What’s in the Tub
The ingredient list is one line long: pea protein from yellow split peas grown on US and Canadian farms. No sweetener, no gums, no enzymes, no greens, no added vitamins. It’s the plain white T-shirt of protein powder, and Captain Vegan respects a classic.
A serving is 2 scoops (30 g), and that serving delivers 27 g of protein for 120 calories, with 2 g of carbs, 0.5 g of fat, 0 g of added sugar and 110 mg of sodium. Read that twice: the 27 g is for two scoops, not one, so a single scoop gives you about half. A 5 lb tub holds about 76 servings, which is why the cost per gram stays so low.
There’s a published amino-acid profile, too: a label transcription lists about 2.5 g of leucine per serving. Pea protein on its own runs lower in methionine than some blends, per Healthline, so shoppers who want several plant proteins in one shake should look at a multi-source powder. Want flavor? Naked sells Vanilla, Chocolate and other versions as separate products sweetened with coconut sugar. This review covers only the unflavored tub.
Taste and Texture: What Reviewers Say
Unflavored pea tastes like, well, peas. Healthline’s tester called the unflavored version a good basic option but wouldn’t drink it plain, and reported that it “blended well with plain almond milk.” BarBend named Naked Pea its best-tasting pea protein and gave it 4 out of 5 for solubility, but warned it “may have a slightly gritty texture,” and noted the unflavored version can taste strongly of pea.
Other reviews are mixed. VegFAQs rated the chocolate version 10 out of 25 for taste, calling it very chalky with an unpleasant aftertaste, but that’s a different, sweetened product. Garage Gym Reviews summed up opinions on both taste and mixability as mixed. The common complaints: an earthy pea flavor, a chalky or gritty texture, and the two-scoop serving.
Captain Vegan’s advice: treat it like flour, not like a milkshake. Its job is to hide inside a smoothie with banana, cocoa and plant milk, and our recipes page has plenty of hiding spots.
Safety and Testing
Naked Pea is Informed Choice certified and appears on Informed Choice’s November 2026 list. That program screens for banned substances, which matters to drug-tested athletes, but it isn’t a heavy-metal test.
Consumer Reports did not test Naked Pea in its October 2025 protein report. It did test Naked’s Vegan Mass Gainer, a different product with a 315 g serving, which came in at 1,572% of CR’s lead level of concern and landed on CR’s Products to Avoid list. That result belongs to the gainer, not to this tub.
Naked says Naked Pea is independently third-party tested for heavy metals, but it publishes no per-lot results, so its actual lead levels are unconfirmed. One loose end: Naked’s website files the pea protein in its NSF Certified collection, yet NSF’s own listing for the company showed no pea protein when checked on November 3, 2026, and Naked told CR in October 2025 that it was still working on NSF certification. Treat NSF as unconfirmed.
On the legal side, California Prop 65 notices (allegations, not findings) have named other Naked products, including its brown rice protein, greens and seed protein, and those notices were withdrawn. No notice naming unflavored Naked Pea turned up, and no recalls either. The 2026 heavy-metal complaints an advocacy site lists for Naked concern the Vegan Mass Gainer.
How It Scored
Protein: 24/25. 27 g per serving earns 9 of 10 points for grams, and with 90% of its calories coming from protein it takes the full 10 for density. The published amino profile adds the full 5. That’s the top protein score in our top 10.
Value: 25/25. No powder in our top 10 delivers 20 g of protein for less. The 5 lb tub does the heavy lifting, so your wallet gets to skip leg day.
Purity: 19/25. Every powder starts at 15, and Informed Choice adds 4. There’s no Consumer Reports result to add or subtract and no open legal notice, but also no published batch numbers, which would have been worth 2 more. That 19 ties Garden of Life RAW Organic for the best purity score in our top 10.
Taste: 16/25. Unflavored powder has no flavor for reviewers to grade, and the chocolate scores belong to a different product, so taste gets our neutral score: 12 of 20 points, the same 60% any powder gets without an independent taste score. Mixing earns 4 of 5 from BarBend’s solubility rating. Full details are on how we rank.
How It Compares
Vega Protein + Recovery (#2, 72/100) packs more protein, 30 g in a 41 g scoop, plus NSF Certified for Sport status and real flavor. But Consumer Reports measured its chocolate at 185% of CR’s lead level of concern (October 2025), also flagged cadmium, and it costs more per gram of protein.
Purely Inspired Organic (#3, 70/100) is the pick if you want flavor on a budget: French Vanilla, USDA Organic, a veggie blend and probiotics. It’s the second-cheapest protein in our top 10, though it delivers 20 g in a 34 g scoop and uses stevia.
If taste comes first, Ritual Essential Protein (#7, 63/100) has the highest taste score in our top 10, 22 out of 25, but also the lowest value score. See our best-tasting picks. Naked Pea’s pitch is simpler: more protein for less money, and you supply the flavor.