A ranking and review of Barebells Vegan Protein Bar line. Flavors will be ranked based on taste, composition, and the overall experience.
Overall Review & Verdict
These all look uniform: a thin chocolate shell encases the filling, and on the inside, there is a filling part and either some goo or chocolate chip pieces. The composition is nuanced enough to have good mouthfeel, though if I had to compare it to regular Barebells, these aren’t quite as good.
Also, the flavors are unfortunately completely masked by the bitterness and sharpness of the stevia. Yes, these bars do taste artificial because of this, ruining what was an initial experience when you bite in. It really feels like they added too much stevia, giving it a weird combination of being overly sweet and overly sharp and stinging at the same time.
The verdict? I would avoid these and get regular Barebell protein bars, or heck, most other protein bars, even other vegan-based ones. Sure, these have some nuanced textures, but they aren’t nearly as good as regular Barebells in this realm, and even more so, several are way too artificial as a whole. Compared to other protein bars, they fall well below average overall — they really need to fix that overpowering stevia taste.
Flavor Tier List
1. Hazelnut Nougat
The most interesting-looking bar in this protein line. Unlike the others, this has chocolate pieces embedded in the center, all covered in a chocolate shell with scattered peanut pieces, making the other bars on this list look boring and plain.
Needless to say, the mixins and peanuts add a noticeable contrast to the soft-solid filling.
It has a light chew, but for the most part, you can bite right through and break it—it could be softer in this regard, but I don’t mind the slightly break-apart texture. The additional mixins also provide a tiny crunch; however, they’re all so soft that they hardly contribute anything, unfortunately. The bar as a whole is hunky, which I appreciate.
Taste-wise, it tastes like a mix of protein bar filling and a moderately sweet, off-brand hazelnut with a hint of bitterness. Notably, this bitterness is the mildest on the list, and combined with the sweetness and eating experience, it’s mostly ignorable. Either way, it’s mostly a chocolate-hazelnut-leaning bar, and while I did trash-talk it, the taste is still reasonably enjoyable (off-brand hazelnut still tastes good!). Just don’t expect any strong nuttiness or something like Nutella. It’s moderately sweet overall, which brings out the flavors nicely.
Interestingly, and as I noted before, this is the least artificial-tasting bar on the list and one of the sweeter ones. Combining these two truths results in a pretty good overall bar, not to mention the mouthfeel almost resembles their regular Barebells protein bars, which is a huge plus!
2. Caramel Peanut
On the inside, this has a white, brownish-orange filling with a few tiny peanut pieces, and right above that, a very thin layer of gooey caramel. This top layer of caramel provides a nice, soft contrast when you bite in, eventually leading to the more solid filling and peanut pieces.
Needless to say, Caramel Peanut tastes like one of the lesser artificial flavors here. There’s an equal part caramel and peanut, and overall, the bar is quite sweet. Still, while I did say it’s the least artificial here, both caramel and peanut don’t necessarily taste very authentic because there are still clear traces of a bitter, stevia-like flavor; it’s just not as prominent as a few of the others on this list, like Caramel Chocolate Chip and Fudge Brownie. So, for that sole purpose, this ranks higher.
3. Caramel Chocolate Chip
On the inside, it’s a darkish orange filling with a top layer of goo and some chocolate chip pieces spread throughout.
Biting in, I’m met first with a soft layer of goo, then hit with a thick, chewy filling. The few chocolate pieces are also noticeable and provide a soft crunch. It’s a good combination overall and provides a good eating experience.
Taste-wise, it’s sharp and sweet, like too much stevia was added. The flavor is definitely a sweet, darker chocolate with some caramel in the background. The artificial bitterness really brings it down, though, and detracts from the flavor. Overall, this is mostly a chocolate bar that’s too sharp on the tongue, warping the chocolate’s and caramel’s flavors.
4. Fudge Brownie
This supposed fudge-brownie flavor has a soft, lightly chewy, solid chocolate center with a few dark chocolate pieces. Its mouthfeel feels thick when you bite into it, and the chocolate pieces are just a touch of contrast.
The flavor is definitely bitter and sweet, as if they added too much stevia. Of course, it’s also quite chocolately, something between milk and dark, but that bitterness detracts from it, unfortunately. Compared to the others here, its sharp stevia-like taste is very prominent.
This is basically, or could be, your typical sweet protein chocolate bar; however, the stevia taste detracts from the experience and messes up the chocolate flavor.