A Review and Tier List of JUNKLESS Protein Bar Variety Pack Flavors. This variety pack includes the flavors of Chocolate Peanut Butter, Birthday Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie.
Overall Review & Verdict
Junkless?! There is no junk? Wait, what is “junk,” anyway? I guess in the “healthy-foodie-crazy” realm, it’s “bad ingredients.” But what are bad ingredients? According to JUNKLESS, it’s “no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or sweeteners,” “lower sugar,” and “amazing taste.”
Okay, I’ll stop with this rabbit hole and picking on the vague wording of JUNKLESS!
Macro-wise, the protein-to-calorie ratio is decent enough but could be better. There is also a light amount of fiber. Nothing too special or noteworthy here.
They’re soft, fairly thick bars with a light, generic protein bar taste and a mild to moderate, inoffensive sweetness. The bars are good, in fact, above average overall, being notably thick and soft with light contrasting textures from the embedded mixins, which cannot be said for many other protein bars on the market. Overall, they’re a pleasure to eat, and I especially like how they’re both soft and quite thick, making for a very filling experience.
In summary, if I had to change something, I would get rid of the generic protein bar undertones. Unfortunately, it does sort of plague these bars, but not too much; it’s just there, slightly detracting from the overall flavor. Otherwise, the sweetness, mouthfeel, and taste of these bars are good enough to overshadow it, making them better than your typical protein bar.
Definitely a brand you may want to try, although I’d argue there are many bars out there that are already better than these.
Flavor Tier List
1. Birthday Cake
This flavor looks kind of crazy! A large amount of colorful, substantial little sprinkle beads layers both the top and sides of this bar. Inside, it’s a yellowish-orange color with white chips embedded throughout—definitely the most colorful and, in my opinion, the best-looking of this bunch.
It’s fairly sweet, not over the top, but sweet, especially compared to others on this list. The taste is a candy-like mix of vanilla birthday cake, which was surprising because birthday cake-flavored treats often don’t actually taste like it. I also believe there is a hint of protein bar-tasting filling, but it’s barely noticeable due to the sweetness and bold vanilla birthday-cake-like flavors, which is great!
Also, as a side note, those sprinkles are very crunchy and add such a great contrast to the soft filling! They were generous with them, and it paid off!
2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
A darker chocolate shell houses an orangey filling. I also noticed that some chocolate chips are embedded throughout the filling, providing a very light contrast to the soft, textured filling.
In terms of its taste, it’s a dullish cookie dough. I say dull because there is a noticeable protein bar taste throughout the bar. In terms of sweetness, it’s between light and moderately sweet. Because of this, the advertised cookie dough flavor is masked more than it should.
Honestly, they need to step up and fix that generic protein bar flavor and add a touch more sweetness. Overall, it’s not a bad cookie-dough-tasting bar. There’s some sweetness, it’s soft, has a few crunchy pieces, and it’s just that protein-filling taste I can’t shake.
3. Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie
It looks the part, sporting a peanutty-looking shell and a darker chocolate interior with a few small bits of chocolate and peanut pieces mixed in. More or less, it looks like a brownie with a peanut coating. Lastly, it could have used more of those embedded bits, since there are so few.
The flavor is as advertised, though there is a slight protein bar-like aftertaste, too. The bar as a whole is between mild and moderately sweet, and as is said, it’s as advertised: an equal part peanut and darker, non-bitter chocolate. In a way, it does resemble a peanut brownie, but I’d say it more or less falls towards a regularly decent dark chocolate peanut bar–not explicitly brownie or brownie batter.
To note, the difference between this and Chocolate Peanut Butter wasn’t that noticeable–they nearly tasted the same!
4. Chocolate Peanut Butter
On first glance, it looks fairly generic: a darker chocolate shell encasing your typical orangey-looking protein bar filling. There are also a few peanut pieces ingrained between the shell and filling.
Don’t expect a Reese’s here; its flavor profile is simply a peanut with a slightly bitter and sweet, darker chocolate alongside a protein bar-like flavor. Both the peanut and the chocolate are about equal, and the bar as a whole is between mildly and moderately sweet. More or less, it tastes like your average chocolate peanut butter bar, with a protein bar-like background.
Also, it tastes very similar to Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie!