The Starbucks Protein Box With The Best Combination Of Snacks

Getting your daily protein quota often comes down to chugging a protein shake on the go or incorporating meat into more meals than you'd prefer. But it doesn't have to be that way. Plenty of foods harbor surprisingly high amounts of protein, even if you're following a primarily vegetarian diet. It's fairly easy to plan your protein, but premade, dedicated protein boxes are ideal when out and about town. That's where Starbucks shines, as it currently offers six protein boxes with popular foods, including cheese and peanut butter.  

However, some foods just go better together than others, and taste combinations are subjective. These boxes focus on combining food items for mixed qualities, including flavor, texture, variety, and nutrition, specifically targeting high protein content. They present across each box in the form of fruits, fresh produce, eggs, breads, seasonings, and more. To see how this plays out in reality, we sampled some of these boxes for you.

At the time of our protein box ranking, the chosen Starbucks store had three available options. Of the three boxes sampled, one stood out as the pretty clear winner: the Eggs and Cheddar Protein Box, which contains two cage-free hard-boiled eggs, white cheddar cheese, grapes, tart apples sliced into hand-friendly portions, some honey peanut butter spread, and a packet of Everything seasoning for sprinkling. Coming in second and third, respectively, were the Cheese and Fruit offering and the Peanut Butter and Jam box.

When deep-diving into the Starbucks Egg and Cheddar protein box, it's notable that the combination of snacks maintains a good balance of textures and flavors. Our reviewer noted several factors, including the softness of the Muesli bread, sufficiently firm cheddar cheese with a noticeably mild flavor, and hard-boiled eggs that are cooked the right way. Freshness, however, can be borderline with produce, especially apples, which can and do brown fairly quickly. 

Given these boxes carry the word "protein" in the actual name, it's admirable that the egg and cheddar box collectively holds a respectable 22 grams of protein. Whole eggs are in themselves highly nutritious, harboring multiple B vitamins, healthy fats, and lots of protein. In addition, pairing fiber and protein helps balance nutrition scales, which happens with several items inside this Starbucks box: protein in the cheese, eggs, and peanut butter, and fiber from the apples, grapes, raisins, and muesli bread.  

The collective calorie count of 460 is lower than other Starbucks protein boxes, and it has 24 grams of fat, with only 7 coming from saturated fats. The box also contributes 5 grams of dietary fiber, 40 grams of carbohydrates, and 21 grams of sugar, which is relatively high, per recommended daily allowances. But going back to the plus side, the Egg and Cheddar Protein Box is one of the most affordable options in a series of products that generally costs $6.50 to $7.25, subject to location.