Every Flavor Of Frosted Flakes Ranked Worst To Best
Kellogg's has been making Frosted Flakes for a surprisingly long amount of time. In fact, as of the year 2022, this classic crunchy, sugary cereal has been in production for more than 70 years, the stuff first having been produced back in 1952 (per Kellogg's). They were actually called Sugar Frosted Flakes back then, which would remain an entirely accurate title, albeit one that doesn't quite fit the zeitgeist.
Over the many years during which these sugar-laden flakes of corn have been fueling kids (and college students and plenty of adults, too) through their mornings, the company has tried out lots of flavor variations. Did you know, for example, that in the late '90s, Kellogg's released a cake-flavored Birthday Confetti Frosted Flakes? Or that just a few short years ago, in 2019, they put out Banana Creme Frosted Flakes? Both were rather short-lived, and having never tested them, we won't venture a guess as to why. But we did taste every single type of Frosted Flakes for sale today.
At the time of this writing, Kellogg's is producing no fewer than six different types of Frosted Flakes, with three new flavors having been added just this year. Below, we'll take you through each type of cereal, covering the pros and cons and noting the nutrition stats. But first, let's take a moment to talk about how we ranked each flavor of Frosted Flakes, which was quite the hands-on, multi-person operation.
How we tested each type of Frosted Flakes
Conducting cereal taste tests and evaluations is nothing to be taken lightly, nor is it a venture that's best conducted alone. First, because with many opinions comes more objectivity, and second, because without help, that would have been a lot of cereal to manage. So we enlisted some help from the whole family — including some cousins and in-laws. First, our resourceful son wrote up a chart with each Frosted Flakes variety listed and a spot for us to mark our rankings, and he printed out enough copies for everyone involved. We proceeded to distribute samples of each variety to all of our taste testers, who ranged in age from 4 to 64.
The members of our cereal panel tried the Frosted Flakes dry, then wrote in their rankings — with a bit of help managing the rating paperwork for the youngest party, whose opinions were strong but whose reading is still a work in progress. By averaging these rankings, we determined the most popular and least popular Frosted Flakes flavors among our group. The next day, after a palate refresh, we proceeded to again try each flavor, one by one, this time dry and with milk, as is only befitting a cereal. We also cross-referenced a number of online reviews to see how the general public feels about the flavors to add some more insight to our review process.
Here is our ranking of all six current Frosted Flakes flavors, rated from worst to best.
Strawberry Milkshake Frosted Flakes
There was really no ambiguity, we're sorry to say: These were the least popular Frosted Flakes we tried, and they seem to be widely considered the worst variety out there today. The sweetness is overpowering and the "strawberry" flavor tastes entirely artificial, despite the fact that the box says "Naturally & Artificially Flavored" across the front. What's more is that when you eat this cereal with milk, the strawberry flavoring, which is apparently applied to the exterior of the flakes, quickly dissipates into the milk, so you are left with soggy, semi-flavorless cereal floating (or sinking) in artificially flavored strawberry milk.
"These flakes do not possess a 'ripe, juicy' strawberry flavor," stated one dissatisfied reviewer. "Sure, they have a strawberry flavor, but it is a passive and light one, maybe the level of a diluted pink Starburst. Like, 30% of a pink Starburst, I'd say."
A 1-cup serving of Strawberry Milkshake Frosted Flakes delivers 140 calories that come laden with 11 grams of sugar, or 22% of all sugar you should have in a given day if you're on a 2,000 calorie diet. That's a lot of sugar, especially for a cereal that's not all that good. Our recommendation is to pass on this one, but if you're a huge strawberry fan — the fake candy or Nesquik kind of strawberry flavor, we mean — then by all means try it for yourself.
Frosted Flakes with Vanilla Marshmallows
If you've ever carefully picked all the little marshmallows out of a box of Lucky Charms and then mixed them in with a box of classic Frosted Flakes, then you've already experienced the taste of Frosted Flakes with Vanilla Marshmallows. (Also, why exactly did you do that, again?) The reason Lucky Charms work is that the base cereal, the shaped bits of oats, are not sweet, so the sugary bits are balanced out to a large degree. Here, sugary marshmallows are added to sugary cereal flakes (corn, of course, not oats), and the result is too much sweetness. The term "gilding the lily" comes to mind, if we can equate Frosted Flakes to lilies.
