My Costco has two types of Kirkland Protein Bars, Regular and Chewy, and there are some significant differences between them. I greatly prefer the Chewy Protein bars but realize this is a personal preference.
Keep reading and we will cover:
- How do the Kirkland Protein Bars Taste?
- Calories and Carbs of the Protein Bars
- Which Kirkland Protein Bar is Right for You?
- Cost of Kirkland Protein Bars at Costco
How Do Kirkland’s Protein Bars Taste?
My local Costco warehouse has the regular protein bars are available in four different flavors:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk
- Cookies and Cream
- Chocolate Brownie
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
The flavors are pretty accurate to the names provided and everyone is going to have their favorite. I am not going to try to convince you that Chocolate Brownie tastes better than Cookies and Cream because how would I know which flavors you prefer?
What you need to understand about these protein bars is that the shape and texture is similar to fudge or cookie dough. The bars are soft and amorphous with very little textural contrast.
I like the flavors of these bars but the texture is something that I have a hard time dealing with. I get the feeling that I am eating mushy candy and that just ain’t for me.
Kirkland’s Chewy Protein Bars are made with peanuts, peanut butter and chocolate which is a nice flavor combination.
The Chewy Protein bars look and feel like a combination between a granola bar and a candy bar. Their is a chocolate coating on the bottom topped with a layer of peanuts and chocolate chips.
I like the Chewy Protein bars because I enjoy the texture.
Again, purely a subjective preference on my behalf.
Kirkland Protein Bar Nutrition (Protein, Calories, Carbs)
Once you get past the differences in flavor and texture you will find there differences in the nutritional content of the two products.
For the regular protein bars the nutrition varies slightly between flavors but are pretty similar.
- Calories: 180
- Fat: 6g (8% DV)
- Cholesterol: 5mg (2% DV)
- Sodium: 150mg (7% DV)
- Total Carbohydrates: 23g (8% DV)
- Net Carbs: 11g
- Protein: 21g
The item that will be most important to people on a Keto/Low Carb diet is that these bars are NOT keto friendly. Even after you subtract the carbohydrates from fiber and sugar alcohols these bars still contain 11 net grams of carbs.
For the Chewy Protein Bars the nutritional information is as follows:
- Calories: 190
- Fat: 11g (14% DV)
- Cholesterol: 0mg (0% DV)
- Sodium: 120mg (5% DV)
- Total Carbohydrates: 16g (6% DV)
- Net Carbs: 10g
- Protein: 10g
The chewy protein bars are also NOT keto friendly with 10g of net carbs.
The chewy bars have a few more calories than the regular bars but only half as much protein (21g vs 10g).
Both types of Kirkland protein bars are labelled as Gluten Free.
Which Kirkland Protein Bar is Right for You?
Trying to decide between the Regular and Chewy bars is tough.
Personally I would go with the Chewy bars because I like the Granola/Candy Bar texture. However, if you don’t care about the texture then I think the regular protein bar is the better choice.
The reason most people buy protein bars is to use them as a meal replacement or an easy, filling snack and the regular protein bars are better for these uses for two reasons:
- Protein Content
- Portion Size
Protein Content
Eating a high protein meal makes you feel full for a long time because it takes your body a long time to digest protein compared to fat and carbs.
The regular protein bars have more than twice as much protein as the chewy bars so you should feel fuller longer when you eat the high protein version.
Portion Size
The regular protein bars weigh 2.12 ounces while the chewy bars weigh 1.41 ounces. This means that the regular protein bars are 50% larger than the chewy protein bars.
Even though the two types of protein bars are just about calorically equivalent, you will get more to eat with the regular bar. The larger portion size will lead to a better feeling of fullness.
Price of Kirkland Protein Bars at Costco
You can buy the twenty count variety pack of regular Kirkland protein bars for $19.99. This works out to a cost per bar of $1.00 and a cost per ounce of $0.47.
You can buy the 42 count pack of Chewy Kirkland protein bars for $14.99. This works out to a cost per bar of $0.357 and a cost per ounce of $0.25.
You can break this down further and look at the price on a per gram of protein basis as that is the most important part of a protein bar 🙂
On a per gram of protein basis you find:
- Regular Kirkland Protein Bar: ($1.00/21g Protein) = $0.047 per gram of protein
- Chewy Kirkland Protein Bar: ($0.357/10g Protein) = $0.036 per gram of protein
Overall you get a better bang for your buck with the Chewy Protein bars.
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