The Best Vegan Protein Powder for Backpacking and Hiking

If you’re planning a multi-day backpacking excursion, thru-hike, heck, even an extended day hike, nutrition is important. You’re going to need some serious calories, for sure, but your body also requires protein. A lot of it. And one of our favorite quick and easy ways to get it, on OR off the trail, is with vegan protein powder.

But let’s back up for a minute. According to Outside’s rather intimidating Backpacking Calorie Estimator, I, a 165 lb man, could easily burn 200-300 calories per mile, meaning on a 15-mile day, I could be burning between 4,000-5,000 calories. That’s a lot of calories.

Do you really need to eat that many calories to stay healthy on the trail? Not for short periods of time, but you do need to eat enough so that your body can recover for the next leg of your journey while limiting muscle breakdown as much as possible. In short: Not enough calories or protein and you’ll end up looking like Captain America before the super soldier serum.

So how much protein should you be consuming to maintain your muscle? Borrowing from the world of body building, the general rule is to take in 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. And while the range varies from person to person, peer reviewed studies show that a high protein diet can be instrumental in maintaining lean body mass in athletes.

And while there are plenty of great snackable, packable vegan protein options these days: vegan jerky, whole food protein bars, and seitan, for example, plant-based protein powder can help you get protein and calories fast while on the trail (without all the cruelty and extremely unsustainable factory farming required to make whey protein). And without a lot of the weight or time required to prep a whole meal.

5 Plant Based Protein Powders For Hiking and Backpacking

But there are a lot of vegan protein powders out there. A lot. These are just five of the scores floating around on the web and on store shelves that I came across during my research. And that’s not even all of them (but we have taste-tested plenty more and rank them in this article).

For these five, I’ve selected a few you’ve probably heard of, a few you perhaps haven’t, and a few you might want to take a closer look at. The goal? To see which ones mix and taste the best with water. Yes, I said water. Why you ask? Because when you’re out on the trail you’re probably not going to be carrying around a carton of almond milk in your backpack. Plus, by taste testing each with water, all flavor sins are laid bare. Here are the ones we would pack into the backcountry or have on hand after a long hike, bike or trail run!

Gnarly Vegan Meal Replacement ($3.84 per serving): The Tasty One

Protein Per Serving: 20g

If you’re not familiar with Gnarly, you should be. They make one of the tastiest meal replacements out there. And it is a meal replacement. As in, there’s lots more than just protein in here. Another thing I like about the brand? They create their products with outdoor pursuits in mind.

This protein shake thickens when mixed and is smooth for a protein powder. It’s sweetened with stevia and evaporated cane juice and the chocolate flavor is one of the more decadent on this list with a subtle stevia aftertaste.

What we like: It contains additional vitamins, minerals, and all 9 essential amino acids. It’s a meal replacement, after all, not just a protein supplement. Plus the flavor is bomb and the stevia aftertaste is minimal.

Vega NightTime Rest and Repair ($3.13 per serving): The Most Unique Formulations and Flavors

Protein Per Serving: 18g

Vega is a widely recognized plant-based protein powder. They offer lots of flavors and formulations (including ones for gut health), but for this test, we tried their NightTime Rest and Repair, which contains 3mg of melatonin to help regulate your circadian rhythm and sleep more naturally. So drinking this in the late evening may be helpful if you generally don’t sleep all that well in the outdoors. The only issue? Drinking your protein 30 minutes to 1-hour before bed may having you crawling out of your tent in the middle of the night to answer nature’s call.

As for taste? This one is ever-so-slightly grainy but thickens a bit when shaken for a relatively pleasant mouth feel. The flavor itself is, shall we say, not bad, but not great. I went with the Vanilla Caramel which made for a very sweet sip. It’s sweetened with monkfruit, which can be a deal breaker for some, but wasn’t overpowering.

What we like: This vegan protein powder contains additional vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, so acts as more of a meal replacement. Plus, we like how t helps lull us into slumber.

Chike High Protein Iced Coffee: For Coffee Lovers

Protein Per Serving: 20g of protein

Chike tastes exactly what it sounds like it should: A couple shots of real espresso (in powder form, of course) with natural cane sugar and a hint of protein. It’s pretty dang tasty and I appreciate the use of real sugar as opposed to Sucralose or monk fruit. It might just be the best coffee protein powder we’ve tried. The coffee flavor is on point and it’s definitely worth a try for those looking for out-of-the-box ways to get more protein in their diets (and get a caffeine pick-me-up). It is on the sweet side–we tried the toasted coconut mocha and salted caramel–but the mouth feel is smooth and tastes great both with milk and water. Thanks to the combo of protein, simple carbs and caffeine, we’ll be taking this on plenty of outdoor adventures for a morning or afternoon pick-me-up. Apart from the somewhat awkward name, we fully approve of this caffeinated protein powder.

What we like: Great coffee flavor with 150mg of caffeine and clean ingredients. As low as $2.85 per serving with subscription.

Tailwind Recovery Mix: For Epic Objectives

Protein Per Serving: 20g

Tailwind makes endurance fuel and electrolytes we’ve taken on plenty of outdoor explorations, so when they launched a recovery fuel with extra protein, we had to try it. It contains more real sugar than many of the other options on this list, and does tase plenty sweet, but that’s on purpose: After epic adventures when you’ve sucked the tank dry (and maybe are too wiped to chew your recovery meal), you need those simple, easy-to-digest carbs to help your body bounce back. It was all we wanted after our last 24-mile mountain bike ride when solid food seemed not only unappetizing, but way too much work. Plus, the strawberry flavor tasted good, not artificial, and while we were afraid it would resemble that gross strawberry milk from our childhoods, it absolutely didn’t and we look forward to shaking up a bottle again after our next draining adventure.

What we like: You can purchase Tailwind in single-serve packets or bulk bags and the texture is creamy and easy on the palate and the stomach. $2.80 per serving when buying in bulk.