Due to its convenience, low cost, and universally loved taste, cereal is a key component in most people’s diets. The problem is that most of the popular cereal brands are very high in simple carbohydrates and rarely provide substantial nutritional value.
If you would like to continue eating cereal but don’t want to start your day with a blood sugar spike, low-carb cereals might be just what you need. You can easily work them into your daily macros without raising your blood sugar levels or kicking yourself out of ketosis (if you’re on a keto diet).
Keep reading as we explore some of the best low-carb cereals that not only taste good but also nourish your body.
A Quick Summary of the 11 Best Low Carb Cereal Brands
- Best overall keto cereal: Perfect Keto Cereal
- Best protein rich keto cereal: Magic Spoon Cereal
- Best low-carb cereal for kids: Schoolyard Snacks Keto Cereal
- Best budget low-carb cereal: ProMix Nutrition Whey Protein Puffs
- Best grain free low-carb cereal: Catalina Crunch
- Best low-carb granola cereal: Julian Bakery ProGranola
- Best low-carb “oatmeal”: Pure Traditions Instant Keto “Oatmeal”
- Best dairy free/vegan low-carb cereal: Nature’s Path Organic Keto Cereal
- Best budget low carb granola: NuTrail Keto Nut Granola
- Best Paleo low carb cereal: Lakanto Keto Granola
- Best low-carb cereal for diabetes: Diabetic Kitchen Granola Cereal
How We Selected These Low Carb Cereals
When selecting our list of the best low-carb cereals, we took these factors into consideration:
Macronutrient Composition
A good low-carb cereal must not only be low in carbs but also have a balanced macronutrient composition in general. Ideally, it should contain some protein, fiber, and fat, which increase satiety and prevent blood sugar spikes after meals (* , *).
If you are following a ketogenic diet, it’s vital to know the amount of net carbs in a cereal to ensure it fits within your daily limit of 50 grams or less. (To calculate the amount of net carbs in a serving of cereal, simply subtract the amount of indigestible carbs from total carbs.)
Fortunately, most low-carb cereals take care of the math for you and clearly indicate the number of net carbs per serving in their product.
Ingredient Quality
Like any other food, your low-carb cereal should be made with the highest quality ingredients and avoids those that are potentially harmful ingredients.
Ingredients to avoid or minimize in your diet include artificial preservatives, fillers, and dyes. If possible, opt for cereals that include health-promoting ingredients such as vitamins, MCT oil, and probiotics.
Sweeteners
Since cereal is often considered a sweet breakfast meal, most cereal brands include added sweeteners. While most sugar free sweeteners qualify as low-carb, many of them can have a negative impact on your health if consumed regularly.
It is best to stick with natural sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit. This is because they are generally considered safe, have a minimal effect on blood sugar levels, and may even have health benefits through their antioxidant or anti-inflammatory activity (*).
Additionally, it’s best to limit consumption of artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose. Despite being sugar-free, they can have an effect on your blood sugar. In the long term, they may even interfere with the health of your gut microbiome (*).
Price
Since these low-carb cereals are made with higher quality ingredients, they tend to cost more than most common cereals. However, if you consider how much nutritional value you can get from them, they’re well worth the cost.
To determine if one fits into your budget, multiply the price per serving by the number of servings you would typically eat in a week. This way, you can estimate how much it would cost you per month and conclude if it fits within your monthly budget.
Taste and Flavors
You don’t have to sacrifice taste to enjoy healthier foods. Taste preferences differ from person to person but some cereals have distinct tastes that make them popular with most customers.
It may take more than one try to find the best low-carb cereal for you. This shouldn’t discourage you from trying others and finding one that will resonate with you.
While most of these cereals cost more than ordinary cereal, they all provide great value for their cost. Finally, all the cereals included here have received positive reviews from numerous customers about their great taste and flavor.
