Healthy cereals for kids with no food dyes

The cereal aisle is full of brightly colored boxes and flashy marketing…and many kids are full of opinions. Here are 7 tips to help you wade through your supermarket’s sea of cereal boxes together and choose a winner that’s rich in whole grains, not too sugary, free of food dyes, and kid friendly. We've included a list of more than two dozen healthy cereals for kids that fit the bill. 

This article comes from Nutrition Action. We don't accept any paid advertising or corporate or government donations. Any products we recommend have been vetted by our staff and are not advertisements by the manufacturers. 

The basics of healthy cereals for kids 

Finding a healthy cereal for kids isn’t so different from finding a healthy cereal for adults. What to look for: 

• 100% whole grain (or, at least the first 2 grain ingredients are whole grains) 
• No more than 6 grams of added sugar per serving in most cereals 
• No aspartame, acesulfame potassium, or sucralose 
• No synthetic food dyes 

Click here to jump to a list of cereals that meet this criteria. 

1. Find a whole-grain cereal for kids. 

It’s not just about getting whole grains, but also about avoiding refined grains. If a cereal box says “100% whole grain,” you’re all set.  

But some cereals have a mix of both whole and refined grains. In contrast, the healthiest cereals for kids are made with grain ingredients that are all—or nearly all—whole grain. Typically, that means at least the first two grain ingredients are whole. (The ingredients are listed in order of predominance, so a cereal contains more of its first ingredient than its second ingredient, and so on.) 

A claim on a cereal box like “16 g whole grain” could mean there’s also, say, 8 grams of refined grain. So how can you tell whether any given cereal is mostly whole grain? Check the ingredient list to see which grains are “whole.” A few tips: 

• Wheat or corn: If the ingredient list doesn’t say “whole” or “whole grain” wheat or corn (or flour), assume they’re refined. “Degerminated” means refined. 
• Rice: Brown and black rice are whole grains. Does it just say “rice”? Probably not. 
• Oats and more: Oats, sprouted grains, quinoa, sorghum, and spelt may not always say “whole,” but they typically are.  
• Bran: It’s the fiber-rich part of grains that’s stripped off when grains are refined. So although it’s not the “whole” part of the grain, ingredients like “wheat bran” and “oat bran” are a good source of fiber and aren’t “refined” grains like white flour. So think of bran as a bonus. 

To maximize fiber from whole grains, also look for cereals made with whole wheat or oats rather than (lower-fiber) brown rice or whole corn.  

Another reason to look for an alternative to brown rice cereals: Rice-heavy diets can be higher in  inorganic arsenic, a toxic element that poses a risk to a child’s developing brain. 

Need a gluten-free cereal for a child with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity? Instead of rice, look for a cereal made with oats, but not just any oats. Make sure the cereal is labeled or certified “gluten-free.” Oats are naturally gluten-free, but they can be contaminated with gluten if they’ve been grown in the same fields—or processed on the same equipment—as wheat, barley, or rye. 

2. Look for kids’ cereals that are lower in added sugar. 

A typical sugary kids’ cereal like Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes has 12 grams of added sugar in just a 1-cup serving. That’s equal to 3 teaspoons, or nearly 50% of the FDA’s Daily Value (DV, a recommended maximum) of added sugar for young children, which is 25 grams. 

That maximum is based on recommendations from health authorities to consume less than 10% of calories from added sugar, which is 25 grams for a three-year-old who eats about 1,000 calories a day. 

Heads up: For adults who eat around 2,000 calories a day, the DV is twice that much (50 grams), and the % DV listed next to added sugar on most Nutrition Facts labels is based on 50 grams. So Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes label says it has 24% of the DV for added sugar, but if you’re shopping for a toddler, double that %DV. 

How to cut back on sugar: If you start with plain hot oatmeal, it’s easy to avoid all added sugar. But most boxes of cold cereal have some added sugar. Your best bet is to look for cereals with no more than 6 grams of added sugar per serving (a typical serving is around 30 to 40 grams of cereal). That’s roughly equal to the USDA’s new rules for healthy foods served in schools. 

Some denser cereals—like raisin brans and shredded wheat—must list Nutrition Facts for a larger serving (around 60 grams of cereal), say the FDA’s labeling rules. So it’s reasonable to accept a few more grams of added sugar in cereals with larger servings. Our picks below have no more than 9 grams of added sugar if they have a larger serving size. 

3. Avoid aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose. 

Those artificial sweeteners, which we rate as “avoid” on our Chemical Cuisine guide, aren’t in many cereals, but they do show up occasionally in cereals marketed as keto, low carb, high protein, or macro friendly. Check the ingredients list. 

