How many calories are in breakfast cereal?
One cup of ready-to-eat breakfast cereal weighs 35 g and carries 133 calories. Dry, before milk, cereal runs 379 calories per 100 g — dense, because it is toasted grain with almost all the water baked out. The bowl you pour, not the brand on the box, decides most of the number.
You'd need to walk about 27 minutes to burn the 133 calories in a 1-cup (35 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off 133 kcal of breakfast cereal?
A 1-cup (35 g) serving is 133 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 133 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 27 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 17 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 19 min |
| Jogging | 16 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 30 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (35 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Breakfast cereal quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a big bowl
- Corn flakes, frosted flakes, oat rings and granola
- Sodium is the row nobody reads
- How does breakfast cereal compare?
- Most popular breakfast cereal brands
- Breakfast cereal FAQs
Breakfast cereal quick facts
The number above comes from the generic USDA record for ready-to-eat cereal, FNDDS 2708445, "Cereal, ready-to-eat, NFS". It is the average of what Americans actually pour: flakes, rings, squares and puffs, sweetened and plain, all folded into one line. That makes it the right starting point when you know you ate cereal but not which one. Branded and single-type records sit around it as variants, and they land further apart than most people expect — over a hundred calories per 100 g separates plain corn flakes from homemade granola.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (35 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 379 | 133 | — |
| Total fat | 4.01 g | 1.4 g | 2% |
| Saturated fat | 0.69 g | 0.2 g | 1% |
| Carbohydrate | 77.71 g | 27.2 g | 10% |
| Dietary fiber | 6.6 g | 2.3 g | 8% |
| Total sugars | 25.36 g | 8.9 g | — |
| Protein | 7.74 g | 2.7 g | 5% |
| Sodium | 527 mg | 184 mg | 8% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would see on a box are missing here: added sugars and trans fat. This release of FNDDS does not publish either for the generic record, so they are left out rather than guessed. Cholesterol is 0 mg, as it is in any plain grain cereal. Potassium is 193 mg per 100 g, which works out to 68 mg in a cup — 1% of the Daily Value, per the FDA's Daily Value reference.
US servings, from one ounce to a big bowl
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 107 kcal |
| 1 prepackaged single serving | 30 g | 114 kcal |
| 1 cup | 35 g | 133 kcal |
| 1 1/2 cups, a full bowl | 53 g | 199 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 379 kcal |
The cup and the prepackaged single serving are USDA household measures. The one-ounce line and the cup-and-a-half bowl are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not listed USDA servings — an ounce is the portion printed on most boxes, and a cup and a half is closer to what a real bowl holds.
Here is the trap that no calorie app can fix for you: a cup is a measure of space, not weight. Generic cereal fills a cup at 35 g. USDA's branded file puts a cup of Cocoa Puffs at 36 g and 139 calories, a cup of Cinnamon Chex at 40 g and 162 calories, and a cup of Oatmeal Crisp Crunchy Almond at 60 g and 233 calories. Same cup, same hand, nearly a hundred-calorie spread, because dense clusters pack where hollow puffs do not. If you eat cereal daily, a kitchen scale pays for itself in a week.
Milk is not in any of these numbers. The USDA record covers dry cereal only, so whatever you pour on top gets counted separately.
Corn flakes, frosted flakes, oat rings and granola
Each of these is its own USDA record, priced here at the same one-ounce pour so the shapes can be compared honestly.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical pour | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corn flakes, plain | 365 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 103 kcal |
| Frosted flakes | 389 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 110 kcal |
| Toasted oat rings | 372 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 105 kcal |
| Raisin bran | 324 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 92 kcal |
| Shredded wheat, spoon-size | 351 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 100 kcal |
| Granola, homemade | 489 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 139 kcal |
Of the six versions above, homemade granola is the heaviest per gram at 489 calories per 100 g and raisin bran the lightest at 324. Granola gets there through fat: 24.31 g per 100 g from oil and nuts, against 4.01 g in the generic record. Raisin bran goes the other way, because the raisins bring water with them.
Sugar and fat live in completely different rows. Spoon-size shredded wheat has 0.9 g of total sugars per 100 g; frosted flakes have 39.27 g, more than forty times as much. Frosting the flake costs only about 24 calories per 100 g over plain corn flakes, which is why sweetened cereal never looks as bad on the calorie line as it tastes. The sugar row is where it shows.
Protein is the quiet winner among oat cereals. Toasted oat rings carry 12.4 g per 100 g and shredded wheat 11.8 g, against 6.4 g in plain corn flakes — beaten only by granola's 13.67 g, which arrives with the fat attached. Oat rings also bring 10.1 g of fiber per 100 g, over a third of the 28 g Daily Value, and MyPlate counts whole-grain cereal toward the day's grain target.
