Cheerios might just be the greatest breakfast cereal of all time. Hold on, don’t come for me. Seriously, abandon your nostalgic feelings toward your favorite sugary cereal for one second, if you’re actually going to supplement a meal with a bowl of cereal are you going to reach for the Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Or are you going to grab Cheerios and maybe slice up some banana in the bowl?
You’re probably going for the Cheerios! If not… godspeed!
What makes Cheerios such a near-perfect cereal is that it serves as a neutral base; a canvas for you to build on. Looking to amp up the protein? Throw some chia seeds in the bowl. Looking for a salty component? Peanut butter is a natural pairing. Looking for more protein and flavor? Yogurt that sh*t right up! A bowl of Cheerios serves as a great foundation for more adventurous flavors and you don’t have to worry about turning the result into a clash of awful flavors (nothing pairs well with Captain Crunch or Froot Loops).
If you’re a mid-level Cheerios fan or a single-flavor loyalist, you’ve probably wondered, “What’s with all those other flavors? Are they any good?” We… honestly don’t know. Or didn’t. That’s why we headed out on a quest to taste every Cheerio flavor nationwide. We were surprised to find that there are 18 different varieties of Cheerios in grocery stores now!
Can anything top the original? How sweet does this cereal get? We’re going to answer all these questions. Let’s pour a bowl and eat!
18. Strawberry Banana
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
I don’t like this one. Not even a little bit. There is an overwhelming artificial fruit smell to the whole thing that makes my stomach turn. The strawberry gives the fruit a sweet and slightly tangy flavor that is stained with a weird floral aftertaste from the banana.
Remember the Runts candy? Imagine chewing the strawberry and banana shape at the same time in cereal form and you’ve got Cheerios Strawberry Banana. If you’re thinking that’s a good thing, add milk and oats into the equation. Still sound good? Candy plus milk?
The Bottom Line:
Artificial fruit flavors at their worst.
Buy a box here.
17. Oat Crunch Berry
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Lots of clashing flavors here. The Oat Crunch Cheerios line features a heavy emphasis on oat flavors and that bitter earthiness clashes with the tart flavors of raspberry and blueberry. Once combined, the fruity flavors finish with a bitter aftertaste that… just isn’t complementary.
It tastes like a cereal that is trying to be healthy and sensible but fruity and sweet at the same time and it just can’t stick the landing.
The Bottom Line:
One of the worst flavors in the Oat Crunch line.
Buy a box here.
16. Oat Crunch Almond
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
With 15 grams of sugar, you’d expect this flavor to be sweeter. Instead, it’s heavy on the oat flavors. Off-puttingly so. There are apparently almond shavings in this flavor, and while I can see them, they don’t add much to the overall flavor. If you strain to taste it you can taste just a bit of nuttiness on the backend but not enough to matter to the overall experience.
The Bottom Line:
If you’re picking a box of this stuff up because you love almonds, you’re going to be disappointed. The flavor barely cuts through all the bland oat notes.
Buy a box here.
15. Oat Crunch Cinnamon
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
As I mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the Cheerios Oat Crunch line. Each iteration of the flavor has 15 grams of sugar per serving, which is a lot, and worse than that, it doesn’t really taste all that sweet thanks to the bland oats which tamp down the flavor. This flavor has a nice crunch, but most of it ends up stuck in your teeth. The cinnamon flavor is not that prominent and fails to cut through the heavy oat flavor.
The Bottom Line:
Tastes better as a dry cereal than anything you’d mix with milk.
Buy a box here.
14. Pumpkin Spice Cheerios
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
As far as I’m concerned, this is a throwaway flavor. It tastes like you might expect, a hint of cinnamon, a hint of nutmeg, and an oaty flavor that actually manages to work harmoniously with the flavors of pumpkin spice. It’s a seasonal cereal which isn’t a thing anyone needs or asked for.
The Bottom Line:
If you want to spice things up — pun very much intended — I guess this is an okay way to do it, but it’s not something worth getting excited over.
Buy a box here.
