Flavors Tried: Strawberry, Blueberry, Cookies & Cream
Price: $26.99 for 8 ($3.37 each)
Nutrition Facts: 180 Calories, 9g Fat, 22g Carbs (9g Fiber & 9g Erithrytol), 20g Protein
Years back, I reviewed Legendary Foods’ Tasty Pastries and even made a YouTube video about them.
My initial experience was far from positive – they tasted like stale cake, became inedible when heated, and the cookies & cream flavor I tried had an inexplicable orange filling for no good reason.
In other words: I pretty much hated these Tasty Pastries.
However, I decided to give them a second shot after hearing nothing but incredible reviews for years.
Without spoiling my review entirely: I was definitely wrong the first time around.
Here’s my initial review if you’re curious (but if you do decide to watch it, keep in mind that it’s not reflective of my current thoughts):
Whether Legendary Foods made improvements or I was just unlucky the first time, I’m not sure. The packaging is completely updated, so my thought is that they’ve made some improvements over the years.
Either way, we’re about to do a complete 180.
Each Tasty Pastry packs 180 calories and 20g protein, which is more impressive than most protein bars on the market.
These keto-friendly treats come with only 5g net carbs, making them appealing to anyone on a keto or low-carb diet. Personally, that doesn’t particularly matter to me, but I can see the appeal.
My local GNC had three flavors in stock: strawberry, blueberry, and cookies & cream. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the GOAT Pop Tart flavor (brown sugar cinnamon) but we’ll make it work.
Strawberry Tasty Pastry Review
When you unwrap a Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry, the first thing you notice is that it’s very cake-like. It definitely resembles a Pop-Tart, but the cakey texture is very different from a classic toaster pastry.
But if it tastes good, does that even matter?
While it’s definitely on the cakey side, this absolutely resembles a strawberry Pop-Tart.
The strawberry filling is quite accurate to what we know and love in a Pop-Tart.
The texture is cakey and slightly dense, but not thick & chewy like I feared it might be. When you look at it, it seems like it would be really dry, but that was not the case here.
Don’t worry, it’s nowhere near as chewy as a typical protein bar, thats for sure.
Honestly, on flavor alone, there is no mistaking that this is a strawberry Pop-Tart. In a blind taste-test, you’d definitely be able to identify it. The only difference is the texture, but it’s not at all unpleasant.
For the macros, this is surprisingly good. If you’re keto and/or can’t eat regular pop tarts for any reason, this would absolutely scratch that itch.
Blueberry Tasty Pastry Review
If you’re fan of Wild Berry Pop-Tarts (the ones with the fun purple and blue icing) then you will absolutely love this Blueberry Tasty Pastry.
Legendary Foods absolutely nailed this one. I have no notes.
The filling of this Tasty Pastry tastes exactly like a Wild Berry Pop-Tart. Of course, the pastry itself is still cakier and denser than a regular Pop Tart, but on flavor alone, this one is nearly perfect.
You don’t get that same crackly icing you get from a Pop Tart, but if you’re a Wild Berry fan, run out and give these a try ASAP.
Cookies & Cream Tasty Pastry Review
I was riding a real high after trying the blueberry Tasty Pastry, but cookies & cream brought me back down to Earth a bit.
There was a very strong chemical flavor when I first opened this one up, which didn’t bode well for the taste test.
I’d consider this flavor much more artificial tasting than the others, which I can personally tolerate, but I can see others really disliking it.
If you’re not used to eating snacks with erythritol, that flavor may be way too overpowering.
The flavor is definitely in the spirit of cookies & cream Pop-Tarts, so it’s pretty good, just not nearly as good as the others. If you can look past the artificial flavor, you may like this one, but it was definitely my least favorite of the flavors.
Microwaved Tasty Pastry
Each Tasty Pastry wrapper recommends microwaving these for 10 seconds, so I had to give that a try.
The first time around, they didn’t have the instructions on the package, rather simply “try heated up!” which led to a disaster. I threw these into my toaster thinking they were just like Pop-Tarts, and they basically melted all over the toaster.
I did it correctly this time around, and went with about 20 seconds in the microwave (the 10 second recommendation didn’t seem like enough).
Yup, this is definitely the move.
The filling of the Tasty Pastry becomes warm and gooey, and it ends up tasting just like when a Pop-Tart comes out of the toaster.
Personally, I much prefer Pop-Tarts toasted, so this took the Tasty Pastry to the next level. If I were to buy these again, I would absolutely eat them heated up.
Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry: Final Thoughts
So, do these live up to actual Pop-Tarts? Not entirely.
They are a denser, cake-like version of Pop-Tarts.
However, they are still soft, have a flavor that is very reminiscent of Pop-Tarts, and are loaded with 20g of protein each.
In my book, that makes them an extremely attractive option for Pop-Tart fans.
I’m more than happy to be proven wrong in this case; these Tasty Pastries are indeed impressive, and I apologize for thinking otherwise for all these years.
Their price tag, over $3 each, may prevent them from becoming a pantry staple, but they’re certainly worth a try if you see them at a store near you.
