The Strangest Breakfast Cereals That Were Ever Sold
Strange breakfast cereals have been around for decades. However, some of the strangest ones have shown up in the late 2010s and early 2020s. For years, the most unique cereals were ones that sprung from TV shows and cartoons, like Mr. T cereal or ones with their own weird mascots like Freakies. However, in about 2018, companies really started ramping up their cereal game with increasingly unusual flavors. Anything from dessert cakes to frozen dairy treats and candy started to inspire breakfast cereal flavors.
You really never know what you're going to see in the cereal aisle anymore. The problem is striking upon a flavor that is good enough to stick around to become a classic rather than one that people buy just once as a novelty purchase. The world of weird breakfast cereals is vast. However, we've come up with a list of the ones we think are the most strikingly odd. A few are still available to purchase, but most are has-been cereals that people will be talking about for years to come.
Poop Like a Champion cereal
If the whole point of a particular cereal is about delivering enough fiber, it might as well exclaim what it will do to you right on the box. We would have loved to have been in the meeting where someone jokingly suggested the name "Poop Like a Champion," and a bold leader said "yes" to it. With 84% of the fiber you need for the day, this cereal is sure to have you pooping like a champion in no time. The company calls it the "#1 cereal for number 2s."
This cereal isn't kidding around when it comes to fiber. The company says that most people only eat 15 grams of fiber a day, while a serving of Poop Like a Champion has 23 grams. It's important to note, though, that the serving size for this cereal is only half of a cup, so you'll want to take it easy. People with gluten sensitivities can also eat it since it's made with corn and sorghum. The taste of the original cereal is similar to Grape Nuts, so you may want to eat it with mix-ins like fruit. However, the company also has honey graham, cinnamon toast, and cocoa versions. The cereal has been around since 2018, and It's fairly expensive (around $14 per 9-ounce box). As of 2023, it's still available to purchase online, and most people seem to be pleased with the results (which is not something you usually say about cereal).
Kellogg's Corn Flakes With Instant Bananas cereal
If you liked adding banana slices to your Kellogg's Corn Flakes but couldn't be bothered to buy some fruit and cut it up yourself, Kellogg's had you covered by adding instant bananas to its classic cereal. Kellogg's came up with this grand invention in 1964. A year earlier, in 1963, Post had tried adding freeze-dried strawberries to its own brand of corn flakes, so the Kellogg's idea wasn't entirely original. Like the strawberries in Post's corn flakes, Kellogg's "instant" bananas were freeze-dried. When you added milk to the cereal, the bananas rehydrated and plumped up. However, it didn't work out as well as the company had hoped, with some of the freeze-dried bananas turning brown as they sat around soaking in milk.
The box featured a banana with a face and a straw hat that was pouring cereal from an even smaller box of Corn Flakes With Instant Bananas. The banana was modeled after variety show host Jimmy Durante, who often sang the song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" on his 1950s show. To advertise the cereal, Kellogg's got Durante to sing a modified version of the song with the line "Yes, we now have bananas" (via Beach Packaging Design).
The cereal stayed on shelves for only a couple of years, but it eventually flopped with customers because it tasted like cardboard, and the banana texture was less than pleasing. Kellogg's abandoned the flavor seemingly forever in 1966.
Post Sour Patch Kids cereal
When Sour Patch Kids cereal hit Walmart store shelves in January 2019, people were both horrified and intrigued. Sour Patch Kids candy has been around since the 1970s, but nobody ever dreamed it could become a cereal until Post gave it a try. The box promised a flavor experience that starts out sour and ends up sweet, much like the candy version.
As you can imagine, reviews were not great. On Walmart's website, the cereal has a rating of only 2.8 out of 5 stars, which isn't likely to make anyone want to try it except as a one-off novelty experience. Most people preferred to eat the cereal straight out of the box rather than let it soak in milk. So, it really held more of a snack status than a breakfast cereal status. Sour Patch Kids as a cereal instead of in candy form did have the added bonus of providing you with some vitamins. But, of course, those vitamins came with a 16-gram helping of sugar per serving.
In 2020, as the cereal was on its last legs, you could even find it as cheap as $0.50 a box. So, you'll not be surprised to learn that Post lists Sour Patch Kids cereal among its discontinued foods. It takes its place with other odd cereals the brand tried as part of its Post Dreams collection, like Chips Ahoy!, Mega Stuf Oreo O's, Nutter Butter, Nilla Banana Pudding, and Golden Oreo O's cereals.
Ralston Urkel-Os cereal
In 1989, Jaleel White brought the ultra-nerdy character of Steve Urkel to life on the television sitcom "Family Matters." Urkel with his high-waisted pants, suspenders, and oversized glasses was showing up on everything from board games to lunch boxes. By 1991, Urkel even had his own cereal from Ralston called Urkel-Os.
The cereal itself wasn't that strange since some of the Os were strawberry-flavored, and others were banana flavored. However, the fact that Urkel had his own cereal made it odd. Kids across the U.S. who spilled their Urkel-Os were certainly quoting Urkel's catchphrase "Did I do that?" and thinking they were being original.
