Huel Complete Protein Review: Vegan Protein Worth It?

Huel Complete Protein is a nutritionally complete, plant-based protein powder that delivers 20g of protein and all 26 essential vitamins and minerals per serving. After several weeks of daily use, we rate it one of the best-tasting vegan protein powders on the market. Huel kindly sent us a tub of their new Complete Protein before its public launch on June 1st, and we've been using it regularly since to bring you a full and frank, unbiased review.

When it first arrived the packaging was completely unbranded, just a large tub with no product branding at all. After a little research, it seems Huel simply weren't quite ready with the final branding at that early stage. So, what was our verdict after living with it for a few weeks? Read on to find out.

A genuinely complete protein

Huel seems to have really pulled it out of the bag with this one. A quick visit to their Huel Complete Protein product page gives you a sense of just how much work has gone into the formula to make it one of the most nutritionally balanced vegan (and non-vegan) protein powders available.

In Huel's own words:

Huel Complete Protein is a nutritionally complete, plant-based, high-protein snack that contains more essential amino acids (EAAs) per gram than whey protein. It's made from sustainably sourced, high-quality, animal-free ingredients: hemp, faba and pea protein.

One of its biggest selling points is that complete nutritional profile. Put simply, it contains all 26 essential vitamins and minerals the human body needs, which is well worth considering if you follow a vegan lifestyle, where certain nutrients can be harder to come by.

Nutrition

Let's start with the most important numbers. One scoop of Huel Complete Protein contains 20g of protein, with 5g of BCAAs and 9g of essential amino acids (EAAs). Essential amino acids can't be produced by the human body and must come entirely from your diet, so it's good to see Huel adding them to the mix. That matters because the best sources of EAAs are usually animal proteins, which can make getting enough on a vegan diet tricky.

Each scoop provides just 105kcal, which we love. A low-calorie protein powder makes a real difference, and Huel has firmly ticked this box. It also means you can mix it with a plant milk such as oat or soya without feeling guilty about the extra calories.

Each serving also contains around 3g of carbohydrates and 1.4g of fat, both of which vary slightly by flavour. In terms of macros, Complete Protein is a very well-balanced vegan protein powder, and it's gluten-free, sugar-free and GMO-free too.

We'll be honest, though. 20g of protein feels a little low compared with other vegan protein powders on the market, such as the SCI-MX Nutrition Ultra Plant. Personally, we'd have liked to see it nearer the 30g mark, or 25g at the very least. Even so, we don't know of any other vegan protein powder that offers such a complete nutritional profile, so we think the benefits outweigh the drawback here.

Taste and mixability

Huel kindly sent us the Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavour, so our verdict on taste is based solely on that one.

We've tasted a huge number of vegan protein powders, and we can honestly say Huel Complete Protein is the best-tasting vegan protein on the market today. It's clearly ahead of the competition, with no sickly sweetness and none of the strange vegan aftertaste you sometimes get from other powders. It genuinely tastes like a chocolate milkshake.

We mixed it regularly with both water and oat milk. Oat milk was the clear winner and our preferred method, but it also mixed very well with plain water.

Verdict

Well, what can we say? Huel has pulled out all the stops, and we're genuinely impressed. Complete Protein is our new go-to vegan protein powder.

If you're chasing big protein numbers, it might not quite fit the bill, since at 20g per scoop it pales next to some rivals reaching 35g or more. But it's important to reiterate the bigger picture. Huel isn't trying to sell Complete Protein as the highest-protein powder you can buy; it's offering a solution for people who understand it's not all about protein. It's about the complete nutritional profile and the end benefits to you, and on that front Huel ticks every box.

Huel Complete Protein is available to buy direct from uk.huel.com.