The 5 Best BCAA & EAA Supplements In 2025: Our Tested Reviews

Amino acids jump start the muscle recovery process. In fact, the main amino acid in BCAAs is L-Leucine. This is the key that starts the mTOR engine to aid in muscle recovery.

Post exercise muscle soreness, known as DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, can be reduced significantly with proper amino acid supplementation. A study by the University of Birmingham confirms this.

When you participate in high intensity exercises or endurance activities, your glycogen stores get depleted rather quickly. This is what our body uses for fuel. Once our stores are depleted, the body looks to use other sources for fuel. A 2011 study showed that when you supplement with amino acids it will protect your glycogen stores allowing you a 17.2% increase in the time it takes you to exhaustion.

Amino acids, specifically branched chain amino acids, have been shown to increase protein synthesis and regulate protein metabolism. By doing these two things, BCAAs directly impact muscle growth.

Supplementing with BCAAs and amino acids allows your body to save the glycogen stores and utilize fats for energy. The more fat you burn, the more fat you lose.

Supplementing with BCAAs and amino acids allows your body to save the glycogen stores and utilize fats for energy. The more fat you burn, the more fat you lose.

When you reduce your fatigue, increase your performance, reduce muscle soreness and improve recovery time, you will ultimately be improving your overall performance.

What Should You Look For in a BCAA Brand?

Amino acids come in a lot of shapes, sizes, flavors, etc. So what is is exactly that you need to look for in amino acid supplements? We can understand the confusion, and when supplement companies do not fully disclose their amino acid sources, or use fancy marketing terms, it can throw you off your game.

We break down several bullet points you should look for when selecting the optimal amino acid product for you. Find what is most important to you and your goals, and select the product that closely matches that. At the end of the day, the selection should come down to what is most important to you, as the consumer, the person with the checkbook. Do not let “marketing” win. Let science prevail.

What are the Different Types of Amino Acids?

We briefly touched on this before, but the type of amino acid you choose is very important. In the sports nutrition industry, there are two types of amino acids that are present in supplements: Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) and Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). Read our BCAA vs EAA article for more information on this.

Branched chain amino acids ARE essential amino acids. However, BCAAs are most widely used before, during and after exercise to aid in muscle recovery, repair and growth. Branched chain amino acids are L-Leucine, L-Valine and L-Isoleucine.

Essential amino acids are nine of the 20 amino acids required by the body. The big difference between EAAs and the “other” amino acids are that EAAs cannot be produced by the body and must be obtained from food sources or supplements.

What Ratio BCAA is Best?

Numerous scientific studies show that the 2:1:1 ratio of BCAA (two parts L-Leucine to one part L-Valine and one part L-Isoleucine) is the optimal ratio for muscle recovery, repair and regrowth. The 2:1:1 ratio BCAA supplements should be sought out for pre, intra and post workout.

Over the years, many supplement companies have been releasing products with various ratios. We’ve see ratios of 3:1:1, 4:1:1, 6:1:1 and 10:1:1. L-Leucine is a phenomenal BCAA, but it is also the “cheapest” of the BCAAs to produce. We want to ensure that you are not overpaying for a supplement based on marketing that these products are superior to the 2:1:1 ratio. There are some great products that do alter the ratio, but they are not ideal for consumption in and around your workout.

BCAA Sources

What supplement companies do not want you to know is where the amino acids are derived from. Let’s focus in on BCAAs. If the label does not say, “Fermented,” then your BCAAs may come from places you wish wasn’t true.

Non-fermented BCAAs typically come from bird beaks, bird feathers, pig carcasses, human hair and other areas we wish wasn’t true. With that said, this has been the primary source of BCAAs we’ve been consuming for years. The truth is that we will still be consuming BCAA and amino sources derived from these. Why? We cannot tell the difference at a consumer level, and, even though it is gross, they are still beneficial to muscle recovery, repair and regrowth.

If you see the term “Fermented’ on the label, then you can sleep easily. This means that the amino acids were derived from vegas sources (i.e. plants and vegetables). These typically do not taste as good as non-fermented (how can that be…non-fermented comes from bird feathers – but it is true) so these products will typically be less favorable on taste or use more ingredients to mask the poor taste.

