In this article I review 20 of the top protein bars without artificial sweeteners currently on the market.
We’ll compare how much protein they provide us & their costs, and take a close look at their nutrition facts & ingredients too.
Those are good things to do when it comes to buying a protein bar, since there’s no shortage of junk out there.
There are umpteen brands marketing an army of protein bars at us, just look:
And as you’ll soon see…
…there’s still a huge difference in quality & purity among these 20 protein bars, even after eliminating all the ones with artificial sweeteners in them.
To kick things off, below are a few arbitrary rankings I put together.
Protein bars without artificial sweeteners
Top 5 by buyer ratings
Power Crunch Triple Chocolate 4.8 ⭐
thinkThin Lean Protein Caramel 4.6⭐
KIND Protein Crunchy Peanut Butter 4.6⭐
Oatmega Protein Vanilla Almond 4.6⭐
GoMacro Macrobar Cashew Caramel 4.5⭐
Top 6 by product purity
IQBAR Brain + Body Protein Bar
Oatmega Protein Vanilla Almond
Top 6 by protein content
Met-Rx Big 100 Meal Replacement 31g
Gatorade Whey Protein Recover 20g
Top 6 by cheapest cost/oz.
Gatorade Whey Protein Recover Bar
Lenny & Larry’s The Complete Cookie
Clif Bar Salted Caramel Cashew
KIND Protein Crunchy Peanut Butter (tie)
Oatmega Protein Vanilla Almond (tie)
Most processed & least pure
Met-Rx Big 100 Meal Replacement
Lenny & Larry’s Complete Cookie
Least amount of protein
Lenny & Larry’s Complete Cookie – 8g
thinkThin Lean Protein Caramel – 10g
GoMacro Macrobar Protein Bar – 10g
Larabar Protein Bar – 11g
Rx Bar Chocolate Sea Salt Bar – 12g
Glossary
Buyer ratings
Based on average ⭐ of all online reviews at this time.
Product purity
My subjective viewpoint based on how clean the ingredients are.
Protein content
Ranked by grams per bar.
Cheapest cost per ounce
Using prices I’m looking at now (Jan. 2021), which could change anytime.
Most processed / Least pure
The opposite of Product Purity above, these are the bars with the most artificial &/or unwanted ingredients.
Least amount of protein
Pretty self-explanatory. By the way, to qualify for the article a protein bar had to have a minimum of 8 grams of protein.
What’s next
Later on I will have individual reviews of all 20 protein bars included in this article, not just the ones in those Top 5 lists.
Next though, I want to take a little look at the processed nature of protein bars.
Science resources included
As is my custom here on heydayDo, I will provide links to all of the relevant sports science & medical resources, clinical studies, and nutritional data used in this article.
No artificial sweeteners, but…
There’s no getting around the simple fact that even with the cleanest ingredients, a protein bar is a processed food.
Some were born in labs, some have things in them that were created in chemical plants, & all of the popular ones are manufactured in food factories.
Grandma’s not in her kitchen baking these in the oven for us.
So while none of these 20 protein bars have artificial sweeteners in them, several of them have ingredients that we might want to avoid.
Gettin’ good at label reading is a nice trait to develop…😉
The quest for the perfect protein bar
I’ve dug around for clean & pure protein products a couple of times before, and then written about the gems I uncovered:
Top 5 Protein Powders Without Artificial Sweeteners
7 Best BCAAs Without Sucralose
In both of those cases it wasn’t too hard to find several 100% pure or real clean products worth recommending.
Good luck striking gold in a protein bar
With protein bars though, it’s a tougher task to find that special bar that has all 3 of the following characteristics:
- high-protein (say, > 15 grams)
- no artificial anything (sweeteners, fillers, etc.)
- tastes like it’s from planet Earth
So I’m resigning myself to the (apparent) fact that I can’t be as much of a stickler for purity like I was with the BCAAs & protein powders.
Artificial sweeteners
Sugar substitutes are no strangers to controversy.
After all, on the one hand the FDA’s approved them for mass consumption.
