10 Vegan Trail Snacks | Bake or buy, we’ve lots to try!
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10 Vegan Trail Snacks | Bake or buy, we’ve lots to try!

June 25, 2020

Veganism is on the rise, and the availability of vegan snacks and ready meals is ever growing. It’s getting to the point where we’re actually spoiled for choice… but some trail snacks can be quite expensive and end up being disappointing. Too dry, too nutty, not nutty enough, a bit chemical tasting. There are other snacks that don’t get marketed as vegan snacks – they just are. ‘Accidentally vegan’ are my favourite finds, as they don’t have added Vegan Tax.

So, in the name of science, I have been eating my way through all the vegan snacks I could find and have selected 10 favourites, with a variety of price tags, textures, energy and flavours.

Biona Organic Sour Snakes

  • Price: £1.50
  • From: Supermarkets
  • Kcal: 257, Carbohydrates: 63g, Protein: 0.2g

These are a good example of Vegan Tax, though the price will partly be due to the fact they’re organic. Gluten free with no gelatin, these 75g bags of sweets are great to keep in your riding pack for a quick energy boost when everyone else has pulled the Haribo out.

Clif Bar

  • Price: £1.59
  • From: Extra UK
  • Kcal: 260, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 9g

I’m yet to meet someone that doesn’t enjoy Clif bars. The flavours are great, the texture is soft without being squidgey, and they’re good at filling a hole when you find yourself hungry. They stand up well to heat so are fine to keep in your pack on a long day out in the sun, and Clif are working towards 100% recycled, biodegradable packaging.

Clif Bloks

  • Price: £2.69 each
  • From: Extra UK
  • Kcal: 90 per serving (3 Bloks), Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 0g

Clif Bloks are good for staggering and controlling your energy intake. Three Bloks is equal to one standard energy gel pouch, and each packet contains six Bloks. They come in a variety of flavours, some caffeinated but most not. If you struggle with the texture of energy gels, these are worth trying.

Ma Baker Giant Bar

The Fullness:Price ratio is very overbalanced on these vegan snacks. They’re dense, extremely tasty, affordable and can be found at service stations, supermarkets and decent corner shops.

Raw Velo Organic Energy Bars

  • Price: £1.90
  • From: RawVelo
  • Kcal: 197, Carbohydrates: 24.2g, Protein: 4.7g

These 45g bars are the perfect size for a trail snack, the flavours are very strong without tasting ‘fake’ like a lot of quirky flavours do, and they fit in a hip pocket on most riding packs.

Raw Velo Organic Energy Gels

  • Price: £1.75 each
  • From: RawVelo
  • Kcal: 80, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 0g

As someone that claims to hate all energy gels, I have had to retract that statement because these were really good. Not sickly at all, and they don’t taste like flavourings because the ingredients are all natural. I recommend Blood Orange over the others, because it’s more of a food flavour than the shampoo-inspired ones.

Sesame Snaps

  • Price: 30p
  • From: Corner shops, supermarkets, service stations
  • Kcal: 157, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 3.6g

Now for the cheapest, smallest, crunchiest vegan snack of them all. Sesame Snaps are only 30g and are basically just sesame seeds held together with sugar. 49% seeds, 51% sugar to be precise.

Tent Meals

OK, so these are more of a bikepacking/camping snack, but they’re too good not to include. I have tried one breakfast and one main meal, and they were both good enough to seem like they were made from fresh ingredients. Very filling, full of carbs, fibre and protein, and a small packet for a big hit of a meal.

Torq Energy Bars / Explore Flapjacks

  • Price: £27.70 for 15 energy bars, £33.00 for 20 flapjacks
  • From: Wiggle
  • Kcal: 153 / 263, Carbohydrates: 34g / 43g, Protein: 1.7g / 3.2g

Moist, chewy, low in fat but high in flavour the Zingy Apple and Zesty Orange energy bars are a nice amount of sticky and a good amount of carbs. The flapjacks taste too good to be saved for the trails – especially in Bakewell Slice flavour. I don’t think any of those made it past my front door.

Trek Bar

  • Price: £2.50 for a 3 pack
  • From: Various supermarkets, service stations
  • Kcal: 223, Carbohydrates: 22.9g, Protein: 9.3g

The salted caramel is subtle, meaning this flapjack isn’t sickly like you might expect. It can be a tad messy on a hot day due to the caramel coating on top, but it’s a good sized bar that fills you up and is basically just a tasty flapjack.