13. Vanilla Spice
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
On its own, Vanilla Spice is a fine flavor. It has a soft vanilla quality that is complemented with a mix of cinnamon and sugar. It’s dessert-like, but not so sweet that it tastes like candy in a bowl. Unfortunately, considering other flavors that Cheerios makes, this one tastes a bit redundant to me.
There are flavors in the Cheerio family that cover this same territory but offer more, so for that reason, we have to keep this one in the middle of the list.
The Bottom Line:
Gentle vanilla notes kissed with cinnamon and sugar. A good flavor, but other Cheerios flavors cover similar ground better.
Buy a box here.
12. Very Berry
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Very Berry? More like “toooooooo much berry PLEASE EASE OFF A TAD!”
Seriously, this flavor is a bit too overwhelming to be a favorite for me. The artificial strawberry smell comes across like strawberry ice cream or a strawberry milkshake and the flavor has strong sweet berry notes with a slightly tangy aftertaste that I find particularly off-putting. It’s not as all over the place as the Strawberry Banana flavor, but it’s not much better either.
The Bottom Line:
Sweet and tangy on the aftertaste. A bit too overwhelming and artificial tasting to be crave-worthy.
Buy a box here.
11. Honey Vanilla
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
This is another one of those flavors that tastes better dry than with milk. The smell is heavily perfumed, which I don’t like, with a strong sweet floral aroma and a delicate flavor. Then everything intensifies the second you add milk — making that delicate sweetness too intense and too similar to the natural flavor of milk.
I can see this working with chocolate milk, but with regular milk, or something plant-based, it’s too sweet to be palatable.
The Bottom Line:
Better dry than with milk. And even dry… not all that great.
Buy a box here.
10. Cinnamon
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
If you’re hoping this is Cheerio’s answer to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, we’re sorry to break it to you — it’s not. The cinnamon is represented much more naturally here, focusing on the spicier qualities of cinnamon and less on the sugar. There is still a hint of sweetness, but it’s very gentle.
It’s a great flavor, but it tastes so plain that I wonder if adding your own cinnamon into a bowl of standard Cheerios wouldn’t yield better results.
The Bottom Line:
Definitely has cinnamon but this is not Cinnamon Toast Crunch in Cheerio form. Expect gentle flavors and mild sweetness here.
Buy a box here.
9. Apple Cinnamon
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
This cereal is Cheerios’ version of Apple Jacks but with a tamer flavor that doesn’t turn your milk into candy. The cereal has a strong cinnamon smell which dominates the overall flavor with a gentle crispy green apple flavor on the aftertaste. A single serving packs 12 grams of sugar which puts it on the sweet cereal side of the spectrum, but the flavor never comes across as overwhelming thanks to the balance from the spicy cinnamon.
The Bottom Line:
A gentler version of Apple Jacks with a focus on spicy cinnamon flavors.
Buy a box here.
8. Oat Crunch Oats & Honey
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
What’s this? An Oat Crunch flavor that I actually like?
I didn’t think it was possible but the Oats and Honey Oat Crunch is easily the best flavor in the Oat Crunch Family. The rustic earthy and bland oat flavor matches perfectly with the floral sweetness of honey, resulting in a cereal with a great flavor and an even better texture. It’s audibly crunch, smells like fresh oatmeal, and tastes delicious!
The Bottom Line:
A flavor that justifies the entire Cheerios Oat Crunch line’s existence.
Buy a box here.
7. Frosted Lemon
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
I was fully expecting to dislike this one due to the very strong artificial lemon smell it has, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this flavor is pretty, pretty good. Unlike most flavors it’s frosted, which gives it more of a dessert-like quality. But the light citrus flavor keeps the flavors balanced, offering something that is sweet but delicately so.
It has echoes of a lemon meringue pie, but it’s not nearly as sweet as the real thing.
The Bottom Line:
The smell is off-putting but this gently sweetened flavor offers a lot of interesting complexity that makes you forget you’re eating something as bland as Cheerios.
Buy a box here.
6. Chocolate
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
At first glance, I wrote this flavor off as your typical chocolate cereal in the vein of Cocoa Pebbles or Cocoa Puffs but it’s less intensely sweet than those options. The cocoa has an addicting earthy and slightly bitter flavor that dominates the overall flavor and pairs nicely with the oat flavor, though there is some sweetness on the backend that keeps it from tasting like straight-up dark chocolate.
