This has my reviews and rankings of any and all of the Pure Protein Bars I could get my hands on!
Pure Protein has been around since 1995, making it one of the longest-standing brands on the market and even having gone through a redesign in 2023. Throughout the years, they’ve released differently flavored bars, mixes, chips, and more.
What do these have in common?
First and foremost, to me, these all lean towards being dessert-based, sugary protein bars. However, they aren’t as sweet as most candy bars, and frankly, they’re more or less in line in terms of sweetness compared to other bars you can find on the shelf–just don’t expect anything organic here, though! Notably, they don’t go overboard in any regard, though some are a little sweeter overall than others, depending on their flavor.
Before moving beyond flavor, how is the artificialness, if any?
Most of these exhibit little, if any, of your typical fake-tasting protein flavor that plagues other brands. So yeah, when it comes to flavor, you’ll likely find these enjoyable, especially with coupled with how they all don’t come across as overly sweet either.
In terms of their composition, for the most part, they have a thick, soft, and lightly chewy-solid filling, as well as a soft shell. I say for the most part because while they all strive for something similar, several flavors even have multiple and differing layers, which help them contrast slightly from one another.
Overall, while most are similar, there are subtle differences in sweetness, texture, and composition.
Ranking
1. Blackout Cake Ammaze
Much like the Strawberry Shortcake Ammaze bar, this is very dense, though softer and a smidge less chewy, sort of resembling a more cakey texture on the inside. Similarly, these have little rice crunchies at the top.
So, of course, the flavor is different, especially the sweetness. It still comes across as fairly sweet, but not quite as much as its strawberry friend, and it sports a dark chocolate mixed with milk chocolate. Indeed, this all stems from the fact that the shell seems to be milk chocolate and the inside is extra dark—it’s literally black on the inside (is that why it’s called Blackout Cake?).
In summary, this is your extra chocolaty protein bar that’s both authentic tasting and moderately sweet and provides a great eating experience! Definitely cake-like from the center and is slightly more premium than most bars on this list, in my opinion!
Both Blackout Cake and Strawberry Shortcake Amazze Bars were released on April 3, 2025, exclusively at 7-Eleven and Speedway. Found at Speedway, August 2025.
2. Birthday Cake
Birthday Cake is softer than many on this list, genuinely reminding me of how as if they tried baking some cake parts with the traditional Pure Protein bar center. It’s got a thick white shell and a dense yellow cake center, plus crunchy, noticeable sprinkles across the bar; For me, I love the texture and mouthfeel compared to many others here!
Is it birthycake flavored though? Not really, but it’s not pure vanilla either. It’s somewhere in the middle. This bar is sweeter than the average Pure Protein bar and doesn’t have much of an off-taste, either. Basically, you can definitely appreciate this as a solid vanilla and a birthday cake bar.
You can find my previous review of these here.
3. Fruity Pebbles
This three-layered bar, with hard-soft pink frosting on top containing a good amount of embedded Fruity Pebbles pieces, a middle vanilla cake-like layer, and a thin white cream at the bottom, makes this feel like a version of the Fruity Pebbles cereal bar. It’s thick, reasonably chewy, and the three distinct layers make for an interesting composition!
The big question: Is it Fruity Pebbles? I’d say it’s about 85 percent there. You can absolutely taste the fruity pebbles and some milky/vanilla creaminess that coincides with it, but unfortunately, with the annoying addition of a tiny bit of a background “protein bar” taste. Also, it’s not quite as sweet as Fruity Pebbles; it’s close, and while the entire bar is still fairly sweet overall, it misses it by just an inch.
If you love fruity pebbles like a normal person, you’ll enjoy this; just don’t expect a perfect 1-to-1 rendition. At the same time, this may be as close as you can get, especially in a protein bar form, so I think most people would appreciate how reasonably close it is.
Overall, it’s tasty, mostly authentic tasting, fairly sweet, and has a fruity pebbles taste. It’s just missing a little bit of sweetness and needs to drop that “protein bar” taste a bit more—I feel like I might be nitpicking at this point, honestly.
While there hasn’t been an official announcement, these three flavors started to crop up at Walmart in late July 2025 (sources: here, here, and here). Found early August 2025 on the Walmart website.
4. Sundae Cone
Sundae cone has drizzle, chocolate candy jimmies around the shell, and a moderately sweet dark chocolate shell around a cookie-like tasting center. This makes for an above-average mouthfeel and eating experience. The big question, though, is the flavor: what is it exactly?
