Flavors Tried: Cherry Barcia, Coconut Almond, Salted Caramel, Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter, Mint Brownie
Price: $29.95 for 12 bars ($2.50 per bar)
Nutrition (varies by flavor): 130 Calories, 2.5g Fat, 18g Carbs (4g Net Carbs), 17g Protein
Ah, Built Bar. They’ve labeled themselves the “world’s best tasting protein bar” so the expectations here are insanely high.
Before we dive into the review, I need to point something out about Built Bar. Leading up to my review, I kept hearing from a ton of people through Instagram that I needed to give these a try, and the Built Bar reviews I’ve seen are all absolutely glowing.
If I clicked on the profile of the person recommending Built Bar to me on Instagram, their feed was flooded with photos of Built Bar flavor launches, giveaways, and promos. Almost every single time.
It turns out that anybody can sign up to be an ambassador for Built Bar, meaning they get their own unique discount code that earns them a commission. Since so many people aspire to be influencers or sponsored athletes, it makes sense that there are so many people flocking to become Built Bar ambassadors.
What does that mean? Well, maybe nothing. But if you ask me, it seems that people convince themselves that these bars are way better than they are because they have an affiliation (and make some side money) by talking about the bars so much.
Trust me, as someone who will sometimes receive products in exchange for a product review, food tends to taste just a little bit better when it’s free. Or, in this case, when there is a commission involved.
Anyways, you’re not here for my shotty investigative work. You’re here for a Built bar review. So, let’s see if all those glowing reviews are legitimate, or if my speculation is warranted.
Built Bar Flavors
Built Bar has quite a few different flavors I haven’t tried, but I did get my hands on 6 different Built Bar flavors in a mixed box.
Cherry Barcia: This bar tastes straight out of a box of chocolates. But it’s the one cherry chocolate that you bite into and you’re immediately disappointed that it isn’t filled with caramel or more chocolate.
Mint Brownie: I absolutely despise mint chocolate in any form, so I can’t judge this one. It did taste like an Andes mint from what I remember about those. So, it’s probably decent.
Coconut Almond: The coconut flavor of this bar is very subtle, in my opinion. Coconut fans will be disappointed, but coconut haters will be pleased. If you’re in search of an Almond Joy, I don’t think this is going to fit the bill.
Salted Caramel: Definitely the best of the bars that I tried. In my opinion, it had a similar taste to a candy bar (Milk Way, specifically), although the texture was way different (more on that in a minute). While I didn’t love it, it is easily my favorite flavor.
Cookies n Cream: I was really hoping that the Oreo flavor would come through (like the cookies n cream Quest bar) but this one just tasted like a bar that was infused with artificial cookies & cream flavoring.
Peanut Butter: Yep, this one tastes like a peanut butter protein bar. The interior is much chewier than peanut butter, but the taste is there.
Flavors I did not try: Peanut Butter Brownie, Double Chocolate, Coconut Almond. Built Bar also has rotating limited-edition flavors like Cookie Dough, German Chocolate Cake, and Carrot Cake, which I was not able to try.
Built Bar also sells Built Puffs, which I plan to try in the future to add to an updated review. These seem to be Built Bar protein bars but with a softer interior, which I likely will enjoy more!
Built Bar Texture
Built Bars are THICK, and that’s not a great thing to me.
When it comes to protein bars, you have to anticipate some level of chewiness- that’s just the nature of whey protein powder. However, these protein bars were chewy like taffy and really get stuck in your teeth.
If you’ve ever had a Quest Bar, you know that thick & chewy texture I’m referring to.
Each Built Bar has a nice dark chocolate coating, but inside is a very thick and chewy texture that I just could not get over.
Thinking that maybe I got a bad batch, I tried these bars both heated up in the microwave AND frozen (both methods recommended to me by Built Bar fans).
In the microwave, the interior of these bars becomes even stickier, and when frozen they were nearly impossible to bite into. I won’t let either of those play into the product review, because they did not help the cause.
The Verdict
Call me crazy, but I did not love these bars.
Trust me, you can do MUCH worse when it comes to protein bars. Considering these have only 130 calories (most flavors) and 17g of protein, you’re not going to find a protein bar out there with more favorable nutrition.
But if you’re in it just for the taste, you’ll definitely find better options out there.
Unless you ask a Built Bar ambassador, in which case these bars are perfect and you need to buy them all.