Ultimately it is up to you. Fermented aminos will be more expensive than those that are not fermented. The choice is yours.

BCAA Energy Ingredients

Optimum Nutrition started the energized amino acid category with Amino Energy. Now, many companies are hopping on this train. Energized amino acids are a great alternative to coffee. They provide you with a good amount of amino acids (some better than others) and the ingredients needed to boost energy and focus. Here are some energy ingredients to look for in amino acids:

• Caffeine: caffeine does come in various forms, the most popular is Caffeine Anhydrous. Other forms include Infinergy a.k.a. Di-Caffeine Malate and Caffeine Citrate. You may see some company’s utilize a combination of the three. They do this to provide instant energy (Caffeine Anhydrous) and then provide slow-acting energy as you workout (Di-Caffeine Malate). There are no clinical dosages on stimulants, but you will typically see caffeine dosed around 200-350mg per serving. A black cup of coffee contains 90mg of caffeine.
• Coffee Bean: A natural source of caffeine that you would find in a cup of your morning java is Green Coffee Bean. Many companies prefer to use natural sources of caffeine.
• Green Tea Extract: Another source of natural caffeine. Green Tea Extract has been primarily used in fat loss products, but it does provide sufficient energy without a nasty crash.

Pump Ingredients

Arnold Schwarzenegger is famous for his bodybuilding and acting career, but also for his line in “Pumping Iron” when he talks about the Pump being the equivalent to sex. The “pump” provides so much more than just an amazing look to your physique. In fact, the pump plays a much larger role. When you obtain a good pump from an amino acid, it means blood is flowing into your muscles bringing them essential nutrients they need to repair, recover and regrow. The following ingredients are popular pump activating ingredients to look for in your amino acid supplement:

• L-Citrulline: this might be the most popular pump ingredient found in pre-workouts. There are various forms of L-Citrulline but they all work the same way to contribute to an increased pump. Clinical dosages of L-Citrulline is 6g.
• HydroMax/GlycerSize (Glycerol Powder): this powder increases the concentration of fluids in your muscles. More and more pre-workout powders are using Glycerol Powder a.k.a. HydroMax or GlycerSize as part of their pump enhancing complex. Dosage will vary as there is not a clinical dosage at this time.

Remember, the pump is more than just the look. It is important to your overall growth and physique. Obtain the pump you want through an effective amino acid supplement containing pump activating ingredients.

Endurance Ingredients

If you’re an endurance athlete, you may not want all of the ingredients that promote strength or pump. You may just want ingredients that will help your heart beat longer at faster rates through the use of supplementation. The following ingredients are used in in amino acid supplements to help with improving your endurance:

• Caffeine: this is an energy ingredient, but it also works with your central nervous system to provide cognitive benefits and increased endurance. For an endurance athlete, you do not need 200+mg dosage. A dosage of 150mg would suffice. Many times there are other forms of caffeine meant to last longer than Caffeine Anhydrous.
• Beta-Alanine: didn’t we say this was for strength gains? Yes we did, but Beta-Alanine has also been show to improve endurance. Dosage should be at 3.2g.
• Taurine: another ingredient we mentioned under strength ingredients, but Taurine also contributes to overall improved endurance. You would want to supplement with 500-2,000mg of Taurine to be effective.
• ElevATP: this is a newer ingredient with a lot of science behind it, that has been proven to enhance mitochondrial ATP production (which is what our body uses for energy). We look for ElevATP to be dosed at 150mg.
• Peak O2: another unique, newer ingredient proven to enhance endurance. Peak O2 fights damage from oxidative stress in the body, helping athletes train longer, recover faster and leading to more oxygen uptake. No standard dosage exists but look for this to be 500-1,000mg.

As an endurance athlete, you must look for ingredients that will help contribute to your type of training as it is vastly different than strength training. In fact, a whole other muscle type (slow-twice aka Type 1) is being trained.

Taste and Flavor

Taste is of great importance to this category because you’re typically drinking amino acids throughout the day. Unlike a pre-workout, in which you chug, amino acids are meant to be sipped. Thus, taste is very important.

Fermented amino acids will typically taste worse than non-fermented amino acids. It is important to look at flavoring agents in an amino acid product like Citric Acid, Malic Acid and Sucralose.