6 Snack Bars With High Protein and Fiber, Dietitian-Approved (2024 Update)

Written By: Gloria Tsang, RD

Title: Founding Registered Dietitian

Alumni: University of British Columbia

Last Updated on:

Take a walk down the snack aisle at your local grocery store (or online grocery shopping sites), you’ll see a wide selection of snack bars. Many of them have eye-catching labels shouting “all-natural” or “plant-based”, often with attractive pictures of fruits and nuts on the packaging. On the other hand, protein bars are now widely available; however, they are often formulated as a meal-replacement. Sometimes, we just need an in-between meal, grab’n go snack, not a meal. Hence, we set out to review a selection of snack bars that are out on the market, and we share our findings below.

What Makes a Good Snack Bar, Nutritionally?

To make the list, a snack bar provides:

  • Calories: no more than 200 kcal
  • Fiber: 3 g or more
  • Protein: 5 g or more

We also ruled out any snack bars that had sugar as the first ingredient, and picked those without artificial sweeteners.

6 Healthy Snacks that Raise the Bar

KIND Nut Bars

KIND Bars - Healthy Snacks with high protein and fiber

Take this Caramel Almond & Sea Salt bar as an example. Almonds being the first ingredient, this nut bar provides 6 g of protein and 7 g of dietary fiber, at 170 calories.

Bob’s Red Mill Granola Bars

Bob's Red Mill Granola Bars with high protein and fiber

A brand specializing in oatmeal, it’s exciting to learn that Bob’s Red Mill also has a line of granola bars. This particular peanut-butter coconut granola bar has peanuts as the first ingredient, followed by whole grain oats. Each bar provides 190 calories with 6 g of protein and 3 g of fiber.

NuGo Slim Bars

NuGo Slim Vegan Bars with high protein and fiber

This vegan bar is indeed formulated as a protein bar, providing 16 g of protein and 6 g of fiber per serving. Surprisingly, it manages to keep it at 180 calories. It has been added with inulin as the fiber source.

Simply Protein Snack Bars

Simply Protein snack bars with high protein and fiber

Also formulated as a protein bar, this snack bar provides 12 g of protein and 7 g of fiber. It has also been added with chicory root inulin fiber.

88 Acres Seed + Oat Bars

88 Acres Seed and Oat Bars with high protein and fiber

The protein source of this seed & oat bar came straightly from a combination of seeds, including pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and flax seeds, not from any protein isolate. Each bar provides 200 calories, 6 g of protein and 3 g of fiber.

Luna Bars by CLIFF

Luna bar by Cliff with high protein and fiber

Choosing relatively higher protein flour as the base (such as oat flour and soy flour), this Luna bar provides 190 calories, 8 g of protein and 3 g of fiber. We did find more sweeteners in this lemon zest-flavored bar, hence it may not be appropriate with people with diabetes.

The Bottom Line

Snack bars are not health foods. Do not let snack bars replace the fresh fruits and vegetables, or whole nuts and seeds in your daily diet. Did you come across any snack bars that fit this nutritional profile? Please comment below and let us know.

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1 thought on “6 Snack Bars With High Protein and Fiber, Dietitian-Approved (2024 Update)”

  1. I rarely take snack bar as I find they have sugar like 7-10gm. It’s also hard to find whole grain bread or pasta, etc. These days I don’t even use sugar in seasoning.

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