Looking for Insomnia Cookies vegetarian options? You’re in good shape. Insomnia bakes cookies, brownies, and ice cream for late-night delivery, and none of it involves meat, so almost the entire menu qualifies already. Vegan is the trickier question, and that’s where you have to pick carefully. This site exists for exactly that question about what about the vegetarians everywhere you eat.
A Quick Look at Insomnia Cookies
Seth Berkowitz started Insomnia Cookies in 2003 as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. He baked cookies in his dorm room and delivered them to classmates late at night. A real shop opened near Penn’s campus that same year. The chain grew store by store around college towns, where its late hours (10 a.m. to 3 a.m. on weekdays, later on weekends) still make it the go-to stop after the dining halls close. “Warm Cookies Delivered” is still the tagline, and customers can order online or through the app for delivery rather than walking in.
Krispy Kreme, backed by JAB Holding Company, bought Insomnia Cookies in 2018 for $175 million, though it kept running as its own brand. In 2024, Krispy Kreme sold a majority stake to Verlinvest and Mistral Equity Partners at a $350 million valuation. By 2025, Krispy Kreme had sold its remaining share, so Insomnia now runs independently of its former parent. The chain passed 265 U.S. stores in 2024 and kept expanding through 2025, opening a record 25 new bakeries in the fourth quarter alone. Company figures put the total at 350 locations worldwide (U.S., Canada, and the U.K. combined) by November 2025, with most of that footprint still in American college towns and cities.
Insomnia Cookies Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Every classic and deluxe cookie at Insomnia is vegetarian. None of them contain meat, gelatin, or animal fat. The whole menu runs on flour, sugar, butter, and eggs instead. Dairy and eggs are what separate the vegetarian cookies from the vegan ones, and both show up in nearly everything outside the small vegan lineup. Here’s how the main categories break down.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Classic cookies (Chocolate Chunk, Snickerdoodle, Sugar, M&M’s, etc.) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg and dairy) |
| Deluxe cookies (S’mores, Confetti, Salted Caramel, etc.) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg and dairy) |
| Vegan Chocolate Chunk / Double Chocolate Chunk / Birthday Cake | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes (also gluten-free) |
| Cookie cakes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg and dairy dough) |
| Brownies and brookies | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Ice cream, scoops and pints | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy, no standing dairy-free flavor) |
| Ice cream wiches | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy ice cream, even with a vegan cookie) |
| Oatly oat milk (original and chocolate) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Regular milk | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
Classic and Deluxe Cookies
The classic lineup covers Chocolate Chunk, Double Chocolate Chunk, Churro Chocolate Chunk, White Chocolate Macadamia, Oatmeal Raisin, Snickerdoodle, Peanut Butter Chip, Sugar, and the Classic with M&M’s. Deluxe cookies go bigger: S’mores, Salted Caramel, Triple Chocolate, Confetti, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, and Oatmeal Chocolate Walnut. All of them are vegetarian, since the dough runs on butter, eggs, and dairy rather than any animal protein. One flavor worth a second look is the S’mores cookie. Its marshmallow bits list as dextrose, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil, wheat flour, titanium dioxide, natural and artificial flavor, cellulose gum, and maltodextrin, with no gelatin named anywhere. That’s a genuinely vegetarian marshmallow, not the gelatin-set kind you’d find in a bag from the grocery store, though it’s smart to double-check in person since bakery recipes do change.
What’s Vegan at Insomnia Cookies?
Insomnia keeps three plant-based cookies on the regular menu, labeled as vegan options: Vegan Chocolate Chunk, Vegan Double Chocolate Chunk, and Vegan Birthday Cake, all baked without eggs, dairy, or any other animal products. A Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip cookie also skips both animal ingredients and wheat, a rare double for a mall bakery. Seasonal vegan flavors rotate in too. Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Spice Latte, and Caramel Apple Pie have all shown up around Veganuary and the holidays, along with occasional limited-run items like a vegan Fried Ice Cream cookie. Availability isn’t guaranteed at every location and can vary by store and by day, so check the app or Insomnia’s official website for current nutritional information and calorie counts before you order.
