This Homemade Cereal is made with wholesome ingredients in just 30 minutes, and tastes like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. You won’t be able to stop and you don’t have to!
Table of Contents
I absolutely love to make healthier versions of traditional breakfast foods because you can make them so much healthier at home and still enjoy your favorite food! And this homemade cereal tops the list!!!
Other examples would be this high protein granola, quinoa granola and healthy granola. SO good!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Start your day right: Healthy breakfast is everything! It’s a major metabolism boost and this healthy breakfast cereal is packed with nutrition!
- Tastes like Cinnamon Toast Crunch: The addition of coconut palm sugar and cinnamon makes this cereal taste like everyone’s favorite store-bought cereal!
- Nutrition powerhouse: Packed with healthy fats, protein, loads of fiber and complex carbohydrates. It keeps the bellies full for more than an hour and we all know conventional cereals don’t do that job well.
- Easy to make and lasts a long time: Stir, bake and combine. Then keep this cereal in airtight container in your pantry for months to come.
Ingredients for Healthy Homemade Cereal
To make this cereal recipe you will need just a handful of simple ingredients.
- Oats: I like to use rolled oats also known as old fashioned oats because they have higher nutrition than quick oats. But I’ve also made this recipe with minute oats and it turned out fabulous.
- Maple syrup: To sweeten the cereal. You can also use honey, agave nectar, date syrup or your favorite sugar free syrup.
- Cinnamon: To make it taste like cinnamon toast crunch. It adds unbelievable flavor with very little calories.
- Hemp and chia seeds: High in Omega 3s and healthy fats. Both seeds really boost the nutrition of this recipe.
- Vanilla extract: Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Sugar: I like to use coconut sugar because it adds the depth of flavor. Brown sugar will do the same trick. In a pinch, you can use cane sugar or regular sugar but won’t be as wholesome option.
- Salt: Just a touch to bring out flavors.
Recipe Tip
I highly recommend to double the recipe! After I re-tested the cereal, I ate it by myself within 3-4 days. It keeps really well!
How to Make Homemade Cereal
- Season the oats: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, add oats, cinnamon and salt, now mix. Add vanilla extract and maple syrup, stir very well to coat oats in syrup.
- Bake them: Place on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients: Remove oats from the oven and transfer to a large bowl bowl along with remaining cinnamon, hemp hearts and chia seeds, ground flaxseed and coconut sugar.
- Mix, store and enjoy: Stir well. Store in any airtight container like storage container with a lid or glass jar with a lid in a cool dark place like pantry, for a few months.
Tips for Best Results
- Ovens vary: Because cinnamon is brown in color, watch your oats not to burn or underbake. Taste test a few. They should by dry and a bit crunchy.
- Use different bowls: I mean for coating oats in maple syrup first and then for combining all ingredients. I used one bowl and when I was mixing cereal, seeds and cinnamon stuck to the walls of the bowl. So I did lose some flavor and ingredients.
- Don’t use steel cut oats: While it is tempting to make this cereal even healthier, I think steel cut oats are too hard and need moisture to be cooked. Same goes for quick cooking steel cut oats. However, one of the readers had success with it, so you may try.
- Scoop from the bottom for serving: Chia and hemp seeds are heavier than oats, so it is normal for them to settle. You want to scoop from the bottom of the container to grab them with each serving.
Delicious Additions
This homemade cereal is very forgiving! You can replace some of the additions or throw in extra of these ingredients:
- Unsweetened coconut flakes
- Nuts like chopped walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews and hazelnuts
- Dried fruit like raisins and freeze dried fruit and berries
- Seeds like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or sesame seeds
Serving Ideas
This cereal is so good, I eat it by the spoonful even without milk. Of course, you can serve it with your favorite milk. Or enjoy with some Greek yogurt or cottage cheese to make it a high in protein breakfast or snack.
You can also sprinkle it on top of cottage cheese ice cream, so good!
FAQs
Some readers did not add the sugar at all or replaced it was more maple syrup. They say it works but I personally haven’t tried.
Yes, you can omit hemp seeds if you don’t have any on hand or don’t like them. You can also replace them with any other seeds like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
More Breakfast Recipes to Try
Healthy Homemade Cereal
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats or quick oats (certified gluten-free if necessary)
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon divided
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup hemp seeds
- 1/2 cup chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown, cane or white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add oats, 3 teaspoons of cinnamon, salt and mix well. Add vanilla extract and maple syrup, stir very well to coat oats in maple syrup.
- Transfer onto previously prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. All ovens vary, so watch not to burn and taste test as cinnamon adds dark color.
- Remove oats from the oven and transfer into a large bowl or large airtight container with a lid you plan to store cereal in. Add remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, hemp seeds, chia seeds, ground flaxseed and sugar; stir or shake to combine.
- Serve cold with milk of choice. Scoop from the bottom and stir as chia seeds and hemp seeds tend to settle.
Notes
- Store: Store in a cool dry place in an airtight container for a few months.
- I prefer old fashioned or rolled oats because of their large size and nutrition.
- You can use honey, just make sure to use liquid honey and stir well as it’s thicker than maple syrup.
HI! Is it possible to use agave instead of maple syrup? Do you think it will taste similar?
Yes.
Fast, easy and delicious!
Could I switch the coconut sugar for honey also can I not add in the Hemp seed would that effect the taste or cereal
I have substituted honey for the maple syrup, but not for coconut sugar. If you don’t like hemp seed, you can omit it. The taste will be different.
goood
Are chia sees in this cereal safe to be eaten? I thought chia seeds have to be soaked in liquid at least 15 minutes.
No they don’t have to be.
Excellent but I totally eliminated the sugar and decrease the maple syrup by 1 Tablespoon. I’m trying to cut down on my sugars.
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Kathy!
Yum! This is very good! I subbed turbinado sugar in place of the coconut palm sugar, because I can have a bit of unrefined sugars per day. I used cashew milk and the chia seeds absorbed all the milk, which was neat. I never had chia seeds in cereal before. I also added dried goji berries and raisins in mine and it was very tasty and filling.
Sounds super loaded.:)
Olena,
OMFG this is so good! I used Bob’s red mill gluten free steel cut oats and it was a success. It was crunchy, slightly sweet and oh so cinnamony. I added 1 more tsp of cinnamon in the last step and 1/4 cup coconut shreds. I think next time I will toast it with the oats. It was a last minute addition. 🙂
Haha. Good, huh?! Totally satisfies the craving for junk cereal. I have it when that craving hits me. With almond milk.
I can’t find the hemp seed where I live ?. Could I omit it? Or is there a substitute?
Hi Jackie. Yes, you can omit shelled hemp seeds or replace with sunflower seeds.
I LOVE this recipe! So many nutrients with a great taste!
You just took Cinnamon Toast Crunch to a whole other level! As a big fan of cinnamon, cereal, AND (use to be) cinnamon toast crunch… I am obsessed with this recipe!! xx
Hi Erin. Good, huh?! I love it! It fills that void for me. Had it this morning in my son’s unfinished bowl of milk from cereal. So good OMG. Glad you enjoyed it. I love having a jar of dry healthy cereal in the pantry.