Protein Sweet Roll is the latest innovation from Legendary Foods, the functional food company that brought you the always-enjoyable, protein-packed toaster pastry, Tasty Pastry. The still very new product aims to replicate the classic sweet roll experience but in the form of a convenient, on-the-go snack that’s much higher in protein, low in sugar, and impressive in calories.
On paper, everything in Legendary Foods’ Protein Sweet Roll checks out, as the nutrition profile of any of the flavors is on par with your typical protein bar in protein to calorie ratio. The better-for-you sweet roll comes with a solid 20g of protein, 8 to 12g of fat, 22 to 24g of carbohydrates, a gram or less of that sugar, and only 4 to 6g of net carbs, with a respectable calorie range of 190 to 220.
Review
We recently went into our local Vitamin Shoppe and grabbed what flavors it had in stock of the Legendary Foods Protein Sweet Roll, which was Chocolate and Wild Berry, with Cinnamon the one missing. Being big fans of functional foods, we’ve been eager to try these as soon as they were announced, and we can now confirm they deliver as well as the Tasty Pastry versus a traditional toaster pastry.
The first thing you’ll notice when you rip open a Protein Sweet Roll is they don’t look quite as clean and delicious as they do in marketing material. The glaze across the top covers any of the natural swirl in the bun, giving it an appearance closer to a cake. Either way, once you bite in, you’ll forgive the presentation, as it is more enjoyable than about 95% of the products packing 20g of protein and 200 calories.
While the initial bite into the Protein Sweet Roll isn’t as forgiving as the sweet rolls you may have had in the past, once you push past that thin surrounding, the inside is incredibly soft and smooth. Better yet, as you chew and take more bites, you quickly learn it behaves like a typical bun, too. Rather than a dense protein snack, where it builds and becomes a workout to eat, the process of eating and finishing a Protein Sweet Roll is very much like an everyday piece of bread or bun.
Basically, Legendary Foods nails the consistency of the Protein Sweet Roll, then you have the flavor, which isn’t knocked out of the park as much but is present enough to complement the experience. The glaze and roll filling adds a fair amount of flavor to the experience, as it’s there and can be picked up on, especially the berry sweetness of Wild Berry; however, it could do with more to balance out the fluffy bun body.
Summary
The Protein Sweet Roll doesn’t taste as smooth and sweet as an actual classic sweet roll, although when you take into consideration that it has more than five times the protein and about an eighth or ninth the net carbohydrates, it moves into the realm of extremely impressive. With only a gram or less of sugar, Legendary Foods wasn’t going to be able to completely replicate a sugary sweetness but again, it nailed the consistency and did an incredible job overall.