But on the other hand there are concerned physicians & dietitians recommending we avoid artificial sweeteners due to health risks. (1)
Lack of research on human use
The effects of long-term use of artificial sweeteners hasn’t been studied on humans much, so research evidence is lacking. (2)
Current medical questions
Recently some prominent health authorities have brought up more health concerns, and you can check out their comments in the links below if interested.
Sharecare (a couple of short vids)
Bottom line (for me anyway):
I’m not convinced that the FDA has my best interests at heart.
Nor do I need research evidence to convince me to stop consuming artificial sweeteners.
I avoid artificial anything whenever I can, just out of general principle:
Nature > Man-made chemicals
And with artificial sweeteners that’s real easy, ‘cause I REALLY dislike the way they taste.
What’s not in these protein bars
Below is a list of the most common artificial sweeteners we’re likely to find in processed foods like protein bars.
Protein bars that have any of the sweeteners listed below were excluded from this review, regardless of their popularity or protein quantity.
Sugar alcohols
This is a personal choice of mine to exclude these, since technically sugar alcohols aren’t an artificial sweetener or even a sugar: they’re a carbohydrate. (3)
Plus, the FDA classifies them as natural sweeteners. (4)
Sugar alcohols make my stomach feel a little funky
I didn’t like the way my tum-tum felt after eating a sugar alcohol-infused Pure Protein bar.
It wasn’t super uncomfortable to deal with by any means, but it was noticeable.
The wife bought a case of them at Costco, so I was able to replicate the digestive distress I got from that first bar a few times…just to be sure, apparently. 😄
I’m not the only one experiencing funky symptoms from eating sugar alcohols either, so it wasn’t hard to add it to the list of “banned ingredients” for this protein bar review.
Sucralose
- AKA Splenda® (5)
- FDA says it’s A-OK. (6)
- Old research using rats found health issues, but no long-term human studies have been done. (7)
Acesulfame potassium
- AKA Ace-k (8)
- FDA OK’d it in 1988 and never looked back. (9)
- Evidence of risks exist but again, no long-term studies on humans. (10)
These two — sucralose & Ace-k — are the biggies you’ll most likely see in a flavored protein product that is sugar-free.
I’ll list the other sweeteners that the food industry uses, but I don’t think they’re used much (if at all) by the supplement companies that crank out protein bars & powders.
Aspartame
- AKA Equal® & NutraSweet® (11)
- Links to health problems are weak, though rumors are strong. (12)
- FDA & other world-leading health authorities say its OK. (13)
Saccharin – AKA Sweet ‘N Low® (14)
Advantame – FDA approved in 2014. (15)
Neotame – FDA says it’s OK; I’ve never come across it. (16)
Cyclamate – banned in the US, OK for use elsewhere. (17)
Protein bar reviews
Alrighty then, onto examining the 20 sucralose-free bars individually.
Besides main features like grams of protein & cost, I have Ingredients and Nutrition Facts labels you can check out too.
I might mention a notable thing or two that comes to mind along the way…
…but I’m going with the assumption that you’ll be seeing the same stuff (good or bad) that I am, down in the macros and ingredients info I’ve provided.
Taste is a very subjective personal preference
I don’t provide my opinion on how they taste for a few good reasons:
1. We all have our own individual taste preferences, and mine are abnormal…so how I think something tastes is irrelevant & probably useless info to share here.
2. You can click the image or product name and be instantly connected to tens of thousands of people who are happy to tell you how they think it tastes.
3. For the bars in this review that I haven’t ever tried (there’s 9 of them I think), I have no desire to plunk down the ca$h to buy a box of each of them, since they’re not sold individually around here.
How they’re listed here
By the way…
…the order in which these protein bars appear below is only based on their buyers’ ratings — not on how clean of a product it is, or how much protein it has in it.
Indeed, you’ll be coming across some popular sucralose-free bars that have a bucketful of artificial ingredients and a lot of processing.
(Here’s looking at you, Met-Rx and Gatorade.)
