JELL-O Just Did Something It Has Never Done in 125 Years – and It Could Pull Millions of Shoppers Back into the Pudding Aisle

Kraft Heinz has launched JELL-O’s very first vegan product: an oat milk chocolate pudding targeting 30% of Americans with lactose intolerance and a plant-based dessert market growing at 8.5% annually. This is not a line extension. It is a category bet.

For 125 years, JELL-O made one kind of pudding.

Then, in April 2025, it made something it had never made before.

Kraft Heinz launched JELL-O Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding – the brand’s first-ever plant-based product, its first oat milk product, and its first direct play into the rapidly expanding vegan dessert category. The move signals that one of America’s most iconic dessert brands is done standing still while consumer diets evolve around it.

The Global Jelly Pudding Market, valued at USD 21.45 billion in 2025 and projected to reach USD 27.33 billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 3.52%, according to Maximize Market Research, is entering a period of meaningful reformulation. And JELL-O’s oat milk launch is the clearest signal yet that the legacy brands are no longer content to cede ground to smaller challengers.

Why Oat Milk? Why Now?

Kraft Heinz did not choose oat milk arbitrarily. The company’s own research identified it as the fastest-growing dairy alternative milk in the United States – and specifically the ingredient best able to replicate the creamy consistency and mild flavour that JELL-O’s signature pudding texture depends on.

The business case behind the launch is compelling:

• More than 30% of Americans suffer from lactose intolerance, representing a massive underserved customer group for dairy-based pudding products
• Nearly 4 in 5 parents have expressed interest in purchasing non-dairy desserts for their children, a figure Kraft Heinz cites directly in its product positioning
• The global vegan dessert market is valued at approximately USD 3.7 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow at 8.5% annually – more than double the broader pudding market’s CAGR
• JELL-O’s plant-based chocolate pudding is priced at USD 3.99 for a 4-pack, a premium of approximately USD 0.30 over the dairy version – testing consumer willingness to pay for plant-based credentials

MMR Insight: The strategic logic is defensive as much as offensive. By offering a dairy-free JELL-O, Kraft Heinz prevents lactose-intolerant consumers from switching brands entirely, retaining them within the JELL-O ecosystem across their full purchasing lifetime.

The NotCo Partnership Behind the Innovation

The JELL-O plant-based launch did not emerge from Kraft Heinz’s conventional R&D pipeline. It was enabled by the company’s partnership with NotCo, the food-tech company whose AI-driven formulation platform has already powered plant-based versions of Kraft Mac and Cheese, Kraft Singles, and Oscar Mayer hot dogs.

NotCo’s technology specialises in identifying plant-based ingredient combinations that replicate the sensory profile of conventional dairy and meat products – a capability that makes it uniquely suited to solving the texture-and-taste challenge that has historically made plant-based pudding inferior to its dairy counterpart.

Final Take

The jelly pudding category has been described as relatively static in recent years. JELL-O’s oat milk launch suggests the path to growth does not require inventing a new product – it requires opening an existing iconic one to the consumers who could not previously enjoy it.

In a market heading toward USD 27 billion, the brands that expand access without sacrificing taste will capture the most commercially durable growth. JELL-O has just made its move.