FITCRUNCH has been one of the more fun protein bar brands out there for a while now. Their regular bars lean hard into the candy bar experience, which has always been the major draw of them. I’ve always found that they taste too artificial, but I can’t deny the candy bar-like textures.
FITCRUNCH also has wafer bars, which are some of my favorites because they offer something genuinely different and deliver top-tier flavor.
So when I saw their new Puff N’ Crunchy bars at Walmart, I was really curious. Built Puffs are some of the most popular bars out there right now, so clearly Fit Crunch is trying to compete directly with those.
The bars come in three flavors: Double Chocolate Rocky Road, Caramel Peanut S’mores, and Raspberry Meringue Pie. The only one that was in stock for me was Double Chocolate Rocky Road, but chocolate is generally a pretty safe place to start.
According to FITCRUNCH, this bar is a “first-of-its-kind texture experience” with a light, airy chocolatey marshmallow layer stacked on a crunchy cookie base, all wrapped in a chocolatey coating with some extra crunch on top. It’s supposed to be puffy, crunchy, and gooey all at once.
The macros are pretty solid, too. Each bar has 200 calories, 18 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of sugar.
Unwrapping the bar, it’s a pretty decent size. It’s definitely thick, which leaves you hopeful for the marshmallow puff that’s promised inside. To be honest, it might be one of the tallest protein bars I’ve ever come across.
When I went to break the bar apart, I thought there was going to be…well…puff inside. And that was certainly not the case.
The name “Puff” sets a pretty specific expectation. If you’ve had a Built Puff bar, you’re probably expecting something light and fluffy, but that’s not what you get here. I thought that maybe I got a bad batch, but when I look at the product reviews, it seems that all the bars look similar.
I was able to disassemble the bar in layers, and the fact that you can pull the entire “puff” layer out says a lot about the lack of actual puff.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think marshmallow typically holds a rectangular shape when you try to break it apart. Certainly not a puffy marshmallow, anyway.
While clearly not fluffy, at least there are some fun layers to this bar.
Overall, this bar is closer to the Quest Overload bars I reviewed with all of its layers. I certainly wouldn’t call it puffy.
The bottom layer is the crunchy part, and it’s kind of like a cookie where it’s crunchy but still a little soft. That part works pretty well.
The layer above that is supposed to be the “puff,” but it’s really just the same interior as most protein bars. It’s a chewy, unexciting texture, and if you’d handed it to me without the name, I never would have guessed it was supposed to be marshmallow.
On top of that, there’s a very thin layer of what I thought was caramel. Then the chocolate coating has some cookie crunchies layered into the top of the bar, which is where the “crunchy” part of the name comes from.
After I tried the bar, I looked up the product listing on Walmart, and not only does it look significantly better, but it also sounds better.
The bottom layer is supposed to be a crunchy cookie base, and that checks out. No complaints there.
But the “puff” layer is supposed to be an airy chocolatey marshmallow. I mean, there is nothing marshmallow about it- not the texture, and certainly not the flavor. The photo makes it look like you’re going to get the interior of a 3 Musketeers bar instead of the chewy orange layer I received.
And that thin caramel layer is apparently supposed to be gooey chocolate, like a drippy chocolate syrup. That’s not what I got at all.
It’s frustrating, because when the marketing promises these distinct textures, you want to actually experience them. Instead, you get a protein bar experience that really isn’t very unique.
To be fair, the flavor is pretty good overall. It’s mostly chocolate, but it’s a decent chocolate.
It also doesn’t taste nearly as artificial as FITCRUNCH regular bars, which is a big plus for me. The sweetness feels more balanced, and there’s none of that sugar alcohol aftertaste that the regular bars have.
If I’m judging it purely on taste, it’s a perfectly enjoyable protein bar. But nothing about it is an “experience unlike anything else on shelf.”
I guess I’m just not sure what problem this bar is supposed to fix.
The Quest Overload bars work because regular Quest bars are pretty simple, and a lot of people find them boring. Overload pushes them into fun candy bar territory, which gives them a real reason to exist.
These bars clearly exist to compete against Built Puff Bars, but with no puff to show for, there’s really no reason to run out and find these.
This isn’t a bad protein bar. The macros are solid, the chocolate flavor is decent, and it tastes less artificial than regular FITCRUNCH bars.
But there’s no fluffy marshmallow, no gooey chocolate, and no puff, which is a tough sell for a bar with “Puff” in the name.
If you’re looking for a Built Puff texture with the benefits of complete protein, this is not it. And if you already like FITCRUNCH bars, this isn’t much of an upgrade.
If you see one and you’re curious, it’s worth trying just to see for yourself (maybe yours ends up fluffier), especially since plenty of people on Walmart’s site seem to love it. But I’d grab a FITCRUNCH wafer bar before I’d grab one of these again.
