No. Bovril has beef in it, and if you are vegetarian you should leave it alone.
That ought to be the whole post. The reason people keep asking, and the reason this one question pulls more searches than everything else anyone wants to know about Bovril put together, is that for two years in the middle of the 2000s the answer was yes.
What is actually in the jar now
The trade data sheet for the UK jar lists it plainly. Beef broth at 50 per cent, which is water and beef bones. yeast extract at 27 per cent. Then salt, water, ammonia caramel for colour, corn starch, beef powder at 1 per cent, two flavour enhancers (disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate), lactic acid, and flavourings that contain celery.
Half beef stock, a quarter yeast extract. That makes it a hybrid rather than the pure beef essence the name suggests, and the packaging agrees with me: the product is sold as “Beef and Yeast Extract”, not as beef extract.
That 27 per cent is the part Marmite drinkers will recognise, and it is also why Bovril is not gluten free. The yeast extract carries barley, wheat, oats and rye, same as ours.
The two years when it was vegetarian
In July 2004 Unilever took the beef out and replaced it with a yeast mix running at 45 per cent yeast extract. For roughly two years, Bovril was vegetarian.
The version of this story that gets repeated is that Unilever went chasing vegetarians and the whole thing flopped. The trade press at the time tells it differently.
Unilever’s problem was BSE. British beef was under export bans, and the markets Bovril wanted were exactly the ones that would not take it: Malaysia, China, Singapore. Export sales had collapsed from 20 per cent of the total down to 7 per cent. Domestic sales were sliding 1 or 2 per cent a year and had been for four years, because people at home had gone off the idea of eating beef extract. Unilever Bestfoods was shifting around 15,000 tonnes of the stuff annually and watching the number drift.
A Unilever spokesman put it about as bluntly as a spokesman ever does: “Many people have fond memories of drinking hot Bovril on cold winters evenings but haven’t been buying the product because, rightly or wrongly, they are concerned about eating beef extract.”
Vegetarians and religious dietary requirements were part of the pitch. They were not the main event. Taking the beef out was mostly a way of getting back into Asia and calming down a domestic market spooked by mad cow disease.
Why the beef came back
In 2006 Unilever put it back, and not because the vegetarian version had died on the shelf. The beef export bans had been lifted and sales had recovered. The problem the reformulation was built to solve had stopped existing, so the reformulation went too.
I find that genuinely annoying on behalf of everyone who had spent two years enjoying a Bovril they could actually drink. For a brief window there were two yeast extract spreads in the British cupboard instead of one, and nobody seems to have noticed at the time.
If you want a vegetarian Bovril today
There is one, sort of. Forest Green Rovers, the vegan football club in Gloucestershire, worked with Bovril on a beetroot-based version for their own ground. It is a high-protein paste made from beets rather than beef, and you cannot buy it in a shop. You have to go to the football.
Everyone else has the obvious option, and I am hardly a neutral party in recommending it. Marmite stirred into hot water gives you the same ritual, the same mug, the same warm salty hit on a cold afternoon. It is maltier and less meaty, so it is not a like-for-like swap, but it does the job in gravies and stews too, and it has never had beef in it at any point in 124 years.
Bovril also makes a chicken version, in case anyone was about to suggest it. Also not vegetarian.
Is Bovril vegetarian?
No. UK Bovril contains beef broth at 50 per cent of the product, plus beef powder at 1 per cent. It is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans.
Was Bovril ever vegetarian?
Yes. From July 2004 until 2006, Unilever made Bovril without beef, using a yeast mix containing 45 per cent yeast extract. The change was driven mainly by BSE-related export bans and falling domestic sales rather than by demand from vegetarians. Beef was reinstated in 2006 once the export bans lifted and sales recovered.
Is Bovril vegan?
No. The standard product contains beef, so it is not vegan. A beetroot-based vegan Bovril was developed with Forest Green Rovers football club but is only sold at their stadium in Gloucestershire.
Is Bovril gluten free?
No. The yeast extract that makes up 27 per cent of Bovril contains barley, wheat, oats and rye, so the product is not suitable for coeliacs.
What can vegetarians use instead of Bovril?
Marmite is the closest everyday substitute. Stirred into hot water it makes a savoury drink in the same spirit, and it works in gravies, stews and stocks where you would otherwise reach for Bovril. The flavour is maltier and less meaty, so expect a difference rather than a match.
Sources and further reading
- “New vegetarian formulation for Bovril brand”, FoodNavigator, 23 November 2004, for the export figures, the sales decline and the Unilever quote.
- Bovril on Wikipedia, for the 2004 removal and 2006 reinstatement and the chicken variety.
- Unilever Bovril Jar Beef product information, Thompsons Food Service trade data sheet, for the UK ingredients declaration and allergens.
- “Vegan Bovril launches with Forest Green Rovers”, for the beetroot version.
Related reading
- Marmite vs Bovril: what is the difference between the two brown jars?
- What is Bovril, and what is actually in it?
- Is Bovril good for you? Two professionals answer, and the salt decides it
- Marmite’s dietary status: vegan, vegetarian, kosher, gluten free and halal
- Marmite substitute: what to use instead
- Marmite vs Bovril vs Vegemite vs Oxo: the brown-jar showdown
