There are many Hershey Kisses flavors. Hershey Milk Chocolate Kisses do not contain palm oil. It’s important for me to highlight candies that are palm oil free so people will buy them and so that companies know consumers are paying attention.
My son gets sick from palm oil. In addition, there are environmental issues with using palm oil. However, more and more, candy companies are using palm oil because it’s cheap.
Milk Chocolate Kisses and two other Hershey’s Kisses flavors are candy I know my son can eat safely. I am passionate about finding candy without palm oil so my son can have safe treats.
Thank you, Hershey’s, for making several of your Hershey Kisses flavors without palm oil. The Kisses that do not list palm oil in the ingredients are:
- Milk Chocolate
- Milk Chocolate with Almonds
- Special Dark Mildly Sweet
Please note, while I am calling them palm oil free, Hershey’s is not saying they are. They are not certified Palm Oil Free from either the Orangutan Alliance or from the International Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark (POFCAP). Please do your own due diligence and do not take this as medical advice.
While I focus on palm oil free products on this site, I am also listing all the Hershey Kisses flavors so you can see which do and which do not list palm oil ingredients. This may help you realize how unique it is when candy companies don’t use palm oil in their products.
Hershey Kisses Flavors List
Below is a list of the flavors of Hershey’s Kisses in alphabetical order. Please keep reading to learn more about the Hershey Kisses flavors that do not contain palm oil as well as about the Kisses which contain it.
- Birthday Cake
- Candy Cane
- Caramel Kisses
- Cherry Cordial
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberry (seasonal around Valentine’s Day)
- Cookies ‘N’ Creme
- Dark Chocolate with Mint Creme
- Dracula Strawberry Kisses (new in 2022)
- Gold Kisses Caramel Creme with Pretzel Bits (new Hershey Kisses flavor 2022)
- Hot Cocoa
- Hugs White Creme
- Lava Cake
- Meltaway Roses
- Milk Chocolate
- Milk Chocolate with Almonds
- Milklicious
- Mint Truffle ~ Dark Chocolate Filled with Mint Truffle (new in 2023)
- Roses ~ Milk Chocolate Meltaway
- Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate
- Strawberry Ice Cream Cone (was available 2021 – 2022)
- Sugar Cookie
- Vampire Kisses
- Vanilla Frosting (new Hershey Kisses flavor in 2022)
Take a few seconds to read the ingredient labels before buying Hershey Kisses. Choose palm oil free candy which typically has less ingredients than candies with palm oil.
In addition to palm oil and palm kernel oil, candy companies use other palm oil ingredients. There are hundreds of names for palm oil ingredients. These derivatives typically do not contain “palm” in the name. Some of them include:
- Tocopherols
- Mono- & Diglycerides
- Glycerin
- Medium Chain Triglycerides
Hershey’s doesn’t use these four ingredients in their Kisses. Learn more in my popular post about palm oil free candy. Please note, Natural Flavors in candy can contain palm oil. When they do, it’s typically because the Natural Flavors contain Glycerin which is often derived from palm oil.
Hershey’s comes out with new Kisses flavors regularly. It has been my experience that most of the new Kisses flavors typically contain palm oil.
Hershey Kisses Flavors Without Palm Oil
- Milk Chocolate – silver foil and foils in holiday colors and all sizes
- Milk Chocolate with Almonds – gold foil or holiday colors
- Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate – also called Dark Chocolate Kisses – purple foil
If you look for Milk Chocolate Kisses around Valentine’s Day, Spring, Easter, Fourth of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter, and Christmas, you can find Milk Chocolate Kisses in holiday-themed wrappers. The ingredients stay the same.
Milk Chocolate Kisses ingredients:
Milk Chocolate [Sugar; Milk; Chocolate; Cocoa Butter; Milk Fat; Soy Lecithin; Natural Flavor].
Milk Chocolate with Almonds Kisses ingredients:
Milk Chocolate [Sugar; Milk; Chocolate; Cocoa Butter; Milk Fat; Soy Lecithin; PGPR; Natural Flavor]; Almonds; Sunflower Oil.
Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate Kisses ingredients:
Sweet Chocolate [Sugar; Chocolate; Cocoa Butter; Milk Fat; Cocoa Processed With Alkali; Soy Lecithin; Natural Flavor; Milk].
Looking for more Hershey’s chocolate without palm oil? Choose Hershey’s Nuggets Milk Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Almonds Nuggets. Also, you can choose their “original” Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar and Hershey’s with Almond Bar.
Hershey Kisses with Almonds do not contain palm oil
Kisses Flavors May or May Not Contain Palm Oil
None of these list palm oil ingredients on their labels.
