Flavor Tried: Sweet & Salty Caramel Peanut Crisp
Nutrition Facts: 240 Calories, 13g Fat, 24g Carbs (10g Fiber & 1g Sugar), 20g Protein
KIND bars have been around forever, and they’re known for their simple, whole food approach.
Recently they decided to jump into the high(er)-protein market with their Protein MAX bars, which are one step up from their current KIND protein bars.
The macros look solid on paper: 240 calories, 13g fat, 24g carbs (with 10g fiber and just 1g sugar), and 20g protein.
For reference, the regular KIND protein bars contain right around the same calories, but with only 12 grams of protein and significantly more sugar, so these MAX protein bars are a noticeable upgrade.
KIND bars are one of those snacks that I don’t seek out, but when they are offered to me (they seem to always be given out at my coworking space) I find them enjoyable enough.
Between the macros, my previously positive experiences with KIND bars, and seeing peanuts as the number one ingredient, I was pretty hopeful that this would be a solid addition to my protein bar rotation.
Unfortunately, this bar is incredibly underwhelming.
Credit where it’s due: this bar is a pretty impressive size. When a bar is 200+ calories and barely takes up your palm, it’s always a letdown.
The texture of this bar is a nice change from regular protein bars, too. It has a similar texture that you would expect from KIND’s trail mix-like style, but the added protein does make this denser than your traditional KIND bar.
But for me, this flavor falls really short in the flavor department. The protein taste comes through significantly, which was surprising to me because soy protein is generally pretty easy to mask.
While peanuts are indeed the main ingredient and you can taste them, the combination of soy protein and allulose dominates the flavor profile. Yes, it’s a peanut flavor, but a very protein-forward peanut flavor.
This flavor is “caramel peanut crisp,” and while you can taste the caramel aspect, it is a very artificial caramel flavor. KIND also has a chocolate peanut butter version of this bar which I didn’t try, but I would have to assume it would be an upgrade on this one based on the caramel flavor added here.
What I find strange about this particular product is the use of milk powder in the ingredients. This would be significantly more marketable if it were a plant-based bar, since many plant-based options aren’t great.
Considering the texture that differs from many other protein bar options, it could really stand out against much of the competition if it were fully plant-based.
But since it contains dairy anyway, there are much tastier protein bars you could choose instead.
At the end of the day, this bar is not horrible, but I would much rather have a regular KIND Protein bar. Even though those only have 12 grams of protein for the same calories, the taste is significantly better, and the less-dense texture is more enjoyable.
Sometimes those extra grams of protein just aren’t worth the sacrifice in flavor, and this is definitely one of those cases.
KIND generally does a good job with their products, but they’ve missed the mark with the Protein MAX line, in my opinion.
In the increasingly crowded protein bar market, there are simply too many better options to make this one worth your while.
