All the Best Cereal at the Grocery Store from Our Taste Tests

Whole grain cereal might sound boring, but this Kashi cereal won us over with its variety of textures. There are sandy bits. There are clumps. There are rice puffs and oats. It’s almost granola—but not quite. The flavor wowed us, too—honeyed with a hint of cinnamon. Plus, it has 9 grams of protein per serving, so you won’t crash an hour after breakfast.

Read our full ranking of the best whole grain cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9.5/10

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Best Cereal for Kids

Nature’s Path Organic Envirokidz Peanut Butter Panda Puffs

When we set out to look for the best cereal for kids, we were looking for cereals that taste really good, are fun to eat, and aren’t totally packed with sugar (okay, fine, we included some sugar-packed ones on our list, too). This Nature’s Path cereal won us over with its light crunch, sweet (but not cloying) peanut buttery flavor, and its cute-as-hell box. The crispy-crunchy peanut butter-flavored morsels have a nice honey finish. It’s a very delicious cereal. And if any child (or adult, really) can resist the adorable panda on the box, get their vitals checked! If you see a fluffy little panda in the cereal aisle, pick him up!

Read our full ranking of the best cereal for kids

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

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Best Healthy Cereal

Special K

Target

I know, I know. “Healthy cereal” is pretty vague. But when we were on the hunt for the best “healthy cereal,” we were simply looking for accessible options that taste good and aren’t egregiously awful for us. Special K might not be a nutritionist’s idea of a “health” food, but it’s lower in sugar than other cereals—and, most importantly, it tastes good. Of all the cereals we tried that come in flake form, this was the absolute best overall, thanks to a winning combo of rice, wheat, and barley that tastes great and stands up nicely to milk. If you want a burst of berry flavor, we recommend slicing up your own rather than relying on the sugary freeze-dried berries that come in some boxes of Special K.

Read our full ranking of the best corn flakes cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

9.5/10

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Best Protein Cereal

Protein Cheerios Cinnamon

A bunch of brands have released protein cereals in the past couple of years and they’re pretty hit or miss. Some taste too much like protein powder. Others are sweetened with things like monkfruit, which can have a flavor that lingers. Others still could absolutely be confused with packing peanuts. Cheerios nailed it by hewing as closely to their original product as possible. Mostly, these just taste like the Cheerios you know and love, and the cinnamon flavor is really warm and lovely. Worth noting: While a lot of protein cereals are low sugar (likely so they can also be low carb), Protein Cheerios are just as sugary as other flavored Cheerios.

Read the full ranking of the best protein cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

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Best Fiber Cereal

Cascadian Farm Organic Hearty Morning Fiber Cereal

With a name like “Hearty Morning Fiber,” this cereal from Cascadian Farm has to be good for the ol’ constitution. It doesn’t pack as much fiber as some other cereals on the list (10 grams versus 18 grams in Fiber One Original, for instance), but this one manages to be high fiber, taste really good, and inolve a lot of different textures. “Each box contains a mix of lightly sweet whole wheat flakes, nutty bran sticks, and delightfully crunchy granola clusters,” Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling wrote in her ranking of the best fiber cereal. It’s crunchy, filling, and one of the best cereals you can buy if you’re looking to give your digestive system a boost.

Read our full ranking of the best fiber cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9.5/10

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Best Corn Flakes

Kroger Corn Flakes

Ralphs

If we’ve learned anything here at Sporked, it’s that you should never underestimate the power of generic products. These Kroger Corn Flakes? Fantastic. They burst with toasty corn flavor that pairs wonderfully with milk for a tasty bowl of cereal to start your morning. Better yet, coat your chicken bake in these flakes, top them with some hot honey, and get ready for a symphony of crispy, spicy, comforting flavors in every bite. Yes, these are better than Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.

Read our full ranking of the best corn flakes cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs

Rating:

10/10

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Best Chocolate Cereal

Cocoa Pebbles

It’s kind of lame how many chocolate cereals don’t taste all that much like chocolate. Cocoa Pebbles, however, live up to their chocolatey promise. If you want a chocolate cereal that’s downright desserty, this is for you.

Read our full ranking of the best chocolate cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

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Best Fruity Cereal

Fruity Pebbles

Target

We’re big Pebbles fans here at Sporked, so when we taste tested fruity cereals, it wasn’t a huge surprise when Fruity Pebbles was the best cereal we tried. The little flakes are so crunchy and light. The flavor is super fruity and the smell is utterly intoxicating and nostalgic. That big, fruity flavor and aroma gave Pebbles an edge over Trix, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and other childhood breakfast faves.

Read our ranking of the best fruity cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

10/10

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Best Marshmallow Cereal

Honey Maid S’mores Cereal

This might just be a mix of Golden Grahams and Cocoa Puffs with some marshmallows in the mix, but it sure is delicious. In every bite you get sweet, honey-tinged graham flavor along with the chocolatey morsels and pops of sweetness and lots of crunch from the marshmallows. This is obviously good in milk, but we’re pretty hooked on eating it dry, too.

Read the full ranking of the best marshmallow cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

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Best Keto Cereal

Catalina Crunch Cinnamon Toast Keto Friendly Cereal

Abiding by a keto diet doesn’t have to mean cutting out cereal. But proceed with caution: A lot of the low-carb cereals are not worth your breakfast bucks. During our taste test, we were looking for keto cereals that could trick us into thinking they weren’t keto cereals, and that’s how Catalina Crunch Cinnamon Toast ended up in the top spot. The texture is very crunchy, but that helps it stay crispy in milk. And it’s made with alternative sweeteners so the flavor is definitely different than regular CTC, but the cinnamon notes are great all the same. This was the only keto cereal that got taken home after our keto cereal taste test.

