Make Your Own Cereal: Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran & More

These recipes cost less than 75 cents per pound to make, so there’s nothing to lose—except maybe an extra $20 to $40 a month from your grocery budget.

I know some of you might need extra convincing that you or your family will actually enjoy these homemade cereals, so I’ll be showing side-by-side comparisons of each cereal. Later on, I’ll share my recipe notes for modifications you can make to suit your taste or dietary preferences.

Aside from these boxes of cereal I bought to convince you to start making your own, I haven’t purchased store-bought cereal in like seven years. Once I realized I was paying nearly double per ounce for a box of cereal compared to what I was paying for a whole chicken or a chuck roast, I quit commercial cereal for good.

Raisin Bran

Let me show you just how easy it is to make your own Raisin Bran. Raisin Bran, a cold cereal staple with brown flakes and raisins, has shrunk from a 25.5-ounce box to under 17 ounces in recent years. But I’ll show you how to make over a pound for just a few cents.

In a large bowl, I combine equal portions of whole wheat flour (or almond flour if you need a gluten-free option) and bran (substitute rice or oat bran if you’re avoiding gluten). Next, I add ground flax and a pinch of salt, stirring to combine.

In a separate bowl, I mix the wet ingredients, which include a few tablespoons of molasses (maple syrup or honey also work), a bit of avocado oil, and water. I give it a good stir to combine, then slowly strain the liquid into the dry ingredients, holding back some initially. You want to mix until a sticky dough begins to form. It should look like this, but add more liquid if you need to:

On a large, flat surface, I lay a dish towel underneath a greased baking tray to keep it from sliding once we use the roller in a bit. I spoon the sticky bran mix onto the tray and start to spread it out with the back of a spoon. Then, I cover it with a large sheet of non-bleached parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough.

If you want very thin bran flakes, you’ll need to roll out the dough very thin. It’s okay if you have some bare spots, but the thinner you spread it, the more it’ll look like box cereal flakes. I actually prefer mine a bit thicker, with a cluster granola-type shape, but it’s up to you.

Once it’s rolled out to your preference, remove the parchment paper and bake the bran flakes for 45 to 50 minutes or until they’re completely dried out and crisp. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool. Here’s what my bran flake sheet looks like:

when you can handle it, break it into small bite-sized flakes. I prefer a thicker version, but I also made a sheet that I rolled out very thinly using less batter. You’ll want to go this route if you want a much lighter, crispier flake.

The prep was minimal, and you made a simple, hands-free dough using a recipe that doesn’t require a litany of ingredients or much cleanup. Here’s what the final bran flakes look like—packed with goodness and beautiful flax flakes:

Store your cereal in an airtight container and add as many raisins as you want. Sometimes, I use Craisins or golden raisins. Give it a good shake, and voilà! You’ve just made Raisin Bran.

You’ll love comparing how your homemade version gives you a more nutrient-dense bran flake than the translucent store-bought flakes, which don’t include flax and have much less actual bran.

Making your own bran flakes will make you realize that you can create healthy convenience foods at home using higher amounts of quality ingredients you actually want, and none of the stuff you don’t.

To get the chunks into smaller granules, I usually transfer them to a food-safe bag, then cover it with a towel and give it a few whacks with my cast iron skillet so that it crumbles.

Grape-Nuts

If you’re a Grape-Nuts cereal fan, you’re going to love how simple and delicious this recipe is to make at home.

Grape-Nuts are delicious, but yikes, look at how tiny this package is. And this cereal always has a markup. I’m not sure why because Grape-Nuts are made from wheat and barley.

In this recipe, we’re going to use steel-cut oats, also referred to as oat groats, which are the least processed form of oats and lend a robust flavor more than your other oats.

First, I place the oats in a bowl and cover them with water because we’ll need to soak them. Allow the bowl to stand at room temperature overnight or at least six to seven hours.

The following day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and drain off any residual water—most of it will have been absorbed, and it’ll look and smell like cooked oatmeal. I like to use a colander fitted with a bowl to catch the water as I rinse the oats. Once thoroughly rinsed, the oats will look something like this:

Transfer your oats to a bowl, then take unrefined coconut oil, melt it, and pour it over the oats. Next, sprinkle a few tablespoons of coconut sugar, which is a plant-based sweetener with a super low glycemic index, so it won’t spike your blood sugar.

You can substitute brown sugar or maple syrup if you prefer. Then sprinkle in a bit of salt and stir everything to combine. Spread the oats in an even layer over a greased baking sheet and stick it in the oven to bake for 15 minutes.

Now, let’s compare our homemade cereal to store-bought Grape-Nuts. I’ll pour a cup of each into a bowl. In terms of appearance, the first bowl is our homemade version, which looks comparable to store-bought, especially if you haven’t eaten a bowl of the store brand in years like I haven’t. In terms of texture, they both have that dry, pebbly feel. All right, let’s do our taste test.

