Top 20 Best Cereals of All Time

We all know that some of the tastiest and most retroactively appreciated cereals ever created contain tons of sugar. We’re not fooling ourselves into thinking otherwise, yet the Corn Pops brand has endured a history of taking the word “sugar” in and out of their name. That said, a cereal by any other name (be it Sugar Corn Pops, “Pops” or our beloved Corn Pops) would still taste as sweet. These little pillows of puffed corn possess an undeniable appeal that keeps us coming back for bowl after bowl of the good stuff.

#19: Life

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The worlds of advertising and breakfast cereals have always had a symbiotic relationship. Kids have long been targeted on Saturday mornings by every toy and breakfast food company in the game, all vying for parents’ hard-earned grocery money. Back in the day, Life cereal went with a particularly effective campaign featuring “Mikey,” a little boy with a hard-to-please palette. “Mikey likes it!” became the calling card for Life cereal’s ostensibly pleasant texture, hearty ingredients and tasty sweetness. This wasn’t marketed as an overtly cloying breakfast experience, but a more nuanced bowl of goodness that could make both kids and parents happy.

Are you a chocolatey cereal person, or a fruity cereal person? If you answered affirmatively to the latter option, then it’s highly likely that you LOVED eating Trix as a kid. Your parents probably weren’t too thrilled, however, since this cereal didn’t even pretend to be anything but garishly colored sugar puffs in a bowl. These fruit-flavored puffs were pungently aromatic, a burst of fruit flavor for those who demanded an extra jolt of energy in the morning. Chocolate lovers out there may not see what all the hype is about with regards to Trix, but if you NEED all of that artificially-flavored goodness in your life, then Trix is for you!

#17: Special K

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Real talk: a lot (okay, almost all) of the cereals on this list are sugar bombs. Special K, however, is something a little (just a little) different. This long-standing Kellogg’s product was actually once marketed to those seeking to lose weight. The “Special K Challenge” outlined a diet, supplemented by servings of Special K cereal, that was intended to shave off six pounds in two weeks. Results, uh, not exactly guaranteed… But, this grain-based cereal did make it easy to imagine indulging in some Special K goodness as part of a tasty breakfast.

#16: Apple Jacks

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This tasty apple-and-cinnamon based cereal was initially introduced back in 1965 under the moniker of Apple O’s. We admit that this name captured a more succinct description of its taste, but today’s consumers know it by another brand: Apple Jacks. That bright green box, those colorful shapes, and that immediately recognizable taste: you just know Apple Jacks when you eat them…and one bowl is almost surely followed by a second. There’s an addictive quality to the sweetness at play here, and the Apple Jacks O hang tough against that milk, eventually passing on their cinnamon-y flavor.

It’s one of those telltale signs of the Halloween season: the introduction of the General Mills monster cereals onto grocery store shelves. Count Chocula has to be considered one of the best, an indulgent treat that is forever paired with falling temperatures and crunchy leaves. Plus, if you’re a marshmallow person (and who isn’t?) then the cocoa-flavored treats included in this cereal are gonna rock your world. We can honestly eat Count Chocula at any time of the year, but we admit that it’s a special tradition that we look forward to every year.

It’s all about texture when it comes to the success story of General Mills’ Chex cereal. The origins of these checkerboard treats actually date back to another manufacturer, Ralston-Purina, where it was marketed under the rather unappealing name of “Shredded Ralston.” Today, Chex’s crisscrossing shape allows it to stand up to milk, while always providing a satisfying crunch. Elsewhere, Chex also serves as something of a universal vessel for both sweet and savory applications. From spicy Chex mix to sugary, Chocolate Chex variants, this brand terminology has got something for everyone.

The average cereal aisle of your everyday grocery store is likely going to be packed from top to bottom with cereals from Kellogg’s, Quaker and General Mills. And then there’s Post’s Honey Bunches of Oats. There’s a nice textural complexity going on with the multiple flakes and oats, all tied together with the sweetness of honey. It’s a far cry from the occasionally cloying flavor profile of some cereals, yet is also not boring. Instead, Honey Bunches of Oats is a cereal that aspires to that “part of a balanced breakfast” tagline so prominently featured in advertising..

It seems so simple, right? Take the basic vector of a corn puff cereal, and then create a concoction inspired by Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. And the end results of Reese’s Puffs cereal deliver on that premise, and more, delivering a dynamic punch of sweetness and flavor. The actual puffs here are crunchy and fun to eat, while the chocolate and peanut butter flavors drive home that candy-inspiration without diving too much into overkill territory. Reese’s Puffs have one job, and they absolutely nail it, bringing a favorite indulgent candy to the breakfast table.

#11: Cookie Crisp

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There’s just no getting around it: Cookie Crisp is a dream snack for Saturday mornings. It’s a textbook example of a cereal knowing its audience, and giving them exactly what they want. After all, who doesn’t want to eat cookies for breakfast? Cookie Crisp gives you that chocolate chip cookie taste and crunch in a bite size form, and they taste amazing in milk. It’s the sort of indulgence that’s tailor made to a bowl (or three) while watching a lineup of your favorite shows, while wearing the comfiest pajamas you own.