Best Low Carb Cereal Brands
Below is our summary of the best low carb cereal brands including what we like, what we don’t like, and a link to where you can purchase each one.
| Brand | Pros | Cons |
| Perfect Keto Cereal |
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| Schoolyard Snacks Keto Cereal |
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| Julian Bakery ProGranola |
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| ProMix Nutrition Whey Protein Puffs |
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| Nature’s Path Organic Keto Cereal |
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| Pure Traditions Instant Keto “Oatmeal” |
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| Diabetic Kitchen Granola Cereal |
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| Magic Spoon Cereal |
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| Catalina Crunch |
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| Lakanto Keto Granola |
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| NuTrail Keto Nut Granola |
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1. Perfect Keto Cereal
Perfect Keto cereal is a fresh take on breakfast cereal that delivers the same great taste without all the carbs.
The cereal is made with a few high-quality ingredients, some of which offer health benefits. The ingredients include almond, milk protein isolate, soluble tapioca fiber, MCT oil, and hydrolyzed bovine collagen. The sweeteners of choice are erythritol, stevia, and monk fruit. It doesn’t contain any grains, gluten, soy or vegetable oils.
Each 40 gram serving of the Perfect Keto Cereal contains 100 calories, 1-2 grams of net carbs, 5-6 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein.
You can enjoy Perfect Keto Cereal for breakfast, as an afternoon snack, as a pre or post workout snack, and as a dessert.
The cereal comes in three flavors: Chocolate, Honey Nut, and Cinnamon.
Price: $12.99 at Perfect Keto, ($2.17 per serving)
2. Schoolyard Snacks Low-carb Keto Cereal
Schoolyard Snacks offer a small range of low-carb products that includes low-carb keto-friendly cereal. The company was started with a dream of creating cereal snacks that taste just as good but without the sugar and carbs.
Instead of ultra processed grains, the Schoolyard Snack cereal is made with ingredients such as milk protein isolate, tapioca fiber, and natural flavors. The sweeteners of choice are allulose and monk fruit. The snacks don’t contain any artificial flavors, preservatives, colors or fillers but they have some vegetable oil, particularly sunflower oil in them.
Each serving of Schoolyard Snacks Cereal contains 90 calories, a remarkable 1 gram of net carbs, 12 grams of protein, and 4.5 grams of fat. However, it’s low in dietary fiber. For this reason, it may not be as filling if eaten alone.
To boost the fiber content of your meal, you may pair this cereal with a good source of fiber such as nuts, seeds, or low-carb fruit.
It is in five flavors: Fruity, Peanut Butter, Cookies N’ Cream, Cocoa, and Cinnamon Bun.
Price: $29.99 on Amazon, ($2.50 per serving)
3. Julian Bakery ProGranola
Unlike ordinary granola, Julian Bakery ProGranola doesn’t contain any grains or added sugar. The granola is instead made with egg white powder, soluble dextrin fiber (tapioca), a variety of organic seeds, shredded coconut, and organic unrefined virgin coconut oil.
The seeds used include pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, and sesame seeds. Seeds are not only wonderful sources of protein and fat but they also offer generous amounts of dietary fiber. Flax seeds are particularly beneficial because they are one of the few plant foods that provide omega-3 fatty acids (*).
The granola is sweetened with monk fruit and no artificial preservatives, flavors, colors, or fillers are present.
Each serving of Julian Bakery ProGranola contains 83-97 calories, 2 grams of net carbs, 12-15 grams of fiber, 12 grams of protein, and 6 grams of fat.
You can choose to eat the granola as it is or add milk like you would any cereal. The macros are well-balanced but if you need a boost in fat, you can eat it with full fat yogurt or some cheese.
Julian Bakery ProGranola comes in three flavors: Vanilla Cinnamon Cluster, Peanut Butter Cluster, and Vegan Vanilla.
