Are Girl Scout Cookies Soy-Free?

Hello! Welcome to Beyond Soy!

Every year at this time there are a flood of cookies across the US. Girl Scouts can be found selling traditional favorites like Samoas (also called Caramel deLites) and Thin Mints as well as newer varieties like Savannah Smiles. These cookies are incredibly popular, but are they soy-free? There are quite a few varieties of cookies to choose from, and the Girl Scouts even offer a gluten-free option, so there might be a soy-free variety. 

IMAGE VIA PIXABAY

For this situation, we’ll check our ability to make an educated guess about the presence of soy in these cookies before researching the result. 

Educated Guess
Initially, we can make an educated assumption that because the cookies are mass-produced, any chocolate will contain soy lecithin. Unfortunately, this will rule out many of the cookies, but there are still a few that might work. Without doing any research, we would also avoid anything with peanut butter, cream, or toffee because these ingredients have a higher likelihood of containing soybean oil. That leaves only Shortbreads and Savannah Smiles. While we know that it is possible to make both of these types of cookies without soy, we would recommend avoiding them both. Since the cookies are mass produced, it is highly likely that soy (in the form of soy lecithin or soybean oil) is an ingredient in both the Shortbreads and Savannah Smiles. Based on our educated guesses, no Girl Scout cookie variety is soy-free.

IMAGE VIA PIXABAY

So, how did we do?

Researched Result
The ingredients of Girl Scout cookies are very accessible online. Checking the ingredients shows that every Girl Scout cookie variety contains soy. Every type of cookie contains soy lecithin and many also contain soybean oil. This is aligned with our educated guesses. It isn’t an unexpected result, but it is unfortunate that Ashley won’t be able to enjoy any of the cookies of the season. I guess that means I'll have to eat all the Thin Mints this year...