There are a ton of plant-based protein shakes and superfood powders to choose from these days, but few have the backing of an elite athlete like Venus Williams.
Well, Happy Viking does.
The folks at Happy Viking were kind enough to send me a sample pack to try out for this review and overall, I was impressed.
Designed to work as a meal replacement, Happy Viking’s Superfood Meals are loaded with 20g of plant protein, include over 60 healthy foods/nutrients, and offer a generous serving of your recommended daily vitamins intake.
These shakes also mix well and come in a lot of different flavors.
This is all fine and good, but more importantly, they actually taste good too.
So, if you’re looking for a plant-based meal replacement to help improve daily nutrition, I think Happy Viking is certainly worth trying.
But before you decide, keep reading.
In this comprehensive review, I’ll go over everything you should know about Happy Viking from a first-hand user’s perspective.
After reading, you’ll know whether or not this superfood shake is worth checking out for yourself.
Overall, Happy Viking’s Superfood Meals taste good, come in a lot of flavors, and are loaded with a lot of great plant-based nutrition, but at $3 – $4 per meal, it’s a little pricey compared to some similar shakes.
Disclaimer – the good folks at Happy Viking were kind enough to send me a sample pack of their meal replacement shakes to try out for this review, but I haven’t been compensated in any other way. This review is based on my personal experience with their products. As an affiliate, I do earn a fee from purchases made through links on this page, but as always, that never effects your price.
Happy Viking’s Superfood Meal
Happy Viking (HV, great name by the way) was apparently initiated by Venus Williams, the professional tennis star.
The story goes that Venus had to re-think her nutrition plan after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and Happy Viking was inspired based on some of the changes she made to help combat that disorder.
It’s an inspiring story and if nothing else, it certainly helps promote the importance of proper nutrition.
Anyway, HV is designed to work as a meal replacement and they suggest using it as your breakfast.
You know, to get your day going with a healthy start and whatnot.
I also want to point out that HV shakes are completely plant-based and vegan, so they should fit with most diet plans out there.
These shakes are also gluten free, but they are manufactured in a facility that also processes peanuts, tree nuts, soy, egg, wheat, and fish.
So if you have food allergies, this is certainly something to consider.
Pros
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Completely plant-based
- Low cal
- 20 g of protein/serving
- Loaded with superfoods
- High amount of vitamins/minerals
- 5 g fiber/serving
- Not much added sugar
- Mixes well
- A lot of flavors to choose from
- Tastes good
Cons
- Made in a facility that also processes several top allergens
- A bit pricey
Ingredients
Let’s start this review off with a quick rundown on what’s actually in this stuff.
The list of ingredients is rather long, so I’ll let you read the entire list yourself if you like, but there are a few broad strokes I want to mention.
Oh, and each flavor will come with subtle differences in the ingredients (for the flavor), but the main ingredients and nutritional stats are identical between flavors.
Protein & Fiber
HV shakes use a plant-based protein mix, consisting of yellow pea and brown rice proteins.
Pea protein is a popular choice for plant-based proteins because it’s lean, easily digestible, and high in other nutrients like iron.
Brown rice is another great protein source and due to its fiber content, can help make you feel fuller for longer.
Something that stands out to me is the fiber content – HV uses soluble corn fiber in their blends to add 5g of fiber per serving.
This helps with satiety, but it also helps with digestion.
Ancient Grains Blend
Each flavor contains a mix of grains, including amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and chia.
All of these grains are organic and each offers their own contribution to the nutritional profile, but these help boost the fiber and protein content as well.
FYI, the term “ancient grains” is used because these grains haven’t been modified much over the last few hundred years, unlike some corns and wheats.
Vitamin & Mineral Blend
HV shakes come with a ton of vitamins and minerals and drinking one is basically the equivalent of taking a multi-vitamin with your breakfast.
You’ll notice there’s a pretty high iron content here, as well as a hearty portion of B-vitamins (riboflavin is also known as vitamin B2).
The B vitamins help convert food into fuel for your body and can be helpful for improving energy levels.
There’s also a fairly high level of the element manganese per serving, which plays a lot of key roles in the body and it’s usually found in nuts and grains.
There’s a lot of copper in there too, another element important for red blood cell production and keeping nerve cells happy and healthy.
Superfood Blend
As expected, there’s a bunch of superfood extracts and powders included in here as well.
You’ll find all the usual suspects here, like acai, blueberry, raspberry, broccoli, spinach, and kale.
You may also notice that there’s a probiotic (L. rhamnosus) in the mix, which may help with proper digestion.
Overall, a nice mix of all the superfoods commonly found in meal replacement shakes.
Other Stuff
There are a few other ingredients worth mentioning, that don’t exactly fit in the above categories.
There’s an artificial sweetener (erythritol) as well as good ol’ fashioned cane sugar.
There are also a few stabilizers and thickeners, like gum acacia, guar gum, and xanthan gum, as well as natural flavors.
Folks looking to minimize exposure to processed foods may not love this, but let’s be real – all protein shakes are highly processed to begin with.
Oh, there’s also a little bit of omega-3’s in the mix in the form of algal oil (aka seaweed oil), but I don’t see an indication of how much omega-3’s are included per serving.
Nutritional Stats
Moving on, let’s check out the nutritional stats per serving:
By the way, these stats are when a single serving of powder (2 scoops or 1 single use packet) is mixed with 12 oz of water.
If you mix with milk or add any additional ingredients, these numbers would vary.
Regardless, at 160 calories/serving, HV is definitely a low-cal food.
There’s a fair amount of saturated fat, but considering this is supposed to take the place of a full meal, 18% isn’t bad.
I also like that it’s cholesterol free and pretty low in sodium.
