Bush’s Baked Beans are a hearty, filling side for many classic American dinners, including hamburgers, hot dogs, and more. But vegans and vegetarians also have a soft spot for these delicious baked beans thanks to their rich flavor and nutritional content. But are these beans really vegan-friendly?
Yes, certain types of Bush’s Baked Beans are vegan. Bush’s Vegetarian and Low-Sodium Baked Bean flavors lack animal products entirely, so they are vegan-friendly. All other Bush’s Baked Beans varieties are non-vegan due to the inclusion of certain animal products. One of the best vegan alternatives to Bush’s Baked Beans is Seeds of Change Organic Vegetarian Beans.
Let’s take a closer look at Bush’s Baked Beans. We’ll explore whether these tasty beans are a great choice for your kitchen cabinet or if you should look elsewhere.
Contents
Which Bush’s Baked Beans are Vegetarian/Vegan?
According to the company itself, Bush’s Baked Beans are mostly made without any animal products. Specifically, all of Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans are made with animal-free ingredients. This includes the rich sauce that coats Bush’s Baked Beans and all other flavorings.
That said, Bush’s Original Baked Beans (all of the other varieties) use “natural flavors”. We’ll explore more about what this means below.
Vegetarian Baked Beans
Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans are often considered the go-to choice for vegans who are fans of this brand. These beans are relatively healthy compared to the other options. Furthermore, they are the beans least likely to have any non-vegan ingredients.
Ingredients:
- Prepared navy beans
- Water
- Brown sugar
- Tomato purée (tomato paste, water)
- Salt
- Mustard (water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, pepper, turmeric)
- Modified cornstarch
- Onion powder
- Spice
- Extractive of Paprika
- Garlic powder
- Natural flavor
Nutritional value:
- 150 cal per serving
- 5 servings per container
- 560 mg or 24% of DV of sodium
- 30 g or 11% of DV of carbohydrates
- 5 g or 17% of DV of fiber
- 23 g or 22% of DV of sugar
- 7 g or 8% of DV of protein
Bush’s Less Sugar & Sodium Brown Sugar Baked Beans
Bush also makes a pair of low sodium and low sugar baked beans. These varieties could be good if you want to stick to your vegan diet and possibly lose weight at the same time.
Ingredients:
- Prepared navy beans
- Water
- Brown sugar
- Tomato purée (tomato paste, water)
- Salt
- White mustard (vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, natural flavor)
- Modified cornstarch
- Onion
- Spice
- Vinegar solids
- Dehydrated garlic
- Natural flavor
Nutritional value:
- 140 cal per serving
- About 3.5 servings per container
- 390 mg or 16% of DV of sodium
- 29 g or 10% of DV of carbohydrates
- 5 g or 20% of DV of fiber
- 11 g of sugar
- 7 g of protein
Bush’s Less Sugar & Sodium Sweet & Tangy Baked Beans
Ingredients:
- Prepared navy beans
- Water
- Brown sugar
- Tomato purée (tomato paste, water)
- Salt
- Mustard (water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, pepper, turmeric)
- Modified cornstarch
- Onion powder
- Spice
- Extractive of paprika
- Garlic powder
- Natural flavor
Nutritional value:
- 140 cal per serving
- About 3.5 servings per container
- 410 mg or 17% of DV of sodium
- 27 g or 9% of DV of carbohydrates
- 5 g or 20% of DV of fiber
- 9 g of sugar
- 7 g of protein
Are the Above Baked Beans Vegan?
Technically, yes.
As you can see from their ingredient lists, there’s nothing that immediately sticks out as non-vegan. Furthermore, none of the ingredients above directly mention the use of animal products or byproducts during manufacturing.
Therefore, you can theoretically eat the above Bush’s Baked Beans and stick to your vegan diet.
However, keep in mind that Bush has not fully explained how some of its ingredients are made. For instance, some types of brown sugar are filtered using the bone char process described below. Each of the above beans varieties comes with brown sugar by default.
What is the “Natural Flavor” in Bush’s Baked Beans?
“Natural flavor” isn’t anything new to Bush’s Baked Beans. In fact, tons of food companies use so-called natural flavors in their products. Natural flavors can mean purely natural ingredients are used for the flavor effect. But it can also mean that natural flavors are extracted from organic sources, but are then adjusted through synthetic additives.