The homemade version has a really good crunch and chew to it. I love the light coconut essence because I’m not a big coconut fan, but it adds a bit of sweetness. Now, let’s try the store-bought Grape-Nuts. Okay, this one is crunchier, for sure, but I could have just baked this a little bit more. But that’s the thing about making it yourself, right? I still have the option to get it to this level of crunchiness.

Rice Krispies

Once you see how easy it is to make Rice Krispies or puffed rice, you'll never buy that stuff again.

You'll need parboiled rice for this recipe—you can use any parboiled rice as long as it's not wild rice. In place of oil, this recipe uses salt to puff the rice, so you'll need to measure out twice the amount of salt as the quantity of rice you're using.

Transfer the salt to a heavy-bottom pot and fry it until it gets super hot. Be sure to continuously move the salt around with your spoon. Once it's hot, pour in your rice, continuously stirring. You'll hear the rice pop into puffed rice almost immediately. Look closely, and you can see it happening.

Once you've separated the salt from the rice using a colander with a bowl underneath, you'll have your puffed rice in one bowl and the salt, which you can reuse for your next batch, in the other.

In case you were wondering, you use salt to conduct heat across the rice instead of oil—it flavors it a bit, too. But let me assure you, this does not come out salty or tasting like salt at all. The flavor is still very neutral and plain.

I have a few freeze-dried apples on hand that I'm going to add to this container. If you aren't used to using freeze-dried foods, here's a close look:

This apple has excellent sweet flavor and a crunch that'll pair nicely with this cereal. Store-bought Rice Krispies have tons of sugar, and I like that I completely avoid that in my homemade version. I plan to pack this container in my work bag to have as a snack.

Corn Flakes

Let me show you how easy it is to make the most delicious, authentic Corn Flakes you've ever tasted. Corn Flakes have been in production for over 100 years, but the once plain flakes are now flavored with salt, sugar, and malt in amounts so high it's hard to consider them a health food. Again, look how little comes in a standard box:

While Corn Flakes can be made with batter, I like to take a heavy-bottom pan, warm avocado oil to medium heat, and use corn flour tortillas, which you can get organic or gluten-free:

I'll show you how to make your own tortillas in a bit. I'm using my microwave rack as a tray to drain my tortillas after frying. Just be sure to put a towel underneath.

Once your oil is heated to 300 to 325 degrees, place several tortillas into the heated oil. You'll want to keep the tortillas to a light sizzle as they're frying to be in the safe range. Fry until light brown, which will happen very quickly, then remove the tortillas from the oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Continue the process until all of your tortillas are finished.

When the tortillas are cool to the touch, break each of them into small bite-sized pieces and store them in an airtight container.

How to Make Your Own Tortillas

The best option is to make your own tortillas, which is simple and doesn't need to be perfect because you're going to break them up. Just combine two cups of organic corn flour with half a teaspoon of salt and one and a half cups of warm water.

Stir everything up into a dough, use your hands to knead it into a cohesive ball, and then separate the dough into golf ball-sized chunks.

I thrifted this authentic vintage tortilla press made in Mexico a few years ago, and because it stores so easily in my small kitchen and is simple to use, I love how quick it makes shaping all of my tortillas to the perfect size:

Now, we'll measure out one cup of our homemade and store-bought Corn Flakes to compare the results. Let's do our homemade crunch test. Perfect crunch, and I love the real corn flavor. It's really good.

Now, let's try the store-bought. It has a good crunch too, but it's more of a sweet flake. Store-bought Corn Flakes have a taste on the end that's not quite like corn—more of a sweetness, but not an authentic corn flavor. It's good, but it definitely falls flat compared to the more layered flavor you get in your homemade version.

I like to eat my Corn Flakes with very ripe bananas, so I'm adding a few slices to my bowl. The sweetness from the bananas is all the sugar I need, and I'm so happy my homemade version doesn't contain any. Ditch the sugary, plain-tasting Corn Flakes and try making your own. You can make so many flavor variations too. Homemade Corn Flakes are versatile and make a great dinner side.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Let's finish with a little Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Here’s a cereal recipe you can cheat a bit.

Start by cutting the crusts off of a loaf of bread (even stale bread works great), then cut it into small cubes and toast them in a non-stick pan.

Sprinkle with a mix of sugar and cinnamon, and cook until toasty. Let them cool on a wire rack, and they get even crisper.

Crusty Croutons

Save the crusts—they make great croutons for salads or even breaded chicken later in the week:

The flavor in this homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch is like a real meal compared to the store-bought version:

It may contain sugar, but it doesn’t contain an of the questionable sugars commonly found in sugary store-bought cereal, such as fructose, maltodextrin, and dextrose.