Urkel-Os came out when cereals still sometimes had a prize inside, and the company tried to come up with unique ideas like an Urkel presidential campaign button or a game to help Urkel find his crush, Laura. There was even a contest at one point to win a trip to Washington, D.C., but that didn't help with the cereal's survival.
General Mills Nickelodeon Green Slime cereal
The first time "You Can't Do That on Television" slimed someone was in 1979, but it became a U.S. obsession when the Canadian show debuted on the Nickelodeon cable channel in 1981. Somehow, seeing people getting covered in green slime never got old as new generations of kids watched it happen over and over again. In 2003, 24 years after green slime became a thing, General Mills got the great idea to turn it into a cereal. Luckily, the slime part of the cereal comes in the form of green corn puffs with random slime-like shapes rather than actual slime. The cereal also contained orange marshmallows with a shape that was supposed to mimic the Nickelodeon logo but really just ended up looking like the more slime shapes.
The cereal was never meant to be on store shelves for long. It came out briefly to coincide with the Nickelodeon 2003 Kids' Choice Awards. As a limited-edition cereal, there are certainly unopened boxes waiting around to gather enough value for an eBay auction. Interestingly enough, Kellogg's went a step further in 2022 by introducing Apple Jacks Nickelodeon Slime cereal that actually turned your milk green. We wonder how often the green milk got poured over an unsuspecting sibling's head at breakfast.
Kellogg's Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies cereal
In 2020, Little Debbie celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Oatmeal Creme Pies by turning them into a Kellogg's cereal flavor. Most people can't remember a world without Little Debbie soft oatmeal cookie sandwiches, so it was a safe bet that the flavor would intrigue long-time fans as a cereal. Unlike many cookie-themed cereals, this one doesn't look like miniature cookies. Instead, they're O-shaped puffs. You get all the flavors — like cinnamon and nutmeg — from an oatmeal cookie in the sweet puffs. The "creme" portion of the Oatmeal Creme Pies shows up as a sweet coating on the outside of the cereal that melts into the milk. The flavor is surprising but in a good way. It's definitely not the same as the original cookie sandwiches, but it has its own charm, especially when you eat it with milk.
Kellogg's didn't just try turning Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies into a cereal, but it also made a Cosmic Brownie cereal, a Nutty Buddy cereal, and a Swiss Rolls cereal. Little Debbie followed up its cereal success with Little Debbie ice creams in 2022.
Kellogg's Wendy's Frosty Chocolatey cereal
One morning, someone at Wendy's woke up with the brilliant but strange idea of turning its famous Frosty frozen dairy treat into a cereal. For the most part, eating Wendy's Frosty Chocolatey cereal it's like eating Cocoa Puffs with the one thing Cocoa Puffs has been missing all along –- marshmallows. Once you finish eating the cereal, you're left with a bowl of really good chocolate milk that's probably supposed to remind you of a melted Frosty. The cereal experience is pleasant, and it does taste a lot like a Wendy's Frosty, so you won't be disappointed on that front.
The cereal, which debuted in December 2021, is actually quite addictive. The only real negative other than the marshmallows sinking to the bottom of the box is the 17 grams of sugar per serving the cereal has. However, with a cup and a half of the cereal being 150 calories (without milk), it has some positive sides, too, as far as sweet cereals go. As of 2023, this product is still available to buy.
Post Chicken & Waffles cereal
Post Chicken & Waffles cereal represents one of the strangest ideas we've ever encountered. While most brands seem to be trying to think of a dessert or candy to turn into a cereal, Post decided to head to a brunch menu for its inspiration in 2019. While the cereal didn't contain any real meat (thank goodness), it did have salty chicken-flavored pieces to go with the maple-syrup-waffle-flavored pieces. So, the company was trying to capitalize on the idea of pairing sweet and salty flavors together. Unfortunately, some thought the chicken cereal pieces ended up smelling unappetizingly like dog food.
The debut of Post Chicken & Waffles cereal coincided with another oddity: Post Maple Bacon Donuts cereal. It wasn't long before the Chicken & Waffles cereal was on sale for less than a dollar in some bargain grocery stores. We hope Post doesn't decide to veer into Denver omelet or biscuit-and-gravy territory with its next brunch-inspired flavor.
Kellogg's Pop-Tarts cereal
Frosted cereal with fruit filling inside sounds like just as good of an idea as Pop-Tarts. So, we're surprised it took from 1963, when Pop-Tarts debuted, to 1994 for Pop-Tarts to come out with a cereal version. Pop-Tarts cereal came in both a frosted strawberry and frosted brown sugar cinnamon version. Unfortunately, the cereal disappeared in 1995. Twenty-four years later, in 2019, Pop-Tarts cereal was back on the shelves again. You could eat Pop-Tarts cereal dry like mini-Pop-Tarts snacks or add milk to turn it into a traditional bowl of cereal.
