Exclusives Reviews
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
ByNikelle Murphy
MrBeast, famous for his absurdly popular YouTube antics and contests — including the wildly expensive "Squid Game" recreation video that netted one fan $456,000 — doesn't just make his money from ad revenue and subscribers anymore. The online personality, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has expanded his empire over the years to include lucrative sponsorship deals, merchandise, and food brands.
Some of those merchandising opportunities have gone better than others. He's known to bring in millions of dollars each month from his clothing line, for example. Other ventures like MrBeast Burger were well received by fans at first, but fizzled when customer reviews turned lackluster in mid-2023. MrBeast and the company delivering the burgers have traded lawsuits since that time. In a now-deleted Tweet from June 2023, Donaldson said he would focus instead on other product creations. That includes his line of MrBeast-branded Feastables snacks, best known for its array of chocolate bars. (They're also why MrBeast recreated Willy Wonka's chocolate factoryin 2022.)
In February 2024, MrBeast unveiled a new recipe for his chocolate bars, boasting a "sweeter and creamier taste" than its predecessors. The variety count also jumped from five bars to seven, and made a more clear divide between its dark and milk chocolate offerings. I tend to be skeptical of celebrity food products but I love chocolate, so I tried all seven bars to see which were the best — and if they were worth purchasing at all. Here they are, ranked from worst to best.
7. Dark Chocolate
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
When I'm purchasing chocolate for myself, it's almost always a dark chocolate variation. So, while I was optimistic about this bar, I'm glad it wasn't the only Feastables chocolate I tried. Had I bought this on its own, I likely wouldn't have bought bars from the brand again.
The dark chocolate bar was very smooth and did indeed have a creamy texture that the Feastables website boasts about. This can be difficult to achieve in dark chocolate since typically these bars have less or zero milkfat. The Feastables version does contain milkfat, however. This might help the creaminess factor, but also detracts from the purest definition of what dark chocolate should be.
It also tasted entirely too sweet to be a dark chocolate bar. I expect dark chocolate to be a tad bitter and not overwhelmingly sugary. This bar was noticeably less sweet than its milk chocolate friends, but still much sweeter than I'd expect from a dark chocolate offering.
The bar's wrapper and the ingredients list don't give an idea of the percentage of cacao in the bar — something you'll find on some high-quality chocolate bars to give an idea of how much unsweetened chocolate is in it, compared to sugar content. When I compared this bar's sugar content to a 72% cacao dark chocolate bar from Ghirardelli, the Feastables option had roughly double the amount of sugar per serving. While this bar tasted good, it wasn't what I expect from a high-quality dark chocolate bar.
6. Peanut Butter Crunch
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
The "crunch" variations of chocolate bars are new to the Feastables line with the rebranding — or at least, we couldn't find any original bars with the puffed rice. While the crunch texture was done well, I didn't think it added much to the peanut butter version. Feastables offers an excellent peanut butter bar (more on that later), but the crunchy texture didn't add much.
It's perhaps odd to note this, but the rice puffs mixed with the peanut butter also made the bar split weirdly. The squares tended to break in half between top and bottom rather than make clean squares when you ate it. It also had an off-putting color when the ingredients were mixed together. These factors didn't detract from the taste, but the rice did take away from the smooth texture you get in the other peanut butter version. In my opinion, it's better to choose a plain crunch or peanut butter option rather than the mash-up.
Also, be careful how you store this. (In fact, this goes for all of these chocolate bars.) The wrapper says to store in a "cool, dry place" — and it means it. This bar was outside to photograph it for 10 minutes on a 78-degree afternoon, and the edges were already melting before it went back inside. My hunch is a lack of additives for preventing melting are to blame. That's overall a good thing, but I found this and other bars melted quickly in the wrapper.
5. Dark Chocolate Sea Salt
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
While the plain dark chocolate bar wasn't my favorite in this lineup of chocolate, I did appreciate the savory and sweet combo that you get from this salted bar. The dark chocolate still comes across as too sweet to be a true "dark" variation for me, but it's balanced much better with the grains of sea salt you taste at the same time.
The salt crystals could hit your teeth a bit weirdly depending on how you bite into it, but I didn't count that against this bar since that can be typical for other salted chocolate bars I've tried. Like the regular dark chocolate bar, this one also contained milkfat, so it's not a true dark chocolate if you're a purist. That said, I ranked it better than the plain version since the flavor was balanced a little bit better.