Buyer ratings & their comments
The ⭐ rating is calculated using all online reviews available at the time I wrote this article.
To check current price &/or read buyer comments on Amazon, click on the bar’s pic or its product name.
20 best protein bars without artificial sweeteners
Power Crunch Triple Chocolate
4.8 ⭐ 94% 650+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 13g
Sugar – 5g
Sodium – 100mg
Cost/oz. – $1.01
See reviews & current price on Amazon
thinkThin Lean Protein Salted Caramel
4.6 ⭐ 94% 50+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 10g
Sugar – 5g
Sodium – 200mg
Cost/oz. – $1.53
See reviews & current price on Amazon
KIND Protein, Crunchy Peanut Butter
4.6 ⭐ 90% 1,000+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 12g
Sugar – 7g
Sodium – 135mg
Cost/oz. – $0.83
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Oatmega Protein Bars, Vanilla Almond
4.6 ⭐ 90% 400+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 14g
Sugar – 5g
Sodium – 120mg
Cost/oz. – $0.83
See reviews & current price on Amazon
GoMacro Macrobar, Cashew Caramel
4.5 ⭐ 87% 1,200+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 10g
Sugar – 12g
Sodium – 5mg
Cost/oz. – $1.27
See reviews & current price on Amazon
MET-Rx Big 100 – Crispy Apple Pie
4.6 ⭐ 91% 650+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 31g
Sugar – 29g
Sodium – 390mg
Cost/oz. – $2.09
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Gatorade Whey Protein Recover
4.5 ⭐ 86% 2,500+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 20g
Sugar – 41g
Sodium – 160mg
Cost/oz. – $0.31
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Clif Bar Whey Salted Caramel Cashew
4.5 ⭐ 85% 500+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 14g
Sugar – 5g
Sodium – 200mg
Cost/oz. – $0.66
See reviews & current price on Amazon
IQBAR Brain + Body, Chocolate Lovers
4.4 ⭐ 86% 1,200+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 12g
Sugar – 0g
Sodium – 210mg
Cost/oz. – $1.30
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Rise Bar Almond Honey
4.4 ⭐ 84% 1,000+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 20g
Sugar – 13g
Sodium – 25mg
Cost/oz. – $1.01
Notes
Just 3 ingredients:
- almonds
- honey
- whey protein isolate
See reviews & current price on Amazon
#11 – 20
Zing Plant-Based Protein Bar
4.4 ⭐ 84% 500+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 13g
Sugar – 12g
Sodium – 160mg
Cost/oz. – $1.07
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Rx Bar Chocolate Sea Salt
4.3 ⭐ 81% 8,500+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 12g
Sugar – 13g
Sodium – 260mg
Cost/oz. – $0.85
See reviews & current price on Amazon
ALOHA Chocolate Chip Cookie
4.3 ⭐ 82% 100+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 14g
Sugar – 4g
Sodium – 95mg
Cost/oz. – $0.83
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Lenny & Larry’s The Complete Cookie
4.3 ⭐ 81% 4,500+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 8g
Sugar – 12g
Sodium – 220mg
Cost/oz. – $0.37
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Notes
Marketed as a 16-gram protein cookie, but note the serving size on the Nutrition Facts panel is listed as 1/2 a cookie — so only 8 grams there.
My guess is that this is done to obscure the fact that in order to get that 16 grams of protein, you’ll need to also knock down:
- 420 calories, about 100 of which is from palm oil
- 14g of fat
- 440mg of sodium
- & 24g of sugar
MET-Rx Protein Plus Bar
4.3 ⭐ 82% 200+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 29g
Sugar – 3g
Sodium – 500mg
Cost/oz. – $0.73
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Notes
I must confess: this bar doesn’t qualify to be here.
I put it in to use it as an example of how processed a protein bar can be.
I think there’s a reason the font size on their ingredients & Nutrition Facts panel is so small — they don’t want us to try & read what’s in this thing.
So it does have sucralose, and it does have sugar alcohols.