- Caramel Kisses – tend to be wrapped in holiday colors
- Cherry Cordial – red wrappers with cherries printed on wrapper
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberry – available around Valentine’s Day
- Dracula Strawberry Kisses – purple foils with red bats for Halloween
- Lava Cake – dark brown wrapper with pink hearts
- Vampire Kisses – purple wrappers with red bats
While my son safely enjoys Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate with Almonds, and Special Dark Mildly Sweet Kisses without issue, I am unsure about Hershey Caramel Kisses, Cherry Cordial Kisses, Dracula Strawberry, Lava Cake Kisses, and Vampire Kisses. They do not list “palm oil” or “palm kernel oil” on their labels. My son has never eaten them.
Their Caramel, Lava Cake and Vampire Kisses seem to be made without palm oil — the question would be the ingredients in the Skim Milk. In the United States, skim milk is fortified with Vitamin A Palmitate, which is made from palm oil.
Hershey Kisses Milk Chocolate Filled With Caramel ingredients:
Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Skim Milk, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk Fat, Soy Lecithin, PGPR, Natural Flavor), Corn Syrup, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sorbitol, Skim Milk, Dairy Butter (Milk), Contains 2% or less of: Milk Fat, Disodium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Baking Soda, Vanillin (Artificial Flavor).
Cherry Cordial ingredients:
Coming soon
Chocolate Dipped Strawberry ingredients:
Coming soon
Dracula Strawberry ingredients:
Coming soon
Hershey Kisses Lava Cake ingredients:
Sugar; Chocolate; Corn Syrup; Cocoa Butter; Invert Syrup; Sorbitol; Cocoa Processed with Alkali; Milk Fat; Dairy Butter (Milk); Skim Milk; Contains 2% or less of: Soy Lecithin, Disodium Phosphate, Baking Soda, Natural Flavor, Artificial Flavor.
Vampire Kisses ingredients:
Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Skim Milk, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk Fat, Soy Lecithin, PGPR, Natural Flavor), Sugar, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains 2% or less of: Sorbitol, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Potassium Sorbate (to Maintain Freshness), Invertase, Artificial Color (Red 40).
Hershey Kisses Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate do not contain palm oil
Hershey Kisses Flavors With Palm Oil
- Birthday Cake
- Candy Cane
- Caramel Kisses
- Cookies ‘N’ Creme
- Dark Chocolate with Mint Creme
- Gold Kisses Caramel Creme with Pretzel Bits (new in 2022)
- Hot Cocoa
- Hugs White Creme
- Meltaway Roses
- Milklicious (new March 2023; lists palm oil in ingredients)
- Mint Truffle Flavored Dark Chocolate Holiday Candy (new in 2023; lists palm kernel oil and palm oil in ingredients)
- Roses ~ Rose Foils Milk Chocolate Meltaway Candy (in some stores, especially around Valentines’s Day; lists palm kernel oil in ingredients)
- Strawberry Ice Cream Cone Candy Limited Summertime Edition
- Sugar Cookie
- Vampire Kisses
- Vanilla Frosting (new Hershey Kisses flavor in early 2022)
All of these types of Hershey’s Kisses list palm oil and/or palm kernel oil on their ingredient labels, making the ingredients easy to find. The great news is they aren’t hiding palm oil in ingredients such as Mono- and Diglycerides, etc. If someone wants to avoid palm oil when buying Hershey’s, they can easily do so.
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses
The silver wrapper — the iconic Hershey Kiss. I love that I can always count on these silver Kisses to be safe for my son. I remember my grandparents having these in a little crystal dish on their counter.
The great thing is even their Milk Chocolate holiday version Kisses are made without palm oil. (Thank you, Hershey’s!) This means if you celebrate a holiday or season such as Valentine’s Day, Spring, Easter, Fourth of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter, or Christmas, you can have a Milk Chocolate Kiss in a holiday-colored wrapper and festive and celebratory packaging.
Hershey Kisses for the holidays are usually the Milk Chocolate Kisses wrapped in holiday colors
This has been one candy across many brands that even in different sizes and holiday versions, they have kept it palm oil free. It also has the least number of ingredients out of all of their Hershey Kiss flavors.
In addition to the bags at cash registers, depending on the store — Target, Walmart, Albertson’s, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts, Fry’s Foods, Fred Meyer, Costco, Sam’s Club, CVS, Walgreens, 7-Eleven, gas stations, etc. — you will find Milk Chocolate Kisses in some of these sizes in the United States:
- Share Size 10.8 oz bag
- Family Size 17.9 oz bag
- Party Size 35.8 oz bag
- Giant Milk Chocolate Kiss: one pound (453g); 7 oz; 1.45 oz
Learn about finding holiday candy without palm oil. You can make cookies with Hershey Kisses as well.
