Taste-Off: Supermarket strawberry breakfast bars ranked from best to worst

Jam on toast is messy. Strawberries in a backpack are a mistake. But a strawberry breakfast bar? It’s a great option for those who need a fast bite en route or a backpack snack to quash hunger on a busy day.

Breakfast bars — or cereal bars — are not nearly as nutritious as whole grain toast and fruit, but they are tasty, convenient and portable. These bars come in a host of flavors and styles, but for this feature, we stuck with strawberry fruit and grain bars.

Nearly all the bars we tasted were identical in terms of calories, but there were huge differences in texture and flavor. Great strawberry breakfast bars are made with minimally sweet, fresh-tasting pastry with a generous squeeze of aromatic, bright-flavored strawberry jam down the middle.

The bad ones are crumbly, dry and filled with a brown paste that neither smells nor tastes like strawberry. While all the bars we tasted were sweet, some packed so much sugar they required a tall glass of milk alongside.

Here’s the scoop on the most delicious strawberry breakfast bars out there — and the sad, sugary ones to avoid. Nutrition info refers to a single bar, except where noted.

Nature’s Bakery Oatmeal Crumble Strawberry

A fat ribbon of bright strawberry jam down the center of these chewy, grainy bars is a plus. A warm, aromatic hit of cinnamon in the pastry makes them taste homemade. 140 calories, 2.5 g fat, 85 mg sodium, 13 g sugar, 2 g protein. $5.99 for six 1.41-ounce bars at Lucky. (4 stars)

Trader Joe’s “This Strawberry Walks into a Bar” Cereal Bars

The soft crust in these bars is ordinary, but a thick layer of strawberry kicks these to the top. They taste like a delicious strawberry dessert. 140 calories, 2.5 g fat, 75 mg sodium, 16 g sugar, 2 g protein. $1.99 for six 1.3-ounce bars. (3½ stars)

365 Organic Strawberry Fruit & Grain Bars

Moist pastry and just the right amount of fresh strawberry filling make these bars a good choice. Less sugar in both the pastry and the filling would set these up for top marks. 140 calories, 3.5 g fat, 85 mg sodium, 12 g sugar, 2 g fiber. $3.29 for six 1.3-ounce bars at Whole Foods. (3 stars)

Good & Gather Organic Strawberry Fruit & Grain Bars

Tender pastry held together with lots of strawberry paste make for a pleasant bite, even though the jam is overcooked and too sweet. 140 calories, 3.5 g fat, 80 mg sodium, 15 g sugar, 2 g protein. $2.89 for six 1.3-ounce bars at Target. (2½ stars)

O Organics Strawberry Flavored Organic Fruit & Grain Bars

These bars are dry and crumbly and the generous layer of paste is too stiff, but the overall flavor is good. Brighter strawberry flavor would be an improvement. 140 calories, 3.5 g fat, 80 mg sodium, 15 g sugar, 1 g protein. $3.49 for six 1.3-ounce bars at Safeway. (2½ stars)

Kellogg’s Special K Pastry Bars

Crunchy, saltine cracker-like wafers filled with a thin layer of bright, sweet filling are pretty to look at, but the trace amount of filling has no strawberry flavor, and the drizzle of frosting is sugar overkill. 148 calories, 3 g fat, 118 mg sodium, 10 g sugar, 2 g protein (for 3 bars.) $3.99 for six 2-packs of .44-ounce bars at Safeway. (2 stars)

Kellogg’s Nutri Grain Soft Baked Strawberry Breakfast Bars

These rustic pastries have lots of chewy oats and plenty of jam, but the flavor is flat and sugary. 130 calories, 3.5 g fat, 140 mg sodium, 12 g sugar, 2 g protein. $3.49 for eight 1.3-ounce bars at Raley’s. (1½ stars)

Signature Fruit & Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars

The chintzy strip of filling in these is sad. It has great strawberry flavor, but there’s so little of it that the bar crumbles on contact. 130 calories, 3 g fat, 90 mg sodium, 12 g sugar, 1 g protein. $2.49 for eight 1.3-ounce bars at Safeway. (1 star)