From the looks of things it has about 50 other ingredients in it too, most of which are cooked up in a lab.
And 500mg of sodium in one bar?
I wonder if it glows in the dark…
Good2Go Protein Bar
4.3 ⭐ 80% 100+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 18g
Sugar – 15g
Sodium – 85mg
Cost/oz. – $1.16
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Exo Bar Chocolate Fudge Brownie
4.3 ⭐ 80% 50+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 16g
Sugar – 8g
Sodium – 200mg
Cost/oz. – $1.17
Notes
The protein’s from crickets, which has 10x the amount of vitamin B12 as salmon and twice the iron of spinach. (18)
See reviews & current price on Amazon
thinkThin Vegan Chocolate Mint
4.2 ⭐ 79% 900+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 13g
Sugar – 5g
Sodium – 160mg
Cost/oz. – $1.63
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Larabar Protein Bar
4.1 ⭐ 77% 50+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 11g
Sugar – 18g
Sodium – 140mg
Cost/oz. – $0.81
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Quest Nutrition Protein Bar
4.1 ⭐ 75% 20,000+ online reviews
Features
Protein – 20g
Sugar – 2g
Sodium – 200mg
Cost/oz. – $0.91
See reviews & current price on Amazon
Notes
Disclaimer: I should’ve excluded it because it has erythritol in it but didn’t, for an odd reason too.
Here in 20th place (according to buyers’ ratings) is one of the biggest-selling protein bars, with or without sucralose.
It seemed odd to me at first that Quest only ranked 20th in buyer satisfaction, so I looked for a rationale to explain it.
(And included it in this review in the process.)
I can only venture a guess as to how a really popular product doesn’t have a higher rating than it does, so here’s mine for Quest.
Some Quest bars have sucralose, some don’t
Quest sells over 20 different flavors of this protein bar.
And as it turns out, over 2/3 of those have sucralose in them.
Only the 7 flavors I list below are the Quest bars without it:
- Chocolate Hazelnut
- Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Cinnamon Roll
- Double Chocolate Chunk
- Maple Waffle
- Mocha Chocolate Chip
- Peanut Butter Brownie Smash
Maybe some people who didn’t want sucralose in their bar accidentally picked a flavor that had it, and left a 1-star review.
My other guess is that out of those 20+ flavors they sell, maybe a few of them taste bad.
Protein bars that didn’t make the team
I evaluated close to 40 different bars when I first started putting this Top 20 product review together.
Some got the boot because, although they were listed somewhere as artificial sweetener-free, they had sugar alcohols in them & remember, I excluded those from my review.
Outside the Top 20
Then there were protein bars that qualified ingredient-wise, but didn’t have high enough buyer ratings to crack my Top 20 list.
There were 8 of those, and they’re listed below in case you’re interested.
Clicking on their pic or their name takes you to their Amazon product & reviews page.
#21-28
Orgain Organic Vegan Protein Bar
4.1 ⭐ 74% 2,500+ online reviews
thinkThin High Protein Bars
4.0 ⭐ 73% 800+ online reviews
Health Warrior Organic Pumpkin Seed Bars
4.0 ⭐ 71% 900+ online reviews
ThinkThin Protein & Superfruit Bar
4.0 ⭐ 67% 100+ online reviews
EPIC Bar Smoked Maple Bacon
3.9 ⭐ 70% 2,000+ online reviews
Bulletproof Collagen Protein Bar
3.9 ⭐ 69% 1,000+ online reviews
No Cow Protein Bar
3.8 ⭐ 68% 2,700+ online reviews
NuGo Slim Dark Chocolate Brownie
3.6 ⭐ 69% 1,000+ online reviews
Wrapping Up
Related protein articles here on heydayDo
Top 5 Protein Powders Without Artificial Sweeteners
7 Best BCAAs Without Sucralose Or Artificial Sweeteners
I hope that my article on protein bars without sucralose & other artificial sweeteners is useful to you, and I wish you well on your fitness journey.
Let’s go.
-greg
January 2021