The vegan story runs out everywhere else on the menu. Scoop ice cream, wiches, cookie cakes, and brownies all lean on dairy and eggs, and there’s no standing dairy-free ice cream flavor, even though Insomnia has run one-off vegan scoops like a limited Cotton Candy in the past. Reportedly, the plain waffle cone used for ice cream is free of animal ingredients on its own, though that won’t help once it’s filled with regular ice cream. For a cold, dairy-free drink, Oatly’s Original and Chocolate oat milk are the reliable vegan picks on the menu.
Ice Cream, Wiches, and Milk
Insomnia’s ice cream case and its “wiches” (ice cream sandwiched between two cookies) are vegetarian across the board, since they’re built on dairy rather than meat. None of the standing scoop flavors are dairy-free. So if you need vegan, this part of the menu is mostly off-limits outside a rare limited-time flavor. Milk works the same way in miniature. Regular milk on the counter is vegetarian only, while the Oatly oat milk options are both vegetarian and vegan, making them the safer default when you’re ordering for a mixed group.
Cookie Cakes and Brownies
Cookie cakes use the same egg-and-dairy dough as the classic cookies, so they’re vegetarian but not vegan. Insomnia doesn’t currently offer a vegan cookie cake for birthdays or events. Brownies and brookies (the brownie-cookie hybrid) both contain milk, ruling them out for vegan orders even though neither recipe touches meat. Planning a cake or brownie tray for a group with vegan guests? Pick up a separate box of the vegan cookies to cover them, since the cake and brownie menu won’t stretch that far on its own.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Every classic and deluxe cookie contains egg and wheat. Milk shows up in all but the Sugar cookie, which makes it one of the few classic options that’s dairy-free, though it still has egg so it isn’t vegan. Tree nuts turn up in the White Chocolate Macadamia cookie, and peanuts in the Peanut Butter Chip, so read labels carefully if you’re managing a real allergy rather than a preference. Most chocolate chips also list soy, from the soy lecithin used to bind them, as an allergen. Shared bakery equipment handles nuts and peanuts across flavors, so cross-contamination is a real possibility, not just a remote risk. Vegan cookies are reportedly baked at a separate facility from the classic and deluxe lineup, lowering (though not eliminating) cross-contamination with dairy and egg. When in doubt, confirm directly with your local store rather than assuming a recipe hasn’t changed. Gelatin doesn’t appear in any of Insomnia’s published ingredient lists for its baked goods, which is good news for strict vegetarians, but seasonal and limited items roll in throughout the year, so ask in store if something looks unfamiliar.
Tips for Vegetarians at Insomnia Cookies
- Order any classic or deluxe cookie without a second thought. All of them are vegetarian, egg and dairy included.
- On a vegan diet or a gluten-free diet? Stick to the three standing vegan cookies (Chocolate Chunk, Double Chocolate Chunk, Birthday Cake) or the Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip, all free of animal products, and check the app for seasonal vegan flavors before you go.
- Skip the ice cream and wiches for a vegan order. There’s no standing dairy-free scoop, so a cookie is the safer bet.
- Have a nut or peanut allergy rather than a preference? Ask about cross-contact, since the bakery equipment is shared across flavors.
- Pair a vegan cookie with Oatly oat milk for a fully vegan order that still feels like the full Insomnia experience.
- Building a group order, add a separate vegan cookie box rather than assuming the cake or brownie tray will cover vegan guests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Insomnia Cookies vegetarian options cover practically the whole menu, since nothing here involves meat. Vegan is the narrower lane. Stick to the three standing vegan cookies, the vegan gluten-free chocolate chip, and Oatly oat milk, and skip the ice cream and cookie cakes if you need to keep it dairy-free. For more on eating out without meat, read our full guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, or browse every restaurant guide on the site. Cookies and dessert chains are your thing too? We’ve also covered Crumbl Cookies, Rita’s Italian Ice, and Cold Stone Creamery.