Price: $36.73 on Amazon, ($1.22 per serving)
4. Nature’s Path Organic Keto Cereal
This low carb breakfast cereal is one of the best options without milk protein, which makes it suitable for vegans and those living with lactose intolerance. Instead of milk protein, the base is made with potato fiber, tapioca starch, navy bean flour, pea protein, and mung bean protein.
The other ingredients present in the cereal are all natural and don’t include any artificial additives. The sweetener of choice is monk fruit extract.
A 1 cup serving of the Nature’s Path cereal has 110 calories, 4 grams of net carbs, 10 grams of fiber, 7 grams of protein, and 2.5 grams of fat.
The cereal comes in two flavors: Cinnamon Toast and Dark Chocolate.
Price: $10.99 on Amazon, ($1.83 per serving)
5. ProMix Nutrition: Chocolate Whey Protein Puffs
These whey protein puffs make our list of best low-carb cereals for many reasons but the most notable is the short ingredient list.
The puffs only contain four ingredients which are grass-fed whey, tapioca starch, calcium, and sunflower lecithin. They are free of grains, gluten, soy, added sugar, artificial preservatives, sweeteners, and fillers.
Each serving of ProMix Nutrition Whey Protein Puffs contains 50 calories, 2 grams of net carbs, 10 grams of protein, and 0.5 grams of fat. Unfortunately, the puffs don’t contain any fiber but you can easily remedy this by pairing them with a high-fiber snack like nuts.
You can eat them with almond milk as cereal or use them to top yogurt and other desserts.
The ProMix Nutrition Whey Protein Puffs come in two flavors: Unflavored and Chocolate.
Price: $24 at ProMix, ($0.80 per serving)
6. Pure Traditions Instant Keto “Oatmeal”
If you miss the creamy taste and consistency of oatmeal, you’ll love the Pure Traditions low-carb “oatmeal.” In place of regular oats, this product uses coconut to make an equally delicious and nourishing hot breakfast cereal.
Note that even though this cereal is marketed as keto-friendly, only the unsweetened flavor is truly low-carb. The other two flavors both contain added sugars.
This keto-friendly “oatmeal” contains many healthy ingredients including organic coconut, almonds, pecans, organic chia seeds, flaxseed, konjac root, cinnamon, and Himalayan pink salt.
Each serving of unsweetened Pure Traditions Instant Keto “Oatmeal” contains 240 calories, 2 grams of net carbs, 8 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, and 21 grams of fat.
The cereal comes in three flavors: Unsweetened, Maple sugar, and Power Protein.
Price: $8.95 at Pure Traditions, ($1.79 per serving)
7. Diabetic Kitchen Granola Cereal
Even though this brand is marketed towards people living with diabetes, it is suitable for anyone looking to limit their intake of high carb foods.
The cereal is made with several healthy ingredients that include nuts, seeds, natural flavors, and sweeteners. The sweeteners used in the cereal are stevia and monk fruit.
Each ⅓ cup serving of Diabetic Kitchen Granola Cereal contains 160 calories, 3 net carbs, 14 grams of fat, 4 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber.
Diabetic kitchen granola cereal contains a small amount of puffed rice but it doesn’t significantly affect its macronutrient composition.
The cereal comes in two flavors: Cinnamon Pecan and Almond Butter.
Price: From $14.99 on Amazon, ($1.87 per serving)
8. Magic Spoon Cereal
This is one of the newer brands on the market but it has quickly become a favorite among the low-carb crowd. The company sought out to change how cereal is made and it did just that.
Magic Spoon cereal is made with only high-quality ingredients and doesn’t contain any artificial preservatives, added sugar, and sugar alcohols.
The cereal, however, contains sunflower oil and peanut oil which are both high in omega-6 fatty acids. Research currently suggests that a high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (*). This means that one must regulate how much omega-6 fats they eat and instead try to increase omega-3 intake.
Each 1 cup serving of Magic Spoon cereal contains 150 calories, 5 grams of net carbs, 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber, and 13 grams of protein.