Read our full ranking of the best keto cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

9/10

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Best TJ’s Cereal

Just the Clusters Maple Pecan Granola Cereal

There’s a lot to choose from in the Trader Joe’s cereal aisle, but this hearty, maple-y granola (with flakes!) won everyone over. We thought maple granola cereal might hew a little sweet for our tastes, but that wasn’t the case at all. This has a great balance of flavors, and the sweetness of the granola clusters is offset by the earthy bitterness of the pecans. This would be a luxurious spa day breakfast with some yogurt, sliced banana, and honey. And it’s from TJ’s, so it’s the kind of luxury that comes cheap.

Read our full ranking of the best Trader Joe’s cereals

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

10/10

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Best Aldi Cereal

Millville Honey Wheat Puffs

We taste tested every single box of cereal we could find at our local Aldi store, and this Honey Smacks dupe was the best cereal we tried. It has a fresh, perfectly balanced honey flavor. A crispy yet delicately crunchy texture. And it’s roughly half the cost of name-brand cereal. And an adorable green dragon mascot? What’s not to love?

Read our full ranking of the best Aldi cereals

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Rating:

10/10

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Best Granola

Purely Elizabeth Original Ancient Grain Granola

If you’re looking for the perfect granola—no flakes, just straight-up granola—Purely Elizabeth has you covered. Yes, the brand’s name sounds like a Jodi Picoult novel or something, but they know granola. The bag is full of plump clusters of salty-sweet oats and grains (amaranth, quinoa, chia seeds), and a hint of cinnamon that complements the natural sweetness of coconut sugar” This one has French toast vibes and we love it.

Read our full ranking of the best granola

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

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Best Keto Granola

Purely Elizabeth Grain-Free Vanilla Almond Butter Nut Granola

Is granola still granola if it’s made without grains or sugar? Well, that’s debateable, but it also hasn’t stopped keto granola from existing. And no surprise here: Our favorite granola brand also makes the best keto granola. Instead of oats, it’s packed with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, coconut flakes, almond butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and chia seeds. It’s all killer, no filler, really—and it only has 4g sugar per serving.

Read the full ranking of the best keto granola

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Rating:

10/10

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Best Magic Spoon

Magic Spoon Fruity

Magic Spoon

If you exist on Instagram, you’ve probably been served an ad for Magic Spoon cereal somewhere between one and five million times. And if you happen to enjoy cereal, you’ve probably been intrigued by its cute packaging, fun flavors, and promise of high protein and no sugar. But when we sat down to taste test every flavor of Magic Spoon we could get our hands on, Fruity was our favorite by far. These little hoops of milk protein, oil, and tapioca starch have that precise citrusy tang that sends you back to elementary school. If you’ve been looking for a low-sugar cereal that won’t make breakfast a bummer, this is a great option.

Read our full ranking of the best Magic Spoon Cereal

Credit: Liv Averett / Magic Spoon

Rating:

9.5/10

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Best Pumpkin Spice Cereal

Pumpkin Spice Frosted Flakes

Target

We should’ve known from his little bandana—which is basically an infinity scarf—that Tony the Tiger was really a fall girlie. While Frosted Flakes on their own are already delectable, crispy, corny morsels, they pair perfectly with pumpkin spice. The flavor goes deeper than the surface-level, cinnamon-forward taste of pumpkin spice. It has a maple element to it, making it a fully realized fall treat in a bowl of cereal. Skip the PSL and try these when they (hopefully) return to stores this fall.

Read our full ranking of the best pumpkin spice cereal

Credit: Merc / Target

Rating:

10/10

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Best Monster Cereal

Count Chocula

Yet another reason to look forward to spooky season, along with the horror movie marathons, Halloween parties, and cooler evenings: General Mills’ Monster cereals return to stores. We’ve tasted them all, but Count Chocula continues to be the one we grab as soon as we see it in the fall. The morsels are a bit airier than Cocoa Puffs, but they’re just as chocolatey. And the marshmallows are chocolatey, too! Grab a few extra boxes. You’ll thank yourself later.

Read the full ranking of Monster cereals

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Rating:

10/10

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Best Oatmeal

Better Oats Organic Bare

If you’re already browsing the cereal aisle, you might as well grab our favorite oatmeal, too. (It’s right there on the shelf.) We don’t like eating straight mush for breakfast—but Better Oats Organic Bare Oatmeal has “personality in every bite,” according to Justine, our resident oatmeal enthusiast. This stuff is extra hearty, packed with a variety of grains like barley, wheat, rye, and quinoa. It’s textural bliss in a sea of boring, monotonous mush.

Read our full ranking of the best plain best plain oatmeal

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Rating:

10/10

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Best Flavored Oatmeal

Signature Select Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal

Who needs therapy when you can have Signature Select’s Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal? We’re kidding, obviously, even if this is more cost effective. But really, this oatmeal is comfort, reassurance, and a great big hug all in just a couple minutes of cook time. It’s rich in maple flavor that’s balanced with a hint of salt all in a wonderfully creamy mixture of oats. This isn’t a bowl of bland mush or a piping hot sugar rush. This is a deliciously complex bowl of oats here to remind you with every spoonful: life is going to be okay.

Read our full ranking of the best flavored oatmeal

Credit: Ryan Martin / Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

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Best Overnight Oats

Brekki Bananas & Maple Brown Sugar