Unsurprisingly, the most popular snacks in the U.S. and the world are chocolates, such as Oreos, Kit Kat, and Snickers. While I have substitutes for them in my post (https://liveglutenanddairyfree.com/gluten-dairy-free-substitutes-for-popular-chocolate-snacks/), today we focus on substitutes for sweet and salty snacks, including two on the U.S. list, Doritos and Cheetos.

Keith Belling, the co-founder of Pop Chips, has a great quote that describes my snacking habits. He said, “I’m definitely a serial entrepreneur and a serial snacker. And when it comes to snacks, I’m more of a salty snacker, though I’ve been known to have a craving for sweets from time to time.” I’m the same way- my go to snacks are usually crunchy and salty, like popcorn and pretzels. But occasionally my sweet tooth wants something sugary like fig bars or crispy rice treats. If you’re like me and you crave both, the following gluten and dairy-free snacks will satisfy a sweet tooth and a salt tooth. It includes a good mix, from Rice Krispies to Fig Newtons to Goldfish crackers. And there are three substitutes for Doritos, five for Cheetos, and a whopping seven for pretzels. The pretzel varieties range from buttery tasting to soft pretzel, chocolate-covered, and even garlic-flavored.

For Your Awareness

I want to mention a few things to increase your awareness. First, I divided the snacks into sweet and salty snacks.

Second, while I list seven pretzel brands, I have not included Glutino, which is dry, and Quinn, which is so hard that I feared breaking my teeth. You can read a more thorough review of pretzels here:

Four Types of Gluten and Dairy-Free Pretzels

Pretzels, Crackers and Pretzel Crackers

Third, while The Daily Crave Beyond Churros looks like traditional churros, they have a dry texture, similar to cereal. And I can’t find the Chuys churros anywhere, so they may be discontinued. Also, the other churros listed are more like cinnamon-flavored chips (https://liveglutenanddairyfree.com/gluten-dairy-free-churros-and-cinnamon-snacks/). 

Finally, I excluded Old El Paso Fiesta Twists Cinnamon Churro, PopCorners Cinnamon Crunch, and Stacy’s Baked Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips from the churro list because they contain wheat or milk. 

Brands that Sell Both Allergy-Friendly Snacks and Snacks with Gluten and Dairy

Many brands sell allergy-friendly snacks along with snacks that contain gluten and dairy. Here is the list, along with information on discontinued and omitted snacks.

• Only the Crunchmasters avocado toast line is gluten-free and vegan. Their multi-seed and multi-grain crackers contain dairy
• Lance gluten-free crackers are not included because they contain milk
• Van’s gluten-free crackers are discontinued, but they still sell gluten-free waffles
• Some Veggie Made Great muffins contain dairy, such as their keto muffins. However, their banana chocolate chip and blueberry oat muffins do not.
• Perfection Snacks pretzels are being revamped to 15^th Street Kitchen and contain dairy, so they are not included on the list (https://www.facebook.com/perfectionsnacks/)
• Nature’s Bakery fig bars, Snack Factory pretzels, and Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn also sell gluten or dairy products. The products listed below do not contain either.

Please be sure to read product labels carefully.

If You’re Craving This, Here’s the Gluten- and Dairy-Free Version

If You’re Craving This	Here’s the Gluten- and Dairy-Free Version
Funyuns	Peatos onion rings
Cheetos	Vegan Rob’s cheddar puffs Hippeas chickpea puffs Earth Balance vegan aged white cheddar flavor puffs Lesser Evil paleo puffs Siete queso puff
Ritz crackers	Crunchmasters avocado toast line Absolutely! Gluten-free, grain-free flatbread Mary’s Gone Crackers From the Ground Up cauliflower crackers
Doritos	Hippeas chickpea tortilla chips Beanfields nacho flavor chips Siete grain-free tortilla chips, nacho flavor
Goldfish and Cheez-It Crackers	From the Ground Up Cauliflower cheddar flavor crackers Mary’s Gone Cheezee plant-based cheddar flavor crackers Made Good Cheddar Star Puffed Crackers
Pop Secret Popcorn	Lesser Evil popcorn SkinnyPop popcorn Boom Chicka Pop sea salt popcorn Orville Redenbacher’s Naturals Simply Salted Popcorn
Snyder’s pretzels	Savor by Suzie  pretzels (various flavors) Katz soft pretzel nuggets Fit Joy pretzels (various flavors) Snyder’s gluten-free pretzels Snack Factory gluten-free pretzel crisps Gratify gluten-free pretzels No Whey! chocolatey covered pretzels
Rice Krispies	Made Good Crispy Squares Skinny Crispy marshmallow rice treat (various flavors)
Nabisco Nilla Wafers	Kinnikinnick vanilla wafer Home Free vanilla cookies
Nabisco Honey Maid graham crackers	Kinnikinnick S’moreables graham style crackers
Barnum’s Animal crackers	Kinnikinnick KinniKritters vanilla animal crackers Goodie Girl magical animal crackers
Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème pies	Katz oatmeal crème pies Ben & Jerry’s nondairy oatmeal dream pie
Nabisco Fig Newtons	Nature’s Bakery gluten free fig bar Bobo’s fig bar
Great Value Churros Twists	Siete grain-free cinnamon churro strips You Need This Churro Puffs The Daily Crave beyond churros
Hostess cupcakes	Katz cupcakes (various flavors) Kinnikinnick donuts (various flavors) Veggies Made Great muffins

The most popular food & snack brands (Q4 2024)

https://today.yougov.com/ratings/consumer/popularity/food-snack-brands/all

Most Popular Snacks in the U.S.

World’s Top-Selling Snack Revealed

Top 10 US Food and Snack Brands: 

Rank	Brand	Number of Instagram Hashtags
1	Oreo	9,776,758
2	Kit Kat	3,783,190
3	Snickers	1,756,558
4	Doritos	1,066,146
5	Hershey	1,060,904
6	Ben & Jerry’s	1,020,212
7	Reese’s	969,059
8	Pringles	904,509
9	Lay’s	795,842
10	Cheetos	784,364

Fun Food Fact

The cookie-to-creme ratio of an original Oreo cookie is always 71 percent to 29 percent.

Did You Know?

The man who created Pringles requested that his children bury part of his cremated remains in the iconic Pringles can, which they did.

These fun facts are from https://www.delish.com/food-news/g3952/snack-brand-facts/. Check out the article for more fun facts about your favorite snacks, including Doritos, Cheetos, and Pop-Tarts.

Quotes

I’m just here for the snacks.

If we’re not meant to have midnight snacks, why is there a light in the fridge?