4. Pick a healthy kids’ cereal with no synthetic food dyes. 

A synthetic food dye is an ingredient with a color and a number like the Red 40 and Yellow 5 you’ll find in Froot Loops, Lucky Charms, and many other kids’ cereals. Those ingredients are petroleum-based dyes that may cause hyperactivity in some sensitive children. Synthetic dyes that you might find in cereals include: 

• Blue 1 
• Blue 2 
• Green 3 
• Red 3 
• Red 40 
• Yellow 5 
• Yellow 6 

Some cereals from brands like Cascadian Farm Organic and Nature’s Path Organic Envirokidz replace food dyes with safe sources of colors like purple corn flour, black carrot juice concentrate, or beet juice concentrate. On the downside, the colorful Cascadian Farms and Nature’s Path cereals that are designed to appeal to kids—with names like “Cheetah Chomps” and “Red Panda Puffs”—aren’t always their most nutritious cereals. They’re often made with a mix of whole and refined grains, including corn or brown rice instead of higher-fiber grains. 

Solution: Choose a healthy cereal and jazz up its color and appeal with a rainbow of fresh or frozen fruits, like: 

• Bananas 
• Blackberries 
• Blueberries 
• Cherries 
• Grapes 
• Kiwi 
• Mango 
• Nectarines 
• Peaches 
• Strawberries 

If you can, let your kids help you shop for and choose fruits. Offer a variety so they can decide which ones to use to “decorate” their cereal bowl.  

For younger children ages 1-4, always be sure to cut fruits like grapes, blueberries, or cherries into appropriate bite-sized pieces to prevent choking.  

5. Don’t be fooled by cereals that promise fruits or vegetables. There’s not much. 

Most cereals, gummies, snack bars, and other packaged snack foods that promise “real fruit” or “real vegetables” have very little of them. What’s more, the fruits or vegetables are often powders, purées, purée concentrates, or juices…not like the real, fiber-rich whole fruits you would get if you added your own. 

Take new Cheerios Veggie Blends Blueberry Banana with Spinach, Carrot and Sweet Potato Cereal for example. It’s “made with ¼ cup fruit & veggies* per serving,” says the box. 

Yet the cereal has more added sugar (7 grams) than any of its “fruit” or “veggies” –that is, sweet potato powder, carrot powder, banana purée, blueberry purée concentrate, and spinach powder. 

And where does that asterisk lead? We found it...in teensy print squeezed onto the side of the box: “*Cheerios Blends cereal is made with fruit puree and vegetable powder. See complete list of ingredients. It is not intended to replace fruit or vegetables in the diet.” 

Not that General Mills was trying to fool anyone. Surely, no one would be confused by the “Veggie,” two fruits, and three vegetables on the box front. Nah. 

6. Serve cereal to kids with a healthy choice of milk or yogurt. 

For kids over age 2, the healthiest dairy choices are: 

• Fat-free or non-fat (skim) milk 
• Low-fat (1%) milk 
• Fat-free or low-fat yogurt 

Despite what you may have heard, whole milk isn’t the best choice for children. Ditto for 2% milk. Both have more saturated (unhealthy) fat than 1% or skim.

If you’re serving kids a plant-based dairy alternative, beware that most almond, coconut, oat, and rice milks are low in protein, and they may lack vitamins and minerals that you’d get in dairy milk. Look for a plant milk that’s fortified with calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B-12—and contains about as much protein as dairy milk (8 grams per cup), like: 

• Fortified soy milk  
• Fortified pea protein milk (like Ripple) 
• Fortified almond milk with added protein (like Silk Protein Almondmilk) 

Tip: “Unsweetened” and “original” varieties of plant-based milks are typically lower in added sugar than “vanilla” or “chocolate” varieties. 

7. Try one of these healthy cereals for kids. 

This list of healthy cereals that we’ve rounded up isn’t exhaustive, but you can also compare your favorite cereal to our criteria. Everything on our list fits the bill—they’re 100% or mostly whole grain, not too sugary, no food dyes, and no artificial sweeteners. Enjoy! 

• All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes 
• Alpen Muesli—Original or No Sugar Added 
• Bob’s Red Mill Muesli—Gluten Free, Fruit & Seed, or Old Country Style 
• Cascadian Farm Organic Purely O’s 
• Cascadian Farm Organic Raisin Bran 
• Great Grains—Banana Nut Crunch, Crunchy Pecan, or Raisins, Dates & Pecans 
• Kashi Go—Chocolate Crunch or Peanut Butter Crunch 
• Kashi Organic shredded wheat—Autumn Wheat, Berry Fruitful, Cinnamon Harvest, or Island Vanilla 
• Kellogg’s Raisin Bran 
• KIND Healthy Grains Granola—Banana Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate, or Raspberry 
• Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Raisin Bran 
• Original Cheerios (the yellow box) 
• Post Bran Flakes 
• Post Raisin Bran 
• Post Shredded Wheat (or any brand of plain shredded wheat) 
• Post Shredded Wheat’n Bran 
• Quaker Oatmeal Squares—Brown Sugar or Honey Nut 
• Total 
• Weetabix 
• Wheat Chex 
• Wheaties 
• Whole Foods 365 Fruit & Nut Muesli 
• Whole Foods 365 Organic Bran Flakes 
• Whole Foods 365 Raisin Bran