The following recipes are vegan friendly but you can substitute milks and syrups for whatever you want. I tend to find that adapting a ‘regular’ recipe into a vegan one can be very hit and miss, but if you start with vegan ingredients it generally works with whatever you choose to replace. Honey is thicker than agave syrup, cows milk is milkier than oat milk, and there is no egg replacement that binds as well as an actual egg! So here are my two favourite vegan snack recipes, that are easy, can be altered to suit your diet or taste, and don’t use hard to find ingredients.

The recipes are for paying subscribers only. Please join us to read on.

Coconut Amandaroons

  • Prep: Less than 5 minutes
  • Bake: 7 minutes
  • Kcal: 138, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 1g
  • 1.5 cups shredded coconut
  • 1tbsp flour (coconut, or plain)
  • 2 tsp Coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup agave syrup (or honey, depending what level of vegan you are)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch salt
  • This is how influencers do it, right?
  • Shove it all in a blender
  • Scoop tablespoon sized blobs
  • Summer spec
  • Winter spec

Put coconut and flour in a food processor or blender. Pulse in the rest of the ingredients until your dough forms a ball. Scoop with a tablespoon or measuring spoon onto baking paper. Bake at 180°C for 7 minutes.

Orange, Apricot & Almond Biscotti

  • Prep: 10 minutes
  • Bake: 1 hour
  • Kcal: 96, Carbohydrates: 16g, Protein: 1.8g
  • 125g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 65g golden caster sugar
  • Zest 1 orange
  • Tablespoon coconut oil
  • 40ml oat milk (or whatever milk you have)
  • Splash of vanilla essence
  • 30g dried apricots
  • 30g almond flakes
  • All dry + zest in a bowl
  • Whisk coconut oil, vanilla & oat milk
  • Raw log
  • Part-cooked log
  • Back in the oven
  • An army of biscotti
  • Mmmm

Preheat oven to 150°C.

Add flour, baking powder, caster sugar, pinch of salt and orange zest in one bowl. Set aside.

Melt coconut oil and add vanilla essence and milk, then whisk.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients to form a dough. Add your fruit and nut of choice. If it’s sticky, chuck some more flour in. Dry, more milk. Just wing it, I swear you can’t get this wrong – the key to biscotti is the oven temperature…

Bake for around 30 minutes, until the outside feels hardened but not solid. Take out the oven and cool for 20 minutes.

Slice the log up, put the pieces on their sides and return to the oven for another 20 minutes. If you want rock hard biscotti, leave it slightly longer (or softer, slightly less).

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Amanda Wishart

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Amanda is our resident pedaller, who loves the climbs as much as the descents. No genre of biking is turned down, though she is happiest when at the top of a mountain with a wild descent ahead of her. If you ever want a chat about concussion recovery, dealing with a Womb of Doom or how best to fuel an endurance XC race, she's the one to email.

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15 thoughts on “10 Vegan Trail Snacks | Bake or buy, we’ve lots to try!”

  2. Plenty of options there. I agree with the accidental vegan finds, they are always good…

    Some (supermarket brand not big biscuit brand) fig rolls fall into this category, and there aren’t many better biscuits… Eat natural bars, there are a couple flavours that are options. Browse the aisles ..

    Don’t forget outdoor provision. UK made, tasty (less straight up sweet than cliff which may or may not suit you), good attitude to packaging, interesting flavours. They carry the tax, but are on par with others..

  4. If you’re in a pickle and need some quick energy then most own brand bourbon biscuits are vegan, as are Oreos. But then you get into the whole palm oil debate 🙁

    What I really miss, although my waistline doesn’t, are peanut M&Ms.

  5. Supermarket own brand malt loaf is usually vegan friendly, and very affordable way to power yourself over some hills. But Soreen has milk in it.

  6. Making rice bars with sushi rice and adding your own filling is my go to for trail snacks on long rides now. Don’t cost a lot either. Favourite fillings to date are fresh blueberries and dark choc chips, peanut butter and jam, and apple and cinnamon.

  8. Yes m&s Percy pigs! Think banana soreen is vegan. I’ve been trying various flap jack recipes but can’t get it right. The ones my 5 year old nephew makes however are perfect!

  12. Maybe it was cola bottles I had from m&s that were vegan, the Percy pigs might be a distant memory! Pretty sure they had 2 or 3 vegan sweet options at last check.
    Ooh peanut butter as the fat in a flap jack?! Maybe we need a recipe section!

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