Quest Protein Bars Review – All of them

Quest Nutrition has been one of my favorite supplement brands ever since I started weight training and being conscious of my macros/diet.  I remember the brand when it first offered protein bars, peanut butter cups, and pasta.  Now, there are so many more products to choose from, including Hero Bars, Beyond Cereal Bars, Protein Chips, and (recently) Protein Cookies.

I decided that it was time to try more of the OG protein bar flavors, as well as the newer Cereal and Hero bars, since I typically have always stuck to the same popular flavors.  Overall, I learned that the popular flavors are the most popular for good reason, but I was also pleasantly surprised with some of the other ones I had never tried before!

Side note: none of the photos in this post are edited at all, as I didn’t want to distort the product.

First off, I want to give a shout out to the newest protein bar flavor, Birthday Cake, which has definitely landed itself in my top 5 favorite list.  The bar itself has the same consistency of the other Quest protein bars, and is smooth (no chunks or additional texture).  It’s one of the coated bars, and the coating is speckled with funfetti.  The coating itself is pretty sweet, smooth, and melts in your mouth.

The bar itself is not nearly as sweet as the coating, and has a good birthday cake flavor.  There are some undertones and aftertaste of the erythritol sweetener, but not an overwhelming amount that takes away from the overall experience.  I definitely recommend this flavor to all of my fellow birthday cake enthusiasts, as it’s a great dessert-like item that’s very easy to fit into your daily macros!

Stats – P 21, C 25, F 5; Fiber 14, Erythritol 6, Net Carbs 5

Next up, I want to talk about the Beyond Cereal Bars and Hero Bars.

Beyond Cereal Bars – I was pleasantly surprised by these.  They come in three flavors – waffle, cinnamon, and chocolate.  I didn’t really like the waffle flavor, as to me it tasted the most artificial.  Each bar has 110 calories, 12g protein, 4.5g fat, and 2g net carbs.  The chocolate and cinnamon flavors are great as a snack bar on their own, but are also yummy broken up and eaten as actual cereal in a bowl with milk.  I would recommend these as a lower calorie, lower protein, quick snack bar.  The macros aren’t as favorable as the other Quest products, but I would consider them good for the occasional snack.

Hero Bars – I had high hopes for these because I had heard such good things about them, and was NOT disappointed.  They come in three flavors – chocolate caramel pecan, blueberry cobbler, and vanilla caramel.  All three flavors are tasty, and are very true to their names.  Also, Quest mentions use of allulose in these bars, which is a natural low glycemic sugar which is not processed by the body, but still tastes sweet, and is subtracted from the carb content to get net carbs.

The bars are coated, and they each have a crunchy layer and then a gooey filling layer beneath the coating.  The macros of each bar are slightly different, and stats are as follows (there are also photos below):

	Calories	Protein	Carb	Fat	Net Carb
Vanilla	180	16	29	9	4
Chocolate	200	15	27	11	4
Blueberry	170	17	30	7	4

Chocolate:

Vanilla:

Blueberry:

I think my favorite was the chocolate flavor, with the blueberry coming in as a close second.  The vanilla one was good, but had a little bit too much of an artificial flavor for my liking.  Similar to the cereal bars, the macros aren’t as favorable as the other Quest products, but these are a good dessert-like snack.

Chocolate:

Vanilla:

Blueberry:

Ok, now it’s time for a quick one-liner on each of the OG protein bar flavors.  Let’s start with my favorites, in ascending order (i.e. I like each one more than the previous one listed):

1. Lemon Cream Pie – I was surprised that this one made it to even the bottom of the top for me because I generally don’t like fruity protein flavors, and I also don’t particularly like lemon cream pie in real life.  However, the consistency of this bar with the hint of lemon really worked
2. Chocolate Brownie – It would be difficult to screw up anything designed after a brownie, and the only reason why this one is low on the list is because, compared with the other flavors, it’s just a bit boring.  Not a disappointment, though
3. Double Chocolate Chunk – My thoughts on this flavor are very similar to my thoughts on the Brownie flavor
4. Mint Chocolate Chip – Similar to the Double Chocolate Chunk and Brownie, but the addition of mint is really tasty
5. Mixed Berry Bliss – I was surprised that this one made it so high on my list, but the berry flavor didn’t taste very artificial (which is my number 1 complaint of most fruity flavored protein bars) and the texture is good
6. White Chocolate Raspberry – My thoughts on this flavor are very similar to my thoughts on the Mixed Berry flavor
7. Rocky Road – There’s no universe where this could be bad
8. Smores – See Rocky Road
9. Cookies and Cream – I have a soft spot for anything cookies and cream.  Quest nailed it with this one
10. Blueberry Muffin – I really wasn’t expecting to like this one, but it’s really well done with pieces of actual blueberry and also chunks of what feel like an actual muffin.  A+ for texture on this one, and the flavor isn’t artificial, either
11. Chocolate Chip Cookie – This is the ultimate OG.  One of my first experiences with Quest products was this flavor and, like a first love, it will always have a special place in my heart
12. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip – This wasn’t one of the original Quest flavors, as I believe it debuted mid-2016,  but it quickly became a favorite once I tried it.  There’s some seriously good texture in here from the giant chocolate chunks, and the flavor is that of yummy cinnamon oatmeal

It should be noted that some of these flavors are really elevated when microwaved for 30 seconds, or actually baked in the oven like cookies.  I would recommend trying any of your favorite Quest bars heated up to see whether you like that flavor in bar form, or hot and ooey gooey from the microwave/stove.

And now for my least favorite:

1. Apple Pie – This was very sweet and kind of artificial tasting.
2. Vanilla Almond Crunch – There isn’t anything really wrong with this one, but it’s a bit boring and bland.
3. Strawberry Cheesecake – Very sweet and artificial tasting
4. PB&J – This one has pretty decent texture with chunks of peanuts, but the flavor was just OK for me.
5. Banana Nut Muffin – Didn’t like this one because it’s artificial tasting
6. Coconut Cashew – I didn’t really like this flavor combination
7. PB Supreme – This one’s not terrible, but I would expect more of a peanut butter flavored bar
8. Chocolate Peanut Butter – Similar thoughts as the PB Supreme
9. Mocha Chocolate Chip – I thought I would like this one, but I found the flavor to be a bit too strong, and artificial tasting.
10. Cinnamon Roll – I thought this tasted too artificial.

There we have it!  At this point I think I’ve tried 95% of the products made by Quest, and I really can say that I’ve enjoyed most of them.  Everyone’s flavor profiles and preferences are different, so go ahead and try a flavor for yourself even if it didn’t make it onto my favorites list.  Do you have a preferred Quest product or flavor?  I’d love to hear from you, so message or comment below your thoughts!

Stay fit and #OnAQuest, all!

FYI – No Quest bars were harmed in the making of this post!  After photos, each one was packaged up in an airtight container and put into the fridge to maintain freshness 🙂