No matter the health benefits, protein powders aren’t the best tasting food out there. But not every healthy food necessarily needs to be upsetting for your taste buds. Especially not protein shakes.
If you are disgusted with the poor texture and bad taste of your protein shake, don’t worry. You’re not alone. I have been where you stand, and so have many others.
While starting my fitness journey, I came across protein powders and considering the health benefits, I decided to make them a part of my everyday diet. But I almost quit on them because of their bad taste and a texture that almost made me want to throw-up.
Just like you, I was standing face-to-face with the obvious question: how to make protein shakes taste better?
It is often said by people that the healthier something is, blander it’ll taste. But this does not have to be the case with your protein shakes.
Through some discussion with my peers and personal experiments, I have come up with some ways to make your protein shakes interesting, and I’ll be sharing those secrets with you in this article.
How to make protein shakes taste better?
Making your terrible tasting protein shake better is not as hard as it seems. Starting from the simplest changes you can make, to the most complex ones, let me show you some of the things that have worked for me and surely enhanced the taste of my protein shakes:
Blend, blend and more blend!
Most people’s protein shakes taste bad because they’re not blended enough, making the protein shake lumpy and tasteless.
Remember, mixing well is the key to making a good shake. You CANNOT laze your way out of this golden step.
Get yourself a good-quality blending bottle/shaker and move it around for a good amount of time before consuming it.
OR pull out your blender and give your shake a good mix. It’ll take a little more time, but will make your shake taste better.
Get Experimental With The Base:
Let’s face it, the best way to make your protein shake taste better is by fooling-around the base you’re mixing up your protein powder with. This is one of the most ignored points when making a protein shake.
Experimenting with the base of your protein shake can make a huge difference in the taste and texture. Here’s some of the things you can do:
Add more water:
This might not seem like much, but adding more water to your shake will take away the thick texture that your makes your tongue twist and eyebrows frown.
Mixing up a couple of scoops of protein power with some water is the simplest way of making a protein shake. If this is your go-to method, you might wanna make a little change.
If you don’t get the consistency of your water-based shake right, it’ll make it harder for you gulp it down.
Adding more water to your mix will get rid of the thickness, and give the taste a boost.
Change Your Base:
Experimenting with the base is one more thing you can do to enhance the taste of your protein shake.
If you make your shake with water, try switching to other substitutes, for example milk or yogurt. Not only will it add taste to your shake, it’ll also add nutritious value to your shake.
You can also switch to vegan options like dairy-free yogurt or almond milk, oat milk, cashew milk, etc. based on your preferences.
Don’t Shy Away from Add-ons:
Adding other ingredients to your protein shake is sure to improve the taste of your shake.
Add-ons not only make the protein shake taste better, they also add nutritious value to it.
Just add a few ingredients of your choice and turn your blender on, you’ll have your tasty protein shake ready in a minute or two.
Here’s what you can add to your shake:
- Fruits: fruits like berries, bananas and mangoes go really well with protein shakes.
- Nuts: Adding nuts to your protein shake will add more protein, and the coarse texture will improve the taste.
- Cocoa Powder: Now, who doesn’t love the taste of chocolate? Add it to your protein shake and it’ll surely taste better.
- Peanut Butter: If you aren’t that calorie conscious, adding peanut butter will surely give a nice texture and improved taste to your protein shake.
Drink Your Shake Cold:
It’s no secret, protein shakes taste better when they’re cold. Letting your protein shake sit for too long in room temperature is likely to make it unappetizing.
Add ice to your shake and blend it up for a couple minutes to drink a cold shake.
You could switch to an insulated bottle to keep your shake cold for a longer time during your work out sessions.
What More Can You Do?
Getting your protein powder right is a tricky business. After all, it is key ingredient in your protein shake and it can make it or break it.
Here is what you can do if the above mentioned tricks don’t seem to work for you:
Switch to another protein powder:
If nothing you do makes your protein powder shake taste better, there might be a problem in your protein powder.
Make a switch to a new brand and see how things go for you.
But while changing your protein powder, here are some things that you should keep in mind:
- Look for a good quality protein powder. It is likely that a low-costing protein powder will be bad in taste and texture.
- Buy small packets for testing the protein powder out. When making a switch, don’t go for the biggest tub.
Test the powder out, and if you like it, buy more.
- Look for neutral or unflavoured protein powders.
You can do a hundred experiments with an unflavoured protein powder and make it suit your taste buds accordingly. A flavored powder limits the changes you can make.
So you see, making protein shakes taste better is not rocket science. Some minor changes here and there, and you can improve the taste of your shake significantly.
I have named a few of the tips and tricks that have worked for me. Now, its your turn to try them out and choose your favourite!
