vegetables to taste like themselves rather than trying to fake a meat flavor.
3. Edward & Sons Not-Chick'n Bouillon Cubes
This is the closest thing on the list to a legacy "vegan chicken bouillon," and it's been a natural-foods-store staple for a reason. The cubes use organic shea butter instead of chicken fat to carry the flavor, which gives the broth a bit more richness and mouthfeel than a straight powder base.
Ingredients: sea salt, organic shea butter, yeast extract, organic maltodextrin, organic cane sugar, organic garlic, organic mace. It's explicitly labeled vegan, and an 8-cube box runs around $3–$4, making it one of the more affordable options if you cook in smaller batches and don't want to commit to a full jar of concentrate.
The shea butter is the ingredient that gets the most questions, but it's a plant fat (from the shea tree, not a dairy or animal source) and it's what gives this bouillon a slightly richer, fattier mouthfeel that reads closer to real chicken stock than the leaner, more watery bases on this list.
4. Orrington Farms Vegan Chicken Flavored Broth Base
Orrington Farms makes a powdered broth base rather than a paste or cube, which means it stores flat and dissolves almost instantly in hot water. It's explicitly marketed as having a "100% vegan ingredient list" for the chicken-flavored version, which is worth noting since the brand also sells a non-vegan "ham flavor" bouillon in the same product family — check the label carefully if you're grabbing it off a shelf that stocks both.
Ingredients: salt (includes sea salt), maltodextrin, sugar, soybean oil, onion powder, yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, garlic powder, carrot powder, spice, spice extracts (including turmeric for color and celery), dextrose, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate (flavor enhancers), natural flavor. Contains soy. A 6 oz jar generally sells for around $5–$6.
The disodium inosinate and guanylate combo is doing a lot of work here to punch up the savory flavor, and it shows — this is one of the more assertively "chicken-like" options on the list in terms of flavor, though the ingredient list is longer and more processed-reading than Better Than Bouillon or Pacific Foods.
5. Massel Vegetable Style Bouillon Cubes
Massel is an Australian import that's built its reputation on being genuinely MSG-free while still tasting savory, and the brand markets its entire stock cube range — vegetable, chicken-style, and beef-style — as suitable for vegans, since none of them actually contain meat, chicken, or beef; the "chicken" and "beef" versions are flavor profiles built from vegetable ingredients, not animal-derived bases. That's a useful trick if you want a beef-style or chicken-style stock without hunting for a specifically-labeled vegan SKU.
Ingredients (vegetable cube): salt, vegetable oil, dextrose, dehydrated vegetables (onion, carrot, spinach, garlic, cabbage, parsley, bay leaf), sugar, rice flour, yeast extract, natural vegetable flavors. One cube dissolved in 2 cups of water delivers about 334mg of sodium, noticeably lower than most of the other products on this list. A box of cubes typically runs $4–$5.
The lower sodium and MSG-free formulation make this a solid pick if you're managing sodium intake or just prefer a more herbaceous, less punchy stock base — it reads more like a homemade vegetable stock than an imitation meat broth.
Nutrition Comparison
| Brand | Format | Serving Size | Calories | Sodium | Vegan Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base | Concentrated paste | 1 tsp | 5 | 660mg | Vegan Certified |
| Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth | Ready-to-use carton | 1 cup (240mL) | 10 | 520mg | Vegan |
| Edward & Sons Not-Chick'n Cubes | Bouillon cube | 1 cube | ~15 | ~700mg (est.) | Vegan |
| Orrington Farms Vegan Chicken Base | Powder | 1 tsp | ~10 | ~590mg (est.) | Vegan (chicken flavor) |
| Massel Vegetable Bouillon Cubes | Bouillon cube | 1 cube (125mL prepared) | ~10 | 334mg | Vegan (whole range) |
Sodium content varies more by format than by brand — concentrates and cubes tend to run higher per prepared serving than ready-to-use cartons, simply because you're adding straight salt to water rather than diluting a broth that already includes water as its first ingredient. If sodium is a concern, Massel and Pacific Foods' low-sodium line are the better starting points; reduced-sodium versions of Better Than Bouillon also exist if you prefer that format.
Concentrate vs. Cubes vs. Ready-to-Use: Which Format Should You Buy?
| Format | Pros | Cons | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concentrated paste (Better Than Bouillon) | Long shelf life once opened, cheap per quart, easy to adjust strength | Needs refrigeration after opening, must be measured | Home cooks who make broth often and want to control salt/strength |
| Ready-to-use carton (Pacific Foods) | Zero prep, tastes closest to homemade stock | Bulkier to store, shorter fridge life once opened, higher shipping/storage cost per ounce | Soups and recipes where you need a full quart-plus at once |
| Cubes (Edward & Sons, Massel) | Shelf-stable indefinitely, portion-controlled, travels well | Some are saltier per serving, occasional slower dissolve in cold liquid | Pantry stockpiling, camping, small batches |
| Powder (Orrington Farms) | Dissolves instantly, very compact for storage | Longer, more processed ingredient lists on average | Quick weeknight cooking, dusting onto roasted vegetables |
Who Should Buy Which
If you only want to own one vegan bouillon and use it for everything, Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base is the most versatile pick — it's cheap per serving, keeps for months in the fridge once opened, and its umami-forward flavor works in almost any savory dish that calls for stock. If you're cooking a big batch of soup and don't want to deal with concentrate or cubes, Pacific Foods' ready-to-use carton saves a step and tastes the cleanest of the bunch. Edward & Sons is worth seeking out if you specifically want a richer, more chicken-like mouthfeel thanks to the shea butter. Orrington Farms is the move if you want the most assertively "chicken-flavored" result and don't mind a longer ingredient list. And Massel is the best choice if sodium is a concern or you want a broth that reads as vegetable stock rather than an imitation meat product, plus it's genuinely handy that the whole line — vegetable, chicken-style, and beef-style — is vegan.
Final Verdict
None of these five are flawless, but all five are honest about being vegan and deliver noticeably more flavor than a plain water-and-salt substitute. Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base earns the top spot for the combination of price, shelf life, and flavor versatility — it's the one most likely to actually replace a chicken stock cube in your regular cooking rotation rather than sitting half-used in the back of the fridge.
Rating: 8/10 — as a category, vegan broth and bouillon has caught up to where it needs to be for everyday cooking; the main work left for shoppers is just remembering to check the label every time, since the mainstream aisle right next to these products is still mostly off-limits.