It’s a sweet cereal that still comes across as healthy. It’s not, it has 10 grams of sugar per serving, the same as Cocoa Pebbles and Cocoa Puffs, but it tastes more sophisticated… if that’s important to you.
The Bottom Line:
Delicious, Cheerio’s Chocolate has a strong natural cocoa flavor and the perfect amount of sweetness to make it all palatable. For true breakfast cereal complexity, reach for the Real Cocoa and Peanut Butter flavor which is a marked improvement over this.
Buy a box here.
5. Blueberry
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
A strong sweet blueberry smell jumps from the bowl, intensifying once milk is added. The flavor is a lot more tame than the smell would suggest though, there is still a prominent neutral oat flavor to it kissed by a light slightly sweet blueberry aftertaste. At 10 grams of sugar per serving, Blueberry Cheerios are right in line with the more sugary options on the shelves but don’t taste as candy-sweet.
The Bottom Line:
A pretty solid flavor. Equal parts oaty and sweet with a dark fruity finish.
Buy a box here.
4. Real Cocoa and Peanut Butter
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Simply one of the best flavors in the whole Cheerio family. The smell comes across as earthy and natural, almost like homemade trail mix. The chocolate flavor is very natural, almost bitter — leaning on the dark chocolate side while the peanut butter adds a hint of sweetness and a nutty aftertaste that pairs harmoniously with the cocoa.
This is one of the flavors in which the oat notes of the Cheerio base are less apparent, so if you like the cholesterol-lowering qualities of Cheerios but can’t stand the taste, this is the flavor for you.
The Bottom Line:
Natural cocoa and peanut butter flavors combine for one of the all-time best Cheerio flavors.
Buy a box here.
3. Cheerios
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Ahh the OG, what’s not to love? A lot actually. This is one of those love-it-or-hate-it cereals, either you think Cheerios are great or it’s one of the blandest cereals in existence. Both can be true! Personally, I like to slice up a banana in every bowl of Cheerios I eat. Is that cheating? I don’t think so because I wouldn’t do that in a superior flavor like Honey Nut Cheerios, the blandest of this flavor is its strength!
Each serving of Cheerios only has two grams of sugar, which means most of what you taste here is the natural flavor of oat which… sort of tastes like wet cardboard. I’m not going to pretend Cheerios have a naturally delicious flavor, but this is still a cereal worth keeping stocked in your pantry, especially if you like to add fruit to your cereal but don’t want to go overboard on the added sugars.
The Bottom Line:
Bland and boring but in all the best ways.
Buy a box here.
2. Multigrain
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Multigrain Cheerios are the perfect middle ground between OG and Honey Nut. There is a bit more sugar here (8 grams) but not quite as much as what you get from Honey Nut Cheerios. Multigrain smartly relies on some mixed grains (corn, rice, and rice) to add sweetness and an overall more complex character than the bland flavor of the OG.
This is my go-to bowl when I want a cereal that is healthy, easy on the sugar, but still has that neutral oat flavor that I can build upon with extra ingredients like banana, real strawberries, or blueberries.
The Bottom Line:
A touch of sweetness, but not overwhelmingly so. Imagine Cheerios, but elevated and more complex.
Buy a box here.
1. Honey Nut
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Are you surprised? In the opening of this piece, I mentioned that the major strength of Cheerios is that it’s a canvas that you can build upon, and the best flavor of Cheerios is the one that does exactly that. Taking the neutral oat flavor of the original, and adding sweet sugary honey to the equation, resulted in not only the best flavor in the Cheerios family but quite possibly the best cereal of all time.
I won’t sugarcoat — pun intended — what makes this cereal so delicious. A single bowl is 12 grams of sugar, that’s 10 more grams than the Original flavor. Those 10 grams go a long way to make this cereal perfect. That earthy oat flavor is still present on the aftertaste, but the majority of what you’re getting here is sweet floral almost nutty honey, a natural complement to the bland flavor of oats.
The Bottom Line:
The greatest Cheerios flavor of all time. Is it healthy? Not really, but with flavors this good, who cares?
Buy a box here.