Because of this, some vegans don’t consider “natural flavors” to really be vegan ingredients. Furthermore, most companies, including Bush, are cagey about where their products’ natural flavors come from.
Why is Natural Flavor Important?
Why does this matter for vegans? In essence, if you don’t know where something came from, you can’t verify if it’s really vegan. Take sugar for an example.
Sugar ought to be a vegan ingredient, right? While sugar itself is not an animal product, some companies make sugar using animal products. Specifically, companies may occasionally use “bone char” made from charred cattle bones to filter sugar grains.
Because of this, sugar made using the bone char process is not vegan. It still uses an animal product in its manufacturing.
Therefore, some vegans don’t consider Bush’s Baked Beans to be vegan. The company hasn’t revealed what goes into the natural flavors themselves.
You can personally decide either way. As noted above, there are no raw animal ingredients in Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans. But you’re technically just guessing that Bush’s Baked Beans aren’t made with animal products if you consume them.
What Does it Mean that Bush’s Baked Beans Aren’t Vegan-Certified?
Furthermore, Bush’s Baked Beans are not vegan certified. But this may not matter to you depending on your preferences.
“Vegan certified” just means that a food product has seen the seal of approval from one or many official vegan organizations. For example, the “Certified Vegan” stamp is issued by Vegan.org. Vegan.org is an international company that investigates food manufacturers to see whether their products are truly vegan friendly or not.
There’s also the “Vegan Trademark”. This is issued by The Vegan Society, and it has a very rigorous application process. Companies have to apply for the stamp of approval from The Vegan Society. The entire process takes four steps and licenses only last for up to 24 months at maximum.
At this time, none of Bush’s Baked Beans ever seen any vegan organization’s seal of approval. But that doesn’t mean at these beans are necessarily non-vegan. Again, it largely depends on what counts as “vegan” in your eyes.
Vegan Alternatives to Bush’s Baked Beans
Amy’s Organic Vegetarian Baked Beans
An organic treat from start to finish, Amy’s Organic Vegetarian Baked Beans are made with delicious and nutritional ingredients including organic tomato purée, organic cane sugar, organic garlic, and more. Fortunately, even potentially problematic ingredients like cane sugar are processed using vegan-friendly methods, avoiding the use of bone char.
These baked beans come with 31 g of carbohydrates, 9 g of fiber, and 600 mg of potassium. If you need some more iron in your diet, these beans can be a great choice; each serving contains 3.5 mg of this vital mineral.
Seeds of Change Organic Vegetarian Beans
Seeds of Change offers another vegetarian and vegan-friendly baked bean variety. Each ingredient in is grown using sustainable practices, making these beans a great choice for vegans concerned with environmental friendliness. Packed with 5 g of dietary fiber and 5 g protein per serving, these filling vegetarian beans are a great choice as a side for any vegan meal.
Dakota’s Pride Baked Beans by Aldi
Dakota’s Pride Baked Beans are tasty (if a little salty), and they’re vegan-friendly since they lack any animal products or ingredients processed using animal byproducts. Each can comes with iron from real food sources rather than fortified ingredients, and you’ll get 8 g of protein per serving; more than the protein offered by most other types of baked beans.
Related Questions
Are Bush’s Baked Beans Kosher?
Yes! Although they are not certified for vegan consumption, some of Bush’s Baked Beans are certified kosher. Even better, the same vegetarian-safe baked beans above are all certified kosher by the OU (Orthodox Union). This does lend some credence to the assumption that Bush’s vegetarian beans are vegan-friendly. But it’s still not the same thing as vegan certification.
Are Bush’s Baked Beans Gluten-Free?
Yes. Fortunately, every type of Bush’s Baked Beans is gluten-free. So no matter which type you decide to purchase, you don’t need to worry about upsetting your stomach. That said, note that some Bush’s Baked Beans contain cornstarch.
What Kinds of Beans are in Bush’s Baked Beans?
It depends on which type of Bush’s Baked Beans you purchase. The standard Bush’s Baked Beans are navy beans grown in the US. Furthermore, each of the vegetarian-friendly (and potentially vegan-friendly) baked beans above uses navy beans. However, Bush also sells black beans, pinto beans, and other bean varieties.
Will Bush Make Vegan Baked Beans in the Future?
It’s unlikely as they already offer vegetarian baked beans. However, Bush may decide to offer new alternatives to vegan customers at a later date. Alternatively, their vegetarian baked beans may eventually receive certification from a vegan organization.