Flavors Tried: Chocolate Cookie Butter, Dark Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Banoffee, Chocolate Hazelnut, Cookies N’ Cream, Chocolate Caramel
Price: $30 for 12 bars ($2.50 per protein bar)
Nutrition: 180 Calories, 9g Fat, 15g Carbs (9g Fiber), 16g Protein
I recently reviewed Misfits protein cereal, so I threw some of their protein bars into my shopping cart to review as well.
Based on the photos, I just couldn’t help myself. I mean, you look at the below product photo and try to tell me that it’s not one of the most delicious-looking protein bars you’ve ever seen:
I’ve been reviewing protein bars long enough to know that the bars won’t actually look like that, but that is just too enticing to pass up.
If you’re unfamiliar with Misfits, they started selling these plant-based protein bars in 2020, and they’ve exploded onto the scene with very high praise.
Originally selling only in the UK, Misfits now sells its products to nearly 100 different countries, and since the US is now included in that group, I was able to order a variety box to try 6 different flavors.
Considering these are plant-powered bars, I knew that I needed to adjust my expectations going into this review. Generally speaking, plant-based protein bars don’t taste quite as good as their dairy-based counterparts.
A perfect example is Barebells: I absolutely love their protein bars (Fulfil bars are extremely similar) but the plant-based Barebells protein bars really fell short for me.
It’s not a guarantee that a plant-based bar is not going to be delicious, however; in fact, Lenny & Larry’s plant-based protein bars are shockingly delicious.
Anyway, back to Misfits Plant-Powered Protein Bars. Each protein bar has just under 200 calories with 15 or 16g of protein, and most flavors contain just 1 gram of sugar (cookies and cream is the exception with 3 grams of sugar). Overall, the nutrition is very impressive, but let’s see how each tastes.
Chocolate Cookie Butter Misfits Protein Bar
Cookie butter has recently become one of my favorite snacks. Speculoos cookies are delicious on their own, but turn them into a spread and they become about 100x more delicious.
Naturally, I was extremely excited about a cookie butter-flavored protein bar.
Unfortunately, my excitement immediately disappeared when I took my first bite of this Misfits protein bar.
As you can see by the photo above, I’m not convinced that there is any actual cookie butter OR speculoos cookies in this protein bar. In fact, it looks like there are chocolate cookie pieces inside instead.
Flavor-wise, this protein bar has a very strong plant-based protein flavor, making it pretty Earthy tasting. You can taste the chocolate, but the speculoos flavor is incredibly minimal. In fact, it only comes through in the aftertaste, and only very slightly.
A huge disappointment as a cookie butter fan.
Chocolate Caramel Misfits Protein Bar
Going through these Misfits protein bars, it was very interesting to see how similar each bar actually looks. If you didn’t know better, you’d think this was the cookie butter flavor I reviewed previously.
This chocolate caramel bar had me excited that there would be a pleasing caramel layer in this one, but it turns out that it actually had the least amount of caramel of any of the bars I tried.
The interior of this protein bar has an artificial caramel flavor to it, which becomes overpowering. For a protein bar called “chocolate caramel,” the chocolate is definitely secondary in the overall flavor.
Is it terrible? No. But it’s not great, and certainly not what I was hoping for.
Chocolate Banoffee Misfits Protein Bar
Are you catching onto the theme here? This is the third bar in a row that looks identical!
This particular flavor is… interesting.
I have to assume that the “offee” in this protein bar is supposed to be toffee, but it’s pretty irrelevant because the only thing you can taste is banana.
In fact, this bar just tastes exactly like a banana in a crunchy cookie form.
Do you love bananas? Then you might absolutely love this bar. I truly cannot decide if I like it or not, though.
On one hand, I really like bananas, and the flavor is spot-on. On the other hand, I really wish this tasted more like a chocolate-covered banana and not just a banana.
Luckily this protein bar doesn’t taste like artificial banana flavoring (one of my least favorite flavors) but it’s definitely a strange flavor.
Chocolate Hazelnut Misfits Protein Bar
Finally, a protein bar that looks different than the others!
The fact that the interior of this bar is chocolate is definitely a welcomed change, but the flavor is still not completely what you’d hope for.
When I think of chocolate and hazelnut, my mind immediately goes to Nutella. You definitely don’t get that flavor with this protein bar, but you do get chocolate.
There’s a hint of hazelnut in there, but those dark chocolatey crunchy pieces exist inside this bar like all of the others. If it were up to me, I’d switch those out for actual hazelnut pieces to really elevate the flavor.
Overall, this bar is decent. It doesn’t have that Earthy flavor, but it tastes mostly chocolate rather than true chocolate & hazelnut.
Cookies N’ Cream Misfits Protein Bar
Cookies n’ cream is one of Misfits’ best sellers, and by the looks of it, it’s clear why. This bar looks exactly like you’d hope it would! If you’re a fan of Hershey’s Cookies & Cream chocolate bars, this bar reminds me a ton of that.
Unfortunately, this bar is by far the Earthiest-tasting protein bar flavor I tried out of all of them. Since it has a white chocolate coating instead of dark chocolate, it’s much harder to mask the flavor of the pea protein, so it definitely comes through.
The texture is awesome, and the big cookie pieces on top are a great addition, but that flavor is just too strong for me to really enjoy it.
Most people love this flavor, so clearly I’m in the minority here, but that plant-based protein flavor is too overpowering for me to enjoy this flavor.
Dark Chocolate Brownie Misfits Protein Bar
Okay, I sent Negative Nancy home.
I loved the dark chocolate brownie bar.
It seems like I’ve had nothing but negative things to say about these bars (hey, it’s my job to be honest around here) but Misfits knocked it out of the part with this one.
The dark chocolate flavor is really deep and rich, and the caramel layer is the softest of any flavor I tried.
The combination of dark chocolate, crunchy interior, and chewy caramel, makes this taste very similar to an actual brownie. And when it comes to the plant-based protein, you actually cannot taste it at all in this protein bar. A huge plus!
Overall Thoughts: Misfits Protein Bars
For me, these bars look significantly better than they taste.
To their credit, these bars are different than most others on the market, especially in the plant-based space.
The interior of each Misfits protein bar is like a crunchy cookie with a thin caramel layer, and there’s a great chocolate coating on each bar.
However, the overall flavors just fall short for me, but some are certainly better than others. I wasn’t able to try every flavor, but of the flavors I tried, I’d recommend Dark Chocolate Brownie and Chocolate Hazelnut above the others.
When it comes to plant-based protein bars, you can certainly do worse. If you eat a plant-based diet, I do think these Misfits protein bars are worth trying, especially if you don’t mind those “Earthy” flavors that plant-based protein tends to have.
