As promised when I published the original version of Quest for the Best: Protein Bar, here’s the follow-on comparison of 19 different organic, vegan, grass-fed or otherwise natural protein bars. Like I said in that blog post, these bars don’t necessarily compete in the same market as your run of the mill bro protein bars. I was pleasantly surprised to find some really tasty bars in this category – hopefully you will be too!
I’ve been doing this Quest for the Best series since last October and I think the posts have slowly improved, but this time around, I’ve completely changed up how you can view and compare these products against one another. You’ll notice a lot less text in the rank list and a link to a separate spreadsheet with everything listed together. I also decided to add a little pie chart to more easily compare the macro ratios of each product, which I think is especially helpful with these bars since many of them are different sizes. I’m hoping to go back and update my old posts with this format as well, so keep an eye out!
Scoring and Ranking the Bars
When I first started this series, I would rank the different brands based on taste and texture alone. While those are still the 2 most important factors I care about when deciding whether to buy a bar, I’ve also incorporated scoring for macros, ingredients, and value.
- Taste – Scored out of 10 possible points.
- Texture – Scored out of 10 possible points.
- Macros – Scored out of 5 possible points. Bars that come in at less than 200 calories with at least 30% of calories from protein scored highest.
- Ingredients – Scored out of 5 possible points. This one is more challenging to score objectively than macros or value, but bars lost points for things like ingredient lists that are a mile long or tons of added fiber from stuff like “soluble corn fiber.” Including excessive sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners like Sucralose or acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) also contributed to lower scores.
- Value – Scored out of 5 possible points. Bars that were less than $2 scored highest, and bars that cost over $3 got no points in this category.
While I tried to be as objective as possible when scoring these bars, at the end of the day, we probably care about different things when it comes to our protein bars. Feel free to consider all the details for yourself and come to your own conclusion!
Quick rundown of different colors you’ll see below:
- Yellow (on the macro ratio) indicates carb content.
- Blue (on the macro ratio) indicates protein content.
- Green (on the macro ratio) indicates fat content.
see all the reviews:
Protein Bars Comparison Chart
Want to see all my reviews in one spot? Check out the full spreadsheet, including reviews of all the flavors I tried for each brand!
Highly Recommended Bars
NuGo Slim Vegan Protein Bar
Dark Mint chocolate chip
This bar has great macros, especially for a vegan bar. I would buy it again despite it being a bit hard to bite in to. Check out the full spreadsheet for my review of one other flavor – Crunchy Peanut Butter!
- Taste: 9/10. Really nice chocolate and refreshing mint flavor.
- Texture: 8/10. There’s a nice chocolate coating on this bar surrounding a crunchy middle with chunks of what seems to be soy crisps. It lost some points for being a little too hard to bite into.
Cliff Bar Builder’s Protein Bar
chocolate peanut butter
Check out the full spreadsheet for my review of the Chocolate flavor too!
- Taste: 8.5/10. I think the peanut butter was a little distracting in this bar when you put it up against a stack of all chocolate bars (I know, I know – I can’t believe I’m saying it either). The PB flavor was just a touch bland, but I did really like that it wasn’t too sweet.
- Texture: 10/10. This bar overall is a little bigger than most of the others but has some nice layers and crunch to it.
Simply Protein Crispy Bars
peanut butter chocolate
- Taste: 8/10. The peanut butter and chocolate flavors are a little faint, but they’re there. Bonus that this bar isn’t overly sweet!
- Texture: 7.5/10. This is a really crunchy bar, I’m not even sure where they put all the protein! Even though it’s full of crisps, it’s not dry and still eats easily.
PROBAR BASE Protein Bar
cookie dough
This bar is a little bigger than a lot of bars on the list (70 grams vs a typical 50-60 grams) and it has the calorie content to show for it. But, the texture of this bar is top notch, the ingredients list is pretty innocent, and the flavor is great too.
- Taste: 8.5/10. Just a touch sweeter than I would like, but I definitely pick up the cookie dough flavor.
- Texture: 10/10. This bar has it all…a thin chocolate coating, a creamy layer of cookie dough, and a big layer of crunchy bits to keep things exciting.
Recommended with Reservations
These bars are still worth trying, but haven’t earned a “highly recommended” mark because of taste/texture, macros, or ingredients that are likely to cause GI upset.
TRUBAR Vegan Protein Bar
smother fudger peanut Butter
While this bar has solid macros for a vegan option, the first ingredient is tapioca fiber, which causes me GI issues if I eat a whole bar. Check out the full spreadsheet for my reviews of 3 other flavors – Daydreaming About Donuts, Oh Oh Cookie Dough, and Zamn Good Zesty Lemon!
- Taste: 8.5/10. The chocolate is nice but the peanut butter flavor is a little lackluster and tastes almost burnt?
- Texture: 8.5/10. These bars have a great coating and are soft and chewy, but there’s not much textural interest inside the bar itself.
- Taste: 8.5/10. I didn’t get a lot of peanut butter flavor in this bar, but I like that it wasn’t overly sweet.
- Texture: 7.5/10. Depending on the flavor, there’s a nice chewy chocolate layer on top of the bar with a drizzle of chocolate and a thin coat of chocolate on the bottom. The bar itself can be a little dry, but has nice texture and chew – a great option if you don’t like soft bars.
think! Plant Based Protein Bar
sea salt chocolate almond
- Taste: 8.5/10. There’s a nice flavor to this bar that reminds me of a chocolate peanut butter bar (except this one is almonds)…I just wish it wasn’t so sweet!
