It’s no secret that I’m a fan of ONE brand protein bars. In fact, I’ve ranked every single one of their flavors and it remains one of the most popular posts on this site getting new visitors nearly every day. The company is known for delivering bars with 20 grams of protein, decent fiber, and only one gram of sugar, but they have a major drawback – sugar alcohols. ONE recently rolled back the amount of sugar alcohols in their bars by roughly half, but they’re taking the natural angle to a whole new level with a fresh line of Basix Bars naturally sweetened with stevia and overall simpler ingredients. The roll out comes in three very standard options for those familiar with protein bars – Triple Chocolate Chunk, Cookie Dough Chocolate Chunk, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk.

Well, let’s just get this out of the way – these bars are not good. And someone should have warned the folks at ONE PR that being called “basic” in 2018 is usually not a compliment. They’re inferior in texture, flavor, and overall enjoyment when compared to the regular line, and not something I would recommend unless you have a serious issue with sugar alcohols or something else in ONE’s original formula. That being said, if you are interested in trying these, here’s my ranking from best to worst.

Cookie Dough Chocolate Chunk

Yes, this is a flavor we’ve seen done a million times, and yes, this is an inferior version than those by Quest, Combat Crunch, Fit Crunch, etc. but it is still the winner in this natural series. The best part about this bar, and all of these bars actually, are the chocolate chunks, which have a nice soft melty texture and sweet chocolate flavor that really stands out. Unfortunately what surrounds the rest of it is pretty mediocre. The base on this one is soft and has a nice golden brown sugar flavor to it, but suffers from a grainy finish and stevia tang.

Rating: 5.5/10

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk

I’ve noted before I’m pretty harsh on peanut butter protein products and I’m not going to be holding back here. This one is very similar to cookie dough in that it has great chunks of chocolate and a soft but grainy texture. Where it differs is instead of having a nice golden brown sugar flavor it has a very odd semi-peanut presence that doesn’t taste like the usual fake PB protein bar BS but also is far from a true peanut flavor. It’s weird. And not very good. ONE’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie is one of my favorites from them and this one is so far back from that bar’s success that I would never reach for it again.

Rating: 4/10

Triple Chocolate Chunk

I don’t know what the hell happened with this bar. I was expecting it to be the best of the bunch with the least room for error but it turned out the total opposite. This one was much harder than the others, with a firm unpleasant bite that was actually work to get through. The bad texture is followed by an incredibly generic and lackluster chocolate flavor that’s just downright bad, like a diet stale Tootsie Roll. ONE never did chocolate flavors as good as my favorites from them like Cinnamon Roll or Birthday Cake, so I guess it should come as no surprise that their chocolate bar from their lesser line is equally passable. No melty chocolate chunk reprieve here either, they’re there but hard and dry – pure cocoa disappointment.

Rating: 3/10

All three of these bars can be found at GNC for $2.49, although I don’t recommend you seek them out. They carry very similar macros to the regular ONE bar at 210 calories with 8g fat, 24g carbs, and 20g protein (with 9g of fiber to boot!). Much like ONE’s standard line the nutrients are super on point, but here, the flavor falters, and there are much better ways to spend your money and calories.