There are a number of well-known cereal mascots out there, but Snap, Crackle and Pop from the Rice Krispies brand have got to be among the most iconic. They managed to make an otherwise plain-sounding cereal of puffed rice appealing to kids. This was thanks largely to the noises Rice Krispies make as milk breaks them down. It made breakfast fun, although we will fully cop to sneaking tablespoons of sugar on top of these suckers when we were kids. If we’re being honest, though, Rice Krispies is good any time of day, and the brand has expanded into a wide variety of offshoots over the years, keeping it fresh for new generations.

It’s amazing what humble little corn and rice puffs can do when they’re combined with chocolate, cocoa or sugar. These otherwise innocuous confections get the gold star treatment when Cocoa Puffs enter the chat, since this chocolatey cereal is unapologetic when it comes to wanting a good time. Cocoa Puffs want to be your pal when you’re watching T.V. A comfort when you’re sick. A companion during those late nights or early mornings. Forget for a moment the sugar content at hand, and take yourself back to a more innocent time with that chocolatey cuckoo taste.

We can’t help but wonder how many of those who purchase Post’s Fruity Pebbles cereal on a weekly basis even recognize its source material licensed from the classic “Flintstones” cartoon? Maybe you’re too young to remember the show, but thankfully both Fruity and Cocoa [xref] Pebbles iterations have endured to the modern day. These little bits of puffed rice just possess an addictive texture, and are bolstered by a flavor profile that packs a punch. Post clearly knows what they’re doing when it comes to making Pebbles cereal taste just as good now as it ever did, and that’s no mean feat.

Sure, we know that you can technically purchase Kellogg’s wheat cereals unfrosted, but much healthier options don't really make for nostalgic cravings, right? Especially when the company’s Frosted Mini-Wheats exist. These cereal concoctions are scrumptiously hearty pillows of wheat goodness dusted with an amazing crispy sugar coating. Milk actually makes this cereal taste better, as it breaks down that engaging crunch into a sweetened paste as the biscuits break down. We always eat our bowls of Frosted Mini-Wheats down to the last drop, slurping up that delicious milk.

While on the topic of milk, are you in fact the sort of cereal eater who abandons the milk at the end, or do you savor that sugary liquid gold? We’d be willing to bet that it’s the latter, especially if you’re a Froot Loops person. The fruit blend here is addictive as all get out, and the Froot Loops mascot, Toucan Sam has been selling us on these heavenly rings for years. They stay crunchy in milk, which is huge, but also turn said milk into a multicolored bonanza of fruit flavors that just tastes so good going down. It’s SO good, in fact, that we almost (okay, make that definitely) pour ourselves another bowl. Just don’t tell our doctor.

#5: Cap'n Crunch

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Time is of the essence when it comes to the Quaker Oats Company’s classic cereal, Cap’n Crunch. Eating it dry isn’t so pleasant for the roof of your mouth, and is not highly recommended. Waiting too long will result in an extremely soggy, and probably disappointing, breakfast experience. However, if you time it right, that moment when milk hits a fresh bowl of Cap’n Crunch can be pure magic. Granted, it takes a little work to figure out the “magic hour” of Double C perfection, but Cap’n Crunch mainstays know that it’s all worth it. There’s simply nothing quite like its special texture and flavor.

Marshmallow fanatics may not know this, but Lucky Charms was actually the first breakfast cereal to include these confections, way back in 1964. The original intent was for the cereal to represent charm bracelets, but over the years, Lucky Charms has largely been associated with its leprechaun mascot, Lucky. The “magically delicious” combination of oat pieces and sweetened marshmallows was a winner then, and that tradition continues on today, with Lucky Charms remaining a staple on the breakfast table. The quality control has been remarkable, too, since the crunchy bits retain their unique flavor, while the marshmallows continue to impress us as some of the tastiest options out there in the cereal aisle.

The Cheerios brand [xref] has something for everyone, from the health-conscious to those with an appetite for the deliciously decadent. That said, Honey Nut Cheerios may be the perfect distillation of Cheerios, with enough cross-market appeal to make everyone happy. The sweet honey flavor used to be combined with actual nuts, although today that flavoring is achieved using peach and apricot pit extracts. Still, Honey Nut Cheerios balances out sweetness with a pleasant, oaty aftertaste that allows us to pretend this stuff is part of a healthy diet. It’s proven to be very popular, as well, enduring today as one of the best selling cereals in the United States.

Frosted Flakes cereal possesses a very simple recipe for success. Take your average, everyday corn flake, and dump a whole lotta sugar on top. After all, didn’t the average kid already pour table sugar over their plain corn flakes anyway? Kelloggs was cunning enough to forego that middleman with Frosted Flakes, instead capturing some of the sweetest cereal flavors to ever pass our lips. The brand’s mascot, Tony the Tiger, is iconic to boot. Although we don’t really need Tony to tell us how grrrreat Frosted Flakes are. Still, it doesn’t hurt, right?

The modern-day Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercials pride themselves on the wacky antics of their anthropomorphic cereal squares… squares that cannibalize each other, thanks to their sugary and cinnamon-y goodness. We don’t blame them one bit, either, because Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of those gold medal cereals that everyone seems to like. The flavor profile is indulgent, without the slightest bit of healthy pretense to get in the way of all that tastiness. We recommend eating your bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch quickly. Not only to shovel in that stuff as fast as humanly possible, but also to ensure this cereal’s crunch factor stands up to milk. What’s your favorite breakfast cereal? Shout it out in the comments!