I Tried All 9 Chex Flavors, This One Is the Hands-Down Best

Chex, those delightfully crunchy bite-sized waffles currently live something of a double life. Today, they are probably best known as the core fodder for a vast array of savory snack medleys that we eat by the fistful at parties, on hikes, or alone on the couch. When one hears the word Chex, the brain almost reflexively auto-fills it to Chex Mix. Unless of course, the snacker in question has a sweet tooth and prefers to replace the salt with sugar for Muddy Buddies.

It's easy to forget that if you want only Chex, you don’t go to the snack racks of chips and pretzels, but instead, you head for the cereal aisle. That’s right: Millions of people still eat Chex with a spoon just like they have since the Great Depression.

When Chex was invented as a breakfast cereal in 1937, it was more likely to be misplaced in another section of the grocery store: the pet food aisle. It was created by Ralston Purina, (today, just Purina) the iconic St. Louis-based manufacturer of livestock feed and, as you might've guessed, Puppy Chow. At the time, the company also made human food, like grits, pancake flour, and breakfast cereals, which were all the rage due to their convenience in an increasingly bustling world and an explosion of national advertising in the first decades of the 1900s.

Initially called Shredded Ralston, the cereal consisted of “bite-sized whole-wheat biscuits” that looked more like hay bales or today's Mini-Wheats. Eventually, the name was changed to Chex, after Purina’s famous red-and-white checkerboard logo. By 1950, Wheat Chex was appearing in ads side-by-side with Rice Chex, which assumed the current checkerboard shape. Then in 1953, the first recipe for Chex Party Mix appeared on boxes, mixed with peanuts, pretzels, and Worcestershire sauce. Before the end of the decade, Corn Chex joined the party.

Other types of adult-geared grains would come and go, including Oat Chex and Bran Chex. And Chex wasn’t strictly for grown-ups either: Over the years, Purina and then General Mills (who bought the brand in 1996) launched and discontinued all kinds of flavors, like Sugar Frosted Chex, Super Sugar Chex, Graham Chex, Honey Graham Chex, Frosted Mini-Chex, Vanilla Chex, and even Green Onion Chex (released by Kellogg’s in South Korea).

To date, only nine varieties of Chex have survived on supermarket shelves. So, which are the ones worth making a part of your complete breakfast, and which might be better left to the Chex Mix recipe on the back of the box? Read on to see which Chex variety deserves a spot in your pantry.

 9. Chocolate Chex

I love a chocolatey morning treat as much as the next kid, but at 180 calories per cup (240 with 1/2 cup of skim) and 10 grams of added sugar, you might as well lean into your sweet tooth and go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. But if you’re someone who likes to drink the remaining milk from the cereal bowl, this variety of Chex leaves the tastiest leftovers.

8. Maple Brown Sugar Chex

Released in 2023, this is the newest addition to the Chex roster, further expanding maple’s virtual monopoly on the entire breakfast menu. Made with real syrup, Maple Brown Sugar Chex has 25% less sugar than the leading brands of maple-flavored oatmeal, but not enough brown sugar to combat the tree sap. As with maple-infused pancakes, waffles, French toast, sausage, bacon, granola, crepes, energy bars, and smoothies, a little syrup goes a long way—and more than a little goes too far.

7. Wheat Chex

With all due respect to the original Chex, this was a tough bowl to plow through. While the other Chex varieties contain between 12 grams and 17 grams of whole grain per serving, the OG here packs a whopping 52 grams and 29% of your daily dose of dietary fiber. The slight hint of molasses helps the medicine go down. While we understand Chex is largely a cereal for grown-ups, I’d rather not feel quite so grown-up while eating them.

6. Cinnamon Chex

Made with 100% real cinnamon, these Chex are 100% too spicy for our taste. Even though they are cut 50-50 with plain Rice Chex, these heavily “dusted” squares don’t quite balance the spice and sugar like, say, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. While these aren’t our first choice to throw in a bowl with milk, we are very interested in the Snickerdoodle Chex Mix recipe with Chocolate Chex and popcorn on the back of the box.

5. Rice Chex

The base of many of these flavors and the backbone of many a tasty party mix, Rice Chex doesn’t have a whole lot to offer on its own. Not a ton of flavor, not much in the way of nutrients, and it quickly turns to soggy mush in milk. And they’re not quite as easy to make marshmallow treats out of like their Rice Krispie counterparts.

4. Blueberry Chex

As an adult, it’s hard to find a fruity sweet cereal that doesn’t taste like candy. And let’s face it, how many times can you lie to the grocery store checkout clerk explaining that those Trix are for your kids? In that vein, Blueberry Chex strikes the correct balance, offering a slightly sweet blueberry crunch that will satisfy your inner child. Just don’t expect a prize in the box.

3. Peanut Butter

I’m not a huge peanut butter fan, which is all the more reason to laud these bite-sized PB treats. Nutty enough to pass as a wholesome cereal, just sweet and peanut-buttery enough to make you feel like you’re pulling off a morning dessert hack. They work both dry by the handful and in milk, where the Corn Chex base and light peanut butter glaze keep them crunchy. It goes without saying that you should try tossing them with Chocolate Chex for an on-the-run sugar rush.

2. Corn Chex

Corn Chex is a utility player. You’ll notice that it’s the base for the other two flavors in the Top 3. Its sturdier build ensures crunch, which is great for both the snack bowl and the cereal bowl, even in milk. And on its own, it offers a healthier low-sugar, zero-corn-syrup, gluten-free breakfast option that still has a solid corn flavor, with just a hint of sweetness. Other flashier Chex flavors can be an occasional treat, but this is the one for your daily routine.

1. Honey Nut Chex

The first Chex flavor added by General Mills after their 1996 acquisition, it’s no surprise the company modeled it after one of its most popular brands, Honey Nut Cheerios. The perfect balance of honey-molasses-sugar sweetness with a nutty finish, along with the signature Corn Chex crispness, this Chex doesn’t need any of its cousins to improve its taste. In fact, in our opinion, it might even give the nuttier Cheerios a run for their honey.