Sodium is the row nobody reads
Cereal tastes sweet, so almost nobody checks it for salt. The generic record has 527 mg of sodium per 100 g. That is 184 mg in a cup, 8% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, before milk.
Plain corn flakes are worse per gram than the sweetened ones. They sit at 703 mg per 100 g, so a single one-ounce pour delivers 199 mg — 9% of the day's sodium — while flavored corn flakes come in at 516 mg per 100 g. Salt is doing the flavor work in the unsweetened box.
The other end of the range is startling. Spoon-size shredded wheat has 2 mg of sodium per 100 g, because it is nothing but rolled and baked wheat, with no salt and no coating. If you're watching sodium, that swap moves more than any change to your portion size would. Most Americans take in well over the limit the Dietary Guidelines set, and breakfast is a soft place to give some back.
How does breakfast cereal compare?
| Cereal | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast cereal, generic | 379 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 107 kcal |
| Corn flakes, plain | 365 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 103 kcal |
| Toasted oat rings | 372 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 105 kcal |
| Raisin bran | 324 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 92 kcal |
Our take: at the same weight these four are within 15 calories of each other, so choosing between them on calories alone is a waste of attention. What actually moves your morning is how much you pour and what you pour on it — a cup and a half instead of a cup is 66 extra calories, and the milk can add as much again. If you want the lighter bowl, weigh it; if you want the bowl that keeps you full until lunch, take the oat rings or shredded wheat for the fiber and protein and let the calories land where they land. Cereal is one of the most-logged breakfasts in BodyPal, and the entries that vary most are not the brands — they are the pours.
Most popular breakfast cereal brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Cocoa Puffs Breakfast Cereal | 385 cal |
| Cocoa Puffs Loaded Breakfast Cereal | 420 cal |
| Oatmeal Crisp Crunchy Almond | 389 cal |
| Trix Mini Breakfast Cereal | 390 cal |
| Cookie Crisp Breakfast Cereal | 379 cal |
| Cinnamon Chex Breakfast Cereal | 405 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Breakfast cereal FAQs
How many calories are in a bowl of breakfast cereal?
A cup and a half, the way most people actually fill a bowl, is 53 g and 199 calories — our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a listed USDA serving. A level cup is 133 calories. Milk is extra and is not in this record.
How many calories in 1 cup of cereal?
One cup of ready-to-eat cereal is 35 g and 133 calories, from the USDA generic record at 379 calories per 100 g. That cup also brings 27.2 g of carbohydrate, 8.9 g of total sugars and 184 mg of sodium, which is 8% of the Daily Value, all before milk.
Which breakfast cereal has the fewest calories?
Raisin bran is the lightest per gram of the six versions on this page, at 324 calories per 100 g, or 92 calories in a one-ounce pour. The raisins carry water, which dilutes the calories. Spoon-size shredded wheat is next at 351, and homemade granola is heaviest at 489.
How much sugar is in breakfast cereal?
Total sugars run 25.36 g per 100 g in the generic record, which is 8.9 g in a one-cup pour. The spread between types is enormous: spoon-size shredded wheat has 0.9 g per 100 g and frosted flakes 39.27 g. USDA does not publish added sugars for these records, so check the box label.
Is breakfast cereal high in sodium?
A cup of generic cereal carries 184 mg of sodium, 8% of the Daily Value. Plain corn flakes are saltier per gram at 703 mg per 100 g, so one ounce brings 199 mg, or 9%. Spoon-size shredded wheat is the outlier at 2 mg per 100 g.
How many calories in corn flakes?
Plain corn flakes are 365 calories per 100 g, so a one-ounce pour is 103 calories. The flavored, sugar-coated USDA record is 375 per 100 g, barely different, but the sugar row is: 32.53 g per 100 g against 9.44 g for the plain flake. The coating shows up as sugar, not calories.
How many calories in a single-serve cereal box?
A prepackaged single serving is 30 g and 114 calories in the USDA generic record, a little less than the 35 g cup most people pour at home. Branded boxes differ widely: USDA lists a cup of Oatmeal Crisp Crunchy Almond at 60 g and 233 calories.
Does granola have more calories than flakes?
Yes. Homemade granola is 489 calories per 100 g against 365 for plain corn flakes, so an ounce is 139 calories versus 103. Oil and nuts push the fat to 24.31 g per 100 g, about six times the 4.01 g in generic cereal. Granola also brings 13.67 g of protein.
Similar foods
- Toast with butter — 100 cal per slice with butter
- Pancake — 423 cal for 3 medium pancakes
- Crepe — 179 cal per crepe
- Omelet — 305 cal for 3-egg omelet
- Egg — 72 cal per large egg
- Scone — 267 cal per regular scone
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the cereal for you, pour size and all.
