Whether you’re just starting out on the keto diet or a keto aficionado, big bursts of hunger can be common. When that happens, a ready-to-eat protein bar is clutch, but it can be tricky to find one made with quality ingredients if you don’t know where to look.
You need a keto-friendly bar that won’t knock you out of ketosis, can be eaten on the go, and satisfies your hunger. Of course, not all keto protein bars are worth your time, so it’s good to pay attention to the details before buying. It can be hard to spot on the label, but some ingredients like added sugar or not-so-whole ingredients can actually jeopardize ketosis and are simply just not great for your body.
To avoid ingredients that raise your blood sugar, to meet your macros, and to maintain ketosis throughout the day no matter your schedule, good keto-approved bars are your best friend.
What to Look for in a Keto Protein Bar
Keto protein bars vary from other protein bars in that they are low in carbohydrates (low on sugar and grains) and have a high amount of fat and protein. They can be sweet or savory, should be loaded with good calories, and give you instant energy that actually lasts.
The Sweeteners
When it comes to sweeteners in keto protein bars, you should look for clean ingredients like stevia, allulose, and fruits like bananas or monk fruits. These are low in net carbs and add naturally delicious sweet flavors without throwing off your blood sugar.
What sweeteners should you avoid? Sugar is a definite one. Steer clear of any type of corn or rice syrup, along with excessive amounts of honey and maple syrup. Artificial sweeteners like saccharine, splenda (sucralose), aspartame, and acesulfame are also definitely not on the whole foods list. And depending on your sensitivity levels, some sugars like xylitol and maltitol are more likely than others to get your GI tract out wack.
The Proteins
You’ll find all sorts of protein-packed ingredients in keto bars. Nuts like peanuts (okay, technically they’re legumes), almonds, and sunflower seeds are great sources of protein, as well as good fat companions. A lot of keto protein bars contain proteins from animal products, like meat, collagen, whey protein, eggs, and fish as well.
If you can, and you’re not running on a vegan diet, avoid plant-based proteins. They’re simply not as high-quality.
The Fats
Coconut, in all its many forms, is an excellent and common ingredient in keto protein bars. MCT oil or powder is another great ingredient, along with cocoa butter and nut butters. These not only boost healthy fat content, but they also provide great texture and flavor to the bars.
When you’re checking the ingredient list, avoid vegetable oils like canola, grapeseed, and corn, as they’re processed oils and have essentially no nutritional value. We also suggest staying away from palm oil for environmental reasons.
The Gluten, Dairy, and Soy
When you’re lifting up those labels, we recommend avoiding ingredients like gluten, dairy, and soy. Gluten in particular can spike your blood sugar and send you out of ketosis. It’s also often over-processed and doesn’t provide your body with any real nutrients. Look for gluten-free keto protein bars and you’ll be set. Luckily, most are already gluten-free.
Soy is another ingredient to avoid, as it’s also highly processed and often has phytoestrogens which can affect hormone levels. So go with protein bars that are soy-free.
We don’t necessarily think you should avoid dairy altogether on the keto diet. In fact, grass-fed dairy is a great source of fat. But dairy can be inflammatory for some people, as the quality of conventional dairy products is very low. Dairy-free keto protein bars are the safest bet.
The Taste
A protein bar may be as keto-friendly as can be, but if it doesn’t taste good, what’s the point? Not only will you not be satisfied, you’re more likely to reach for a snack that’s loaded up with carbs and unhealthy fats, and kick your body out of ketosis.
It may seem complicated to keep all this information in mind when you’re shopping for keto protein bars. That’s why we went ahead and did the hard work for you so you can actually enjoy a good keto protein bar, stay energized, and focus on other things.
1. Perfect Keto: Keto Bars
Perfect Keto Bars are super decadent. They’re almost like eating dessert but without the added sugars or sugar alcohols. There are a lot of flavors to choose from, like Cinnamon Roll, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, or Salted Caramel.
Nutrition Facts
And each serving gives you:
Net Carbs: 2-3g
Total Fat: 17-19g
Protein: 12g
Calories: 210
They’re loaded up with ingredients like…
- Almond butter
- Peanut butter
- Cocoa butter
- Cacao chocolate chips
- Organic vanilla extract
- Grass Fed Collagen
- Cocoa Butter
- Coconut Oil
- MCT Powder
- Bananas
- Organic Cinnamon
- Sea salt
- Allulose
- Stevia extract
- Monk Fruit extract
- Sunflower lecithin
The Verdict: These bars are super satisfying and the flavors and textures aren’t chalky and weird like a lot of other protein bars. They honestly feel like eating dessert, but are low in carbs and have absolutely no added sugar. You can also really tell the ingredients are free of preservatives because they melt if they’re in the sun too long.
