The Best Ethical Vegan Chocolate Brands you can Buy!

Long-time readers know it – chocolate plays a major role in my life. It’s not an uncontroversial product though. Aside from generally being dairy-heavy, supply chains are often not transparent and full of dodgy practices and even slave labour. But fear not, ethical vegan chocolate brands do exist in the UK, and they’ve moved far beyond the days of grainy over sweetened rice milk bars. Read on for my top picks, all of which are available online, and most of which can be bought in stores these days, too! It’s 2023 after all.

LoveRaw

This brand is the first place vegan beginners missing chocolate should start. With a motto of ‘chocolate first, vegan second’, LoveRaw (whose chocolate is not raw, in case you were going to ask that) is a leading brand on the UK ethical vegan chocolate market at the moment. They’ve gone from strength to strength over the last few years (definitely not due to me buying their wafer bars by the 12-pack) and their offering now encompasses peanut butter cups, m:lk choc bars, and their iconic cre&m filled wafer bar. Which now comes in three flavours. Just sayin’.

Highly recommend: Nutty Choc Balls

Doisy & Dam

For slightly more refined tastes, Doisy & Dam offer a whole host of fun vegan chocolate products, based on their ethical vegan dark chocolate. D&Ds, Buttons, Ballers, Truffles and, at easter, Mini Eggs – they have it all. A registered BCorp who place a huge focus on their supply chain and ingredients, it’s hard to find a more socially conscious brand. Aside from being completely delicious, these are also a go-to in my baking as they hold up really well in the oven. You can even get some of their products zero-waste through Good Club!

Highly recommend: Peanut D&Ds

Buttermilk

Another brand that completely exploded over the past two years, Buttermilk are something to behold. Despite the name, their chocolate is fully vegan (although not all their fudge is!), with a huge range of ‘plant-powered’ chocolate products. They have some really amazing nougat bars, which are reminiscent of a certain galactically-named non-vegan staple, and they’re even available in Asda! They too have set themselves standards for the purchase of their cocoa and sugar to maintain their ethics, and they’re also working hard on their packaging. Where they do have to use plastic, this is always recycled and/or recyclable (although for most of us this will only be through the soft plastics recycling scheme at our local supermarkets).

Highly recommend: Caramel Nougat Choccy Bar

Vego

Vego was one of the first brands to really up the standards of vegan chocolate. Their signature hazelnut bar basically tastes like solidified Nutella, and I’ve been obsessed since the first taste. They’ve always focussed on quality over everything else, meaning there hasn’t been a huge amount of new products released over the years, but there is quite a nice little set available now. It includes the original bar in two sizes, as well as minis, white and dark bars, chocolate spread, and hot chocolate melts. Their products are fair trade certified, many are organic, and the Berlin-based brand is working towards using only compostable packaging.

Highly recommend: Organic Whole Hazelnut Chocolate Bar

Rhythm 108

Upmarket milk-style chocolate makers Rhythm 108 make some truly unbelievable vegan bars, amongst other things. The Swiss brand focus on low-waste productions and organic farming, producing all their goods in their bakery near Geneva. They’re also working towards fair-trade certification.

Highly recommend: M*lk & Hazelnut Truffle Bar*

Nomo*

Allergy-conscious brand NOMO started appearing in stores a few years ago and have gone fro strength to strength. Using rainforest alliance-certified cocoa and steering clear of palm oil, the final product is produce in Norfolk. They make a damn good chocolate, but their true innovation is the nut-free Hazelnot bar. Allergy-friendly indeed.

Highly recommend: Caramel & Sea Salt Bar*

Cocoa Libre

Vegan, nut-free and gluten-free chocolatier Cocoa Libre is based in Somerset and have won a number of free-from awards to date. They make some stunning gift boxes, many of which fit through a letterbox!

Highly recommend: Honeycomb Slab*

H!P

H!P make oat milk-based chocolate in a couple of different flavours, and they were my favourite discover of the last year. Not too sweet, even their white chocolate hits the creamy-but-not-sickly target that seems to be so elusive in the vegan chocolate world. They’re on a mission to create ‘climate-friendly chocolate’, and on average and kilo-by-kilo, they say their chocolate’s carbon footprint is half that of mainstream chocolate.

Highly recommend: Happiness in Plants White Berry Chocolate