When it comes to dark chocolate overall, though, I'd probably stick with other favorite brands instead. I was disappointed in that outcome since I prefer dark chocolate, but in my opinion, the milk chocolate bars were formulated much better in this Feastables update. The dark chocolate versions should go back for another attempt to bring out some bitterness and rich flavors that dark chocolate fans love — even if Feastables needs to cut back on the sugar a bit for those.
4. Milk Crunch
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
The second "crunch" variation in the updated Feastables lineup ranked slightly higher than the peanut butter version, because it adds a welcome texture to the plain milk chocolate bar. There are some things the milk bar does very well — more to come on that — but the sweetness can be a bit overwhelming. I thought the puffed rice cut through the sweetness well and added some needed texture to make it worth eating more than a few squares at a time.
The rice puffs added throughout tended to sink to the bottom of the bar a little bit, but the bar isn't thick enough for this to be a problem when you're eating it. The rice was also small enough that it had a welcome presence, without hitting any dry or overly crunchy parts of the bar. It was incorporated within the chocolate very well.
I couldn't help but compare this bar to my memories of a childhood favorite: The original Hershey Crunch bar that's still in distribution. While definitely similar, I thought this version was a higher quality version based on the milk chocolate base the bar was made with. The bar had a smooth, rich chocolate taste that paired well with the crunchy bits inside. If the two were side by side (and my only chocolate options at the moment), I'd reach for the Feastables bar every time.
3. Milk Chocolate
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
Apparently, the Feastables creators felt its fans wanted "sweeter and creamier" chocolate in its new formulation, and the company certainly attempted to deliver that with the milk chocolate bar. The chocolate is indeed incredibly smooth, and incredibly sweet. In fact, the bar became a bit overwhelmingly sweet after a few bites, though I appreciated the velvety texture that can be difficult to achieve in lower-quality bars. It also didn't have any waxy qualities that you can expect with lower tier bars.
I ranked this one toward the top because achieving a rich, smooth milk chocolate with a decent price point can be difficult to do. I also felt the overall taste and texture of the bar warranted spending $2.59 per "king size" bar in my local stores compared to cheaper alternatives ("king size" isn't overly large in this case). Some milk chocolate can give me instant headaches thanks to either lower quality ingredients or additives, and the Feastables version didn't do this at all.
I did appreciate that the quality of this bar — and other Feastables options — was on display in the ingredients list. The milk chocolate bars only contain six ingredients including sugar and whole milk powder, along with cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, and vanilla extract. The funkiest it gets is by adding soy lecithin, a common emulsifier in chocolate known to improve its texture. It doesn't contain the catchall "natural flavors" or polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), another emulsifying additive present in Hershey's milk chocolate bars.
2. Almond
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
While the plain Feastables milk chocolate bar could be overwhelmingly sweet when you ate more than a couple of squares, this almond variation was by far the most balanced of the milk chocolate mix-ins. The tiny almond bits were very small, which meant perfect almond crunchiness throughout. You also don't risk chomping down the wrong way on a whole almond with these bars — a pet peeve of mine with chocolate bars.
The almond pieces permeated the bar so it had a good nutty flavor throughout, even though the pieces were very small. The texture and that almond flavor mixed with the milk chocolate prevented the bar from becoming too overly sweet. You couldn't appreciate the creamy texture of the plain milk chocolate quite as much, but you could still tell the almond pieces were mixed into a silky smooth chocolate base.
The only thing that could potentially improve this bar is adding a touch of sea salt. In my opinion, that would contrast well with the milk chocolate flavor while also adding a little bit more depth of flavor to the almond bits. Overall, though, this was my favorite of the texture variations. If you like nuts mixed into chocolate, this one is worth a try.
1. Peanut Butter
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If you need a rich, indulgent chocolate bar, look no further than this Feastables option. The sweetness could have been overwhelming, since it's the same milk chocolate base, but the sweetness is cut ever so slightly with the smooth peanut butter inside each square. The texture of the entire bar together was like velvet, and the peanut butter flavor added the perfect addition to the milk chocolate taste. Unlike a Reese's cup, this peanut butter mixture didn't taste grainy when eaten at room temperature, and instead was reminiscent of the smooth blend in Gertrude Hawk's peanut butter Smidgens. (Remember those?)
