A review and ranking of the GoMacro Vegan Protein Bars from their variety pack.
Flavors include: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate + Peanut Butter Chips, Coconut + Almond Butter + Chocolate Chips, Banana + Almond Butter, Lemon + Lemon, Sunflower Butter + Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter, Blueberry + Cashew Butter, Dark Chocolate + Almonds, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Salted Caramel + Chocolate Chips.
Overall Review & Verdict
GoMacro Protein Bars are both organic and vegan. Notably, despite being called a protein bar, their calorie-to-protein ratio isn’t good, as their calories are quite high relative to the protein content. In terms of looks, they are on the flatter side and come in different colors and a variety of mixins, depending on the flavor. Moreso, they look like oat-based bars, not necessarily your traditional protein bars. They’re mostly made up of rice syrup, sunflower seed butter, pea and rice proteins, and rolled oats.
They have a sticky texture and makes them difficult to get them out of the package. They’re also quite soft, dense, moist, and chewy. In terms of appearance, they also look mostly the same, with a granola-like look and additions like seeds and other ingredients, depending on the flavor. However, for the most part, they’re pretty uniform, and there’s not a big difference between them.
The tastes are also very mild and mostly the same, especially if you aren’t paying attention. Lightly sweet, with an organic and mildly authentic sugar taste. Really, that organic sugar taste is the primary flavor, followed by whatever the bar advertised itself as. And don’t get me wrong, these aren’t necessarily sweet by any means–they’re below average, yet still enjoyable in my opinion. The little nuances in the flavors and tiny differences in texture made me really appreciate these. As someone who isn’t an organic bar fan, these actually were fairly pleasant to chew and eat. Notably, there is also no explicit artificial or protein bar taste.
Overall, the bars are quite good, and if you’re someone who wants something organic-leaning and doesn’t enjoy sweet treats, these will be for you. At the same time, they aren’t super earthy or oaty tasting either; in fact, they’re unique. As the ingredients state, they’re mostly made of butter, syrups, and rice, and indeed they come across as finely ground rice in a lot of creamy butter, giving them a very soft, rich feel. I also really love how dense and fulfilling these are — really awesome mouthfeel and a satisfying eating experience to say the least.
Anyway, if you lined all these up and blindfolded me, I likely wouldn’t be able to tell much of a difference in flavor right away. It takes a few bites to figure out the subtle nuances and differences in flavor and mouthfeel. If you’re someone who’s into those nuances and doesn’t want to blast your mouth with just sugar and tons of loaded mixins, these should also be on your list.
Lastly, I think I would recommend these. In fact, there wasn’t a single flavor that I disliked. The mouthfeel and textures are great, and the subtle nuances of flavor are simply appreciable. Nothing is too organic or earthy tasting, either, which other organic bars often fall into. Overall, it is a very premium oat, looking like a bar made primarily of butter, syrups, and rice, yielding a rich eating experience.
Before I end this review, if I had to choose a few favorites…
First, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, because it has a subtle oatmeal flavor and super-light chocolate that complements the GoMacro bar’s taste and texture. Lemon and Lemon also did nicely because I felt like that flavor stood out well (again, still very light), reminding me of a watered-down sweet lemonade. Also, it was very, very moist–much more “wet” than the others, which added to the chewiness! Banana and Almond Butter was also tasty because there seemed to be several noticeable banana-nut chunks inside the bar, adding a soft crunch and a decent amount of sweet banana-nutty flavor.
Mint Chocolate Chip, while not my favorite, is worth a try, I think. It had an appreciable combo of GoMacro’s taste, with a light yet deep mint and chocolate flavor. Think minty chocolate candies, but a lot less sweet and less artificial–yum–assuming you’re into that type of flavor profile.
