What Are Twizzlers?
Twizzlers is the twisted red licorice candy made by Hershey, and it's one of the best-selling candy brands in the United States. The lineup has grown well past the original strawberry twist: there's Pull 'n' Peel, Nibs, Bites, Rainbow Twists, black licorice, and — the one that trips people up — Twizzlers Gummies. Because "licorice candy" sounds like it should be a simple sugar-and-flour situation, a lot of people assume the whole lineup is vegan by default. It mostly is. But "mostly" is doing some work in that sentence, and one entire category of Twizzlers is not vegan at all.
This breaks down exactly what's in the different Twizzlers products, which ones are actually plant-based, and which ingredients cause the most confusion for anyone checking a candy label for the first time.
Ingredients in Original Twizzlers (Strawberry Twists)
The classic Twizzlers Strawberry Twists ingredient list, pulled from the product label, reads:
Corn syrup; enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid); sugar; contains 2% or less of: palm oil, glyceryl monostearate, salt, cornstarch, natural and artificial flavor, glycerin, citric acid, artificial color (Red 40).
Notice what's not on that list: no gelatin, no dairy, no eggs, no honey. The chewy texture that most licorice-style candy gets from gelatin is coming from a corn syrup, wheat flour, and cornstarch base instead — closer to a stretched dough than a gel. That's the main reason Twizzlers has a reputation as one of the more accidentally vegan-friendly candies in a mainstream grocery aisle.
Are Twizzlers Vegan?
Yes — original Twizzlers Twists, Pull 'n' Peel, Nibs, Bites, and the black licorice twists are all made without any animal-derived ingredients on the label, and are considered vegan by most plant-based consumers. Hershey does not market Twizzlers as a certified-vegan product, and the ingredient sourcing on a couple of items (more on that below) is genuinely ambiguous rather than clean, so strict vegans who want zero gray area will want to read the caveats. But for the standard chewy twist candy, there's no dairy, egg, honey, or gelatin in the recipe.
The one major exception is Twizzlers Gummies, covered in its own section further down — that product line is not vegan.
The Gray Areas: Sugar, Glycerin, and Artificial Color
None of these ingredients contain animal products outright, but they're the ones that come up whenever this topic gets debated in vegan communities, so it's worth being upfront about them instead of glossing over them:
- Refined sugar and bone char: Cane sugar is sometimes filtered through bone char (charred animal bone) during refining in the U.S. The finished sugar contains no animal material, but some strict vegans avoid it on principle because of the processing method. Hershey does not disclose its sugar refining process or supplier on the Twizzlers label, so there's no way to confirm this one way or the other from the packaging alone.
- Glycerin: Glycerin can be sourced from either plant oils or animal fat. Most large U.S. confectioners, including Hershey, source glycerin from vegetable oil for cost and supply-chain reasons, but the Twizzlers label doesn't specify the source, so it's technically unconfirmed rather than guaranteed.
- Red 40: This is a fully synthetic, petroleum-derived dye — it is not made from insects (that's carmine, a different additive entirely) and doesn't involve animal testing on the current product. Some vegans avoid it for health or ethical-consumption reasons unrelated to animal derivation, but it isn't an animal ingredient.
- Natural flavor: "Natural flavor" is a legal catch-all that can technically be derived from plant or animal sources. Hershey doesn't break this down publicly for Twizzlers, and there's no specific reason to suspect an animal source in a fruit-flavored candy, but it's not independently verifiable from the label alone.
None of this changes the bottom line — the standard Twizzlers lineup is animal-ingredient-free as far as anyone can verify from the label — but if you're vegan for strict ethical reasons rather than dietary ones, these are the specific points where "probably fine" and "certified vegan" diverge.
Not All Twizzlers Are the Same: Product-by-Product Breakdown
The Twizzlers name covers several genuinely different candies, and the vegan answer isn't identical across all of them. Here's how the main products stack up:
| Product | Texture source | Vegan? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twizzlers Strawberry Twists | Wheat flour + corn syrup | Yes | No gelatin, no dairy on the label |
| Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel | Wheat flour + corn syrup | Yes | Nearly identical base recipe to the Twists |
| Twizzlers Nibs | Wheat flour + corn syrup | Yes | Bite-sized version of the same formula |
| Twizzlers Bites | Wheat flour + corn syrup | Yes | Same base, different shape |
| Twizzlers Black Licorice | Wheat flour + corn syrup, molasses flavoring | Yes | No animal ingredients on the label |
| Twizzlers Rainbow Twists | Wheat flour + corn syrup | Check label | Multiple fruit colors/flavors — same base formula, but always verify the specific SKU |
| Twizzlers Gummies | Gelatin | No | Gelatin is the primary gelling agent — not vegan |
Twizzlers Gummies: The One to Actually Skip
This is the important exception, and it's easy to miss because the "Twizzlers" name on the front of the bag makes people assume the same recipe carries over. It doesn't. Twizzlers Gummies use gelatin — a protein derived by boiling animal skin, bone, and connective tissue — as the gelling agent, the same way most gummy bears and gummy worms are made. That makes the entire Twizzlers Gummies line non-vegan and non-vegetarian, full stop, regardless of flavor or color.
