Equip
Chocolate
TL:DR
In 2 Sentences
A rare beef‑based protein bar: grass‑fed beef isolate blended with collagen and colostrum, sweetened only with dates and honey—no sugar alcohols, no artificial sweeteners, and no seed oils.
When to choose Equip Chocolate
Best for people who avoid zero‑calorie sweeteners and want a real‑food, chocolatey post‑workout snack; less ideal if you’re minimizing sugar or strictly vegetarian/dairy‑free.
What's in the Equip bar?
Equip’s Chocolate Prime Bar reads like a real-food chocolate treat that happens to carry serious protein.
The 20 grams come from a grass-fed bovine blend—beef protein isolate plus collagen peptides with a touch of bovine colostrum—while the chocolate flavor is built the classic way: unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa nibs, cocoa extract, and cocoa butter.
Dates and honey do the sweetening and binding, which keeps the label familiar but pushes sugars higher than many protein bars. Fat comes from cocoa butter and a bit of grass‑fed tallow—stable, saturated‑leaning fats with no seed oils.
Big picture: a chocolate-forward bar with top-end protein, quick carbs from fruit and honey, and a moderate fat cushion.
- Protein
- 20 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Carbohydrates
- 21 g
- Sugar
- 17 g
- Calories
- 230
Protein
2015HIGHMost of the 20 grams of protein come from a grass‑fed bovine blend: beef protein isolate and collagen peptides, with a small amount of bovine colostrum. That’s a robust protein number, but remember collagen is an incomplete protein, so the muscle-building quality depends on how much of the blend is true meat‑protein versus collagen; if you train hard, pair this with complete proteins elsewhere in your day.
Fat
99MIDFat here is mainly cocoa butter with a bit of grass‑fed beef tallow—no seed oils. Cocoa butter leans stearic and oleic (naturally stable), while tallow is more saturated, yielding a creamy bite and good satiety; if you’re watching saturated fat, tilt the rest of your day toward olive oil, nuts, and fish.
Carbs
2120MIDThe 21 grams of carbs are driven by dates and honey, with small contributions from cocoa ingredients. It’s real‑food sweetness, but mostly simple sugars—expect fast, ready-to-use energy rather than a slow burn, with the dates’ modest fiber softening the spike only a little.
Sugar
174HIGHSugar lands at 17 grams, almost entirely from dates and honey rather than syrups, sugar alcohols, or artificial sweeteners. Honey still counts as added sugar on labels, so expect a distinctly sweet, dessert‑like bar and a noticeable rise in blood sugar for many.
Calories
230210MIDAt 230 calories, energy is fairly evenly split across macros: protein (20g), carbs (21g), and fat (9g) each pull weight. That balance makes the bar filling, though the sugar‑forward carbs mean the energy shows up quickly while protein and fat help it linger.
Vitamins & Minerals
Iron clocks in around 10% DV, largely courtesy of the cocoa and chocolate. Dates add a bit of potassium, but there’s no fortification here—this bar is about macros and flavor more than micronutrient density.
Additives
The list is short and recognizable: a grass‑fed beef/collagen blend, dates, honey, and real cocoa components. The most refined pieces are the purified proteins and classic chocolate fats; there are no emulsifiers, sugar alcohols, or artificial sweeteners, which keeps this closer to “simple” than most high‑protein bars.
Ingredient List
Cattle hides, bones, or meat
Animal skins and bones; fermentation
Date palm fruit
Honey bees collect floral nectar
Cocoa beans
Cacao beans
Beef
Defatted cacao bean solids
Cacao tree seeds
What are people saying?
Sources
Range
“I don't like any zero calorie sweeteners so most are nasty to me. But there's a new one I just got from equip that doesn't have any!”
Main Praise
Fans of simple labels will feel seen here. The ingredient list reads like real food—cocoa, cocoa butter, dates, honey—and skips sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners, which is a big win for anyone who dislikes that lingering aftertaste.
One Redditor, slyest_fox, specifically praised Equip for making a bar without zero‑calorie sweeteners, and that aligns with the product’s clean‑label pitch. You still get a serious 20g of protein per bar, a rare feat for bars that don’t lean on syrups and lab‑built binders.
Industry coverage also highlights the brand’s attention to sourcing (grass‑fed) and a chewy, dessert‑like texture, which makes the chocolate flavor feel indulgent rather than obligatory. At 230 calories with a meaningful fat cushion from cocoa butter (and a bit of tallow), it eats like a proper snack, not a wispy diet bar.
Main Criticism
The obvious trade‑off is sugar: 17g from dates and honey makes this distinctly sweet and likely to nudge blood sugar up for many. If your priority is minimal sugar, this isn’t your bar.
Protein quality is another talking point—while beef isolate is complete, collagen is not, and the exact ratio isn’t disclosed; a vocal Redditor (Hot_Cantaloupe_3330) even argued that many “beef protein” products lean heavily on collagen.
Price comes up, too: users like Still‑Cable744 call Equip excellent but expensive, so cost per bar (and per gram of protein) may run higher than mainstream options. Lastly, it’s not vegetarian and it contains dairy via colostrum, which will be a hard stop for some.
The Middle Ground
So where does the truth land? Equip clearly made a principled ingredient call—ditch sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners, embrace dates and honey, and keep the list short.
That gives you a bar that tastes like a chocolate treat and avoids the sweetener aftertastes that some people loathe, but it also means living with 17g of sugar. On protein, skepticism is fair: collagen doesn’t deliver the same muscle‑building punch as complete proteins, but beef isolate does, and the label is transparent that both are in the blend.
If you lift hard, you can still make this work—just make sure the rest of your day supplies complete protein and leucine from eggs, dairy, poultry, fish, or legumes. As for Reddit’s spicy take from Hot_Cantaloupe_3330, it’s a useful reminder to read labels closely; here, the presence of collagen is disclosed, so the question isn’t “is there collagen?
” but “does the overall protein profile fit your goals? ” If you want a sweet, real‑food bar that skips sugar alcohols, the upsides are real.
If you’re chasing ultra‑low sugar or strictly vegetarian/dairy‑free, the downsides are, too.
What's the bottom line?
Equip’s Chocolate Prime Bar is a dessert‑leaning protein bar with a short, familiar ingredient list and a heavy chocolate profile. It delivers 20g of protein from a grass‑fed beef isolate–collagen blend, with fats from cocoa butter and tallow, and it keeps the sweeteners simple: dates and honey. That earns it fans who hate sugar alcohols and aftertastes, and it makes the bar feel like an actual treat rather than a compromise.
The trade‑offs are straightforward. Sugar is 17g, so the energy arrives fast; it’s best used when you can put that glucose to work (right after training or on a brisk afternoon walk) or when you prefer real‑food sweetness over low‑cal alternatives. The protein is ample, though not purely isolate; if you’re optimizing muscle protein synthesis, plan complete proteins elsewhere in your day.
Price skews premium. If you value clean, chocolate‑first ingredients and no sugar alcohols, it’s a compelling pick. If you’re minimizing sugar or need vegetarian/dairy‑free, keep looking.