The Best And Worst New Cereals Of 2023 So Far

People who have grain sensitivities and peanut or soy allergies or who are looking for a really low-sugar cereal have been quite pleased with the lineup Three Wishes has brought to the world. Some of the other flavors available from Three Wishes include strawberry, cinnamon, honey, cocoa, fruity, and vanilla frosted. There's even a completely unsweetened one. The latest flavor is Three Wishes marshmallow. While it doesn't actually contain any real marshmallows, the new marshmallow flavor is making customers very happy. This grain-free cereal is made from chickpeas, tapioca, and pea protein. It only has 3 grams of sugar, but it still tastes incredible.

The new marshmallow flavor tastes a little like the vanilla frosted ones and gives some people the nostalgic taste of Clifford Crunch. It's quickly becoming a top fave of customers who have tried other Three Wishes flavors. One thing to keep in mind is that Three Wishes uses cane sugar and monk fruit as its sweeteners, so if you are looking for a sugarless option or aren't a fan of monk fruit, you might not like them. Otherwise, if you're looking for a tasty grain-free option, you're going to want to look for this one.

Post's other Sweet Dreams flavor is honey moonglow. This one has lavender and chamomile, as the blueberry midnight flavor does. However, this cereal is supplemented by honey and vanilla flavors. Customers seem to rate the honey moonglow flavor slightly higher than the blueberry midnight one. Though blueberries aren't a featured ingredient in this flavor, Post uses both blueberry and carrot concentrate for coloring.

Like the blueberry midnight flavor, this one stays crispy in milk the whole time you're eating it. You'll also find bits of honey throughout your bowl. Consumers find it as helpful for relaxing as the other flavor. In fact, Vee Warwell said in her Amazon review, "I had no idea I was that tense until I had this cereal." While it may not be the best idea for a breakfast cereal and your results with the relaxing properties of the cereal will certainly vary, curling up with Honey Moonglow Sweet Dreams as a late-night snack might be a more comforting experience than you ever expected.

The spry Cap'n may not look it, but he's turning 60 in 2023. Cap'n Crunch had a real-life birthday bash at the Margaritaville Resort in Palm Springs, California, on April 15. It was free to attend, but you had to be lucky enough to snatch up one of the tickets while they were still available. If you missed the part (most of us did), you can still help the Cap'n celebrate with Cap'n Crunch's Birthday Crunch. Since it's a birthday cake-flavored cereal, you can even use it to celebrate your own birthday or that of a family member or friend.

Despite the name, not many people think Birthday Crunch tastes like an actual birthday cake. A better approximation might be cotton candy. So if you're having Cap'n Crunch Cotton Candy Crunch withdrawals and aren't willing to pay eBay prices, this flavor might be a good alternative. Although, others have said they can taste a little birthday cake flavor, even if the cereal on the whole reminds them more of the Cap'n Crunch Oops! All Berries flavor. Either way, it's an interesting new Cap'n Crunch flavor to try.

Trader Joe's has several great cereals, and when we tried Trader Joe's flakes and strawberries cereal, we were fairly impressed with it. The cereal itself is wheat and rice flakes, like Special K. The freeze-dried strawberries among the flakes enhance the overall flavor of the flakes as they plump up in milk. You'll appreciate their ability to stay crispy in milk so that you don't end up with a soggy mass of wet cereal and fruit in your spoon by the end of your breakfast. These can be easily compared to Kellogg's Special K Red Berries cereal, but we think the Trader Joe's version tastes better. It's hard to beat the price at only $2.99 a box, while the Special K version sells for $4.98 and up.

A serving of either one of these brands is only 140 calories. However, a serving of Special K Red Berries is only one cup, while a serving of TJ's flakes and strawberries is 1¼ cup. They have the same amount of fat, sugar, and protein, but everything else is different. The Trader Joe's version has 10 more milligrams of sodium, fewer carbs, and less fiber. While it's cheaper and comparable in most areas, the real difference comes in the vitamins and minerals. Trader Joe's version has no vitamins D, A, C, B12, or E and no riboflavin. It has less iron, folate, and niacin than the Special K version. However, it provides more thiamin and potassium. It also provides pantothenic acid (also known as vitamin B5) and zinc, which Special K doesn't have.

Kellogg's released a special-edition Rice Krispies spring color mix in 2023 with blue and green colors. It was a good idea, as you can see from the inset picture on the box, which demonstrates that you can use them to make cute, spring-themed Rice Krispies treats. The colors of the normal tan Rice Krispies complement the pastel blue and green Rice Krispies, which definitely embodies the feeling of spring.

