Keto Cereal: The Best Keto Cereal Brands in 2023 (Ranked)

Keto cereal is one of the hottest new categories in the food and beverage space.

Not only is cereal a beloved part of breakfast everyday, but if people could manage to make it not only fast, but healthy – could you imagine how big the space could get?

Well, we’ve dug in and there’s a lot here.

So what do we think about keto cereal and where does it fit within a keto diet plan or low carb meal plan? Let’s dig in and find out:

What Is Keto Cereal?

Keto cereal is a new trends of cereals you’re seeing take over instagram, Tim Tok, and yeah – even Costco.

Traditionally, cereal is a high carbohydrate, low protein gamble. It’s a quick and easy meal, but wasn’t friendly to a whole slew of diets.

However keto cereals are flipping that on it’s head with a whole new wave of brands trying to make a splash by reinvesting childhood cereal flavors, but making them keto-friendly with less than 5g of carbs and comparably high protein counts.

So…I know what you’re thinking – how good are these keto cereals after all? Well, there’s a few types – so let’s break them down…

Types of Keto Cereal

Many people get confused when talking about keto cereal – so we thought we would clear the air and explain the different types that exist.

Low Carb & Keto Cereal

Low carbohydrate cereal is primarily what we’re talking about when we talk about “keto cereal.”

‍For our definitions and purposes here: a keto cereal is any cereal that has less than 5 net carbs per serving.

Any more than that and you will blow through your carbohydrate allotment for the day.

While many other sites will include cereal with 15g+ on their “keto cereal lists” just to pad the list length, as an authority on the keto diet – we take our standards seriously.

High Protein Cereal

High protein cereal is almost an entirely different category of cereal, as a keto cereal could be low in carbs, but not necessarily high in protein.

Similarly, just because something is high in protein, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a ton of carbs hidden in it.

Because of that – we consider “high protein cereal” a different category of cereal altogether compared to keto cereal and did a full review of high protein cereal here.

Homemade Keto Cereal

DIY keto cereal has become very popular given how expensive some of the branded cereals can be. However, when it comes down to it – DIY keto cereal – or homemade cereal recipes tend to just be different versions of granola.

While granola is great – in our opinion – it doesn’t quite hit home like cereal does. That said, if you’re looking for some DIY recipes, our favorite homemade keto cereal recipes are here, here, and here.

The Best Keto Cereal Brands (Ranked)

After tracking down essentially every keto cereal brand on the planet, we stuffed our faces, ate till our heart’s content and then did the hard job of ranking our favorites – in order.

Here they are – along with vital details you should care about if you’re trying to maintain a keto diet:

Magic Spoon

Cost: $39 for 20 servings ($1.95/serving)

Primary Ingredient: Milk protein

Carbs: 4 net carbs

Protein: 13-14g

Fat: 7-8g

Magic Spoon is hands down our favorite keto cereal on the market. Whether it’s the wistful aspect of their branding or the fact that they nailed the flavors across the board. 

Their full lineup of flavors at publishing time includes:

• Fruity
• Peanut butter
• Cocoa
• Cinnamon Roll
• Frosted
• Blueberry Muffin (the weakest flavor in our opinion)
• Maple Waffle
• Cookies and Cream

Our one quibble is that due to the milk protein, sometimes the cereal will stick to your teeth a little bit – but that’s a price we’re willing to pay for nostalgia.

Magic spoon is great. Get the peanut butter + chocolate and mix them (trust us on this one). The maple waffle one is also incredible.

→ Buy Magic Spoon Here

You can save $5 with promo code: “MEALPLANS”.

You can read our in-depth magic spoon review here.

Catalina Crunch

Cost: $49 for 28 servings ($1.75/serving)

Primary Ingredient: Pea protein & Monk fruit

Carbs: 5 net carbs

Protein: 11g

Fat: 5g

Catalina Crunch is one of the OG players in the keto cereal space. It’s only become more popular over recent years because they’ve launched (successfully) in Costco. 

While we have to say – we don’t love pea protein personally – this does have a good analog to the cereal you know and love and (if you buy online) you have to buy several packs at once – but it’s still one of the cheaper options on the market.

If you’re a Costco member, take a peek for Catalina the next time you stroll through the mothership. You can also buy directly on their site as well.

Buy Catalina Crunch Here

You can see our full review of Catalina Crunch here.

Wonderworks

Cost: $23 for 21 servings ($1.09/serving)

Primary Ingredient: Milk protein

Carbs: 3 net carbs

Protein: 17g

Fat: 6g

Cereal giant General Mills has entered the keto cereal space – and unfortunately – we’re not that impressed.

We picked some up at our local HEB in Texas (they have great distribution), and could barely finish the box. 

It wasn’t great, gave us weird gaseous burps for the next few hours and generally fell short compared to the other options out there.

While we do like that it’s generally available and priced affordably compared to some other options out there – it seems like General Mills might need to send their food scientists to Magic Spoon to get some flavoring tips.

Buy Wonderworks Keto Cereal

Julian’s Bakery Pro Granola

Cost:

Primary Ingredient:

Carbs: 5 net carbs

Protein:

Fat: 

Purely Elizabeth

Cost:

Primary Ingredient:

Carbs: 5 net carbs

Protein:

Fat: 

High Key Protein 

Cost:

Primary Ingredient:

Carbs: 5 net carbs

Protein:

Fat: 

Snack House Keto Cereal

Cost:

Primary Ingredient:

Carbs: 5 net carbs

Protein:

Fat: 

Perfect Keto Cereal

Cost: $30.99 for 6 servings ($5.16/serving)

Primary Ingredient: Almonds + Nuts

Carbs: 1 net carb

Protein: 9g

Fat: 5g

Kashi Keto Cereal

Cost:

Primary Ingredient: Lentil protein

Carbs: 13g

Protein: 12g

Fat: 6g

These are marketed as “keto friendly”, but it’s better to say this is high proteins as the net carbs come in at 13g! That’s almost 1/4th of a normal keto diet carbs. Wild.

These “Keto Cereals” Are Not Keto Cereals 

When we took a look at other lists out there, we found options that are basically not keto on these lists

Cheerios

This is a cereal. It’s not a keto cereal. This is going to be basically half your entire carbs if you’re aiming to 

Special K

Some of these items have up to 50g of carbohydrates and 16g of sugar! Whatever is special about these special K boxes – we want to know. And no – the K doesn’t stand for keto!

Three Wishes

Three wishes pitches itself as a high protein cereal, but it’s not keto friendly. It has 20g of carbs per serving – which is almost more than cheerios. Good for protein, bad for keto.

Final Thoughts on Keto Cereal

When buying a keto cereal – not everything is created equal. Just because it says keto on the label – does not mean it will live up to the hype. Check the labels and then check them again.

Then, taste test them all – because you’re sure to find the one that fits you best.

Now if you don’t mind, we’re going to pour ourselves a bowl of keto cereal, kick back, watch some Saturday morning cartoons and watch some Saturday morning cartoons. Whew!

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