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REVIEW: Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry (Protein Pop Tarts)

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.

Tasty Pastry Nutrition Facts

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

Strawberry Tasty Pastry

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

Cookies & Cream Tasty Pastry

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.

Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry
REVIEW: Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry (Protein Pop Tarts)
Summary
These truly are a cakey version of Pop Tarts. While you'd never mistake them for an actual Pop Tart, they really nailed the flavors, and for the insane macros, it's really tough to do much better.
Texture
6
Flavor Accuracy
8
Nutrition
8.5
Overall Taste
7.5
The Good
Filling is very reminiscent of Pop Tarts
Macros are better than most protein bars
Can be heated for an even better experience
The Bad
Quite cakey, which some people may not like
Very expensive
Artificial taste is present in some flavors
7.5
Give 'Em A Try
Show Comments (4)
  1. If you ever update this review, I highly recommend the Hot Fudge Sundae version! It doesn’t have the strong weird chemical “cocoa” flavor like the cookies and cream does

    1. Thank you, I definitely will! The availability has been super limited in the stores near me so hopefully I come across it. I always try to get a hold of new flavors and update reviews as needed so I’ll definitely be on the lookout.

  2. I really wish I agreed with this review. I normally seem to agree with your taste. I’ve only tried the strawberry, but I didn’t really like it. I tried it in the air fryer, but it still didn’t get at all crispy. I guess it’s better than a Quest protein bar, for example. But still. Not strawberry flavored enough, not enough filling, no crispiness, and no crackly frosting…I’ll have to pass. Hoping they improve the formula in the future!

    1. That’s fair! For what it’s worth, I was extremely disappointed the first time I tried these, so there’s a chance they are just extremely inconsistent. I’ve seen that with a lot of snacks (particularly protein bars) where sometimes they are downright bad and other times they are delicious depending on the batch.

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