Santa Barbara Bars Review!

Santa barbara Bars

Today, I am sharing a great product that I have been lucky enough to try! I am always on the hunt for new protein bars to try that are gluten free and made with healthy ingredients. Santabarbara bars fit this category and are so much more! I love their use of super foods in their bars and the high quality ingredients. They have three amazing flavors- Peanut chocolate cherry, Coconut almond, and white chocolate cranberry.

A little bit more about the company: Santa Barbara bars come from a company that puts emphasis on using the finest natural ingredients. They refuse to unnatural dough enhancers or chemical stabilizers in their products. (I love this!) They have owned a wholesale bakery in Santa Barbara for over 20 years! Their goal is to provide bars with nutritional benefits and a healthy taste. All three flavors are nut, seed, and fruit based.  These bars do not contain any soy protein, refined sugars, gluten, or other weird chemicals.

Don’t believe me?? Check out the ingredients and nutritional info below.

This info is for the coconut almond bar. The other two bars have very similar nutritional profiles with similar amounts of protein, calories, fat, and carbs.

Ingredients

Almonds, brown rice syrup, whey crisps (whey protein concentrate, rice flour), gluten free oats, raisins, pumpkin seeds, coconut, dates, brown rice syrup solids, chicory fiber, chia seeds, cashews, organic agave syrup, natural flavors, sunflower lecithin, oat flour, sea salt. Contains milk, almonds, cashews, and coconut.

Now these are ingredients that I can feel good about! Many bars these days have lots of ingredients and added sugar, but not these ones!

The first bar that I tried was the peanut chocolate cherry (while studying of course). Boy, this one did not disappoint! It was perfectly chewy and had a great texture. I’m sure many of my readers have tried a peanut butter chocolate flavored bar, but have you ever tried one with cherry added?? I think it gives it a little something extra. The peanut butter taste was on point and I loved the mini chocolate chips and dried cherries.

Here is an up close image of the bar! I love how you can see the chia seeds and oats. These bars have so much more texture than most bars I’ve tried. They were soft, yet chewy at the same time.

The next bar I tried was the coconut almond. This one way definitely my favorite as I am a coconut lover. Being introduced to coconut oil about 2 years ago changed my life. Seriously. This bar is tastier than any coconut flavored bar that I have ever had. I also brought this flavor home to my mom (another self-proclaimed coconut lover) over the weekend to try and she loved it as well.

How delicious does this one look?? This one was the softest out of all of the bars, yet it was still firm and chewy. You can see the chia seeds, oats, and nuts used in this bar too! I love that! I could rave on and on about how great these bars were. I will definitely be purchasing more! I’m bummed there isn’t a store closer to me that sells them. I will have to settle for online ordering.

The final flavor I tried was cranberry white chocolate. Another delicious flavor! I love the addition of pumpkin seeds in this bar. The white chocolate flavor was very subtle, which I liked. I am not a fan of when the added chocolate flavor takes over a bar. The cranberries were well incorporated and spread out evenly- also another plus!

Here is an up close view of the bar! You can clearly see all of the fruit, nuts, and seeds.

Overall, these bars impressed me. I often do not find many gluten free bars that I really enjoy. My favorite flavors in order were coconut almond > white chocolate cranberry> peanut chocolate cherry. I encourage you all to try these- you will not be disappointed! You can order online from their website www.sbbar.co or search their locations to find them in a store near you! I also saw on their website that they are having a sale right now with 20% off your order until April 1st with the code SPRING2015.

What are you still doing here??? Go order these bars! Pronto!

Let me know in the comments:

Have you every tried these before? What is your favorite type of bar?