What's the best protein powder for jello?

March 3, 2019 4:23 PM

I'm on a doctor-ordered high-protein diet and I miss gummies. Help me figure out what protein powder to use to make them at home.

A friend recommended just making some with gellatin, fruit juice, and protein powder but so far my experiments have tasted awful (although I've been able to get the right texture by just using about a quarter the liquid called for on the gellatin packet). I'm wondering if there's a protein powder that's sufficiently tasteless (or flavored like berries or fruit already) and isn't chalky.

Caveats: I'm allergic to peaches, and anything with sucralose/sugar alcohols/Sorbitol/erythritol/etc tastes like pennies to me.

What protein powders do people find work for them in similar taste combinations?

Alternatively, if anybody knows of a gummy that tastes OK and has roughly the same amount (or more) of protein as of carbohydrates, that would be even better! All the ones I've seen have had sugar alcohols in them, so I haven't tried them.

posted by joannemerriam to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

Best answer: When Isopure powder is mixed with water and then microwaved at low power without stirring, it forms a thick gelatinous layer. I haven't experimented with this much because it's rather the opposite of what I wanted (protein-rich "hot chocolate," the key to which is low power and frequent stirring), but I mention it because it does firm up nicely, if that's what you're into. The unflavored version is indeed basically flavorless, and the others generally get good reviews too.

Coming from the other direction, my gummies-eating partner likes GNC's "Wheybolic" in Strawberries & Cream, but I've never tried heating it.
posted by teremala at 4:53 PM on March 3, 2019 [3 favorites]

Google's not cooperating with me with recipes, but would adding chia seeds, whole or ground help? They're high in protein and are naturally pretty 'gummy' once wet.
posted by Caravantea at 5:10 PM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Isopure makes clear ready to drink protein beverages that you might be able to use as the liquid ingredient when preparing powdered Jello/unflavored gelatin. You can buy them one at a time at GNC, or in larger quantities online. There are lots of fruit flavors.
https://www.amazon.com/Isopure-Protein-Ready-Drink-Alpine/dp/B002TG3QLS
posted by zdravo at 5:39 PM on March 3, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Unless you want the specific kind of protein in the powder, gelatin is already composed of protein. just jacking up the amount of gelatin in your gummies will increase the protien and make them more solid. more gelatin will also help the gelatin set since the acids in most fruit juices will tend to inhibit solidifiction.
posted by Dr. Twist at 5:42 PM on March 3, 2019 [10 favorites]

Gelatin is protein.
posted by fshgrl at 6:21 PM on March 3, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Smart Sweets (gummies) and Smart Sweets Fish (Swedish fish) are what you want. You can get them at Whole Foods or order off Amazon. 3 g sugar, 3 g protein, high fiber, no fake sugars. I do think one of the flavors of the gummies is peach, however.
posted by Malla at 7:23 PM on March 3, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I love your idea of gelatinized protein!

I was skeptical, but pea protein seems tastefulness, umami-wise. Vega brand of vegan protein is mostly pea protein and tastes ok, decent quality control/ purity. Pricey, though.

I could see that in an aspic-like preparation and liking it.

If you're feeling adventurous, and find the idea of aspics interesting; you can get "vegan duck" which is minimally processed flavoured textured soy protein (Cantonese Buddhist cuisine). Shreds of that in a vegetable-broth gelatin (or vegetarian agar! or gellex!) aspic might do.
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nthing just use gelatin as the protein source. Gelatin powder is pure protein, and any other protein powder you add to the mix is going to mess with it’s gelling properties. I’d experiment with unflavored gelatin, unsweetened kool-aid mix and some splenda.
posted by STFUDonnie at 5:34 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Sorry, missed your sucralose caveat - maybe equal or stevia instead of splenda?
posted by STFUDonnie at 5:43 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Gelatin (and I assume we're talking about real, animal-derived gelatin) is pretty much pure protein already. Trying to add more will just make things weird. As for the sweetener, I also hate sucralose, but I've found that mixing it half-and-half with sugar will mask the taste while still cutting down the calories.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:03 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yeah, get unsweetened gelatin and then just dial down the sugar as much as you can. You don't need gelatin + more protein; you need gelatin with less sugar.
posted by mskyle at 9:43 AM on March 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: This is very helpful - thanks! I'll try a few things and report back since it sounds like some others here might also like to try this.
posted by joannemerriam at 10:14 AM on March 4, 2019

Response by poster: Meant to come back and give a recipe but found that everything I tried just tasted like ass.
posted by joannemerriam at 1:19 PM on April 4, 2019