7 Best Granola Bars of 2023 [Tested and Reviewed]

KIND's Dark Chocolate Chunk granola bar contains 19 grams of oats and other whole grains, plus it's gluten-free. It includes chocolate chips, honey, and other flavors. This bar scored high on flavor, with testers saying things like "It's not too sweet, and the chocolate tastes natural and not processed." It has a solid, robust texture, but is still satisfyingly chewy.

As for sugar content, the Dark Chocolate Chunk bar contains less than half the recommended intake of sugar for a single meal. Even if you're on a diet, you could eat one a day without feeling like you've cheated. But we were underwhelmed with the amount of fiber and protein, which affect how long it will keep you full. With two grams of fiber and three grams of protein, this granola bar only contains around one quarter of the nutrition recommended for a single meal, meaning you'll be left feeling hungry if you tried to eat one for breakfast.

With its low sugar content and savory flavor, this one is a great choice for a snack to tide you over in between meals. It tends to break apart easily, so you might want to consider breaking it into pieces and eating it with yogurt. It gets our top recommendation for people who need a quick, healthy snack.

The Cinnamon Maple granola bar by 88 Acres uses oats as its main ingredient and tosses in things like pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. This bar received good to average scores on flavor, with testers noting, "It's not quite sweet enough, so it was hard to finish." The seeds give it its own unique texture, and you'll probably notice a distinct chewiness.

On the plus side, the Cinnamon Maple granola bar is low in sugar. One bar contains less than half of the sugar you should get in a meal, so you can eat one on a diet without regretting it later. In the category of fiber and protein content, we found that this bar has a respectable amount of protein in particular. While not high in fiber, it does contain seven grams of protein, which is about half of the recommended amount for a single meal. It won't necessarily replace a meal, but it should keep you satisfied for a few hours.

With its subtle sweetness and chewy texture, we recommend this granola bar for people who want to stick to a diet plan and don't mind exercising some willpower. And at 45 grams, it was also the biggest of all the bars we tried.

If you get tired of one flavor easily, you'll enjoy Quaker's Chewy Granola bars, which come in five flavors, like chocolate chip or peanut butter. Our testers loved these bars, with one reporting, "They're probably too sweet to eat for breakfast, but they're perfect for a dessert." The crunchy and chewy texture should be pleasing for most palates. But even as sweet as they are, these granola bars still scored well on sugar content. Since one single bar is relatively small, the amount of sugar per serving is low, so they're a great replacement for other types of sweets.

On the downside, they don't have the fiber or protein content needed to keep you full for long. One bar only contains one gram each of fiber and protein, and eating one doesn't give any noticeable sensation of fullness. With each bar being only 24 grams, it's not something you could eat in place of a meal. These are the perfect granola bars to keep on hand for when you feel a bit hungry between meals. And with the variety of flavors, hopefully you won't get tired of any particular one.

As you could guess from the name, Happy Belly's Sweet & Salty Peanut Granola Bars use peanuts as their main ingredient, and have a yogurt-flavored coating. Some of our testers said, "The sweet and salty flavor had me hooked," and they received generally high scores for taste. The combination of crunchy peanuts and chewy peanut butter was also a hit with our testers.

But that delicious flavor comes with the cost of sugar content. These bars contain high levels of both butter and sugar, with one containing more or less a full meal's worth of sugar. For people who are just looking for something that tastes good and aren't particularly concerned with the health benefits, these are acceptable, though. Along with being high in sugar, these granola bars don't come packed with much fiber or protein, either. One bar contains one gram of fiber and four grams of protein, which is only around a quarter of the recommended nutrients for a single meal, so you'll probably be left wanting more if you tried to use one as a replacement for breakfast.

While some people will be put off by the sugar content, these bars did place second in our tests on taste. If you know you have a tendency to eat a lot of sweets, try having one of these instead next time.

Next, we looked at Nature Valley's Sweet & Salty Nut granola bar, which is made from oats and also contains roast cashews and butter. This bar scored around the middle range for flavor, with our testers saying, "I like the sweet flavor, but it's a bit too salty." The solid texture makes it satisfying to bite into, but the strong salt flavor is a distraction.

Thankfully, the sugar content is respectably low. One bar only contains about half of the sugar you should be taking in for a single meal, which dieters will be happy to hear. In contrast, it doesn't deliver on fiber or protein content. Each bar only has one gram of fiber and two grams of protein, so don't expect one to be very filling. If you like the crunchy texture of nuts and don't mind a bit of salt, the Sweet & Salty Nut granola bars should do the trick. Since they aren't very filling, you should think of them as a replacement for other snacks.

People with a gluten-free diet should put Made Good's Chocolate Chip Granola Bars on their radar. They keep a relatively simple list of ingredients, with chocolate chips and agave syrup used for sweetening. These granola bars didn't score extremely high on taste, and some of our testers said, "The flavoring tastes artificial, but the texture is like eating raw oats." With their soft, almost wet texture and grain-like flavor, you probably wouldn't want to eat one every day for a long time.

One good thing we can say about these granola bars is that one only contains about half the recommended amount of sugar for a single meal. So you won't need to hesitate before eating one while on a diet. But on the other hand, they aren't bursting with nutrients. One bar contains just one gram of fiber and two grams of protein, which won't be enough to make you feel full. While these granola bars are low in sugar, they aren't extremely tasty or filling, so it's difficult to recommend them as either a snack or a breakfast food.

Nature Valley's Crunchy Granola Bars are made mainly of whole oats, with honey and a small number of other ingredients. Our testers overall enjoyed the taste of these granola bars, saying, "The natural flavor of honey is just right." The light, crispy texture is like eating a cookie.

It's unfortunate, however, that they have the highest sugar content of all the granola bars we tasted, and you'll max out your allotted sugar for a meal with just one. If you're just looking for a tasty snack as opposed to a dietary supplement, these might be for you. We weren't able to give these granola bars a high score on nutritional content either. Each bar contains 2.7 grams of fiber and 3.6 grams of protein, which is about one third of what you should get for a single meal, so you wouldn't want to use them as a replacement for breakfast or lunch.

For those who enjoy the tried-and-true flavor of Nature Valley or are curious why they're so popular, feel free to give them a try. Just make sure to limit yourself to one a day to avoid getting too much sugar.