Mutant Pro - Rich Chocolate Milk 🍫🥛
What used to be my staple chocolate whey!
As Forrest Gump famously said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
That’s all well and good for ol’ Forrest, but for those of us that like a bit of predictability in life, it’s reassuring to know that there are chocolate flavoured proteins out there that taste exactly as advertised.
The Product Summary
📋 Product: Mutant Pro
🥛 Type: Whey Concentrate Blend
👄 Flavour: Rich Chocolate Milk
💰 Price: £38.95 last year, but now about £52 in the UK…
⚖️ Weight: 5 lbs
🥄 Servings: 73 scoops
The TLDR
For the longest time, this was one of my favourite products from Mutant, with great macros, clean nutritional profile, and all at an affordable price point. It was my go-to chocolate flavoured protein, and it’s versatile, authentic, with no protein or chemical aftertaste. Sadly this has now become rather more expensive in the UK, so a bit more difficult to justify. Still overall one of the best chocolate flavours I’ve had
The Macros
🔥 120 Calories
💪 24g Protein
🍬 2g Carbs (1g sugar)
🛢️ 1g Fat (0.5g saturated)
THE BRAND
I’ve written about Mutant before, so I’m going to be lazy here, and shamelessly plug the review I wrote on Mutant Iso Surge here for those interested in knowing a bit more the brand.
Briefly though, Mutant are a Canadian brand that produces a whole host of supplements, and you could easily buy all you need from them. I became enamoured with the brand ever since I saw (and tried) the monstrous Mutant Mass weight gainers as a teenager, and I’m sure you will have seen the distinctive red & black bags at your local supplement store.
More importantly. Mutant do not sell to the UK directly through their website, but a selection of their products are sold on Amazon and carried by most supplement stores.
The Formula
Don’t we all love a clean, simple ingredients list? Given how short the ingredients panel is, we can rattle through this section pretty quickly.
Unlike Apple tacking on “Pro” to the end of products without explaining the difference… (seriously, does anyone know how the Ipad Pro is superior to a regular Ipad??), Mutant Pro is quite easy to understand - it’s just a bog standard Protein product. While this is technically a whey blend comprising whey concentrate, hydrolysate, and isolate, the exact breakdown of each isn’t clear, so I’m inclined to think of this as more of a whey concentrate.
In ascending order of protein purity, concentrate, isolate, and hydrolysate are all types of whey protein that have gone through a filtering process to improve the protein content and absorption. In theory, the more pure / filtered a protein is, the more easily this is digested. Interestingly, more pure forms of whey like hydrolysate should also taste a bit “cleaner”. This is why isolates can be a great choice for people who are lactose intolerant, as the filtration process removes a lot of the lactose which can cause stomach distress.
Mutant Pro contains some MCTs from coconut oil. MCT stands for medium-chain triglyceride, which contains medium-length chains of fats called triglycerides. Due to their shorter length, MCTs are more easily digested than longer-chain fatty acids found in many other foods. This is a popular dietary supplement in oil form which provides benefits in terms of energy, mental focus, weight management, and overall bodily resilience.
The only thing that initially gave me a bit of pause was the presence of an acidity regulator. Upon further research, I’ve discovered that this is actually perfectly safe, and a common addition to foods to improve shelf life and sometimes impart a sour flavour. Simply put, these regulators control the pH (acidity) of products, which is important as inadequate control of the pH can result in the growth of undesirable bacteria that can lead to potential health hazards.
There really isn’t much else to comment on here - which is a good thing by the way, you don’t want a complicated / bloated protein formula!
Full ingredients list below:
Whey protein concentrate, whey protein hydrolysate, whey protein isolate, cocoa, flavourings (MILK), MCT oil (fractionated coconut oil), salt, acidity regulator (potassium citrate), thickeners (guar gum), sweeteners (sucralose), emulsifier (sunflower lecithin and/or soy lecithin), enzymes (lactase, protease)
The Mixability
Maybe it’s an age thing, but nowadays I have very little patience and tolerance for clumpy protein powders. As an aside, clumpy powders with poor mixability is usually a sign of sub-par quality protein.
