Reviewing Savory-Sweet Cereals

Last week was National Cereal Day. I will admit, I am not a big cereal-eater, but I do like trying new and interesting things. A few months ago, I got an inside tip that savory cereal is the next big thing. Post rolled out two limited edition savory cereals in honor of the day as part of their Honey Brunches of Oats line.

We spotted these on a grocery shopping trip to our local Walmart and snapped them up! They are unusual flavors for breakfast, so I thought it might be good to review them for other curious minds.

Chicken & Waffles

This is the flavor I was more excited about. Chicken and Waffles is in the epitome of soul food and it makes my heart feel happy. At first look, there are tiny, drumstick-like chunks, waffle pieces, and then flakes. Eating any one of them alone is not great. The “chicken” is overly-spiced and nearly unpalatable. The waffles are tasteless. The flakes are too sweet. But together, it’s very tasty! The sweetness of the flakes provides a sort of Mrs. Butterworth-level of syrupiness. The new advent of the sweet-savory cereal is unique and nice, but only in combination. You need to get a bite of both the Aunt Jemimah pre-packaged waffle taste, as well as the herb-rubbed chicken. It is somewhat reminiscent of a road trip breakfast at a diner in the middle of the Midwest.

Maple Bacon Donuts

I love, love donuts. They are on the list of favorite foods. I love them so much, we’re having a donut wall at the wedding. So, of course, I dug into this. This cereal, at first look, has donut rings with pink flecks, as well as the usual flakes. This one tastes like you’d expect. Maple sweetness, and a thick smoky flavor, as if from actual bacon. This one is also meat-free. It has that greasy, maple flavor like cheap breakfast sausage, the kind you buy in a brick. It has a generic “breakfast food” taste in that sense.

I had hoped, like with the other flavor, that the milk would be the unifying element for all the flavors. Unlike in the Chicken and Waffles cereal, these flavors were much less balanced and could have used a little more refinement. It is smoky, salty, and sweet, but I think that the balance of these elements is off. It could have used additional saltiness to help balance out the sweetness, in my opinion. I did love the maple and thought the tiny ruby crystals on the donuts were a nice touch.

Overall

Of the two, Chicken and Waffles was my clear favorite, although neither is bad. I can see myself finishing off the boxes of cereal, but I don’t think either is a flavor I would add consistently to my breakfast (or dinner, whatever). I understand that by bringing a cereal to the market that is chicken and waffle flavored, you can’t really go all in on complex flavors and still appeal to everyone. I think that this is a pretty good cereal, although I’m not sure who their market is. Kids won’t want this, compared to the other offerings from Post, like Sour Patch Kids or Hostess Donettes, so you’re mostly marketing to the adult-eaters-of-sugary-cereal, and I know that’s not really me, but I’m happy to have tried it. I would say to pick it up while it’s still in stores.

I hope they keep putting out interesting flavors. I’d like to add my vote for an avocado toast cereal for National Cereal Day 2020.