Every plant-based powder is automatically vegetarian, so this page covers only the plant-based ones, and the one to buy is the one you are still drinking after a month of most mornings. Four things decide that: how the shake sits an hour later, whether it mixes in a glass without a blender, whether you like drinking it, and what is on the ingredient line.
NØRSE CØDE is our answer to all four, and we built it for the daily user, the person who reaches for it most mornings.
Whey and casein come from milk and egg white powder comes from eggs, so all three are vegetarian, and a vegetarian can use every plant-based powder as well. A vegan can use only the plant-based ones, which is why this page covers those: they fit both diets.
Try It Yourself
If you have a tub of whey in your cupboard, think back to how the last scoop sat with you. If it sat well and you like the taste, you already have your answer. If it did not, plant versus whey digestion is the place to start, and the guide to vegetarian protein sources covers the food side of the same question.
Figures come from each brand's own product page, read on 24 August, and every product is linked in its entry below. Orgain's two gum cells are the one exception, and the Sources section at the end gives their date. Every gum and sugar cell reports what that page itself says, and a cell reading "Not stated on the page" or "Not named on the page" marks something the page leaves out.
| Powder | Protein | Liquid the brand suggests | Sweetener | Added sugar | Xanthan or guar gum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NØRSE CØDE | 20g | 8 oz | Allulose, monk fruit | 0g, both flavors | None |
| Nuzest Clean Lean Protein | 18-21g by flavor | 10-12 oz | Thaumatin | 0g | None |
| Ora Organic So Lean & So Clean | 23g | Not stated on the page | Monk fruit extract | 0g sugar | None |
| Sprout Living Epic Protein Original | 26g | 10 oz | Unsweetened | 0g | None |
| Momentous 100% Plant Protein | 20g | 12-14 oz | Organic cane sugar, stevia, monk fruit | 2g (chocolate) | None |
| Ritual Essential Protein Daily Shake 18+ | 20g | 8-12 oz | Rebaudioside-M, monk fruit | 0g | Xanthan gum |
| Orgain Organic Protein | 21g | 12-16 oz | Organic stevia, organic erythritol | No sugar added | Guar gum, xanthan gum |
| Transparent Labs Organic Vegan Protein | 24g | 8-12 oz | Not named on the page | No added sugar | None named on the page |
| Vega Sport Premium Protein | 30g | 12 fl oz | Stevia leaf extract | No added sugar | Xanthan gum |
Protein runs from 18g to 30g across the nine, and every one of them gives you a real dose, so grams are not what separates them. The table also cannot tell you what any of them taste like. We have not drunk the other eight for a month each, so a texture remark below comes from the ingredient list and nothing more.
We built it around a shake made five mornings a week, and the record shows where the work went: over a thousand iterations across two years, most of them failed on texture. Mixing got more of that time than anything else. We call the result SmoothBlend: a scoop and eight ounces of water, milk or coffee, hot or cold, stirred with a spoon, and it dissolves. A slurry step, a frother and a blender are all things other powders ask for, and ours does not need them. Use one if you like it.
Sitting well came from a decision on day one: no xanthan and no guar. That shut the usual door to a smooth mouthfeel, the job those gums normally do, and made the next two years hard. Prebiotic acacia fiber got us through it. It is a soluble fiber that helps the shake feel like food instead of powder.
It is also a big part of why the label stayed at nine natural ingredients. Those nine hold three protein sources, pea, rice and barley. Sweetness comes from allulose and monk fruit, and both flavors read zero on every sugar line, with no sugar alcohol behind it. No gums, no fillers.
It contains coconut, from the MCT oil. Barley protein is also in the blend, so it contains gluten, and if you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity this is not your protein.
We make it ourselves in our own facility in Petaluma, California, and we third-party test every input for heavy metals. A serving is $2.54 on the eight-bag subscription and $3.57 from a single bag bought once.
One of our customers put the daily test this way:
"This is the first plant protein powder I've tried that doesn't make me gassy or bloated. The chocolate tastes great and I drink it almost every day and still love it."
Three items sit on the Nuzest label: pea protein isolate, natural flavors and thaumatin, a sweet-tasting protein from the katemfe fruit. The brand says protein runs between 18g and 21g depending on flavor, which is why the table shows a range.
Ora starts with organic pea and rice protein and then keeps adding: eighteen organic superfood sources by the brand's own count, from acai and acerola to broccoli and kale, plus a five-enzyme blend, with monk fruit for sweetness. The page does not say how much liquid to use, which is a small thing to settle with the first bag.
Nothing sweetens Sprout Living's Epic Protein Original. At 26g per 38g serving, with chia, Jerusalem artichoke root, and pea, pumpkin seed and sunflower seed proteins on the label, it expects you to supply the flavor, and a banana or a handful of berries does that nicely. Sprout Living tells you to use 10 oz of cold water.
The NSF Certified for Sport mark is aimed at athletes who get tested, and Momentous holds it. The formula pairs PURIS pea protein with organic brown rice protein. The chocolate flavor adds organic cane sugar, which accounts for the 2g of added sugar in the table, and a container holds 22 servings. Our Momentous comparison puts the two formulas side by side.
NØRSE CØDE Plant Protein
20g protein per serving, dissolves in any liquid, no blender needed.
Shop NØRSE CØDERitual's own mixing line suggests a shaker bottle or a blender for best results, so keep one nearby. At Ritual, organic pea protein carries the 20g, with xanthan gum, coconut MCT oil and sunflower lecithin beside it, in a serving of about 31g, a third of a cup.
Orgain carries the USDA Organic seal, which describes how the ingredients were farmed. That says nothing about the finished powder, and the two questions blur easily on a label. Two scoops make a serving, and our Orgain comparison goes through the two formulas.
Transparent Labs lists rice ahead of the pea protein, which reverses the order most of this list uses. It carries Informed Choice and Informed Protein certification and gives 24g per scoop. The sweetener is not named on the page we read, so one serving will tell you more than another read of the site.
Vega puts 30g and 180 calories in a scoop, the most protein in the table. The page now titles the product Protein + Recovery and still prints the old name. Vega asks for 12 fl oz of ice-cold liquid.
The first week is easy for any powder. At five mornings a week a 14-serving bag runs out just under three weeks in, and reaching for a second one is when you learn whether the flavor held. No column in that table shows that, and a flavor you merely tolerate loses you faster the more often you drink it.
That is where we put the formulation work before anything else. In a blind taste test, more people chose NØRSE CØDE than Orgain and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder combined.
"I really like this protein powder. I received a flier at a spartan race my family and I did last year. I have been holding on to this flier for all this time and finally decided I needed to give it a try, and I am so glad I did. It's smooth, clean, and tastes great."
If a shake has ever left you heavy, the gum column in the table is the one to check first. After that, read the liquid column, which the opening four questions leave out. Ours asks for 8 oz and Orgain for 16 oz, and Ora does not say.
Momentous, Vega and Orgain all ask for 12 oz or more. That is a longer glass to finish when the shake is a quick breakfast.
Nuzest adds a second number to read. Its protein runs from 18g to 21g by flavor, so look up the grams for the flavor you plan to order.
Then buy one bag and drink it most mornings for a month. Ours carries a 60-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked, so the guarantee outlasts that month by thirty days.
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.
Shop NØRSE CØDE
