Flavors Tried: Milk & Cookies, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter & Jelly
Price For Full-Size Bars: $37.99 for box of 12 ($3.17 per bar)
Price For Snack-Size Bars: $21.99 for box of 9 ($2.44 per bar)
Nutrition for full-size bars: 380 Calories, 16g Fat, 27g Carbs (16g Sugar Alcohol), 30g Protein
Nutrition for snack-size bars: 190 Calories, 8g Fat, 14g Carbs (8g Sugar Alcohol), 16g Protein
There’s been an itch in the back of my mind to revisit Fit Crunch Bars.
These bars made quite an impression on me many years ago for their uniqueness; they’re soft-baked protein bars with 6 layers. I mean, how could that be bad?
Plus, they were created by Chef Robert Irvine, so you wouldn’t expect anything short of delicious.
The problem is, I also remember these bars tasting quite artificial. Considering this one of the first protein bars I recall ever trying, that didn’t used to bother me.
But my palate has now been seasoned by countless protein bars since those early days. So, it’s time to take a fresh look at Fit Crunch Bars.
These bars come in two sizes: full-size and snack-size. The full size is a pretty big bar, packing nearly 400 calories and 30 grams of protein. In contrast, snack-sized versions deliver around 200 calories and 16 grams of protein.
When you look at the calories-to-protein ratio of these bars, it’s pretty standard. While we’ve come to expect a protein bar to have 20 grams of protein, I don’t find 16 grams to be offensive.
Fit Crunch Bars currently come in 10 different flavors, but for this review, I was only able to track down 3 different flavors. I’ve had a very difficult time finding these sold as individual bars and was not prepared to commit to multiple boxes, so we’ll roll with these three.
Note that I am trying to full-size bars for this review, but the snack-size bars are the exact same product, simply a smaller size.
Milk & Cookies Fit Crunch Bar
I dove into the Milk & Cookies bar with high hopes. I mean, who doesn’t love milk & cookies?
On first impressions alone, I was extremely impressed. I mean, just look at that generous coating!
Unfortunately, my excitement quickly dissipated once I bit into this protein bar.
The bar is very sweet, but it tasted more like white chocolate than cookies or milk.
That artificial flavor I remember from years ago was still there, too. When you combine the fact that it doesn’t taste like the flavor name with an artificial flavor, it creates disappointment.
I do love the layers, and the crunchy pieces were plentiful (reminiscent of the crunchies in ice cream cake I used to eat as a kid), but this ultimately missed the mark for me.
Did I hate it? No. But it wasn’t great, and it definitely didn’t bring milk and cookies to mind.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Fit Crunch Bar
The Peanut Butter and Jelly bar was a pleasant surprise. When I first unwrapped it, I was hit with a jelly aroma that had me hopeful. The generous peanut butter coating seemed promising, too.
And honestly, the flavor was pretty on point. I tasted the jelly. The peanut butter was there. But again, it had that artificial taste.
Even the awesome texture, a combination of soft-baked dough and crunchy bits, couldn’t save it. The artificial taste was just too overpowering.
Would I call this a terrible bar? Definitely not. At least the flavors were identifiable. But I won’t be rushing to buy it again despite its popularity with others (apparently this was voted the best-tasting protein bar at the Arnold Classic).
Peanut Butter Fit Crunch Bar
I was super excited for the peanut butter bar, because I recall it being the bar I used to enjoy the most.
I had forgotten what this one was like, and if I’m being totally honest, this one confused me. The flavor name is simply ‘Peanut Butter’, but there’s much more going on in this bar…
This bar has a cookie layer, a caramel layer, peanuts, and a chocolate coating… so why only call out peanut butter? In my eyes, this is much closer to a Snickers or even Peanut Butter Cup than it is just peanut butter.
Yes, peanut butter is definitely the main flavor in this bar, but it feels like a miss to name it that.
The taste was slightly above average, reminding me of other run-of-the-mill protein bars like Pure Protein bars.
Just like the other flavors I tried, I found the artificial taste to just be too strong to truly enjoy this bar.
Final Thoughts: Fit Crunch Bars
I have to give it to Fit Crunch Bars. They’ve got a lot of good things going for them. The generous coating is impressive, and the soft-baked layers and crunch add a unique spin.
And while I do very much appreciate the cookie layer, it should be stated that the interior is still a bit thick & chewy, so it’s not quite a cookie texture.
Unfortunately, the artificial taste of Fit Crunch Bars is just too much for me. As someone who tolerates artificial sweeteners pretty well, I was surprised at just how much it took away from the experience for me.
I get why these bars are appealing. They’ve got layers, a thick coating, and resemble candy bars in many ways. For someone new to the world of protein bars, I see the appeal.
But the flavor isn’t hitting the right notes for me.
All in all, Fit Crunch Bars could use some improvements in the flavor department. But for a protein bar that feels like a candy bar, they’ve got that part down.
