As a professional food taste tester and human being who requires nutrients to subsist, I spend a decent amount of time in the grocery store cereal aisle. But over the course of my many visits, I failed to really appreciate just how many Cheerios flavors there are on those cereal aisle shelves. There are Cheerios that look like Froot Loops (kinda). Cheerios with nuts and granola bits in them. Cheerios that have vegetables in them for some reason (spoiler: They taste bad).
The best Cheerios flavors look and taste like Cheerios. They should embrace that toasty, oaty flavor that’s made Cheerios beloved by everyone from babies to people old enough to have issues with their cholesterol—but they can have a little fun, too. For this taste test, we tried 14 Cheerios flavors that ranged from “why did you make this?” to “can I have some more?” Here are the best Cheerios we found in our taste test.
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- Cheerios Veggie Blends Apple Strawberry
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Cheerios Veggie Blends appear to be designed to trick children into eating vegetables. If you are an adult and you can eat a salad once in a while without throwing a tantrum, you can probably skip these. These Cheerios contain sweet potato powder, carrot powder, apple puree, and spinach powder. That would be fine if the Apple Strawberry flavoring managed to mask the various added nutrients, but that isn’t the case. These Cheerios taste like baby food…because they are baby food. They’re also made with an oat and corn blend that changes the texture, and not in a good way.
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- Cheerios Veggie Blends Blueberry Banana
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This Cheerios flavor is basically as bad as the Veggie Blends Apple Strawberry, but these rank higher because I kind of liked the very blueberry forward flavor. Alas, we didn’t have many other nice things to say about them. This variety of Veggie Blends contains spinach powder, and if you’re a person who avoids the green chips in a bag of veggie crisps, you probably won’t be into this. Honestly, all the Cheerios flavors are at least a little bit good, but why buy these when there are so many other more delicious options?
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- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios
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A lot of chocolate and peanut butter cereals—Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Krispies, Reese’s Puffs—are either corn- or rice-based. Both of those grains have a nice, neutral flavor profile that works as a vehicle for chocolate and/or peanut butter. Personally, I think oats work less well. We opened the bag and immediately thought this Cheerios flavor smelled like peanut butter dog treats, which isn’t ideal. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios don’t taste terrible, but I certainly wouldn’t buy them again.
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- Strawberry Banana Cheerios
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If you like faux banana flavor, you might enjoy this Cheerios flavor, but we didn’t dig it. The strawberry flavor is too tangy and strange. If you want berry-flavored Cheerios, there are two much better options further down on this list.
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- Multi Grain Cheerios
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I remembered loving Multi Grain Cheerios because they come lightly sweetened, but I was reminded of their shortcomings upon revisiting them for this taste test. Along with little oat hoops, you get corn hoops and rice hoops. They’re a little crunchier, but they’re also drier. And sweetness aside, they just don’t taste as good as regular oat-based Cheerios.
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- Cheerios Oat Crunch Berry
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Cheerios Oat Crunch = Cheerios + oats, which makes the cereal more like a granola situation. There are a few Cheerios Oat Crunch options, and they’re all quite sweet, but this was the sweetest of the bunch, which is why it ranks lowest. It’s still pretty good, but if you are interested in a Cheerios flavor that’s a granola hybrid, there are better options on this list.
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- Very Berry Cheerios
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Very Berry Cheerios smell like Sun-RIpened Raspberry Body Splash from Bath & Body Works, and I gotta admit that, as a ‘90s guy, I kinda like it. The Cheerios have a sweet berry-flavored coating that’s very delicious. It’s a pretty strong berry flavor, but it avoids berry-flavored-vitamin territory. We really liked these, but I can see the strong berry essence being too much for some people.
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- Cheerios Oat Crunch Cinnamon
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If you like cinnamon cereal, you’ll like this. I think it’s delicious, but it’s also very spiced. Cinnamon can be controversial, so it might be too bitter for some people. If you like sweet cereal and warm flavor profiles, you’ll probably like this. I’ll take a cinnamon cereal over a pumpkin spice cereal any day of the week.
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- Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats ‘n Honey
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Honey Nut Cheerios are (spoiler alert) the GOAT, so I had high hopes for this version of Cheerios Oat Crunch. But they just can’t compete. Like the rest of the Oat Crunch varieties, this is very sweet and much heavier than straight Cheerios. I like the Cheerios Oat Crunch lineup (one of them landed in the top two), but this one simply made me question whether I needed more oats in my oat-based cereal. But if you like those really crumbly Nature Valley oats and honey bars, you’ll like this.
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- Cheerios Hearty Nut Medley Maple Cinnamon
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Of all the Cheerios flavors we tried, this one has the most going on, for better or worse. Along with the little oat hoops you know and love, this cereal has nuts as well as flakes. The flakes are good! They’re coated in a sweetener that tastes good and keeps them from instantly getting soggy—Clark Griswold would be proud! The maple is more prominent than the cinnamon, and I like that very classic, breakfast-y flavor profile. If you want Cheerios that aren’t just Cheerios, try these.
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- Frosted Cheerios
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Remember Rice Krispies Treats Cereal? It was basically chunks of Rice Krispies all glued together with a sweet, marshmallow-y frosting, and it rocked. Well, if Cheerios had a baby with Rice Krispies Treats Cereal, it would taste something like this. The vanilla-tinged frosting nicely complements the oaty flavor of the Cheerios themselves. It’s sugary, yes, but it’s actually not that much more sugary than Honey Nut Cheerios. Treat yourself.
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- Fruity Cheerios
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Fruit Cheerios smell like Froot Loops, but they have a much more muted color palette. My colleague Emily Fleming said they look like Wes Anderson’s version of Froot Loops. Still, the flavor is very familiar and highly nostalgic. I really like that these taste like Froot Loops, but are easier to eat because they’re made with oats instead of corn, which can tend to scrape the roof of your mouth. They’re pretty fun. And that good, citrusy flavor makes the milk taste nice and refreshing, too.
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- Cheerios
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What can I say about Cheerios that hasn’t already been said? They’re a classic for a reason! The oaty flavor profile might not be exciting, but it’s toasty and delicious all the same. Put some respect on this cereal’s name!
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- Cheerios Oat Crunch Almond
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We’ve had a lot to say about Cheerios line of Oat Crunch cereals. Yes, they’re very sweet and a bit heavy, but this almond flavor really worked for us. Of all the Cheerios flavors in the Oat Crunch line, this is the best, in part because the almond flavor is so bright and cherry-like that it makes the cereal feel less filling. I brought this box home and finished it in no time. Swap this in for granola in your morning bowl of yogurt.
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- Honey Nut Cheerios
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Besides being the best of all the Cheerios flavors, I would gladly argue that Honey Nut Cheerios are one of the best breakfast cereals, period. The flavor profile is perfect, even if I don’t think that “nut” is very well represented. The honey flavor is the perfect complement to the toasty, oaty cereal. I eat Honey Nut Cheerios almost every day, either with milk or by the fistful straight from the box. If it’s been a while since you’ve had them, it’s time to buy a box.
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Best Cheerios Flavor!
