This may sound like a weird suggestion for someone who eats very little meat but my (athlete) daughter is in that category and she will eat beef jerky and pepperoni. She also eats tons of nuts. Doesn't like any protein bars but will tolerate some protein shakes.

RX bars are chewy but the ingredients are good and they taste good.

Oh, and yeah, the Gatorade, Kind, Clif/Builders bars all suck. Gritty, overflavored, and worst of all, high sugar content.

Anonymous wrote:DD, 12, plays multiple sports and trains about 5 days a week. She is not much of a meat eater and we've been struggling to make sure she gets adequate protein. We've tried a few protein bars but they were very processed and most tasted chalky.
Any recommendations for protein bars with clean ingredients that your tween/teen likes?
TIA

Pure Protein brand bars are great. 21g of protein in a tasty, mild bar (I get the chocolate flavor). Only 180 calories, only 2g of added sugar. They are the gold standard in my opinion. Also consider shakes by Driven Nutrition. I get the vegan chocolate. Again, mild flavor. You're looking for high protein to calorie ratio, minimal added sugars.

Everybody saying she's getting enough protein from an ordinary diet is full of it. Shoot for 1g of protein per pound of body mass per day. I weigh 165lb (male), so I shoot for 165g of protein. That is very difficult to do without protein bars and shakes.

Higher protein aids in muscle building but also, very importantly, in recovery. Ignoring protein needs is a fast track to injury.

Anonymous wrote:I have read that barely no one in America needs to worry about protein intake and that we are all getting more than enough.

That said - I think my husband has bought our high schooler some protein bars to have a snack before after school practice. I don’t think he thinks too hard about it. I would just take her to the grocery store and let her try some she’s interested in. I think Larabars are minimally processed. Not totally sure if those are considered protein bars but they contain nuts so I would think that should be good enough for your purposes.

This poster raises an important point.

Protein needs depend a LOT on the specific activities that someone does, and the need for protein supplementation well depend on that plus their regular diet. No one who doesn’t know these things about your kid can advise you, so I’d ignore the people trying to tell you that you don’t need to supplement. You may not need to or you may - it really depends.

Most people on this forum (relatively sedentary adult omnivores) definitely don’t need to supplement protein. Powerlifters or very long distance runners who don’t eat animal protein almost certainly do. It really depends.

My kids like these.

https://a.co/d/6owKZad

Clif kids

Gatorade has a 20g protein bar

She also needs to make sure there is fat in her diet. Fat protects muscles and ligaments from injury,

We put butter in pasta and sauce.

Also milkshakes with protein powder.

Bean burritos with cheese and a.cream.

Scrambled eggs with cheese.

Cottage cheese

Peanut butter..

My kid likes the drinks better than the bars. Maybe try those? Muscle Milk, etc

Kind bars
Protein ones

I have read that barely no one in America needs to worry about protein intake and that we are all getting more than enough.

That said - I think my husband has bought our high schooler some protein bars to have a snack before after school practice. I don’t think he thinks too hard about it. I would just take her to the grocery store and let her try some she’s interested in. I think Larabars are minimally processed. Not totally sure if those are considered protein bars but they contain nuts so I would think that should be good enough for your purposes.

Hard boiled eggs? Greek yogurt? Nuts?

Protein bars are so gross, my kids have hated all the ones they've try.

Does she like string cheese? 8 g of protein per serving.

Just feed her food with more protein.

DD, 12, plays multiple sports and trains about 5 days a week. She is not much of a meat eater and we've been struggling to make sure she gets adequate protein. We've tried a few protein bars but they were very processed and most tasted chalky.
Any recommendations for protein bars with clean ingredients that your tween/teen likes?
TIA