Why Mass Gainer Tastes Bad (How To Make It Taste Better)

Although many skinny people swear by mass gainer, it’s no secret that most mass gainers taste awful.

Here’s why mass gainer tastes bad:

Mass gainer tastes bad due to the BCAAs and creatine. These are both bitter tasting which gives mass gainer a bad taste. Also, the artificial flavors can leave an unnatural taste in your mouth.

In this article, we cover which ingredients cause mass gainer to taste bad, whether all mass gainers taste bad, how to make mass gainer taste better, and more!

Which Ingredients In Mass Gainer Taste Bad?

Creatine

Creatine is a natural compound that’s found in fish and red meat.

It’s included in many mass gainers as it helps you gain muscle mass, and it increases your water weight too.

Now, if you’ve ever tasted pure creatine mixed with water, I’m sure you’ll appreciate just how bitter it is.

So if your mass gainer has an unpleasant bitter taste, you can partly blame the creatine!

Artificial Flavors

Many mass gainers are sold in odd flavors like white chocolate raspberry.

To make these unique flavors, the mass gainer manufacturers add a variety of artificial flavors.

But in my eyes, these artificial flavors have such an unnatural chemical taste that they make you want to spit it out!

BCAAs

BCAAs are the 3 essential amino acids valine, leucine and isoleucine.

Some mass gainers include BCAAs as they help with protein synthesis.

But like creatine, BCAAs have a nasty bitter taste.

What Does Mass Gainer Taste Like?

The taste of mass gainer mainly boils down to what flavor it is.

But to create these flavors, a ton of artificial flavors are added which gives mass gainers a chemical taste.

Also, mass gainers have a ton of artificial sweeteners to combat the bitterness of the BCAAs and creatine, so many taste bittersweet.

The mixer you use plays a big part as well.

Using milk to mix the powder will give it more of a creamy taste, whereas water will give it more of a bitter taste.

Should Mass Gainer Taste Bad?

If your mass gainer has creatine and BCAAs, then it should definitely have some bitterness to it.

(I’d be quite sceptical of the quality of any mass gainer that has creatine and BCAAs, but isn’t bitter.)

Do All Mass Gainers Taste Bad?

It’s unlikely that all mass gainers taste bad.

One reason is that some mass gainers are free from BCAAs, creatine and artificial flavors.

Since these are the ingredients that give mass gainers their infamous taste, then without them, it should taste fine.

Another thing to consider is that we’re all biologically unique, and so we all process tastes differently.

For example, Mass Gainer A may taste nice to me, but horrible to you.

Whereas Mass Gainer B may taste nice to you, but horrible to me.

Which Are Worst Tasting Flavors Of Mass Gainer?

In my eyes, the more vibrant the flavor, the worse it’s going to taste.

Why?

Well, as covered earlier, the manufactures add a ton of artificial flavors to create these vibrant flavors.

So as a result, they’re more likely to have an unnatural, chemical taste to them.

Whereas mass gainers with a simple flavor like chocolate will have less chemicals added to it, so it should have a more natural pleasant taste.

How To Make Mass Gainer Taste Better

Mix It With Milk

A quick fix that pretty much everyone can do is to mix your mass gainer with milk instead of water.

This will give it a creamier taste and will help mask some of the bitterness.

(For those who are vegan/lactose intolerant, you can mix it with your favorite non-dairy milk, whether that’s soy or almond!)

Mix It In A Blender

What’s worse than a mass gainer shake that tastes like crap?

Answer: A lumpy mass gainer shake that tastes like crap.

While you can get away with mixing your mass gainer shake in a protein shaker, ideally you want to mix it up in a blender.

This will make it much easier to drink, and get rid of any potent lumps that have a strong taste.

Add Some Fresh Fruit

Let’s say you’ve bought some strawberry flavored mass gainer.

And it doesn’t taste great.

Well, one thing you can do is add some strawberries to it and mix it up in a blender.

Not only will this make it taste more like strawberries, but the added sweetness will help mask the bitter taste of the BCAAs and creatine.

A win-win in my eyes!

What To Do If Your Mass Gainer Tastes Bad

Hold Your Nose While Drinking It

Here’s a fun fact for you:

Your sense of smell is responsible for 80% of what you taste.

So why not use that fact to your advantage?

By simply holding your nose while drinking your mass gainer, you can mask most of the taste!

Make Your Own Mass Gainer

At a basic level, mass gainers are just a high-protein, high-calorie powder that you make into a shake.

Well the good news is you can make a high-protein, high-calorie shake with just food.

For example, blending the below ingredients together will make an awesome homemade mass gainer:

• Milk
• Fruit and berries
• Oats
• Flaxseed oil
• Whey protein
• Nuts
• Honey
• Yoghurt
• Cream

Buy A Different One

If you’ve tried every other solution and still aren’t satisfied, then I guess your last option is to just buy a new mass gainer.

Simples.

Conclusion

In summary:

• Weight gainer supplements have a bad taste as they often contain creatine and BCAAs which are bitter.
• Some mass gainer supplements have a sickly-sweet taste due to their high artificial sweetener content.

That’s all for this article, but should you take mass gainer before or after workout? Or you may be wondering why are mass gainers so expensive?

Sources

Smell-Taste Connection