Opinions: LUNA Gluten Free Protein Bars

I'm having way too much fun trying new bars lately.  This past week, I tried all 5 flavors of LUNA protein bars!  I'm a pretty consistent reader of labels, and the ingredients in these things are pretty solid.  Also, they are gluten free!  We aren't a gluten free household but I know some of you-in's out there will appreciate that, so there it is.

The bars each have 12 hunger-smashing grams of protein, and they range from 170 - 190 calories.  I ate one each day about an hour before exercising, and they did a good job keeping me feeling satisfied until dinner, as well as fueling me for my workout.

Let's look at each one individually!

 Let's start with Chocolate.  Don't you love that name?  No frills, no fancies, just Chocolate.  For a product that is targeted at women, I don't think you need to be much more detailed than that.  Chocolate?  Yeah, sign me up.

 All five flavors have a similar chocolate coating, and the bars are about 3.5" long, maybe just a hair shorter than that.

This one is a winner for me.  There is no strange "protein bar" after taste that many other products have, the texture is good, the chocolate flavor is strong, and the bar is sprinkled with yummy tiny chocolate chips!

To follow along with this bar's simple name, I'll sum up my review in simple terms: Chocolate is good.

LUNA Protein - Chocolate:

4.5 out of 5 (Buy this flavor)

 Next up is Cookie Dough!  I get excited about cookie dough flavored ANYTHING, so I was eager to rip into this one.

 Similar chocolate coating, and same size bar.

 The inside is sprinkled with tiny little crispies, as well as tiny chocolate chips, which are tasty.  There are enough chocolate chips that you get a taste of them in nearly every bite.  The texture of the "dough" is smooth, but I prefer a cookie dough  flavor to have the slight grittiness from the brown sugar.  The level of sweetness is great, but there is a slight protein-y after taste.

 Your opinions may vary, but I think I'll pass on this one in the future.  It's just "okay" to me.  I'll bump it up to 3 corgis because the chocolate coating and chocolate chips are lovely!

LUNA Protein - Cookie Dough:

3 out of 5 (Buy this flavor)

 Now this one interested me, because I've never had a minty chocolate protein bar before.  Let's tear into this one and see what we find!

Same delicious chocolate coating.

Were you expecting the inside to be green?  I was!  This one was surprisingly delicious.  It has the same little crispies and chocolate chips, and the overall texture is fantastic.  The mint flavor is just enough without being overpowering, and there's no hint of an after taste.  I think they have a winner here!

This one gets two very enthusiastic thumbs up from me!

LUNA Protein - Mint Chocolate Chip:

4.5 out of 5 (Buy this flavor)

 You can't put out a line of protein bars and not include some form of chocolate and peanut butter combo.  It's just something that has to be done.

 Again, same tasty chocolate coating on the outside.

This one also has the tasty little crispies on the inside.  The main drawback is the size of the peanuts.  They are teeny tiny and hard to taste.  I think that having larger chunks would have made the peanut/peanut butter flavor a a bit stronger, which is something I thought this one was lacking.

Still, it's pretty good.  I liked it better than Cookie Dough, but not as much as Chocolate or Mint Chocolate Chip, so I'm scoring this one in between those two.

LUNA Protein - Chocolate Peanut Butter

3.5 out of 5 (Buy this flavor)

 I was most excited to try Chocolate Cherry Almond.  Can you go wrong with any of those flavors?  No, no you can't.

 I may be totally making this up, but the chocolate coating on this one tastes like a darker chocolate opposed to the milk chocolate coating on the others.  I peeked at the ingredients list over on the LUNA website and was surprised to see that this, along with most of the other flavors, contains macadamia nut butter.  Yummy!

 Though the actual fruit pieces are small, the cherry flavor is surprisingly strong.  The texture is great and there is no after taste.  My complaint with this one is the same as the Chocolate Peanut Butter - the almond pieces are too small and sporadic.  When you do get an almond-y bite, it's amazing.  If the nut pieces were bigger this one would be a slam dunk.

So this one I would certainly recommend, but I'm docking an extra half corgi because I think it needs bigger/more almonds.

LUNA Protein - Chocolate Cherry Almond:

4 out of 5 (Buy this flavor)

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Overall Impressions: I think this is a good line of protein bars that I can see myself purchasing again.  My favorite flavor was the Mint Chocolate Chip, and my least favorite flavor was Cookie Dough.  I did dock a half corgi right off the bat for the size of the bar - these have calories comparable to a full size LUNA bar, but they are pretty tiny.  I do understand that protein bars are more calorie dense, however, so take that opinion with a grain of salt.  Regardless of size, they are filling, and I felt satisfied and able to get through my late afternoon workouts!  I think LUNA did a good job of masking the dreaded "protein bar" flavor, and considering these are also gluten free, I'm impressed with how good they taste.  Give 'em a try and let me and other Brownie Bites readers know what you think!

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