For the record, the youngest member of our panel, who never gets sugary cereals of any kind (yes, we positioned this as a dessert situation), did call this the favorite. We can see how, for better or for worse, young palates would be taken with this stuff, but it was not a hit with our adult testers. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is much more sugar per serving here than with Strawberry Milkshake Frosted Flakes. Here, a 1-cup serving, which contains 150 calories, has a stunning 17 grams of sugar, or 34% of what an adult should have in an entire day (per Kellogg's).
Chocolate Frosted Flakes
Chocolate Frosted Flakes came close to hitting the mark, but again, they were just a bit too sweet. The chocolate flavoring is actually natural here, which was a pleasant surprise, and indeed, this cereal does not have that artificial quality of the Strawberry Milkshake variety. You really can taste the chocolate well, and it certainly turns your milk into a tasty, chocolatey treat that can be enjoyed once the cereal is finished, but again, it's just a bit too sugary. One idea would be to mix half a serving of these with half a serving of classic Kellogg's Corn Flakes, but we regret to report that we had no Corn Flakes on hand to act on this concept.
A 1-cup, 150-calorie serving of Chocolate Frosted Flakes has 13 total grams of sugar, including 12 grams of added sugar, which equates to 24% of the recommended daily allotment (per Kellogg's). That's still quite a bit of sugar, even if it's less than it would be with the marshmallows.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Frosted Flakes
In terms of the artwork on the box, these Obi-Wan Kenobi Frosted Flakes are the hands-down winners. The box depicts Tony the Tiger, the longtime mascot of the brand (sorry if you're saying: "They're grrrrrrrrreat!" in your head right now), with his face bisected by a lightsaber. On one half of the glowing beam, he is wearing a Darth Vader-style helmet, while on the other he wears a Jedi-style hood. These are, as any "Star Wars" fan will tell you, members of the dark side and light side of The Force, respectively. The cereal blends classic Frosted Flakes with Chocolate Frosted Flakes, thus the play on light side/dark side.
But how is the cereal? Obi-Wan Kenobi Frosted Flakes are pretty good, but again, we feel this would have been a great cereal if the "light" part of the equation was a non-sugar-coated Corn Flake instead of a sugary Frosted Flake — it's still too cloying of a taste to let the chocolate flavor shine as much as it should. According to Kellogg's, you'll find a 1-cup serving rated at 13 grams of overall sugar, including 12 grams of added sugars, which is that same 24% figure.
Frosted Flakes
The OG Frosted Flakes still hold up, folks — maybe that's why they have been in continuous production since the early 1950s. Now, full disclosure (and at the risk of offending anyone), the older members of our tasting panel were the ones who liked the original Frosted Flakes the most. Maybe that's just a product of nostalgia or familiarity, or perhaps there really is something to the recipe that Kellogg's has been using all these years.
Despite the fact that Kellogg's stopped calling them "Sugar Frosted Flakes" a long time ago, there is still a lot of sugar at play here. A single-cup serving of classic Frosted Flakes has 12 grams of sugar, 24% of your daily advised limit (per Kellogg's). The cereal will give you 40% of your daily recommended iron in that same serving, at least, so there's some good news along with the heavy sugar content.
Cinnamon French Toast Frosted Flakes
And finally we have arrived! The best flavor variety of Frosted Flakes on the market today is one of the new kids on the block: Cinnamon French Toast Frosted Flakes. Look, this stuff is as sweet as any cereal you're going to taste, let's not split hairs there — but in this case, the sweetness works. You generally expect a heavy dose of sugar flavor alongside cinnamon, so it's not a turnoff like it is with the strawberry flavoring or even with the chocolate.
As one fan described this popular cereal, "The whole mouthful tastes like a cozy medley of golden brown goodness, and milk only serves to further meld it all together into one comforting cereal tongue-hug. I even think Cinnamon French Toast Frosted Flakes outshine General Mills' French Toast Crunch, with the latter having an airier and blander base compared to the sharp crispness of Frosted Flakes."
Cinnamon French Toast Frosted Flakes contain the same 12 grams of sugar (just under a quarter of your daily dose at 24%) in a 140-calorie serving. Given all the sugar, this cereal should be a treat, not a part of your daily breakfast, and the stuff is a treat indeed. Cinnamon French Toast Frosted Flakes was the first choice among several people on our panel, was rated well with most, and was no one's last pick. Turning to the internet, we see this cereal getting mostly five-star or four-star-plus reviews at places like Target, Walmart, and beyond.