Magic Spoon Review: Just How Good Is This Protein Cereal?

Cereal and milk is an iconic breakfast food. For years, I would pour myself a bowl of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, or some other kind of kids' cereal before school every single day.

But now that I'm a little bit older, I've found that the sugar in some popular kids' cereal can give me headaches. I also like to eat something more protein-heavy to keep me satisfied until lunch or snack time.

That's when I discovered Magic Spoon on Instagram.

On the sides of its cereal boxes, Magic Spoon ambitiously calls itself "the high-protein, keto-friendly, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, wheat-free, nothing artificial, childlike cereal for grown-ups." But it's pretty pricey compared to your typical kids' cereal- 40 dollars gives you a pack of four boxes, which comes to $1.39 a bowl.

After being won over by their pretty packaging and "100% happiness guarantee," I ordered the variety pack from Magic Spoon's website and received four flavors: frosted, fruity, cocoa, and cinnamon. For this review, I will describe each flavor as they taste both just plain and with milk, and then give a general review of my experience at the end.

Frosted

I know it's basic, but vanilla is my absolute favorite flavor, so I was really excited to try the frosted flavor. This flavor tasted a lot like vanilla, specifically like vanilla protein powder, but lacked the sweetness that you would expect a frosted cereal to have. Unfortunately, the flavor became almost nauseating after a few spoonfuls. While there is "nothing artificial" in the cereal according to the box, the use of monk fruit extract and stevia as sugar alternatives create a pretty distinct and unappetizing taste. The flavors of these sugar alternatives are especially noticeable in the aftertaste.

On top of that, the cereal crunched nicely at first, but started to stick to my teeth like a paste after a few chews. With milk, it tasted a lot better, but the texture problem still remained.

Fruity

Strangely enough, the cereal smelled strongly of nail polish upon opening. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its hot pink color that looks even brighter than in the pictures.

At first, the sugar alternatives in the fruity flavor were especially noticeable and immediately off-putting. But after a few spoonfuls, I noticed that the cereal tasted just like bubblegum and the aftertaste reminded me of Froot Loops. The cereal tasted even better with milk. In fact, I found myself going for seconds- but the same tacky texture that came with the frosted flavor plagued it's fruitiness as well.

Cocoa

Cocoa was the least sweet of the four flavors. Its taste was vaguely reminiscent of a Tootsie Pop, but I'd say a chocolate protein shake would be a more accurate comparison. As a result of the lack of sweetness, I felt like the cereal wasn't too affected by the unpleasant sugar alternative taste, but was also not very satisfying.

Like with the other flavors, cocoa was much better with milk and had the same sticky texture. I would also recommend using a sweeter-tasting milk (like lactose-free) with cocoa to make up for the lack of sweetness.

Cinnamon

I'm not going to lie- I'm not a fan of cinnamon. I never liked cinnamon rolls, apple pie, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or just anything that had cinnamon in it. But Magic Spoon's cinnamon flavor actually ended up being my favorite one of the four.

With cinnamon, I could still taste those distinct protein and sugar alternative flavors that the frosted, fruity, and cocoa flavors had, but the cinnamon better overpowered them. I could say that this flavor turned me into a cinnamon fan. I even tried a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch afterward, and noticed that the two cereals were undoubtedly similar, unlike Magic Spoon's frosted flavor with Frosted Flakes or cocoa flavor with Cocoa Puffs. And just like the other cereals, this flavor was even better with milk.

However, it still had the same tacky texture. I also found that I still couldn't eat more than a bowl due to the off-putting nature of the underlying protein/sugar alternative taste.

Overall, if you're just curious about how a high-protein cereal would taste, I would say that the 40-dollar price tag is not worth it. The protein and sugar alternative flavors were too distracting, and the sticky texture too unsatisfying. I found that Magic Spoon is really just like a protein bar in cereal form- it offers the same kind of taste, texture, and price, but without the convenience. But for those who absolutely cannot live without cereal and want an alternative, I would definitely consider trying Magic Spoon- especially with their 100% happiness guarantee.