In one Redditpostwhere commenters discussed the updated Feastables chocolate, one person asked if the peanut butter was "still as thin as a credit card." I didn't try the original version to compare, but the bar I sampled had a healthy portion of peanut butter inside each square. In fact, the only aesthetically lackluster note about this bar was that the peanut butter melted into the milk chocolate bottom a bit. This did not detract from the flavor, though, and was a very minor issue.
I love a good peanut butter and chocolate combo, and this bar did not disappoint. The peanut butter wasn't crumbly, and was plentiful enough to offer a flavor contrast with the milk chocolate. Of all the bars I tried, this is the one I'd be tempted to eat in a single sitting and not feel a bit of remorse.
Are Feastables better on s'mores than other chocolate?
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
A key marketing campaign for Feastables bars is using the chocolate for an upgraded s'more. It's promoted heavily on the Feastables website, and MrBeast makes s'mores with the chocolate in some of his videos, too. So, is the chocolate worth the splurge for s'mores?
My husband and I tried the milk chocolate and the peanut butter flavors, and were pleasantly surprised at how delicious the chocolate tasted with graham crackers and toasted marshmallows. Both variations melted easily, and the smooth texture of the chocolate blended well in each bite.
The milk chocolate wasn't as overwhelmingly sweet because of the graham crackers and marshmallows to balance it out. My husband isn't normally a s'mores fan, but said the version with the peanut butter bar was so good he wanted a second. He noted the peanut butter got a tad grainy when melted in the s'more, but not enough that it was an issue overall.
Feastables is up against some stiff competition in the s'mores chocolate market: If I'm buying chocolate for a standard campfire, I buy the pack of Hershey's milk chocolate and call it a day. And since a standard Hershey bar is $1.29 at Walmartcompared to $2.57 for a Feastables bar, I might think twice about spending the extra money. But if I was looking to impress guests with fancy s'mores or if both versions were offered to me, I'd snag a Feastables bar in a heartbeat.
Overall thoughts on Feastables' new chocolate recipe
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
I did not try the original Feastables chocolate from MrBeast, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good most of these new and improved bars tasted. As I mentioned before, I'd leave the dark chocolate variations on the shelf, but would be happy to eat most of the milk chocolate versions again.
MrBeast has marketed these bars as a high-end chocolate option, and I thought the price point at $2.57 or $2.59 (in my local Walmart and Target, respectively) was fair for the quality that I could taste. I thought the quality was noticeably higher than some run-of-the-mill chocolates, but I did notice that in the reformulation process, some marketing that MrBeast previously used for the chocolates disappeared.
On thelabels and ingredient lists of some bars in the previous formula, the bars boasted a slim number of ingredients (often five or less). Most new bars now contain six or more, with additions like the soy lecithin mentioned previously. This likely helps achieve that "creamier" texture the website boasts about. And while it's common in chocolate, you'd have to decide for yourself if the addition is okay with you. The milk is also no longer labeled as grass-fed, and the ingredients are no longer officially listed as organic. My hunch is that these changes won't matter much to most MrBeast fans, but it might be seen as a slight deviation from the level of quality ingredients.
Methodology
Nikelle Murphy / Mashed
I purchased each of the seven Feastables chocolate bars from local retailers including Walmart and Target. Prices might vary by location, but the bars are sold in a number of other stores including Kroger, Albertsons, Sam's Club, and 7-Eleven. I tried squares of each bar and ranked them according to flavor and texture.
For the s'mores testing, we tried two flavors that were smooth in texture, since textured chocolates aren't often used in the campfire dessert. We allowed the marshmallow to melt the chocolate for a few minutes before trying them to see how well the chocolate would incorporate with the overall flavor and texture of the treat.
In the rankings, I attempted to evaluate whether the bars were sweet and creamy — both attributes the Feastables website promoted heavily for its fans. (Ostensibly, these were complaints about the previous bars that the company wanted to improve upon.) Many achieved that goal, though some might have tipped the scales in the other direction now.
In terms of determining quality, I tasted the bars to see if any of them had a waxy taste or mouthfeel (they didn't), and evaluated the ingredients in each one for how they compared to common competitors. I especially looked to see if the bars contained any additives or any notable nutrition information — such as the high sugar content in the dark chocolate bars. If those were present, they are noted in the individual rankings.