Special K Vs. Raisin Bran (Which is Best?)

Kellogg’s Special K and Raisin Bran are popular cereals that are both marketed as healthy choices, but are they really that healthy, and which one should you choose when it comes to nutrition?

In this article, I’ve made a head-to-head comparison between both types of cereal to find out which is the best for various nutritional categories, as well as an ingredient and cost comparison.

Read on to find out everything you need to know and take part in our poll to tell our readers and us which is your favorite Special K or Raisin Bran.

Ingredients Comparison – What’s the Difference?

The table below shows the ingredients for each type of cereal (as per pack information); as you can see, the key difference between Special K and Raisin Bran is that Special K is made from Rice and Raisin Bran is made from Whole Grain Wheat.

Kellogg’s Special K Ingredients	Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Ingredients
Rice, wheat gluten, sugar, defatted wheat germ, contains 2% or less of salt, malt flavor, bht for freshness. Vitamins and minerals: reduced iron, vitamin c (ascorbic acid), niacinamide, vitamin e acetate, beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin b6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin b1 (thiamin hydrochloride), vitamin b2 (riboflavin), vitamin d3, vitamin b12.	Whole grain wheat, raisins, wheat bran, sugar, brown sugar syrup. Contains 2% or less of malt flavor, salt.

Special K Vs. Raisin Bran Nutritional Comparison

Moving onto the nutritional comparison, this will be based on a weight-for-weight comparison because a recommended serving of Raisin Bran weighs 20g more than a serving of Special K, however I’ll also include data per serving for information.

Data is based on Kellogg’s brand Origina Special K and Original Raisin Bran, with information taken from the manufacturer and the USDA.

Best for Calorie Content

When you compare Special K and Raisin Bran weight-for-weight, you can see that Special K contains more calories per weight than Raisin Bran.

Although Raisin Bran has more calories per recommended serving, but this is because a serving of Raisin Bran weighs more than a Serving of Special K.

Cereal Type	Calories Per 100g	Calories Per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K	385kcal	150kcal (Per 39g Serving)
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	322kcal	190kcal (Per 59g Serving)

Best for Carbohydrate Content

Both Special K and Raisin Bran are high in Carbohydrates because of the ingredients they’re made from, but Special K is slightly lower in carbs (6g less) per 100g than Raisin Bran.

Cereal Type	Carbohydrates Per 100g	Carbohydrates Per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K	74g	29g (Per 39g Serving)
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	80g	47g (Per 59g Serving)

Best for Sugar Content

When it comes to added sugar Raisin Bran is much higher in sugar than Special K with 17g per 59g serving when compared to a serving of Special K which contains 4g.

Weight-for-weight this means that Raisin Bran contains almost three times the sugar of Special K.

Cereal Type	Sugars Per 100g	Sugars Per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K	10.3g	4g (Per 39g Serving)
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	28.8g	17g (Per 59g Serving)

Best for Protein Content

If protein content is a consideration for your diet, Special K is the better option in this category because if contains 9.5g more protein per 100g than Raisin Bran.

Cereal Type	Protein Per 100g	Protein Per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K	18g	7g (Per 39g Serving)
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	8.5g	5g (Per 59g Serving)

Best for Fat Content

Both Special K and Raisin Bran are very low in fat and neither type of cereal contains any saturated fat per serving.

Raisin Bran contains slightly more fat than Special K per serving, however its important to note that this is a nominal amount.

The tables below show fat and saturated fat content per 100g of cereal and per recommended serving of each type of cereal.

Per 100g

Cereal Type	Fat Per 100g	Saturated Fat per 100g
Kellogg’s Special K	1.3g	0g
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	1.7g	0g

Per Recommended Serving

Cereal Type	Fat Per Serving	Saturated Fat per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K (Per 39g Serving)	0.5g	0g
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran (Per 59g Serving)	1g	0g

Cholesterol

If you need to consider your cholesterol intake, I can confirm there’s no cholesterol in either Kellogg’s Special K or Rasin Bran.