If you're grabbing a bag off a shelf and only skimming the front label, this is exactly the kind of mix-up the spvegan.com ingredient checker is built to catch — the classic red twist and the gummy version sit right next to each other in the same aisle, under the same brand name, with genuinely different ingredient panels.
Taste and Texture: Does It Matter for the Vegan Question?
Taste doesn't change the vegan verdict here, but it's worth noting for context: the corn syrup/wheat flour base that keeps Twizzlers vegan is also what gives it a firmer, chewier, slightly stringy bite compared to a gelatin-based gummy or licorice, which tends to be softer and more uniformly gel-like. That's a texture trade-off, not a downside — people who grew up on Twizzlers generally prefer that stretchier bite, and it's a direct byproduct of the same formula that keeps gelatin out of the recipe.
How Twizzlers Compares to Other Licorice Brands
| Brand | Vegan status | Notable ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Twizzlers (Twists/Pull 'n' Peel/Nibs) | Vegan | Corn syrup, wheat flour, palm oil, Red 40, glycerin |
| Red Vines Original Twists | Vegan (generally accepted) | Corn syrup, wheat flour, citric acid, Red 40 — similar gray areas around citric acid/glycerin sourcing as Twizzlers |
| Panda Licorice | Vegan, explicitly labeled | Just licorice extract, wheat flour, molasses, and aniseed oil — no palm oil, no artificial dye |
| YumEarth Organic Licorice | Vegan, explicitly labeled | Organic ingredients, no artificial colors, allergy-friendly formulation |
| Twizzlers Gummies | Not vegan | Contains gelatin |
If the gray-area ingredients in mainstream Twizzlers bother you — palm oil, unconfirmed glycerin sourcing, artificial dye — brands like Panda Licorice and YumEarth are worth a look. They're explicitly labeled vegan on the package, use shorter ingredient lists, and skip palm oil entirely. They also tend to cost more per ounce and aren't stocked in every gas station and grocery aisle the way Twizzlers is, so it's a genuine trade-off between convenience/price and ingredient transparency rather than one brand being straightforwardly "better."
Nutrition Snapshot
None of this is health food — it's candy — but for reference, a standard 4-piece (1.6 oz / 45g) serving of Twizzlers Strawberry Twists runs about 157 calories, with roughly 18 grams of sugar and 1 gram of fat per serving. That's in the same general range as most twist-style licorice candy; the differences between brands come down more to ingredient sourcing and additive lists than dramatic nutrition swings.
How to Check for Yourself
Ingredient lists and formulations change without much notice, so it's worth building the habit of checking the label rather than relying on last year's answer, especially for a brand with as many sub-products as Twizzlers has. A few things worth scanning for on any licorice or gummy candy label:
- Gelatin — the single biggest tell that a chewy candy is not vegan. If it's not on the label, the gelling agent is almost certainly coming from starch instead.
- Confectioner's glaze / shellac — common on hard-shelled candies (not an issue for standard Twizzlers, but worth checking on chocolate-coated or shell-coated licorice variants).
- Carmine or cochineal extract — an insect-derived red dye sometimes used instead of Red 40 in "natural color" products.
- Honey — occasionally shows up in "natural" or specialty licorice formulations as a sweetener.
Running a product name through the spvegan.com ingredient checker is a faster way to flag these than reading a full panel every time you're standing in a checkout line.
Who Should Be Cautious
Anyone shopping for a Twizzlers Gummies product should treat it as off-limits — there's no ambiguity there, it contains gelatin. Strict ethical vegans who avoid bone-char-processed sugar or unconfirmed glycerin sourcing on principle should also treat standard Twizzlers as a gray area rather than a clean yes, and may prefer an explicitly labeled option like Panda Licorice or YumEarth instead. Most plant-based eaters who are avoiding dairy, eggs, and gelatin specifically will find that classic Twizzlers Twists, Pull 'n' Peel, Nibs, and Bites all check out fine.
Final Verdict
Standard Twizzlers — Twists, Pull 'n' Peel, Nibs, Bites, and black licorice — are vegan based on the published ingredient list, with the usual caveats around sugar refining, glycerin sourcing, and "natural flavor" that apply to a huge share of mainstream packaged candy, not just this one. Twizzlers Gummies are the clear exception and should be skipped entirely if you're avoiding animal ingredients. For a brand this size, distributed this widely, at this price point, that's a genuinely good outcome — you just have to know which bag you're grabbing.
Rating: 7.5/10 for the standard Twizzlers lineup as a vegan-friendly candy option — solid on the ingredient list, docked points for the lack of any official vegan certification and for palm oil and artificial dye showing up in the mix. Twizzlers Gummies would score a 0/10 on the vegan question specifically, since gelatin rules it out completely.
