NØRSE CØDE is the one to drink when what you want is protein: 20 grams in 130 calories, a label of nine natural ingredients or less, one scoop into eight ounces of whatever you already drink. Huel Black Edition is a different product, a 400-calorie nutritionally complete meal built on a statement of 36 ingredients.
Both come as a powder in a bag, which is why people end up comparing them. One is a protein shake. The other is a meal.
We were making a protein shake that a person keeps drinking. In our experience people quit protein powder over how it tastes and how it sits, so the question we kept asking through every version was what we could take out of the formula.
Try It Yourself
Huel Black Edition is sold as a nutritionally complete meal, with the vitamins and minerals that implies. A serving goes into two full cups of water, and its chocolate ingredient statement runs to 36 line items.[1][2]
Protein per calorie is the row that decides this one. Ours carries over 15 grams per 100 calories, theirs 10.[3][4]
Huel figures came from the brand's own product, ingredient and nutrition pages on 2026-08-25.[1][2][3] NØRSE CØDE figures are our labels of record.[4] Chocolate is the flavor on both sides, so the calorie, sugar and fiber rows compare like with like. Acacia is listed separately from xanthan because it is a soluble fiber that carries flavor and body, where xanthan goes in purely to thicken.
| Spec | NØRSE CØDE | Huel Black Edition |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A protein powder | A nutritionally complete meal |
| Protein per serving | 20g | 40g |
| Calories per serving | 130 (chocolate), 110 (vanilla) | 400 (chocolate) |
| Protein per 100 calories | Over 15g (chocolate) | 10g (chocolate) |
| Ingredient count | 9 natural ingredients or less (8 line items on the chocolate label) | 36 line items on the chocolate statement |
| Protein sources | Pea, rice and barley, inside one line item on the label | Pea and brown rice |
| Fiber | 5g per serving, including dietary fiber, from acacia | 8g (chocolate) |
| Acacia | Yes | None |
| Gums and thickeners | None | Xanthan gum |
| Sweetener | Allulose and monk fruit | Steviol glycosides, with organic coconut sugar on the ingredient line |
| Total sugars | 0g, both flavors | 4g (chocolate) |
| Added sugars | 0g, both flavors | 4g (chocolate) |
| Liquid the brand suggests | 8 oz of water, milk or coffee, hot or cold | 16 oz of water |
| How you mix it | One scoop into any liquid, dissolves with a spoon | Two scoops, shaken for twenty seconds, or blended if you want it smoother |
| Servings per bag | 14 | 17 |
| Where it is made | Our own facility in Petaluma, California | Not stated on the product page |
| Third-party testing | We third-party test every input for heavy metals | Independent laboratory testing, per their product page |
| Guarantee | 60-day money-back, no questions asked | "Love it or your money back" |
| Price as each brand sells it | $2.54 to $3.57 per serving | $2.65 to $3.53 per meal |
| Who we built it for | Someone who wants protein without a long label to read, and who wants the taste claim backed by a real blind taste test rather than a promise. Also the buyer who wants the inputs third-party tested. | Someone whose shake is replacing lunch |
Bottom line: if protein is what you came for, ours is the one made for the job: a short label, no gums, zero sugar, and a blind taste test behind how it tastes.
Taste is the thing a spec table cannot settle for you. So we ran a blind taste test. More people chose NØRSE CØDE than chose Orgain and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder combined, with nobody knowing which cup held which powder.
That is a result about those three powders, and Huel Black Edition was not among them. What the test took away was everything except the drink itself: no label to read, no brand name, no price. People tasted three cups and picked the one they would rather have again.
Nine natural ingredients or less is the rule the product was built around. We set it before the first batch and every version since has had to fit inside it. The chocolate statement runs to eight line items, and one of those is the protein blend, which carries three sources: pea, rice and barley, sitting inside that short label.[4]
Acacia fiber is how the list stays that short. It is a prebiotic fiber that helps the shake feel like food instead of powder, and because it carries body and flavor at once, one ingredient does the job two thickeners do elsewhere. There are no gums and no fillers on our line. Theirs carries xanthan gum.[2]
Sweetness is allulose and monk fruit. Both flavors land at 0g total sugar and 0g added sugar, with no sugar alcohol standing in for either, and no cane sugar, coconut sugar or stevia anywhere on the statement.[4] Huel Black Edition's chocolate is sweetened with steviol glycosides over organic coconut sugar, at 4g of total and added sugar a serving.[2][3]
Mixing was the last thing to solve. A scoop goes into any liquid without a shaker ball or a blender, which is what we mean by SmoothBlend. Getting there took over a thousand iterations, over two years.
We third-party test every input for heavy metals. We also make it ourselves, in our own facility in Petaluma, California, which lets us change something the week we decide it needs changing.
NØRSE CØDE Plant Protein
20g protein per serving, dissolves in any liquid, no blender needed.
Shop NØRSE CØDEBoth of these are about texture and aftertaste, which is where a lot of plant protein loses people. Quoted as written.
Five stars, November 2025: "The texture is great! No more powdery protein shakes and I dont need to use a blender. No more artificial sweeter after taste in my mouth when using Norse Code. Very high quality."
Five stars, July 2025: "No chalky flavor or bag after taste. Tastes like the best chocolate milk you've ever had. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out"
Huel Black Edition is sold as a nutritionally complete meal rather than a protein powder. One serving is designed to stand in for lunch, at 400 calories,[3] with the vitamins and minerals that implies.[1] NØRSE CØDE is a protein shake at 130 calories with 20 grams of protein, meant to go alongside a meal.[4]
NØRSE CØDE. Our chocolate carries over 15 grams of protein per 100 calories. Huel Black Edition chocolate carries 10.[3][4] Both figures come straight off the two published labels, and dividing protein by calories is a check you can run on any two powders in a shop aisle.
NØRSE CØDE does not. A scoop goes into eight ounces of water, milk or coffee, hot or cold, and dissolves with a spoon. Huel's own instructions ask for two cups of water and a twenty-second shake, or a blender if you want it smoother.[1] If a gritty shake is what puts you off protein powder, our page on why protein powder goes chalky covers what causes it.
If you are shopping for protein, ours is the shorter label and the smaller glass. Twenty grams in something you look forward to drinking is what NØRSE CØDE was built for, and the blind taste test is the evidence behind that last part. Huel Black Edition is a meal sold as a powder, which is a different purchase entirely. If you want to go deeper on the digestion side, we wrote about plant protein and whey separately.
Ready to try it?
Backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee. If it is not the smoothest protein you have had, send it back.
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