Are funnel cakes vegan? 8 mixes and frozen cakes checked

Most funnel cakes are not vegan. Of the 8 commercial mixes and frozen cakes we read, 7 put egg, milk or both in the product. The exception is Golden Dipt’s funnel cake mix, which lists nothing from an animal and is certified OU pareve. At a stand, the bag decides it.

Ask at a funnel cake stand what goes into the batter, and the honest answer may well be water. Every one of the 6 mixes we read is made by stirring the powder into water and nothing else. Gold Medal’s Old-Fashioned bag gives the water for a 5 lb, 2 1/2 lb or 1 lb batch and asks for no other ingredient. Krusteaz Professional says “Just add water.” Golden Barrel and Carnival King start with 10 cups of water for the 5 lb bag, and Golden Dipt and Gold Medal’s Pennsylvania Dutch mix work the same way. The egg and milk went in at the factory. On Gold Medal’s Old-Fashioned mix, whole egg is the third ingredient, after flour and sugar. So a vendor who says they only add water is telling you the truth and has not answered your question. The bag has.

The kosher mark on that bag helps, up to a point. Golden Dipt’s mix is certified pareve, which rules out milk but, as with the parve rye loaves we read, does not by itself rule out egg. Golden Dipt’s own ingredient list is what clears the egg.

Eight funnel cake products, read from the makers’ sheets

We read the makers’ ingredient sheets, bag photos and kosher certificates in October 2026. All 8 are foodservice products, sold in 5 lb bags or by the case. Prices are as listed on the day and change.

Product	Verdict	What decides it	Price listed
Golden Dipt Funnel Cake Mix	Nothing animal listed	OU pareve; contains wheat only	$16.99 for 5 lb
Gold Medal Old-Fashioned Funnel Cake Mix	Not vegan	Whole egg, nonfat milk	$58.50 for 6 bags of 5 lb
Gold Medal Deluxe Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake Mix	Not vegan	Nonfat milk; made on a line shared with egg	$63.95 for 6 bags of 5 lb
Krusteaz Professional Funnel Cake Mix	Not vegan	Nonfat milk, egg yolks, egg whites	$17.49 for 5 lb
Golden Barrel Funnel Cake Mix	Not vegan	Whole egg powder, milk protein concentrate, whey	$11.49 for 5 lb, out of stock
Carnival King Funnel Cake Mix	Not vegan	Whole egg powder, milk protein concentrate, whey	$10.49 for 5 lb
The Funnel Cake Factory 5″ Funnel Cake, frozen	Not vegan	Egg yolks, nonfat milk	$57.99 for 48
The Funnel Cake Factory 4″ Funnel Cake Fries, frozen	Not vegan	Sodium caseinate, eggs	$92.49 for 600

The mixes and frozen cakes, one by one

Golden Dipt Funnel Cake Mix

The one to buy. The ingredient sheet lists enriched wheat flour, sugar, leavening, soybean oil, salt, dextrose, artificial flavor, and paprika and annatto extracts for color, with wheat as its only allergen. The mix is on Kerry North America’s Orthodox Union certificate as pareve, with a note that it was changed to pareve on 10 October 2023. WebstaurantStore lists the 5 lb bag at $16.99, says to add water and fry, and says the batter keeps in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

The catch is the size. It comes in a 5 lb bag or a case of 6, so you are buying 5 lb of funnel cake mix to find out whether you like funnel cake. If you only want one, ask the stand which bag they use instead.

Gold Medal Old-Fashioned Funnel Cake Mix

The bag photo on Gold Medal’s own store settles this one: enriched bleached flour, sugar and whole egg, then nonfat milk among the ingredients under 2%, and a Contains line that names egg, milk and wheat. The directions add water and nothing else. Gold Medal sells it in cases of 6 bags at $58.50 and says each bag makes about 21 funnel cakes. This is the mix that makes “we just add water” useless as an answer.

Gold Medal Deluxe Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake Mix

Here the milk comes second, after flour and ahead of the sugar. The Contains line names milk, soy and wheat, and the bag adds that the mix is made on the same line as products containing egg. The same Kerry certificate that lists Golden Dipt as pareve lists this mix as dairy. Its serving suggestion on the back of the bag runs to yogurt, ice cream and honey, which is a fair summary of how far it is from vegan. $63.95 for a case of 6 bags on Gold Medal’s store.

Krusteaz Professional Funnel Cake Mix

Flour and sugar, then, under 2%, nonfat milk, egg yolks and egg whites, with egg, milk, soy and wheat in the Contains line. It manages to use both halves of the egg in the small print. Kof-K certifies it dairy, and Continental Mills sells it as a just add water mix. $17.49 a bag on WebstaurantStore. Skip it.

Golden Barrel Funnel Cake Mix

The specification sheet WebstaurantStore posts for Golden Barrel’s mix, dated March 2025, lists unbleached wheat flour, sugar, whole egg powder, milk protein concentrate and sweet whey powder in its first five ingredients, and names egg, milk, soy and wheat. The Orthodox Union lists it as dairy. It was out of stock at $11.49 when we looked, which, for a vegan, is no loss.

Carnival King Funnel Cake Mix

The lowest price for a single 5 lb bag in the table, $10.49, and not vegan. Its specification sheet calls it Good Olde Fashioned Funnel Cake Mix and carries the same ingredients as Golden Barrel’s, whole egg powder, milk protein concentrate and sweet whey powder included. The same sheet describes the powder’s odor as “Sweet, slight dairy odor”, which is more candid than most front panels manage.

The Funnel Cake Factory 5″ Funnel Cake

J&J Snack Foods’ frozen, pre-formed cake for stands that skip the batter altogether, sold to be heated or fried. The sell sheet lists egg yolks and nonfat milk and marks milk, eggs, soy and wheat as contained. $57.99 for 48 on WebstaurantStore. If a stand pulls your funnel cake out of a freezer, this is the kind of product it may be, and you can ask.

The Funnel Cake Factory 4″ Funnel Cake Fries

The fries version adds a milk protein to the egg: sodium caseinate and eggs are both on the list, along with mono- and diglycerides, and the sheet marks milk and eggs as contained. A case of 600 lists at $92.49. If a menu lists funnel cake fries, ask whose they are before you order, because these are not the plain end of the funnel cake family.

How to check a funnel cake yourself

Ask to see the bag, or the box from the freezer. Milk and egg are two of the 9 major allergens a US label has to declare, and every product here that contains them says so in its allergen statement. A mix that names wheat alone, like Golden Dipt’s, has passed the first check.

Then look for the kosher mark. A D or the word dairy beside it means milk, and the certificates for the Krusteaz, Gold Medal Pennsylvania Dutch and Golden Barrel mixes list all three as dairy. Pareve rules milk out and leaves egg open, so read the ingredient list for egg before you order. Our guide to checking ingredients covers the less obvious names.

The topping is a separate question. The Pennsylvania Dutch bag suggests topping it with yogurt or ice cream, so a vegan batter can still arrive under a dairy topping. Order it plain if the stand can’t tell you.

If the stand uses Golden Dipt, order it. If it uses any of the other five mixes, or a frozen cake from the case, walk on, and read our list of foods that turn out not to be vegan while you queue for something else.

Are funnel cakes vegan? 8 mixes read, and why “just add water” doesn’t answer it

Eight funnel cake products, read from the makers’ sheets