The cereal comes in eight flavors which are Cocoa, Frosted, Fruity, Blueberry Muffin, Peanut Butter, Maple Waffle, Camp Classics, and Cinnamon Roll.
Price: $43.99 for four boxes on Amazon, ($2.20 per serving)
9. Catalina Crunch
As the name suggests, this cereal is one of the most crunchy low-carb cereals on the market.
The crunch of this cereal comes from the base ingredient, Catalina flour. Catalina flour is a blend of five low-carb ingredients which are pea protein, potato fiber, non-GMO corn fiber, chicory root fiber, and guar gum.
The rest of the ingredients are all natural and don’t include any artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. The sweeteners of choice are stevia and monk fruit extract.
Each half cup serving of Catalina Crunch contains 110 calories, 5 grams of net carbs, 5 grams of fat, 11 grams of protein, and 9 grams of fiber.
The cereal comes in eight flavors: Chocolate Peanut Butter, Fruity, Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon Toast, Maple Waffle, Honey Graham, Chocolate Banana, and Mint Chocolate Chip.
Price: From $6.31 on Amazon, ($0.90 per serving)
10. Lakanto Keto Granola
This granola cereal comes from the low-carb food brand Lakanto. Among their lineup of products is this healthy, tasty, low-carb granola.
The key ingredients in this granola are coconut, nuts, seeds and natural flavors. It is free of grains, gluten, and artificial additives.
Each ⅓ cup serving of Lakanto Keto Granola has 2-3 grams of net carbs, 13-15 grams of fat, 4-5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein, and 150-160 calories.
You can eat Lakanto granola with milk like you would any cereal but it is just as delicious on its own.
The granola comes in three flavors: Cinnamon Almond Crunch, Berry Crunch, and Chocolate Crunch.
Price: $12.99 at Lakanto, ($1.30 per serving)
11. NuTrail Keto Nut Granola
The NuTrail granola is a delicious crunchy blend of pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut chips, and almonds. No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives are present on the ingredient list. The sweeteners of choice are erythritol and monk fruit.
Customers love its delicious taste but its great nutrition is what makes it truly stand out. Each serving has 160 calories, only 2 grams of net carbs, 14 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein.
Since it is quite low in protein, we recommend that you pair the cereal with a high-protein milk like almond milk. You can also add a high protein side to your meal like a boiled egg or some yogurt.
The Nutrail Keto Nut Granola comes in six flavors: Cinnamon, Cinnamon Pecan, Cacao, Vanilla Strawberry, Vanilla Raspberry, and Vanilla Blueberry.
Price: $9.94 on Amazon, ($1.10 per serving)
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have cereal on keto?
Yes, you can as long as it’s cereal with low carbs. In contrast, you can’t have ordinary cereal on keto, even in small portions, due to its high carb content. (For example, 1 cup of oats contains about 55 grams of carbohydrates.)
Which cereal is best for weight loss?
Perfect Keto Mallow Munch Bar is the best keto cereal for weight loss. Note that this is based on calorie count alone. Keep in mind that any healthy low-carb cereal should be able to support your weight loss journey.
The high-calorie cereals on this list have most of their calories coming from healthy fats and protein. These macronutrients make the cereal more filling, which can prevent unwanted cravings.
What milk can I pair with low-carb cereals?
The best milk to pair with low-carb cereals is almond milk due to its low carb content, about 1 gram per cup. Other low-carb types of milk that go well with low-carb cereal include coconut milk, flax milk, and hemp milk.
Summary
You don’t have to give up cereal on a low-carb diet with these available low carb cereal options. As a helpful reminder, be mindful of the macronutrient composition of whatever cereal you choose.
The best low-carb cereals also provide protein, fat, fiber, and micronutrients that promote health. For cereals that are lacking in one area, try pairing them with other nutritious foods to balance your meals.
Carefully study the ingredient list and nutrition composition of whatever cereal you choose to ensure that it helps you meet your health goals.