Why is that when you start the keto diet, you miss the most everyday foods?

Think about it. In the weeks or months since you started keto, you would readily sacrifice your non-dominant arm for the foods you once devoured daily: crackers, chips, cereal, you name it.

Does it make sense? No. But do we understand stand it? Oh, do.we.ever.

We crave the foods that have been with us virtually our entire lives, from mom’s dining room table to our coffee table ⁠— the food that fueled us through everything from homework to hangovers. And what food hails at the top of every category? (Wait for it…)

Cereal.

We know, we couldn’t contain our excitement either —in fact, we even made a keto cereal just for you! But before we go into your low-carb cereal options, let’s take a step back and reassess why cereal in general isn’t keto-compliant in the first place.

When you’re looking for a cereal that fits into your low-carb breakfast, remember this:

Period.

It has nothing to do with being gluten-free or grain-free (although our products are both). It has everything to do with how many carbohydrates you consume, and how those are carbs are balanced by the fat and protein content.

Most people on the keto diet only consume roughly 10% of their calories from carbs (Yes, sugar is a carb). For the average person consuming 2,000 calories per day, this means you’ll only consume 20–50 grams of carbs to enter ketosis. 

And frankly, when a single serving of Honey Nut Cheerios runs you 22 grams of total carbohydrates per serving size, Cinnamon Toast Crunch comes in at 25 grams, and your beloved Cocoa Puffs pack 23 grams (nine of which are sugar), you’re forced to skip the entire cereal aisle. Which, of course, is why we chose to ship straight to your door. 

Even if you check out the nutrition facts on a box of Wheaties, you’ll see that this “Breakfast of Champions” comes in with 22 grams of carbs and a measly two grams of protein. Now who could be a pro athlete with that? 

Let’s cut the science and nutrition labels for a second and face another cold, hard fact: Sugar tastes good. We’re talking, real good. 

Do you think we don’t know that? Do you think we lived our lives on a balanced breakfast high horse, opting for scrambled eggs and kale before keto was a thing? No! We wanted our Fruity Pebbles as much as the next person, and frankly this should give you a little insight into our chosen career path. 

To make a cereal that ranks up there with Frosted Mini Wheats in terms of taste (which we think we perfected, but we digress), it has to have a sweet taste. No one reading this article is experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not having their bran flakes. Cereal should be crunchy and sugary-sweet, which — believe it or not — you can get without sugar.

There are certain sweeteners out there like Swerve, stevia, erythritol, and monk fruit which are sugar-free, contain zero net carbs, and rank zero on the glycemic index — so they won’t raise your blood sugar levels. These sweeteners are naturally sweeter than sugar, so you typically only use a small amount. 

With the Cereal School, we chose to use monk fruit for a few reasons. One, it’s super sweet — said to be 100–250 times sweeter than sugar. Two, it contains zero calories and ranks zero on the glycemic index. And three, it doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste, as you might find with other zero-carb sweeteners.

If you want a keto-friendly cereal to fill your now-bare cupboards, you know we’ll come to you. But if you catch us during another sold-out period (we promise we’re baking as fast as we can!), you might need to satisfy those cereal cravings the old-fashioned way. And there’s no shame in going DIY. If we can do it out of a kitchen in our 450-square-foot apartment, so can you. 

Image: The Big Man’s World

Remember when we said you miss the most everyday foods on the ketogenic diet? Remember when you swore you’d start volunteering and doing good deeds if you could just have one more bowl of oatmeal? Well, look no further than this tasty low-carb oatmeal. This hot cereal might as well be chocolate brownie batter porridge, made with cocoa powder, cacao chips, vanilla extract, and your dairy-free milk of choice. (Try coconut milk to make it extra creamy). 

Image: Inspector Gorgeous

Who could forget the days when you poured milk over a bowl of mini cookies and that was considered breakfast? You know, the good ol’ days before you grew up and knew better. Now you can relive those blissful years of being young and oblivious with this keto recipe for vanilla cookie cereal made from almond flour, flax meal, butter, egg whites, and cinnamon. It tastes just like the cereal you remember as a kid, but with just five grams of net carbs.

Image: Resolutions Eats 

If you feel personally victimized by us poking fun at bran flakes, here’s our version of an olive branch (you still love us, right?). This totally tasty keto bowl of bran is made by blending almond flour, flaxseed meal, hemp seeds, and (wait for it) parmesan cheese. You’ll roll out your cereal dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, then pop it in the oven for six minutes. Crumble your cereal into flakes, pour some almond milk over top, then sprinkle with low-sugar fruits like blueberries and strawberries.

Image: Food Faith Fitness

We share your love of cinnamon crunch cereal. We referenced it twice in this post and we made our own version of it. So yes, we feel you. And in our not-so-humble opinion, this homemade cinnamon keto breakfast cereal does it justice. Made from an almond and coconut flour blend, tossed with egg whites, cinnamon, and coconut oil, you can devour the whole bowl while only consuming three grams of net carbs.

Image: Gnom-Gnom

Do we realize half the low-carb recipes on this list are basically dessert in a bowl? Are we ashamed of it? Absolutely not. Because that’s the beauty of keto baking — things may taste like they’re loaded with sugar, but your blood glucose levels haven’t been raised one bit. This crispy gingerbread cereal is made from almond flour, xanthan gum, grass-fed butter, xylitol, and all your favorite spices, then baked to crispy perfection.

We know, we know — you’re reading this and thinking, “Hey guys, never once did I make Lucky Charms from scratch; I didn’t sign up for this.” Ahem, what do you think we’re here for? 

Pulling out the mixing bowls, putting on an apron, and making your own keto breakfast cereal can be fun, but we know that’s not going to happen every day of the week. When the only effort you want to put into your morning breakfast bowl is pouring it out of a box (or better still, a bag), we got you. 

Actually, scratch that — you don’t even need to do that, you can pour your favorite milk of choice straight into the bag. Or forget the milk altogether and eat it dry (don’t tell us you’ve never done it). 

The Cereal School ships nationwide, straight to your front door. But hurry, we’ve sold out four times already and we’re baking our buns off to keep this round in stock. Which reminds us, can we borrow that apron?