As mentioned earlier, the 5g of fiber per shake is quite good and 20 g of protein is solid for a meal replacement as well.
Although if you’re on a higher-protein diet, you may prefer a shake with more protein per serving.
Finally, with only 2 g of added sugar per serving, I’d consider HV to be low in sugar as well.
Overall, I think HV did a great job of creating a balanced, healthy shake based on the above stats.
Taste
Alright, that does it for the boring stuff, so let’s get to the good stuff already – how this stuff tastes.
Now I was lucky enough to receive a sampler’s bundle which included several flavors, including:
- Vanilla bean
- Tropical smoothie
- Triple chocolate
- Strawberry
- Greena colada
- Cookies and cream
- Iced coffee
- Berry parfait
Of the above flavors, I’m surprised to say that berry parfait and greena colada are my favorite.
I wasn’t a big fan of strawberry (although I rarely like strawberry protein shakes) and I don’t like coffee to begin with.
The triple chocolate wasn’t bad, but tasted just a little too sweet for me.
Cookies and cream, tropical smoothie, and vanilla bean were solid, falling somewhere in the middle for me in terms of flavor.
But berry parfait and greena colada were very tasty.
With greena colada, you get nice subtle hints of pineapple and coconut and the berry parfait tastes like a nice triple berry smoothie.
Overall, I think the HV shakes taste pretty good and I think it’s awesome how many flavors they have to choose from.
That said, I highly recommend mixing with the milk of your choice.
The directions state to mix with 12 oz of water and I did that with several flavors while sampling, but when mixed with water only, the drink has no shake/smoothie consistency.
When blended with milk (I use almond milk) and ice, it was a whole new story.
Thicker, richer, and simply delicious.
Oh, I also want to mention that the powders mix easily (even just in water) and there’s no bitter, powdery after taste like you get with some other protein powders.
Cost
As I’m writing this, HV shakes can be purchased in 15 serving canisters or 12x/24x single-serving bundle packs.
And they cost the following:
- 15 serving tub 1x purchase: $60
- 15 serving tub with monthly subscription: $45
- 12x single serving bundle pack 1x purchase: $60
- 12x single serving bundle pack with monthly subscription: $45
- 24x single serving bundle pack 1x purchase: $96
- 24x single serving bundle pack with monthly subscription: $76
Ok, so you can save significantly with a monthly subscription, where they send you a new canister/pack automatically every 4 weeks.
You can also save by going with a 24x pack vs a 12x pack.
If we look at the 1x purchases, each meal costs $4 with a canister and $5 with individual packs.
With a subscription, this falls to $3/meal for a canister and about $3.75 with packs.
In the world of protein powders and meal replacement shakes, $3 – $4 per meal is on the higher side, but certainly not obscene.
Based on my experiences, I’d say the average cost for a high-quality blend like HV is somewhere around $3/serving.
Which is right where HV is with a subscription.
Something else to consider – with a 15 serving canister, you’d need 2x each month if you want to do daily shakes…
But who wants to have a healthy shake every day for breakfast? I mean come on, it’s a fact that Sundays are for pancakes and bacon.
Anyway, when it comes to cost, HV is on the higher end of normal, but let’s take a look at some of the other shakes out there to see how it really stacks up.
FYI, you can also purchase some flavors through Amazon, so it may be worth checking to compare prices.
Similar Comps
| Per serving | Happy Viking | Ka’Chava | LyfeFuel |
| Calories | 160 | 240 | 140 |
| Protein | 20 g | 25 g | 25 g |
| Fiber | 5 g | 6 g | 2 g |
| Fat | 5 g | 7 g | 3 g |
| Added sugars | 2 g | 5 g | 2 g |
| Price | $4.00 | $4.66 | $2.08 |
When it comes to plant-based superfood drinks, the first comp that comes to mind is Ka’Chava.
Like HV, Ka’Chava shakes are designed to be used as a meal replacement and it too is loaded with all kinds of superfoods, vitamins, minerals, and a bunch of other healthy stuff.
When it comes to the macros, Ka’Chava is packing a bit more protein and fiber (25 g and 7 g), but it doesn’t come in as many flavors.
Ka’Chava is also quite a bit harder to mix by spoon, so you really do need a blender to get a great consistency.
Ka’Chava isn’t cheap either – with a 1x purchase, Ka’Chava will set you back $4.66/serving.
That said, Ka’Chava is delicious.
Another similar shake is LyfeFuel’s Performance Shake, which is plant-based from top to bottom and loaded with a bunch of similar vitamins, minerals, and superfoods.
LyfeFuel comes with 25 g protein per serving, but falls a bit short in the fiber department with only 2 g.
LyfeFuel tasts great too and mixes well, but again, doesn’t come in nearly as many flavors.
It is quite a bit cheaper though, coming in with a 1x purchase price of around $2.08/serving.
Final Thoughts
Based on these other similar products, I think HV holds its own pretty well.
It’s a bit on the pricey side, but there are certainly more expensive vegan powders out there.
And in terms of nutrition and ingredients, it has everything we should expect from a quality meal replacement shake.
It’s also surprisingly low-cal and low fat compared to some of the competitors as well.
When it comes to taste, I think HV scores pretty highly – I didn’t love all the flavors I tried, but with so many options to choose from, it wasn’t hard for me to find one I did like.
And I don’t know if this is a coincidence or what, but I will say my stomach felt really good after drinking a shake (I’m prone to stomach issues).
Overall, I think Happy Viking has a great product here and I’d like to thank them again for sending me a sample to try for this review.
If you’re looking for a vegan meal replacement shake with tons of flavors to try, Happy Viking is definitely worth checking out.