Interestingly, eating a serving of Pop-Tarts cereal for breakfast is better for you than eating two Pop-Tarts pastries. Two pastries have 370 calories, nine grams of fat, 70 grams of carbohydrates, and 30 grams of sugar. Meanwhile, a serving of Pop-Tarts cereal (without milk) has 150 calories, 1 gram of fat, 35 grams of carbohydrates, and 16 grams of sugar. Like most cereals, Pop-Tarts cereal is fortified with additional vitamins and minerals at significant levels, while the pastries only have minimal amounts of vitamins and minerals. So, believe it or not, if you have a craving for Pop-Tarts but wanted a relatively healthier alternative, you'd have been better off eating Pop-Tarts cereal instead. Sadly, the only place you can find the cereal now is with collectors selling empty boxes on eBay.
Hostess Donettes Powdered Mini Donuts cereal
Hostess teamed up with Post to make Donettes Powdered Mini Donuts cereal in November 2018. The cereal looked just like powdered mini donuts. We're certainly all familiar with loop-shaped cereals since everything from Froot Loops to Cheerios and Apple Jacks technically come in the shape of a mini donut. The Donettes cereal taste was on point and a great mimic of the original treat. You could definitely imagine you were eating mini donuts in a bowl of milk. The powdered sugar on the cereal even ended up coating the inside of your mouth like the original Donettes did. So, not only was the flavor spot-on, but so was the experience.
At the same time, Hostess and Post collaborated on a Hostess Honey Bun cereal, which looked like mini honey buns. A lot of people ended up liking the Hostess Honey Bun cereal better than the Hostess Donettes cereal. However, both kinds of cereal have since disappeared off store shelves.
General Mills Drumstick cereal
Wendy's apparently wasn't the first company to dream up a cereal collaboration with a frozen dairy treat. In 2019, Drumstick got its own General Mills cereal. Drumstick cereal certainly had potential, drawing from the frozen treat's waffle cone, dairy cream filling, and chocolate coating. There were also two flavors from which to choose: one that featured mint and chocolate and another that featured chocolate and vanilla.
Customers at Walmart rated it at 3.7 out of 5 stars. Plenty of people were delighted with eating a bowl of cereal with three different flavors and textures of cereal pieces. However, naysayers were disappointed to find that it didn't really taste like Drumstick and that the waffle pieces of cereal didn't taste exactly like a real waffle cone. The cereal was more like a smash-up of Golden Grahams and Cocoa Puffs -– only the puffs weren't as flavorful. So, General Mills really got more points for the idea than the execution on this one.
Cap'n Crunch Cotton Candy Crunch
If you're going to make a sugary cereal, you might as well be honest about it and go for the one that promises to be the sweetest possible option — cotton candy flavor. The Cap'n Crunch Cotton Candy Crunch was an intriguing cereal in 2019 for people who go crazy for new cereal flavors and cotton-candy-flavored products. Walmart reviewers rated it 4.6 stars, so it's been quite a hit for those willing to try it. It's one of those cereals that people hoard in fear that it will go away because it's become an addiction. Most people find that it tastes just like cotton candy. However, others detect a hint of bubble gum, and still others find that it reminds them of the flavor of Post Smurf-Berry Crunch from 1983.
In keeping with its sugary origins, a one-and-a-fourth cup serving of the cereal has 17 grams of sugar. It ties with Oops! All Berries as being the least nutritious Cap'n Crunch cereal. However, it's hardly the most sugary cereal available. Post Golden Crisp has 21 grams of sugar in just a one-cup serving of cereal. So, at least eating cotton candy cereal for breakfast isn't the worst option in the cereal aisle.
Post Hostess Twinkies cereal
After Hostess collaborated with Post cereal to make Donettes and Honey Buns cereals, the company couldn't resist making a Twinkies cereal as well. Twinkies cereal showed up a little over a year later than the first two, in December 2019. Like its predecessor cereals, Twinkies cereal really looked like miniature Twinkies floating in a bowl of milk.
In case you were wondering, the mini Twinkies don't appear to have a lot of filling inside like a real Twinkie. In fact, the amount of filling is so slight that some people don't even detect it. There is a powdery coating on the outside that is more reminiscent of powdered donuts than real Twinkies (which don't have a powdered coating). The mini Twinkies also start out hard. Leaving them in milk for a while softens them, but perhaps too much too fast. Still, it's not quite the same. Unfortunately, Twinkies cereal didn't do as well with consumers as its first two snack cake cereals did, with Walmart reviewers only ranking it 3.1 out of 5 stars.
General Mills Jolly Rancher cereal
Jolly Ranchers first started welding teeth together in the candy scene in 1949, but it wasn't until 2019 that General Mills decided to try turning it into a cereal. The cereal was a flavor bonanza, with puffs that represented all of your favorite Jolly Rancher flavors. So, any bite you took could mix together watermelon, green apple, and blue raspberry with flavors like grape and cherry. Like the extreme flavors of the candy, the cereal was ready to wake up your taste buds. It was comparable to Trix cereal with its variety of flavors. However, in comparison to the actual candy, the flavor of the cereal was quite subdued.
Overall, it seemed to fit more into the novelty cereal category rather than a cereal that people wanted to continue to buy after giving it a try. Walmart reviewers merely rated it 3.3 out of 5 stars, so they weren't entirely impressed.