My Saturday mornings as a kid were spent watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and tearing through a box of cereal. Ever since those days, I’ve loved having a bowl of cereal, curling up on the couch, watching some Netflix – or whatever everyone watched before Netflix.
 
Going vegan has taken a blowtorch to all my favorite cereals
 
So, I set out to find what are the best vegan cereals. After spending over $100 on cereal I learned a few things. First, I learned buying 20 plus boxes of cereal will have people look at you like you’re a lunatic. Secondly, I learned what cereals are good, which are great and which taste like the box it came in.

With each ranking,

I’ll give you the low down on the taste, calories and protein and on some cereals Jen (the smarter and more responsible vegan) will give you facts you need like processed sugar being used etc. With that being said, TASTE was the top determiner on where these cereals were ranked. As you’ll learn through these rankings, as I did while reviewing where I placed each cereal, that I’m still that kid on Saturday morning when it comes to how I want my cereal to taste.

Secondary to taste was calories and protein content.

I’m an avid weightlifter and while I’ve learned that you don’t need to consume animal products to get the protein I need, I like to be very aware of where all my protein is coming from. I’ve also switched the serving size from the arbitrary serving size that they give you on the box, which is random and different on each cereal, to my own personal serving size of 2 cups. This is the amount that fits in my cereal bowl that I made in art class in high school YEARS ago.

Here we go – a complete ranking of the 21 best vegan cereals starting with…

21. Sunrise Crunchy Maple – When you’re doing a list of the best vegan cereals, someone has to be last. For this list it’s Crunchy Maple. To sum it up in one word – Weird. There are a lot of flavors and textures competing in the bowl and it just didn’t make any sense to me. There are Rice Krispy type pieces, little puffs and flakes – all different tastes and textures. I honestly don’t think any of them on their own would be all that bad, but all together it’s a train wreck. Avoid if possible.

Calories: 330
Protein: 6g

Jen’s Notes: Denoted as Vegan, Gluten Free, Non GMO & Organic on packaging

20. Fiber One Original – Tastes like the box it comes in. Next.

Calories: 240
Protein: 8g

19. Van’s Simply Delicious Cinnamon Harvest – It’s hard to look at the Cinnamon Harvest box and not think, hey, these should taste kinda like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Fact is, they don’t. At all. Maybe they don’t deserve to be this low, but all I can taste when I eat them is disappointment.

Calories: 320
Protein: 5g

Jen’s Notes: Denoted as Gluten Free, Non GMO, Organic, Corn Free, Dairy Free & Nut Free on packaging

18. Rip’s Big Bowl Triple Berry Walnut Cereal – These are super healthy–possibly the healthiest cereal on this list. Based on pure taste these are, well, not really the reason you’re choosing Engine 2. You have to go into the bowl fully aware that you’re about to have a healthy, really good-for-you cereal. I feel like it would take awhile to get your taste buds to the point where you really enjoy it. However, if you’re all-in on a healthy bowl of cereal, go for it. Also, I believe the term is “nutrient dense” – a 2 cup serving packs over 500 calories and 19g of protein, both second on this list.

Calories: 533
Protein: 19g

Jen’s Notes: Denoted as Vegan and Low Sodium on packaging

17. 365 Morning O’s – Booooooooooring. So unbelievably boring. These are the 365 version of Cheerios. It’s not that they’re bad, they’re just super bland. There are better options out there. If you are eating these straight up, without adding other things to them then I’m concerned you live a joyless life.

Calories: 200
Protein: 8g

Jen’s Notes: Denoted as Vegan, Organic, and Kosher on packaging

16. Barbara’s Original Puffins – Like a slightly worst tasting (although admittedly healthier!) Cap’n Crunch. Very much a, “Cap’n Crunch slightly destroy your mouth,” texture. As far as flavor goes, they have a slight cinnamon flavor and not much else. However, they’re definitely a tier up from the bottom three on the list. I probably wouldn’t buy these again, but if they were in the pantry, I wouldn’t hesitate to pour myself a bowl.

Calories: 240
Protein: 5g

Jen’s Notes: Denoted as Vegan, Non-GMO & Kosher on packaging

15. Cap’n Crunch – I think most of us are aware that Cap’n Crunch is not a “healthy” cereal. But when your pantry is loaded up with organic and non GMO cereals with whole grains, protein, flax and all kinds of other health conscious ingredients – my goodness does Cap’n Crunch seem awful for you. If you can get around the food colorings and ingredients you can’t pronounce AND the fact that at 3g it’s the lowest protein content of any cereal on the list, Cap’n Crunch is still the great tasting cereal that will destroy the inside of your mouth with it’s jagged edges.

Calories: 293
Protein: 3g

Jen’s Notes: Contains Brown Sugar, Palm and Yellow Dyes. Brown Sugar gets processed using bone char. Palm oil devastates forests, animals and people. Look for products that use responsibly sourced palm oil or avoid it all together. Yellow Dye #5 & #6–all I can say is do your research. Many studies have been done on these dyes, require special labeling in Europe or are banned all together in other countries. 

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