To me, it’s something around a buttery graham-like flavor filling as well as a complementary chocolate shell and jimmies. It’s fairly sweet, has a nice dark chocolate taste, and a unique tasting buttery center, plus the textures they applied to all this were nice too. However, I’m not sure if I’d reference this as sundae-tasting–it’s really not that close to an actual ice cream sundae-based flavor. Regardless, it’s a top-tier Pure Protein bar.
You can find my previous review of these here.
5. Brookie
Brookie is perhaps one of the most unique and interesting ones here!
The top half of it is literally this super ultra soft, light-looking milk chocolate layer, and below that, a dark chocolate layer, followed by a chocolate shell encasing that bottom. Large chocolate morsels on top also provide an additional mouthfeel. The combination of the soft top and slightly more chewy brownie-like bottom is nice and reminds me of a Brookie!
What you get is a moderately sweet, artificially flavored chocolate cookie flavor and an addition of dark chocolate–basically, pretty darn close to a Brookie, though not exact. I wouldn’t say this is exactly Brookie, but it’s unique enough to give you the vibes of one, plus its interesting texture is something you have to try!
You can find my previous review of these here.
6. Strawberry Shortcake Ammaze
Thick, soft, chewy, and extremely creamy, as if I’m literally eating an extra sugary sweet strawberry vanilla milkshake. This also seems to differ compared to other Pure Protein bars because it feels more compressed, compact, and chewy, and, interestingly, even sweeter—if you can believe it! It’s very much sugary sweet—the sugar comes through first, then it hits you with a milder strawberry. I also appreciated the few crunchy bits on top, which add a touch of crunchiness. Overall, super duper creamy, dense, and sugary sweet—think candy bar! Just to note, though, many may find this too sweet, especially for a protein bar!
7. Cocoa Pebbles
A milk chocolate-looking top with embedded cocoa pebble pieces, a thin dark cake-like inside, and a bottom layer of glazed chocolate—this is definitely an extra-looking chocolate bar, to say the least. But is it Cocoa Pebbles?
I guess I can sort of see it. Cocoa Pebbles is a sweet, semi-dark chocolate cereal, and this is a very chocolatey bar—I guess my thought is that this bar feels like it’s trying to use a variety of different chocolates, and in doing so, doesn’t nail down the authentic, more uniform flavor of Cocoa Pebbles.
Essentially, this is more or less a very chocolatey bar with slightly different tones of moderately sweet chocolates—not really Cocoa Pebbles. It’s simply missing that genuine Cocoa Pebbles chocolate, in my opinion.
While there hasn’t been an official announcement, these three flavors started to crop up at Walmart in late July 2025 (sources: here, here, and here). Found early August 2025 on the Walmart website.
8. Chocolate Peanut Butter
This, I feel like, wants to be a Snickers or a Reese’s so bad. It falls between mild to moderately sweet instead, though, with a creamy chocolate and authentic peanut taste. I also like the few tiny embedded peanuts, which contrast with the chewy inner filling, making for a unique mouthfeel altogether. It’s a pleasant, not overly sweet, chocolate peanutty bar.
If only its peanut and sweetness were a little stronger, because as it is, it does need a little bit more to better bold the flavors. And then with that, it could even start to resemble its candy counterparts. Notably, the chocolate and peanut seem about equal in flavor, neither overpowering the other.
9. Galactic Brownie
Interestingly, the shell is soft, but then you’re met with a tougher-than-average Pure Protein bar center that, while dense, is stiffer than other bars on this list. This center also has tiny semi-crunchy chocolate pieces, which add a smidge more to the experience.
What I do also like is the fact that it has a colorful shell, though the sprinkles are unnoticeable otherwise. Overall, through and through, it’s a fairly sweet, dark, non-bitter chocolate, and definitely a slightly sweeter bar than most on this list, despite rocking pure dark chocolate.
Honestly, it does remind me of a regular, darker chocolate brownie, but definitely not as sweet or artificial as the famous Cosmic one.
10. Chocolate Deluxe
Chocolate Deluxe is a lot like the Galactic Brownie but less dark, about the same level of sweetness, and provides a softer mouthfeel. It feels more like a mild dark chocolately brownie–again, still not as dark as Galactic Brownie. I also appreciate its sweetness, which helps make the chocolate flavor stand out.
Overall, about your average chocolate-based protein bar, nothing artificial, just enough sweetness, mostly uniform textured bar. It’s really nothing special, but it doesn’t do anything wrong either.