- Texture: 7/10. Although this bar has a nice chocolate coating, the inside is somewhat dry and crumbly. The tiny bits of almond inside give me a little bit of extra texture.
Lenny & Larry’s Cookie-fied Protein Bar
cookies & Creme
Check out the full spreadsheet for my review of 1 other flavor – Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip!
- Taste: 8/10. I get more cookie flavor from this bar than the other flavor I tried, and I really like the cookie crumbles on top.
- Texture: 6/10. I found this bar simultaneously sticky and crumbly, but it does have some chips in there to keep things a little interesting.
RxBar Protein Bar
Chocolate sea salt
Check out the full spreadsheet for my review of 1 other flavor – Blueberry!
- Taste: 7.5/10. This bar has a nice, deep chocolate flavor that’s set off by the sea salt.
- Texture: 5/10. Really sticky…it got stuck in my teeth and I found myself chewing for a while to get through it. There are some nice chunks of almonds to give it some textural interest as well as visible flakes of sea salt on top of the bar.
Aloha Organic Plant-Based Protein Bar
chocolate fudge brownie
Check out the full spreadsheet for my review of 1 other flavor – Peppermint White Chocolate!
- Taste: 8/10. There is a decent chocolate flavor to this bar, but a bit of an almost alcohol-like aftertaste?
- Texture: 7.5/10. Although it looks a little dry and crumbly in the picture, it’s not really. It has a great chocolate coating and is relatively soft to chew.
Clif Bar Nut Butter Filled Bar
chocolate peanut butter
Check out the full spreadsheet for my review of 1 other flavor – Chocolate Hazelnut Butter!
- Taste: 8.5/10. Great peanut butter flavor, though it bordered on too sweet.
- Texture: 7.5/10. The oatmeal outside is easy to bite into and has a nice chew, but the filling isn’t enough to keep it from feeling slightly dry.
No Cow Dipped Bar
chocolate peanut butter cup
Check out the full spreadsheet for my reviews of 2 other flavors – Birthday Cake and Chocolate Salted Caramel!
- Taste: 7/10. I thought this bar was a little too sweet and I didn’t get much peanut butter flavor.
- Texture: 6/10. The chocolate coating is really nice, but the inside of the bar is a bit crumbly and gritty.
No Cow Bar
chocolate fudge brownie
I don’t love that the 2nd ingredient in these bars is soluble corn fiber, which means I really can’t eat a whole bar without causing GI issues.
- Taste: 8.5/10. Deep and fudgy flavor. It’s not overly sweet, although it does toe the line pretty closely.
- Texture: 6/10. This bar doesn’t have a coating on the outside and was dry, crumbly, and a little gritty.
Siren Protein Bites
dark chocolate brownie
While not a bar, these are a fun snack with 12g protein per bag.
- Taste: 8/10. I definitely get the brownie flavor but I still get a hint of pea protein. I could also use a little bit more sweetness.
- Texture: 7.5/10. These have an interesting texture because they’re not your typical bar. They’re slightly crumbly but not dry and they chew easily.
Not Recommended
Raw Rev
peanut butter dark chocolate & sea salt
- Taste: 6.5/10. Not much chocolate in this bar, the dominating flavor is an average peanut butter. I do like that this bar isn’t too sweet.
- Texture: 6/10. The texture of this bar is kind of similar to the No Cow bar with a slightly crumbly texture. There are a lot of chia seeds in this bar too, which adds a crunchy seed texture that got stuck in my teeth and I didn’t enjoy.
Truvani The Only Bar
chocolate brownie
Don’t mistake this one for a protein bar! It only has 7 grams of protein and has more fat content than anything.
- Taste: 7.5/10. Not a ton of brownie flavor, but the sweetness and flavors taste nice and natural.
- Texture: 6/10. I found this bar simultaneously sticky and crumbly, but it does have some chips in there to keep things a little interesting.
goMacro Macro Bar
peanut butter chocolate chip
GoMacro makes a lot of other bars, but there are only 4 varieties that boast a higher protein content.
- Taste: 6/10. Not much flavor to speak of here and the bar borders on savory.
- Texture: 7/10. While there are chunks of chocolate in there, I thought it was too tough to bite into and overly chewy.
Perfect Bar Original Refrigerated Protein Bar
chocolate chip peanut butter with sea salt
- Taste: 6/10. This bar almost has a burnt peanut butter flavor with next to zero chocolate taste (even though you can see the chocolate swirls).
- Texture: 6/10. Texturally, this bar is very strange…it feels almost chalky when you chew it and kind of crumbles apart when you take a bite (if you can manage to bite through it).
Truth Prebiotic + Probiotic Bar
dark chocolate coconut raspberry truffle
The old formula of this bar included 10 grams of protein and I totally missed that they stripped the protein content from the formula!
- Taste: 7.5/10. The raspberry flavor comes through strong in this bar and it’s pretty tasty, though it’s hard to detect the coconut flavor.
- Texture: 7.5/10. Although this bar doesn’t have a lot of texture going on inside, it does have a good balance of softness and chewiness without being too much of either. The chocolate coating on the outside is nice and thick.
see all the reviews:
Protein Bars Comparison Chart
Want to see all my reviews in one spot? Check out the full spreadsheet, including reviews of all the flavors I tried for each brand!
Note: I was not provided any compensation or samples to endorse these products. The views expressed here are my own. The Amazon links contained in this post are affiliate links, meaning that if you buy anything from Amazon after clicking through these links, I’ll earn a small commission (usually just a few pennies) from your purchase. Your purchase price will be the same whether you use my affiliate links or navigate to Amazon independently.
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