2. Perfect Keto: Mallow Bars
These keto-certified Mallow Bars are designed to mimic those rice crispy treats you loved as a kid.
Nutrition Facts
What’s inside:
Net Carbs: 2g
Total Fat: 3.5g
Protein: 9g
Calories: 80
Ingredients
- Milk fat isolate protein crips
- Soluble tapioca flour
- Almond butter
- Allulose
- Sea salt
- Monk fruit extract
- Stevia
- Mixed tocopherols
The Verdict: Crunchy, crispy, and perfectly sweet, these totally satisfy that childhood craving. We also like that they don’t have any artificial ingredients or weird fillers, and are obviously super low in carbs.
3. Keto Bars: Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar
Okay, so the cool packaging is what initially caught our eye on this one! But you may recognize these vegan protein bars (though they aren’t advertised as protein bars) as the OG of keto bars. These guys were the first to manufacture them.
Nutrition Facts
Each bar gets you:
Net Carbs: 3g
Total Fat: 21g
Protein: 8g
Calories: 250
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Peanut butter
- Chocolate
- Coconut
- Non GMO Erythritol
- Water
- Salt
- Stevia
The Verdict: These are good keto protein bars in our book. The ingredients are clean and they’re low in carbs and don’t have any added sugars or fiber syrups. They could have a little more protein in our opinion, but they still do the trick.
4. BHU Keto: Double Dark Chocolate Cookie Dough
This refrigerated bar is super chocolatey and made primarily from cashews and chocolate, but without any of the added sugars you find in chocolate bars.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Net Carbs: 3g
Total Fat: 22g
Protein: 11g
Calories: 260
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Organic cashews
- Organic red palm oil (certified sustainable)
- Organic cacao
- Organic cacao butter
- Organic prebiotic tapioca
- Organic cherries
- Organic soluble tapioca fiber
- Organic pea protein
- Organic MCT oil
- Organic cocoa
- Organic baobab
- Organic sunflower lecithin
- Sea salt
- Organic monk fruit
- Organic vanilla
The verdict: These double dark chocolate cookie dough bars from BHU live up to their name. They’re super rich and chocolatey and satisfy that dessert craving. We could do without the palm oil, but because it’s certified sustainable, we’ll let it slide.
5. Epic Provisions Bar: Chicken Raisin Sesame Barbecue
Epic Provisions uses pasture-raised, hormone-free meats, as well as seeds, fruits, vegetables, and spices to make their jerky-like protein bars.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Neg Carbs: 3g
Total Fat: 6g
Protein: 13g
Calories: 120
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Chicken
- Raisins
- Encapsulated lactic acid
- Sea salt
- Hemp seeds
- Dried garlic
- Dried onion
- Sesame seeds
- Cultured celery powder
- Sesame oil
- Ginger
- Black pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- Red pepper
The verdict This is a good savory alternative to the more common dessert-like bars. It also has a low carb count, high protein, and no added sugar whatsoever. Approved.
6. Julian Bakery Pegan Thin: Chocolate Lava
These protein bars are vegan and made with sacha inchi, a plant used primarily for its seeds with a lot of fiber, protein, and fat.
Ingredients
- Organic Sacha Inchi
- Organic soluble tapioca fiber
- Organic sunflower butter
- Organic cacao
- Chocolate extract flavor
- Monk fruit extract
- ProDura bacillus coagulans
- Sunflower lecithin
Nutrition facts
Net Carbs: 2g
Total Fat: 9g
Protein: 20g
Calories: 190
The verdict: The addition of prebiotics and probiotics is nice. Plant-based protein isn’t a high quality protein, but the ingredients are clean and they do the job.
The Other Contenders
We want to mention a few other keto protein bars you’ve probably seen on the shelves or online. While these are technically keto, we don’t think they hit the mark.
7. Dang Bar: Lemon Matcha
Dang bars are completely vegan keto bars and contain plant-based fats and proteins. The texture is more crumbly compared to some of the chewy keto bars because they’re cold-packed instead of extruded.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Net Carbs: 5g
Total Fat: 15g
Protein: 9g
Calories: 210
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Almonds
- Chicory root fiber
- Cocoa butter
- Pea protein crisps
- Pea protein
- Sunflower seeds
- Coconut
- Chia seeds
- Lemon oil
- Sunflower lecithin
- Matcha green tea
- Citric acid
- Sea salt
- Stevia extract
- Mixed tocopherols
The verdict: Dang’s creativity around flavor is totally respected. You probably won’t find another lemon matcha keto protein bar out there. These are also good options if you’re on a vegan diet. But plant-based proteins aren’t as high-quality as animal-based proteins, so we feel like they miss the mark here. It’s also a little annoying that they have to be refrigerated, as it takes away some of the convenience factor.