I’m glad to say that this mixes like a dream (as all protein should if you’re buying more premium products). Add 200mls of water in a shaker cup, drop a scoop in, give it a few shakes and bottoms up.
The Taste
Bro (or Sis), it’s chocolate… surely you know what that tastes like?
One of the reasons I liked this so much is because the taste is so authentic. My usual protein drinking experience goes something like this - I gulp down a few mouthfuls, savour the advertised flavour for a bit, and brace myself for that inevitable chemical / protein aftertaste to hit me. With this product though, that unpleasant aftertase is so minimal, you almost don’t notice it at all. The chocolate milk flavour is very apparent and easy to stomach.
Yes it is on the sweeter side of things (chocolate milk is always sweet though!), but honestly it doesn’t bother me. If you’re not into that, you can always dilute this with a bit more water. I liked the flavour profile so much that I never really bothered mixing this with milk.
If you don’t believe me (you’re reading my blog, by the way…), then here’s some additional colour. I’ve recommended this flavour to 2 friends, and both have happy incorporated this into their stacks.
The Flavour Longevity
Again, bruh, it’s chocolate…I’m willing to bet you’ve incorporated a chocolate flavoured protein into your supplementation routine before.
The combination of the excellent flavour and mixability made this a no-brainer for me. I’ve bought and finished many many tubs of this over the years, and anytime somebody is looking to upgrade their chocolate flavoured MyProtein whey, this is the first product I recommend.
It’s a nice staple that you can always come back to when you tire of the Key Lime Avocado protein you bought on a whim. And yes, that is real flavour I spotted recently from a reputable company…
The illustration is cute, but lime + avocado = guacamole, not a protein shake!
The Versatility
Okay I’m running out of ways to explain that it’s chocolate, so it’s versatile. So instead I’ll tell you some of the ways I’ve used it.
My favourite is using this as a milk substitute for protein. I usually mix 1 - 2 scoops with water after a workout, and then add to a bowl of neutral / bland flavoured cereal (think weetabix or bran flakes). I’ve found that to be an easy way of getting both protein and carbs in after the gym, when I usually don’t feel like eating.
It’s also super easy to blend this up into a nice smoothie. Try blending a few scoops with a classic combination of frozen banana, natural peanut butter, and a sprinkle of salt - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The Pricing
Although this protein has served me admirably over the years, I’m actually now looking for a more economical replacement. Up until last year, you could pick this 5lbs / 73 scoop tub up for about £39, which was a steal considering how good the flavour / nutritional profile is.
Sadly the price has risen to £52 per tub in the UK, which while not the most expensive, does make it a bit pricier than the perennially popular whey from Optimum Nutrition. The £52 price point also means that this is now only marginally cheaper than the Mutant’s more pure whey isolate product (Iso Surge), and that is available in a significantly more flavours.
Perhaps it’s just a personal psychological bias, but I find it hard to justify paying £52 for a protein that was 33% cheaper just a few months ago. More practically, I’m more inclined to experiment baking / making protein desserts with a chocolate flavoured protein, so having a tasty, relatively cheap option is always a nice way of mitigating costly culinary mishaps.
As usual in the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t pay full price for my last tub. I was hooked up by the wonderful people over at Tropicana Wholesale, which is also where I buy my Mutant Iso Surge for reviews.
The Verdict
While I still have no issue recommending Mutant Pro on the basis of taste and mixability, the pricing has made this somewhat less viable as a staple product. Personally, I still prefer this in taste to slightly cheaper Optimum Nutrition’s Double Rich Chocolate, but would be equally happy to switch based on price. £52 per tub is still decent value, but there are definitely cheaper options out there that are equally as good.
Since I started the review with a quote, I’ll end it with another from Michelin chef Alain Ducasse - “Everywhere in the world there are tensions – economic, political, religious. So we need chocolate”.
In this case, it’s a great shame that my go-to chocolate staple has become so much more expensive in the midst of economic / political tensions driving up inflation. #CostOfLivingCrisis