One of my favorite combinations of flavors are dark chocolate and mint. I always liked the taste and smell of mint, but it wasn’t until I was well into my twenties or so that I developed a liking for dark chocolate. When I saw this NuGo Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Protein bar as I was shopping at my local grocery store, I decided I had to pick one up.

NuGo Nutrition is a company out of Oakmont, PA. They have numerous types of protein and energy products, and I am planning on reviewing as many of them as I can find. This bar is gluten free, vegan and kosher. Before I get into the tasting, lets check out what is in the bar.

List Of Ingredients

Dark Chocolate (Unsweetened Chocolate, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter), Soy Crisp (Soy Protein, Tapioca Starch, Salt), Tapioca Syrup, Agave Syrup, Chocolate Rice Crisp (Rice Flour, Cane Sugar, Alkalized Cocoa, Salt), Isolated Soy Protein, Alkalized Cocoa, Natural Flavors, Acacia Gum, Peppermint Extract, Soy Lecithin.

This protein bar is made with soy protein, so keep that in mind if this is an issue for you. The ingredients list here is not overly long or full of unpronounceable stuff, but this bar does seem to have quite a bit of sugar in it.

Important Nutrition Facts

Serving Size – 1 Bar, Calories 200, Calories from fat 45, Total Fat 5g, Saturated Fat 3g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 160mg, Total Carbohydrate 29g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 14g, Protein 10g.

This bar is high in carbs and has 14g of sugar, but no sugar alcohol is listed which is a good thing. Protein is middle of the road at 10g, and has only one gram of fiber. So, in my opinion, this basically a nutritious candy bar. Let’s see how it tastes.

My Honest Review

When first opening the package, I got an immediate smell of mint, it wasn’t overly powerful, but it was noticeable. The bar looked a bit dry, but as I took a bite, it was not as dry as it looked. I was definitely not moist, like many of the bars I’ve tried.

It had a solid chocolate casing around the bar that looked like milk chocolate to me, but the inside has a dark, crunchy texture to it. I think it is safe to say that the inside of the bar has the consistency of chocolate rice crispies, and the bar as a whole reminds me of a minty rice crispy treat.

It doesn’t taste like a protein bar at all to me, just a mild, mint chocolate crunchy rice crispy bar. I was a bit surprised at how much it tasted like a regular candy bar. It was quite tasty, though nothing overly special. It serves its purpose of providing 10g of soy protein in a tasty, in between meal snack.

It is certainly not a meal replacement bar, and I am not so sure what it would do as far as building muscle goes. I would definitely grab one during the day if hunger struck, with a bottle of water or even a glass of milk. This bar would taste really good with a nice cold glass of milk.

I would definitely recommend a try, but don’t expect to be overwhelmed, it tastes good. But not out of this world good, like the Robert Irvine’s FITCRUNCH bar. I will review more NuGo products in the future, its a nice tasting protein bar.