Don't expect a new flavor here, though. If you're buying them just to have differently colored Krispies than usual, you'll get what you expect. In terms of ingredients, the only non-vitamin difference in the ingredient list between the original Rice Krispies and the one with spring colors is the addition of Yellow 6 and Blue 1 coloring. The original version has no food coloring in it. So if you're trying to stay away from food dyes, this might not be the cereal for you. However, if you're looking for a color twist rather than a flavor twist on classic Rice Krispies, you'll like them.

As of May 2023, there are 18 flavors of Cheerios available. For those of us who remember when there were only plain and honey nut cheerios available, this is like winning the lottery. However, not every flavor is equal. General Mills rang in the new year with a new oat crunch berry Cheerios flavor. Customers looking for a multigrain cereal flavored with natural fruit were likely happy to have this option on the shelves. It is made from whole-grain oats, corn, and rice. While it does contain sugar and corn syrup as the third and fourth ingredients (respectively), it also relies on raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry puree for sweetness and flavor. So it ends up with only 11 grams of sugar per serving instead of a bucketload. We also like that it relies on vegetables, fruits, caramel, and annatto for coloring rather than fake dyes.

Customers, though, tend to be lukewarm about it. They say it reminds them of the flavors from other brands like Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries and strawberry Honey Bunches of Oats. While it doesn't have real pieces of fruit like strawberry Honey Bunches of Oats, the real fruit puree in the ingredient list gives it a berry flavor that not everyone likes, and which seems to be too strong and sweet for some but indiscernible for others. The new cereal is actually the lowest-rated Cheerios box on the Cheerios website, with only 2.8 out of five stars. This rating is fairly disappointing considering that another Oat Crunch variety, oats 'n honey, has 4.8 stars.

We've seen other frozen-treat cereals cycling through the aisles in the past few years like Wendy's Frosty cereal and a Drumstick cereal. However, neither of those creations tried to approximate the sensation of eating a cold treat when they transitioned from frozen treats to cereal. However, when Kellogg's teamed with ICEE to make a cereal flavor, they decided to try to make a flavor that simulates the freezing sensation of consuming a real ICEE. The flavors in the package are cherry and blue raspberry, so eating them together in the same bowl is like, one would assume, getting a cherry and blue raspberry swirl ICEE.

Reviewers haven't been that impressed with Kellogg's ICEE cereal. For the most part, it's just average in the taste department. It has a nice smell that makes you think it's going to be amazing, but the taste profile is simply berry without any real wow factor. It does leave behind a slight tingle like you would experience if you ate it after brushing your teeth, albeit without the mint flavor. So at least it's nice as a newish breakfast experience for people who don't usually mix toothpaste and breakfast, even if you don't end up buying it again.

In January 2023, Post announced it was adding a crunchier version of its Pebbles cereal. So if you see your favorite Pebbles cereal with "Crunch'd" at the end of the title and a picture of Fred and Barney as rock stars on the box, you'll know you're getting the crunchier version. You can either add them to milk as usual or just snack on them by the handful. Cocoa Pebbles Crunch'd are puffy cereal pieces made from corn and oats instead of rice, and they come in large, puffy star shapes instead of small flakes.

Unfortunately, cereal fans aren't impressed with Cocoa Pebbles Crunch'd. Rather than tasting like chocolate, Cocoa Pebble Crunch'd reportedly taste bland and like chemicals. The larger shapes should have kept them from getting soggy quickly, but customers reported the cereal turns to mush in no time. Customers who bought them by mistake and people who bought them on purpose were ready to go back to the original Cocoa Pebbles after one bowl full.

Both young kids and adults who are young at heart have been playing with and collecting Hot Wheels cars since 1968. Capitalizing on this, Ralston released the first Hot Wheels cereal in 1990, featuring marshmallow cars. You can imagine the thrill of seeing Hot Wheels cereal on the shelves again for a new generation. But what would it even taste like? Somehow, General Mills landed on a lemony flavor that is reminiscent of Froot Loops as the flavor that should thrill Hot Wheels fans. But we're not sure that was the wisest choice. How many lemon-flavored cereals have become fan favorites other than Froot Loops? We won't wait while you try to think of one.

The one redeeming feature of the Hot Wheels flavor is that it has marshmallows. So it's sort of like eating Froot Loops with marshmallows. Unfortunately, it's just not a stand-out flavor with so many other options available. Since it doesn't come with an actual Hot Wheels car prize inside the box, you might as well just eat some other cereal that tastes better — like Froot Loops.