If you're a huge cereal lover, boy, have you come to the right place. Here you can learn about all the vegan breakfast cereals you can enjoy to start your day! Although there are many cereals out there, not all of them are vegan.
Cereal is a popular breakfast food, it's a quick and easy nutritious meal, but if you're vegan, it's essential to know which cereals are vegan-friendly if you're on a plant-based diet.
In our guide below, we’ll discuss the seven best vegan breakfast cereals you should consider to start your day off right!
Why are Certain Ingredients Not Vegan?
There are some ingredients that are commonly found in cereal brands that aren’t vegan-friendly because they contain ingredients from animals, such as eggs, honey, butter, and milk. Since these ingredients come from an animal source, they are not considered vegan-friendly.
Additionally, some cereal brands may contain gelatin, a popular animal-based ingredient that comes from collagen found in the bones and skin of animals. These animal-based ingredients are not vegan-friendly.
Vegan-Friendly Alternative Ingredients
You can find other vegan-friendly alternatives from many plant-based sources. Plant-based milk options such as soy, coconut, almond, and oat milk can be used as a milk substitute in a cereal recipe. You can use agave syrup, date syrup, or coconut nectar to replace maple syrup.
Additional vegan-friendly ingredients you’ll find in some cereal brands are plant-based oils such as nut-based butter, grape seed, sunflower, avocado, and olive oil. With additional experimentation and creativity, some vegan-friendly cereal brands use these ingredients in their products.
7 Vegan Cereal Brands You Must Try!
1. Nature's Path - Flax Plus Maple Pecan Crunch
If you’re having difficulty looking for vegan cereal brands, you must try Nature's Path, Flax Plus Maple Pecan Crunch cereal. If you're having a hard time choosing between rice krispies, granola clusters, and flakes, this cereal option has a combination of all three! Naturally flavored with buttery pecans and organic maple syrup, this cereal is mildly sweet.
This nutritious, vegan-friendly cereal is jam-packed with nutrition, including 25g of whole grains, 5g of fiber, 7g of plant protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. These whole, simple ingredients are also USDA organic and non-GMO, with no preservatives or artificial colors.
Arran Stephens, the co-founder of Nature's Path, believes solely in organic foods. As his father said, you should leave the soil in better condition than you found it. Stephens likes to embody this into his food practices. These excellent farming methods steered clear away from harsh fertilizers, and his trailblazing cereal was one of the first cereals to become USDA-certified.
The crunch of this vegan-friendly, wholesome cereal is the perfect way to begin your day!
2. Three Wishes - Grain Free, Protein Cereal
This vegan-friendly, gluten-free cereal is excellent for people who workout regularly and would like to add more protein to their diet. As one of the best vegan cereal brands, it has only 3g of sugar in each serving and 8g of protein in each bowl, making it the perfect time to fight hunger pains during lunch or breakfast. The best part is that this vegan-friendly cereal brand comes in six flavors.
These delicious flavors include cinnamon and cocoa or frosted and fruity. Their unsweetened cereal is excellent for people who enjoy adding additional toppings. Three Wishes also even have their vegan honey-flavored cereal version!
Each Three Wishes cereal box is made with less than eight ingredients, using non-GMO ingredients. In addition, it's also made with chickpeas and is grain-free.
3. Forager Project
Forager Project has a wide range of vegan-friendly, gluten-free cereals that are organic and packed with nutritious ingredients. Their delicious-shaped bites might remind you of the circle bites from your childhood. Don’t let that fool you; this isn’t your typical cereal with tons of sugar.
This vegan-friendly cereal contains high amounts of protein from plant-based sources such as navy beans and chickpeas to help prevent mid-morning fatigue. In addition, the cassava root helps improve your gut health and adds fiber, nurturing your gut.
This vegan-friendly, gluten-free cereal is one of the best vegan cereal brands you can buy if you want to swap out artificial breakfasts and sugar. When choosing, you can select flavors such as strawberry, chocolate, or cinnamon, which all contain 4g of fiber and 5g of protein.
4. LLamaLand Organics
This plant-based, vegan-friendly cereal comes from Peru, bringing superfoods directly to your kitchen. These essential nutrients have been commonly used in the Andean diet and are filled with numerous health benefits.
This organic cereal has four nutrients including folic acid, which helps make new red blood cells; Andean White Corn, which has fiber; and Maca, a vegetable that has flavonoids, a plant compound. These essential, natural ingredients are known to be anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-mutagenic.
This vegan-friendly, high-fiber, and low-sugar cereal, whose creation was plant-inspired, is an excellent way to start your day!
5. Seven Sundays
Are you ready to get into your Sunday state of mind? Look no further than Seven Sundays vegan-friendly cereal. This vegan-friendly breakfast cereal comes in various flavors and is made using upcycled ingredients, which is a win with any food.
You can find Seven Sundays breakfast cereal varieties that range from sunflower cereal to protein ones made from sunflower protein and cassava. Seven Sundays cereal also provides Muesli, which is filled with gluten-free seeds and grains.
If choosing Seven Sundays cereal as your breakfast option, be sure to review the labels, as some varieties do contain honey.
6. Catalina Crunch
If you’re ready to have a delicious morning, vegan-friendly Catalina Crunch is the way to go! While their Honey Graham flavor does contain honey, their other options are all vegan-friendly, and consumers love it! When picking your flavor, you’ll choose fruity, chocolate peanut butter, maple waffle, dark chocolate, cinnamon toast, and more!
These vegan-friendly cereals aren’t only delicious, but they’re also keto-friendly, sugar-free, and gluten-free! Additionally, Catalina Crunch also sells vegan-friendly cookies you’ll absolutely enjoy!
7. Kashi
If you didn’t already know, Kashi is considered the OG of all cereals! Offering incredible lineups, including plant-based varieties. When shopping for their vegan-friendly cereals, you can choose from Cinnamon Crisp, Peanut Butter Crunch, Chocolate Crunch, and Toasted Berry Crisp.
Their vegan-friendly options also extend to their whole wheat breakfast cereals, vitamin D cereals, and waffle bites cereal, with the best including vitamin D2 that comes from mushroom powder.
Vegan Cereal Brands: FAQ
1. What popular cereal brands are vegan?
Some popular vegan-friendly cereal brands are Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran, Special K, and Cheerios.
2. Is Captain Crunch cereal vegan?
According to PETA, Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch, the original and berry flavors are all vegan.
3. Which General Mills cereals are vegan?
General Mills Fiber One is the brand’s only vegan-friendly option, as their other options aren’t vegan because they are fortified with pyridoxine hydrochloride and vitamin D3.
4. Why are Kellogg’s cornflakes not vegan?
Kellogg’s cornflakes are not vegan because they’re fortified with vitamin D.
5. Why is vitamin D3 not vegan?
Some types of vitamin D are not vegan-friendly, as some are derived from animals like sheep’s wool.
