How much protein is in a cricket? The answer, it turns out, is a lot.
Well, maybe not a lot in each cricket (only .025 - .1 grams per cricket, in case you were wondering). But by weight, they have more protein than any other common source. And, it seems, that cricket protein is very environmentally friendly as well.
That's enough to get my attention.
I’m by no means a vegetarian, but I’m not exactly a fan of the current state of the meat industry. I’m always looking for ways to consume more sustainable food products, and crickets, while unconventional, seem like a really… interesting way to do that. I was skeptical at first, but aside from the weird factor I’ve actually come to be pretty excited about it.
In this post I’m going to break down cricket protein and review the bar that introduced me to the concept: Exo Cricket Protein Bars. Read on for the details, or skip to the bar review here.
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Cricket Protein Explained
To start off I’d like to point out that for a good chunk of the world, eating insects is nothing new. We in the United States have a bit of a phobia about it, but people have been thriving on insects for thousands of years. Not to mention the fact that insects are arthropods; the same phylum which crabs, lobsters, and shrimp belong to. And we relish the opportunity to eat those.
So even though it seems weird, it’s really only natural that we eat crickets. And it’s even more natural because crickets have a ton of benefits.
Health Benefits
First, the health benefits. Crickets are no magic bullet, but in many ways they’re on par with or better than more common animal protein sources (such as beef, chicken, eggs, and milk). They have very high levels of vitamin B12 (an essential vitamin, and one that we can only get from animal products), as well as zinc (good for immune function), biotin, and riboflavin.
They also contain a high amount of mono and poly-unsaturated fat (the healthy kinds found in avocados, olive oil, and salmon). Crickets are particularly high in Omega-3’s, which are noticeably anti-inflammatory and essential for brain function.
Environmental Benefits
Next the environmental benefits. Without getting too far into the weeds with statistics (you can read a full life-cycle assessment study here), crickets as food are more resource efficient than conventional meats in just about every way.
They’re about 8 times more efficient than beef in terms of the amount of feed required to produce them. Cricket production also emits 75% less CO2 and uses 50% less water. (Note on data: Estimates vary by study and source, but in my research I found that the numbers presented in the study above were roughly representative of the larger body of data).
In a time when we’re spending a lot of time and money looking for solutions to animal agriculture (lab-grown meat anyone?), it’s surprising to me that crickets don’t get more attention.
Exo Cricket Protein Bar Review
That brings me to the Exo Cricket Protein Bar review. Exo is a company that’s attempting to bring cricket protein to the mainstream. They offer cricket protein powder (which apparently tastes kind of like cocoa malt) and a big variety of bars. I ordered their sample pack, which contains 3 flavors: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
Taste Test
First what’s most important; do they taste any good?
I tried all three flavors and I can say with confidence that they’re surprisingly awesome. I actually gave them to my brother, (with his consent to eat something “weird”) and he said that they were some of the better protein bars he’d tried. He had no idea they were crickets.
They have a slightly chewy, cookie-dough like consistency, and aren’t too sweet (a good thing in my book). They have chocolate chips, so you get that granola bar texture, and there are no weird flavors that I noticed.
I ranked my favorite protein bars here, and the Exo Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough came in at number 2 on my list. Not quite the best thing I’ve ever tried, but all three flavors are great and plenty good enough to make it into my backpack on any given day. And most importantly, you’d never know they were made of crickets.
Nutrition Breakdown
Now for the nutrition, which is only a little less important. Nutritionally they’re basically on par with RXBar, which are widely considered to be some of the healthiest on the market. The exact nutrition depends on the bar, but here’s how Exo Chocolate Fudge Brownie stacks up against RXBar Chocolate Sea Salt.
| Exo Chocolate Fudge Brownie | RX Bar Chocolate Sea Salt | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 210 | 210 |
| Fat | 9g (2g saturated) | 8g (2g saturated) |
| Sodium | 210mg | 240mg |
| Carbs | 26g | 24g |
| Sugar | 7g (7g added sugar) | 13g (0g added) |
| Fiber | 16g | 5g |
| Protein | 16g | 12g |
| Other | 50% of the RDA in B12, 25% of RDA in Iron | 10% of RDA in Potassium |
As you can see, the numbers are pretty comparable. The Exo bars have slightly more carbohydrates, but half the sugar. Granted, it’s added sugar (RXBar is sweetened with dates), but when it comes to sugar the source isn’t nearly as important as the quantity.
And to make the sugar situation even better, the Exo bars have 16 grams of fiber (even Fiber One bars only have 9 grams). That extra fiber slows the rate of sugar absorption into the bloodstream, so the impact of the sugar that is there is reduced. These really have about the best carbohydrate profile of any bar I’ve seen.
As advertised, these bars also have a ton of protein. 16 grams of protein is more than any other regular protein bar I could find (Clif “Builder” Bars, designed specifically for muscle building, have 20g). And the important thing is that the protein in an Exo Bar has a complete amino acid profile, since it comes from an “animal” source. That’s another big win in the protein department.
Cons
The only issue for me really is the inclusion of “natural flavors.” Natural flavors can be a very wide variety of things (many not exactly ‘natural’) and they aren’t something I like to consume if I can avoid it. This is really more of a deeper issue with our food classifications than anything, but that’s a topic for another day. All that said, RXBar does the same thing, and it’s not going to stop me from eating either of them.
Then, of course, there's the price. Right now on Amazon you can get a 12 pack of any flavor for $27.95 USD, which comes out to $2.33 per bar. That's definitely on the high side in general, but when compared to other high quality protein bars it's not all that much more. for reference, a 12-pack of RXBar is $18.89 on Amazon Right now, which is $1.57 per bar.
Recommendation
Overall I think Exo Bars are awesome. They taste great, have a phenomenal nutrition profile (for a protein bar), and are much more environmentally friendly than other animal protein sources. If you can get over the weirdness of eating crickets, I’d definitely recommend giving them a try.
