Cheerios have been a popular addition to our breakfast tables for many years, and in recent times more flavors have been added to the list of Cheerios products. Sometimes extra flavor and ingredients can mean more sugar and calories, but is this the case with Honey Nut Cheerios?
In this article, I’ll be comparing General Mills’ Original Cheerios against Honey Nut Cheerios to find out which is best for calories, nutrition, price, and flavor, so you can make an informed choice on which is best for you.
Read on to find out which cereal is the winner of each category, so you can make an informed choice on which one is best for you, and take part in our poll to tell us which is your favorite.
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Cheerios Vs. Honey Nut Cheerios Nutritional Comparison:
Cheerios Vs. Honey Nut Cheerios Nutritional Comparison
To find out which type of Cheerios is healthiest, I’ve compared both kinds of cereal against each other in various nutritional categories, from calories to vitamins and minerals.
This comparison is based on the General Mills brand and uses data directly from the manufacturer.
Because recommended serving sizes are slightly different (a Honey Nut Cheerios serving is 37g and an Original Cheerios serving is 39g), I’ve also calculated nutritional information per 100g of cereal to provide you with true weight-for-weight data.
Best for Calorie Content
The first category is calorie content, and although both types of Cheerios contain 140kcal per serving, a serving of Honey Nut Cheerios is slightly smaller than a serving of Original Cheerios.
When you calculate the calorie content weight-for-weight, it becomes apparent that there are more calories in Honey Nut Cheerios than Original Cheerios.
| Cheerios Type | Calories Per 100g | Calories Per Serving |
| Original Cheerios | 359kcal | 140kcal (per 39g) |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 378kcal | 140kcal (per 37g) |
Best for Carbohydrate Content
Both Original and Honey Nut Cheerios are relatively high in carbs, and being cereals, they’re not considered a low-carb food. When comparing the two, Honey Nut Cheerios are slightly higher in carbs than the original version due to the increased sugar in the recipe.
| Cheerios Type | Carbohydrates Per 100g | Carbohydrates Per Serving |
| Original Cheerios | 74g | 29g (per 39g) |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 81g | 30g (per 37g) |
Best for Sugar Content
As mentioned above, one of the main differences between Original Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios is the amount of sugar per serving.
Honey Nut Cheerios are considerably higher in sugar per serving when compared to the original version, with an extra 10g of sugar per recommended serving.
| Cheerios Type | Sugars Per 100g | Sugars Per Serving |
| Original Cheerios | 5g | 2g (per 39g) |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 32g | 12g (per 37g) |
Best for Protein Content
Moving on to protein and Original Cheerios is the winner of this category with 4.7g more protein than Honey Nut Cheerios per 100g of cereal.
| Cheerios Type | Protein Per 100g | Protein Per Serving |
| Original Cheerios | 12.8g | 5g (per 39g) |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 8.1g | 3g (per 37g) |
Best for Fat Content
Next, I’ll be comparing the fat and saturated fat content for each type of cheerios per 100g and serving.
It’s worth noting that both kinds of cereal are low in fat, although Original Cheerios are slightly higher in fat with an additional 0.5g per serving compared to the Honey Nut version. Honey Nut Cheerios don’t contain any saturated fat, but what they lack in fat, they make up for in sugar.
Fat Per Recommended Serving
| Cheerios Type | Fat Per Serving | Saturated Fat per Serving |
| Original Cheerios (39g Serving) | 2.5g | 0.5g |
| Honey Nut Cheerios (37g Serving) | 2g | 0g |
Fat Per 100g
| Cheerios Type | Fat Per 100g | Saturated Fat per 100g |
| Original Cheerios | 6.4g | 1.3g |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 5.4g | 0g |
Best for Fiber Content
Moving onto fiber content, which is often an important consideration for people choosing a healthier cereal, Original Cheerios is the winner with 1g more fiber per serving than the Honey Nut Version.
Both kinds of Cheerios contain more dietary fiber than some cereals, which don’t contain whole grain, such as corn flakes, which only contain 1.4g of fiber per serving.
| Cheerios Type | Dietary Fibre Per 100g | Dietary Fibre per Serving |
| Original Cheerios | 10.3g | 4g (per 39g) |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 8.1g | 3g (per 37g) |
Best for Sodium/Salt Content
As you would expect from breakfast cereal, neither cereal is particularly high in sodium. Still, if this is something you need to consider, it’s worth knowing that Original Cheerios contain slightly less sodium than Honey Nut Cheerios.
| Cheerios Type | Sodium/Salt Per 100g | Sodium/Salt per Serving |
| Original Cheerios | 487mg | 190mg (per 39g) |
| Honey Nut Cheerios | 568mg | 210mg (per 37g) |
Best for Vitamins/Minerals
Both Original Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios are fortified with additional vitamins and minerals to help consumers reach their daily recommended intake of important nutrients.
As you can see from the table below, both kinds of cereal contain the same level of nutrients in most categories, but Original Cheerios contain more Iron and Potassium than Honey Nut Cheerios.
| Vitamin/Mineral Type | Original Cheerios Daily Value Percentage | Honey Nut Cheerios Daily Value Percentage |
| Vitamin D | 10% | 10% |
| Calcium | 10% | 10% |
| Iron | 70% | 20% |
| Potassium | 6% | 4% |
| Magnesium | 15% | 15% |
| Thiamin | 20% | 20% |
| Niacin | 10% | 10% |
| Vitamin B | 20% | 20% |
| Vitamin C | 10% | 10% |
| Vitamin A | 10% | 10% |
| Folic Acid | 20% | 20% |
| Zinc | 20% | 20% |
Best for Flavor/Texture
When it comes to flavor and texture, this is a difficult category to decide on a winner because it’s down to the individual’s opinion.
To help find a winner of this category, we need to do a poll to get a wider opinion; you can help decide the winner by voting for your favorite below (no personal information is required).
Once you vote, you’ll be able to see the vote percentages so far and find out the voters’ favorite.
Best for Price
At the time of writing this article, Walmart and Target are both selling Original Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios at exactly the same price for a family-sized pack, smaller packs, and megapacks, making them joint winners for this category.
Overall Winner
The data is in for each category and the winner of the best cereal in the Original Cheerios Vs. Honey Nut Cheerios competition is… Original Cheerios.
The data shows that while they may or may not be the favorite taste-wise, Original Cheerios are the healthier option with less sugar, more vitamins and minerals, and slightly more fiber.
It’s important to note that Honey Nut Cheerios weren’t far behind in most categories, and they are also fortified with ‘heart heathy’ ingredients (as stated on packs).
| Comparison Category | Winner (Original Cheerios or Honey Nut Cheerios) |
| Best for Calorie Content | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Carbohydrate Content | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Sugar Content | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Protein Content | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Fat Content | Honey Nut Cheerios |
| Best for Fiber Content | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Sodium Content | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Vitamins/Minerals | Original Cheerios |
| Best for Price | Joint Winners |
| Overall Winner | Original Cheerios |
Related Articles
I hope this article has helped you to find the information you were looking for; you might also find the following articles helpful too:
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References Used for this Article
To ensure the nutritional information used in this article is accurate, I have used data from both the original producers and the USDA; the links below contain the source information: