The formulation of active ingredients into emulsion- and suspension-based delivery systems offers a wide range of opportunities to produce stable and highly bioavailable product forms for their later application in human and animal nutrition. Recent trends in product form development have focused on using renewable and naturally-derived raw materials to meet the increasing consumer demand on sustainable value chains and nutritional products with 'clean labelling'. Therefore, we reviewed chemical fundamentals and application examples of plant-derived protective hydrocolloids with highly potent emulsifying capacity, in particular, modified starches, pectin, and lignosulfonates, for the formulation of vitamins, carotenoids, and other active ingredients.