8. Slim Fast Keto: Nutty Caramel & Nougat
Slim Fast finds their way into keto as well, with meal replacement keto protein bars bars.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Net Carbs: 3g
Total Fat: 12
Protein: 9g
Calories: 180
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Peanut
- Chocolate
- Erythritol
- Inulin
- Cocoa butter
- Milk
- Soy lecithin
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Stevia extract
- Soluble corn fiber
- Glycerin
- Palm kernel oil
- Cream
- Milk protein concentrate
- Butter
- MCT oil
- Isolated soy protein
- Calcium caseinate
- Peanut flour
- Peanut oil
The verdict: Not only is this ingredient list long, but it’s got a good handful of ingredients we try to avoid like corn, palm kernel oil, and peanut oil. Additionally, the carbs on these are too high for our ideal protein bar, and we really don’t agree with the theory of a 180-calorie protein bar acting as a replacement for a full meal.
9. Krave Meat Bars: Wild Blueberry Barbecue
Krave makes beef jerky-like meat bars in a few different flavors and seasonings. They’re a savory alternative to the traditional protein bar.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Net Carbs: 11g
Total Fat: 3.5g
Protein: 8g
Calories: 210
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Beef
- Dried blueberries
- Sugar
- Sunflower oil
- Citric acid
- Brown sugar
- Quinoa
- Tomato paste
- Sea salt
- Flaxseed
- Herbs and spices
- Lemon juice concentrate
The Verdict: Even though these are savory, they have added sugar, which is an automatic out for us. And with the sugar, addition of quinoa, and lots of fruits, there are more carbs than we like on this one that we like.
10. Marigold Protein Bars: Cookie Dough
Marigold protein bars only use U.S. products in their recipe, and most of them are also certified organic. Cookie dough is their best-seller, but they have a lot of Texas-inspired flavors using pecans, which inspires a really local, family feel.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Net Carbs: 6g
Total Fat: 9g
Protein: 20g
Calories: 203g
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Whey isolate from grass fed cow milk
- Cocoa liquor
- Cane sugar
- Cocoa butter
- Cocoa powder
- L-glutamine
- Organic pecans r
- Grass-fed Ghee
- Organic Coconut oil
- Organic Coconut nectar
- Organic tapioca
- Chicory root fiber
- Sea salt
- Stevia extract
- Sunflower lecithin
The Verdict: L-glutamine isn’t an ingredient we see often in keto bars, but it’s great for the gut. These bars are super high in protein too. The only problem is they do have cane sugar in them from the addition of chocolate chips, which isn’t completely clean. You also have to store these in the fridge.
11. Bulletproof: Vanilla Shortbread Collagen Protein Bar
Bulletproof loads their bars with collagen and MCT. This one in particular has more of a cookie-like texture and flavor and relies heavily on cashews.
Nutrition facts
What you get:
Net Carbs: 4g
Total Fat: 12g
Protein: 11g
Calories: 190
Ingredients
What’s inside:
- Cashew butter
- Hydrolyzed collagen
- Inulin
- MCT oil powder
- Cashew meal
- Sunflower lecithin
- Sunflower oil
- Sea salt
- Ground vanilla beans
- Organic stevia extract
- Vanilla extract
The verdict: We love that they have such a nice, natural vanilla flavor with the addition of ground vanilla beans and extract. However, we don’t love the sunflower oil, which is a highly-processed oil that basically provides no nutrients to the body.
What are the benefits of keto protein bars over other keto snacks?
No preparation required on these.You just open up the bar whenever you need a boost. They’re also super transportable. You can throw them in your bag and snag one whenever hunger hits.
Can keto protein bars help with weight loss?
Definitely. A good keto protein bar has healthy fats like MCT that, unlike other fats, are unlikely to be stored as body fat. They also boost energy levels by effectively increasing ketone production.
Conclusion
A good keto snack should only be full of the best, whole ingredients, and swiftly curb hunger so you can make it to your next meal. There are all sorts of options out there, and keto protein bars are an excellent to-go option.
The good thing is there are so many flavors and styles to choose from, so there’s no way you’ll ever get bored. Perfect Keto alone has enough flavors to keep you satisfied when hunger strikes: banana bread, salted caramel, and almond brownie batter are a good place to start. And you can always trust the ingredients.
When you want to stay in ketosis and meet your macros, keep Perfect Keto protein bars close.