Valentine’s Day
- Giant Milk Chocolate Kiss
- 7 oz; solid red foil
- 1.45 oz; red foil with small hearts in other colors
- Hershey’s Valentine’s Day Milk Chocolate Kisses – 6.5 oz heart-shaped box
- Valentine’s Kisses Milk Chocolate Conversation – 10.1 oz bag, lilac color bag; the Kisses have messages on the bottom of them (BFF, Sweet Kiss, A Kiss 4 U, etc.)
- Hershey’s Kisses Valentine’s Milk Chocolate Heart Cane – 2.24 oz
- Hershey’s Kisses Milk Chocolates BFF Gift Box – 10 oz. box
- Valentine’s Day Milk Chocolate Gift Box – 8.5 oz, pink gift box with bow – red, pink, silver wrappers
- Milk Chocolate Kisses Valentine’s Cane – 2.56 oz
Spring and Easter Kisses
- Milk Chocolate Kisses in pastel colors
Summer and Fourth of July
- Milk Chocolate Kisses in red, white, and blue
Autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving Kisses
- Fall Harvest Milk Chocolate – autumn-colored foil
- Monster Milk Chocolate Kisses – green, blue, purple
- Spooky Kisses Milk Chocolate – purple, green, orange foil with Halloween patterns
Regarding the Monster Milk Chocolate Kisses – The Halloween Assortment is a 48 oz bag with Monster Kisses and Dracula Milk Chocolate Filled with Strawberry Flavored Creme Kisses on Hershey’s website. I do not know if the Dracula Kisses contain palm oil.
Watch for mixes at other stores that also may contain a combination of holiday Hershey Kisses flavors.
Winter and Christmas Kisses
- How the Grinch Stole Kisses
- Santa Hat Milk Chocolate – 10.1 oz bag; some bags are 11 oz
- Holiday Milk Chocolate Kisses Cane – 2.72 oz; red and green foils
- Santa Hat & Kissmas Sweater
- Kissmas Tree – green wrappers with holiday lights
Supporting Fair Trade Certified and Slave Free Chocolate
This site focuses on finding products without palm oil and highlights them because they are available and accessible to the everyday consumer. Please know there are many failures that take place in the process of cocoa production.
One of the principal concerns in the cocoa production industry is children’s labor. In the last few years, journalists and agencies have uncovered this issue with cocoa farms in Western Africa. Buying Fair Trade Certified and Slave Free Chocolate is an opportunity to support ethical chocolate.
If you would like to know more about finding ethical chocolate, please go to the Comments section at the bottom of my post titled, Halloween Candy Without Palm Oil, where I discuss brands and chocolate to choose from.
Supporting ethical chocolate is an important issue.
On this site, I am trying to make people aware of ingredients and encouraging them to read ingredient labels before buying. However, it is focused on everyday products that are more readily available for the everyday consumer.
My focus is on finding ways to avoid palm oil in chocolate and other products for people who avoid palm oil for dietary and health issues or environmental concerns with deforestation. I mostly discuss products that are commonplace, less expensive, and more readily available to the average consumer.
M.S. Hershey Foundation
If you ever find yourself in the area, be sure to visit Hershey, PA. There you can learn about more about The M.S. Hershey Foundation and the charitable works the do through their non-profit. They focus several initiatives, including education and culture.
Hershey Kisses Flavors Year Round
As I mentioned, something I think is GREAT is that for their seasonal Kisses, Hershey’s often uses their Milk Chocolate Kisses. They change the wrappers and packaging to coordinate with the holiday.
Many candy manufacturers will change their seasonal candy flavors and ingredients, making it difficult to know what is safe for people with allergies. Typically, the more complicated the flavor, the more ingredients it has.
Hershey’s makes the bag or box colorful and jovial by coordinating it with the holiday or season. They also change the Milk Chocolate Kisses silver foil wrappers to holiday colors.
Because The Hershey Company keeps the ingredients the same — they don’t change it for a holiday formula — that means they remain palm oil free, festive, celebratory, and safe for my son. I am grateful for the fact that while they invent new Kisses flavors and they still keep existing Hershey Kisses flavors palm oil free.
I thank you for reading this and for being interested in the ingredients candy companies and all companies are putting into everyday products. Please choose Hershey Kisses flavors without palm oil ingredients. These are Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate with Almond, and Special Dark Mildly Sweet. The wrapper colors make it easy to tell them apart as well. Milk Chocolate is silver; almond is gold; and Special Dark is purple.
Palm oil is common in many products. Take a few seconds to read ingredients before buying anything. Vote with your dollars. Learn about mixed candy bags and why it’s better to buy separate bags, like Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses, and make your own mix.