A ranking and review of all of the CLIF Protein Energy Bar flavors that I can find!
Overall Review & Verdict
These bars are labeled as energy bars on the packaging, but they’re also used and known as protein bars, too. Having said that, since they are energy bars, the protein-to-calorie ratio is not great, and the calories are quite high compared to their protein macros.
Well, you’ll notice that upon opening these packages, these bars are very moist and sticky, and even stick to the packaging when you try to open it. They all look organic, as if the bars are made with nuts, oats, and other earthy ingredients. Some vary depending on the flavor—Chocolate Chip, for example, has embedded chips.
And the ingredients confirm that these are indeed oat-based bars made with soy protein and other ingredients, notably sugar, not sweeteners.
Overall, these bars remind me of the typical oat bars you find on store shelves, but they are a little denser and feel more premium. Many of them remind me of Quaker chewy oat bars, but again, these are definitely a tier higher quality-wise without coming across as too organic or earthy.
All the flavors are authentic, the sweetness is just right, and they’re a pleasant experience to eat, granted, if you aren’t looking for precisely higher protein-based bars and want something more oat-based instead.
Oat bars with some added protein, who would have thought?!
Flavor Ranking
1. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut
Unlike most others on this list, this flavor actually has swirls of white cream on top, or is it white chocolate? Either way, there also seem to be embedded nuts inside. I also want to point out that flavor smells very nice; it’s a very, very sweet vanilla, followed by a sweet nutty essence.
Its taste doesn’t live up to its sweetness, however, but it is sweet enough. It’s definitely leaning towards a more sugary, vanilla-white-chocolate-esque vibe, followed by a lighter nutty flavor. It’s a good combination, and as someone who has had white chocolate and vanilla macadamia nut-based bars, this is one of the better-tasting ones in my opinion. They really nailed the sweetness without being overly so, and both flavors work well together.
2. Oatmeal Raisin Walnut
This flavor smells like sweet oatmeal and appears to have small raisin and walnut pieces scattered throughout the filling.
The taste is exactly that, reminding me of a traditional breakfast oatmeal, but this time in a bar form and actually a little sweeter. In fact, I didn’t think it’d be this sweet! It’s not over-the-top, but it’s definitely more than your typical bowl of oatmeal. I love the fact that I can taste everything equally, the oats, the raisins, a little bit of nuttiness, alongside what appears to be a cinnamon or brown sugar. The taste, flavor, and composition are essentially really good and nuanced, rocking together in a fairly sweet oatmeal bar form.
3. Peanut Butter Banana
It appears to have chocolate chips and pieces of banana in it–one of my favorite combinations! Its flavor profile leans towards a sweeter dark chocolate, followed by a smooth banana flavor. This banana especially doesn’t come across as candy-like, weird, or fake; it’s just right and works well with the dark chocolate. On the other hand, it’s not very strong, as the primary flavor of this bar is, again, chocolate. It’s almost like dipping a banana in too much chocolate–a bad thing? Not for many!
4. Crunchy Peanut Butter
I do notice some embedded peanut pieces in this one alongside the usual CLIF oat filling. These do provide a very minuscule crunch along with a soft bite for texture, for reference.
Composition aside, its flavor is really nice, it’s like one of those sweet peanut butters from Skippy or Jif but dialed down just a notch, and then with added oats. It’s smooth and sweet enough, bringing out a hearty peanut-and-oat combination.
5. Chocolate Chip
This flavor smells precisely like Quaker chocolate chip chewy bars, and I say this as someone who used to devour them as a kid. And I don’t know why I expected something different, but when I went through this, the flavor profile and experience were the same for the most part. If there is a big difference, it’s that these are a little denser and moister, but other than that, these are your regular, mildly reasonably sweet chocolate oat tasting granola bars. They’re soft and lightly chewy, with equal parts authentic semi-dark chocolate and oats.