11. Cinnamon Churro
I feel mixed on this. It’s a beautiful bar, covered with cinnamon cookie graham-like flakes contrasting the white shell; it looks amazing.
Biting in, it seems harder, stiffer, and tougher than most on this list for some reason. Not terrible, but why? A creamy white shell houses this inner brownish filling that tastes like an equal part sugar and cinnamon. It’s about moderately sweet a tinge sweeter than many on this list, though unfortunately, the cinnamon and sugar have a decent artififical sweetener taste that does detract from the entire experience.
While it does have a fake-ish flavor, it’s sweet, looks cool, and overall, has a decent enough cinnamon and sugary taste–just don’t expect Cinnamon Toast Crunch or a more authentic churro flavor here, though.
12. Cookies & Cream
This feels and tastes like a genuine cookies and cream cookie. It’s creamy, mildly sweet, and also has a light, dark chocolate cookie taste, with some crunchy pieces embedded in the shell and an inner dark chocolate filling. It feels slightly thinner than others on this list, though, so the mouthfeel is falls simply on just okay.
As I said, it’s mildly sweet, and its composition could be better. If they made this sweeter, I could see this as a much better, more premium cookies and cream tasting bar. Unfortunately, as it is now, it just feels super standard and kind of boring. No strong artificialness to note!
13. Zig Zag Cake
I swear I’ve had this same exact protein bar before, whether it was from Pure Protein or elsewhere. It’s your standard, typical, generic vanilla protein bar, basically.
This is a fairly sweet bar with a vanilla protein taste—you know, the standard, almost odd vanilla protein-tasting ones—it’s not bad, but it does take a moment to get used to it. Also, it does not feel as thick or premium as its Fruity Pebbles or Cocoa Pebbles counterparts, as this simply has a white chocolate shell around a chewy, semi-thick cake-like inside, unlike the three separate layers. The flavors aren’t as nuanced either—again, this is bog-standard vanilla protein from the inside out.
In terms of a Zebra Cake, while it may look like it, it’s not quite so. Then again, aren’t Zebra Cakes just a sweet sugary vanilla anyway? I guess so, but something about this just tastes a bit different, like it’s an off-brand version. To me, it’s missing the waxy-like, buttery cake and ultra-sweet processed vanilla flavor it’s famous for.
While there hasn’t been an official announcement, these three flavors started to crop up at Walmart in late July 2025 (sources: here, here, and here). Found early August 2025 on the Walmart website.
14. Chewy Chocolate Chip
These are definitely a little larger than many of the other bars here, though maybe a smidge softer and chewier. It kind of reminds me of those chocolate chip granola bars for how cheap it looks–a thin chocolate shell, and a mildly sweet, barely cookie-ish flavored chewy filling with tiny bits of semi-crunchy chips that don’t do so much.
This bar feels too tame, and its chocolate and cookie flavors are too light to really notice and appreciate.
15. Chocolate Salted Caramel
This sports a milk shell surrounding a soft, solid salted caramel flavored filling that seems to have a little bit of stickiness from some caramel layer. It’s moderately sweet, sweeter than some on this list, though not candy caramel or candy chocolate levels of sweetness by any means. Basically, milk chocolate and a slightly sweeter caramel taste with a pinch of salt. A good balance.
16. Lemon Cake
This bar is fairly soft overall. It has a creamy, top white layer and a yellow layered bottom and filling. What’s surprising is that the lemon isn’t that punchy, though, maybe just me, I notice a slightly sweet, bitterish taste, whether it’s from the sweetener they used or the lemon they’re trying to mimic. It reminds me of the lemon cake, but this is not a sweet lemon; it’s just slightly sweet, slightly tart, and could use an extra boost in the cake/pie taste department.
17. Chocolate Mint Cookie
I feel like a lot of people could get behind this flavor, albeit, if you’re looking for some fancy, hard-hitting mint, this won’t be it.
A greenish white layer on top resides around an even larger dark semi-chocolate layer, and further, even another layer of darker chocolate that reminds me of an extra dark cookie flavor. The mint is pleasant, maybe just a smidge punchy if you really try to look for it, though, nothing like your traditional peppermint patty candy; it’s very tamed down and enjoyable–again, many may end up enjoying this more than they thought!
Overall, it’s semi-sweet, leaning towards its dark chocolate side. And just to note, I didn’t find any artificial taste either!