Best for Fiber Content

Fiber content is often one of the main considerations when choosing a breakfast cereal because its a good way to get towards the daily recommended amount.

When comparing Special K and Raisin Bran, the clear winner is Raisin Bran which contains more than Special K per serving.

Raisin Bran is made from Whole Grain which means it it’s a high fiber cearel, when compared to cereal made from rice or corn.

Cereal Type	Dietary Fibre Per 100g	Dietary Fibre per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K	1.4g	<1g (Per 39g Serving)
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	11.9g	7g (Per 59g Serving)

Best for Sodium/Salt Content

In the category of sodium (or salt) content, Raisin Bran wins this category because it contains 70mg less sodium than Speical K per serving.

To put this into context of a daily value percentage, Special K contains 12% of the recommended daily intake compared to Raisin Bran which contains 9%.

Cereal Type	Sodium/Salt Per 100g	Sodium/Salt per Serving
Kellogg’s Special K	667mg	270mg (Per 39g Serving)
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran	339mg	200mg (Per 59g Serving)

Best for Vitamins/Minerals

Both Kellogg’s Special K and Raisin Bran are fortified breakfast cereals which mean they’ve had certain vitamins and minerals added to the ingredients to help consumers get towards their daily recommended nutrition values.

Although Raisn Bran is higher in certain vitamins and minerals including Potassium, Calcium, Vitamin D and Zinc, Special K is higher in more categories including Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Niacin.

The table below shows a detailed comparison of the main vitamins and minerals:

Vitamin/Mineral Type	Kellogg’s Special K	Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
Vitamin D	3.3mcg*	3.9mcg
Calcium	23mg*	43mg
Iron	28mg	12.3mg
Potassium	53mg	653mg
Magnesium	12mg	122mg
Thiamin	1.69mg	0.753mg
Riboflavin	1.91mg	1.08mg
Vitamin B6	6.44mg	1.84mg
Vitamin C	68mg	–
Niacin	22.6mg	13.8mg
Zinc	0.69mg	3.39mg

*mcg = microgram (1000th of a milligram) / mg = milligram (1000th of a gram)

Best for Flavor/Texture

When it comes to flavor and texture, this is a subjective category which I can’t judge, so I’m leave it for you to decide.

Everone has their favorite for flavor and when it comes to texture and crunch Special K and Raisin Bran are fairly similar.

Help us find a winner by voting for your favorite in the poll below and once you vote you’ll be able to see the results so far.

Best for Price

A family-sized pack of Special K weighs 18oz compared to a family-sized box of Raisin Bran which weighs 24oz, so instead of comparing pack sizes, I’ve calculated the price per ounce of each cereal to get a weight-for-weight comparison.

An 18oz pack of Special K costs $3.72, so the cost per ounce is $0.21, compared to a 24oz pack of Raisin Bran which costs $3.98, so the price per ounce is $0.17.

Based on this information (when writing this article in March 2022), Kelloggs Raisin Bran is cheaper than Kelloggs Special K when compared weight-for-weight.

Please note that this is based on an average cost, and prices may vary between various stores.

Overall Winner

All results are in and I can announce a winner based on the winners of the most categories above (with the exception of flavor) and I can announce that the winner is – Special K!

Although Raisin bran won in the calorie, Fiber, Sodium and price categories, Speical K is slightly lower in carbs, lower in sugar, and fat and higher in protein and vitamins and minerals.

Its important to point out that ‘which is best’ can also be subjective, for example you might want a cereal with more fiber, but the information above means you can make an informed decision on what is best for you.

In many cases when a food is high in something good, it might also be high in something bad, for example, Raisin Bran is high in fiber, but also very high in sugar.

Comparison Category	Winner (Special K or Raisin Bran)
Best for Calorie Content	Raisin Bran
Best for Carbohydrate Content	Special K
Best for Sugar Content	Special K
Best for Protein Content	Special K
Best for Fat Content	Special K
Best for Fiber Content	Raisin Bran
Best for Sodium Content	Raisin Bran
Best for Vitamins/Minerals	Special K
Best for Price	Raisin Bran
Overall Winner	Kellogg’s Special K