Nature Valley Protein Chewy Bar (Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate): Nutrition & Labelgrade B- (71/100)

The short answer

The Nature Valley Protein Chewy Bar in Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate delivers 10g of protein for 190 calories per bar (USDA FDC 1636005) — a familiar, grab-it-at-any-grocery-store protein snack rather than a maximal-protein pick. It earns a B- (71/100): the protein density is genuinely strong, but a long ingredient list, 3.5g of saturated fat, and 180mg of sodium keep it in the middle of the pack. If your goal is the most protein per bar, dedicated bars beat it handily. If your goal is a tasty, cheap, everywhere-available bar with some protein, this is squarely it.

Why the B-

The honest story this table tells: the A- protein density is doing the heavy lifting, and almost everything else drags. The score isn’t low because the bar is bad — it’s because the formula is a granola-bar base with protein added, not a protein product engineered from the ground up. The saturated fat and sodium “D” grades come from the vegetable-oil blend (palm kernel and palm oil lead it) and the salt that makes a sweet bar taste balanced.

The 10g problem

This is the number that matters most, so be clear-eyed about it. At 10g, this bar sits at the bottom of the protein-bar shelf. Quest, Barebells, and Pure Protein routinely deliver 19–21g in a bar of similar size and calories. To match the protein in two Quest bars, you’d eat four of these and rack up ~760 calories and ~720mg of sodium doing it.

So the protein label is accurate but easy to over-read. The 25g-per-100g figure looks elite, but the bar only weighs 40g, so the absolute dose is modest. Think of it as a granola bar that happens to carry double the protein of a plain one — useful, but not a meal-replacement-grade protein hit.

What it’s genuinely good at

Nature Valley’s real edge isn’t the protein number — it’s everything around it:

• Availability. This is on the shelf at every grocery store, gas station, and big-box in the country. A Barebells bar usually isn’t. When the choice is this bar or no bar, this bar wins.
• It eats like food, not like supplement. Roasted peanuts are the first ingredient, and the sweetness comes from real sugar and corn syrup rather than the cooling, sometimes-laxative sugar alcohols in low-sugar bars. For a lot of people that’s a more pleasant, less “diet-y” texture and taste.
• Price. It’s typically a fraction of the per-bar cost of a dedicated protein bar — often half or less. For a casual 10g top-up, you’re not paying premium-bar money.
• 5g of fiber. Mostly from chicory root inulin, but it’s still 18% of the Daily Value in a snack bar — more than most candy-adjacent options. The caveat: inulin gives some people gas and bloating, so it’s not free.

The trade-off is the one the grade names: a 23-ingredient list with two added sugars (sugar and corn syrup), fructose, a palm-oil blend, and added salt. It’s not a clean-label bar, and it doesn’t pretend to be.

Who it’s for

Reach for this if you want a familiar, cheap, easy-to-find bar that quietly adds 10g of protein to a snack you’d enjoy anyway — a desk drawer, gym bag, or kid’s lunchbox bar. Skip it if you’re counting on a bar to do real protein work (post-workout recovery, hitting a daily target): a 20g dedicated bar gets you there in one wrapper instead of two, with less sugar and sodium per gram of protein.

Ingredients

Roasted peanuts and soy protein isolate lead, with chicory root extract (the inulin fiber), semisweet chocolate chips, and a vegetable-oil blend (palm kernel, palm, canola, peanut). Sweetened with sugar, corn syrup, and fructose; whey protein concentrate, peanut butter, cocoa, vegetable glycerin, rice and corn starch, soy lecithin, salt, and natural flavor round it out. (Verbatim from the USDA Branded Foods entry, FDC 1636005, below.)

ROASTED PEANUTS, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, CHICORY ROOT EXTRACT, SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, COCOA BUTTER, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL FLAVOR) VEGETABLE OILS (PALM KERNEL, PALM, CANOLA, PEANUT), SUGAR. CORN SYRUP, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, FRUCTOSE, PEANUT BUTTER (PEANUTS, SALT), COCOA, VEGETABLE GLYCERIN, RICE STARCH, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, CORN STARCH, NATURAL FLAVOR.

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Scope: This page applies specifically to Nature Valley, Protein Chewy Bars, Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate · UPC 016000457232. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.