So what exactly is cereal milk?
The idea is truly brilliant.
A wildly popular drink created by pastry chef Christina Tosi of the famous Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC, cereal milk is exactly what it sounds like: an ice-cold milk drink that tastes like your favorite breakfast cereal. See? Brilliant! After all, what child doesn’t look forward to that sweet cereal-infused milk left over when all of the frosted flakes, apple cinnamon cheerios, or cocoa krispies are gone?
The sweet cereal milk is the best part!
Intrigued by the Momofuku idea of infusing regular milk with toasted cereal, I experimented to come up with a homemade cereal milk recipe. Although I’ve never tasted the original to compare, I really love this version. It’s especially great for anyone who doesn’t want to pay $5 for a glass of cereal milk, anyone who wants to control the amount of sugar that goes in, or anyone who is a vegan or can’t have dairy. Oh, and anyone who doesn’t happen to live in a city (NYC or Toronto) with a Momofuku Milk Bar location.
Homemade Cereal Milk
(inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar)
- 1 cup cereal of choice
- 1 3/4 cup milk of choice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
- sweetener of choice to taste (amount will depend on the type of milk you use. For example, if you use unsweetened almond milk, try 2 tsp sugar or a pinch of stevia extract.
Preheat oven to 300 F. Spread cereal out on a baking sheet, and bake 12 minutes. (I used Whole Foods bran flakes for this recipe, but many other types of cereal will work. I’d just recommend not using granola.) Transfer to a large glass, add the milk, stir and let sit 30-35 minutes. Don’t rush this step. When the time is up, set a fine mesh strainer over a container and pour the mixture into the strainer. Really squish the flakes down, using the bottom of the glass or a spoon, until pretty much all of the liquid has been pushed into the strainer. (Compost the mushy cereal, or save it for another use.) Add all remaining ingredients to the container, and stir. Voila! Cereal milk!
Question of the Day:
What was your favorite childhood breakfast cereal?
When I was really little, my favorite was Cocoa Krispies because it turned the milk into chocolate milk. I also really liked Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and only stopped eating them when I was in high school because we moved overseas and one box cost eleven US dollars! Although I don’t often eat cereal anymore, I’ll sometimes pick up a box of Love Crunch granola for snacking. And I usually have a box of Whole Foods bran flakes on hand for recipes like the Healthy Butterfingers.
Link of the Day:
Susanna says
Oh my gosh, I just had to say what a crazy coincidence.. I had just read about Momofuku’s cereal milk yesterday, and made a huge batch, and I come here and you’ve made one too!
I have got to share this with you though: half of the cereal milk I heated up, and stirred some agar-agar in to make some sort of pudding-like dessert. Didn’t put enough agar-agar though, but still yummy. : D
Erica { EricaDHouse.com } says
I seriously can’t believe I haven’t thought/heard of this before. Cereal milk is definitely the main reason I eat cereal!
Emilia says
I cannot believe that I haven’t thought of using non-diary milk to make cereal milk before, genius! I’ve been to Momofuku Milk Bar plenty of times before, but I’ve never tried the cereal milk because, frankly, drinking cow’s milk like that skeeves me out. I’ll definitely be trying this, though. So excited!
trajayjay says
I think my favorite childhood cereal was frosted shredded Wheaties. I still love them, but they are high in sugar, so I avoid them.
When I was younger, I knew how to make ice cream by mixing milk, sugar, and flavoring, and shaking it in a bag of ice. It wasn’t Breyers, but it was good. I used Fruity Pebbles milk once, and the milk tasted good, but the ice cream tasted bad.
BQ: How do you feel about vegans who ridicule the rest of the population, simply because they aren’t vegan?
Jenny says
You can finde the recepie in ms. Tossis book.
Melissa says
Since first hearing of this idea/concept, I’ve LOVED it! I think it is such a clever idea, because, really, the flavor the milk takes on after mixed with cereal is the best! I’ve always wanted to visit that spot in NYC, but now I’m so glad I can make it at home; thanks so much for posting the recipe!
Jessica says
Far and away Reese’s Puffs. Fortunately, by mixing chocolate and peanut butter Cheerio’s, I can get the two tastes (though I miss that perfect sweetness). Now that I look at the nutritional info…I never want to put that stuff in my stomach again.
But Cocoa Krispies and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, far and away, produce the best cereal milk. And those I can at least bear to treat myself to occasionally.
Grace says
I’ve never hears of this before! How creative and sounds delicious ! Must try…
Carolyn says
Whoa, Katie liked a chocolate cereal? NO FRICKIN WAY. It’s not like it’s in your blog name or anything 🙂
As for my favorite cereal… Trader Joe’s used to make this incredible cereal with chunks of chocolate and slightly sweet cereal flakes, but they discontinued it a few years back. You can bet I’d still eat cereal every morning if they did, though!
Alison says
I totally want to try this! And now I want to try the original since I go to NYC and Toronto often! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Alisha @ Gluten Free Perspective says
I might be the only person in the world who doesn’t like milk with cereal, but I just had to comment and tell you how much I love the second photo with the white and blue straws. Gorgeous!!
Katie says
Nope, you’re not!! 🙂
I don’t eat cold breakfast cereal much anymore as an adult, however, as a child I never liked the milk on my cereal. I had to have it to get the cereal wet, but I drained the excess in each spoonful and would have never drank the remainder in the bowl afterwards. I vividly recall my parents hounding me for wasting all that extra milk. Whenever we went to my grandma’s house though, I had to suck it up and drink it or, more often, quickly toss it or let the cat drink it before anyone noticed.
🙂
Louisa says
I am right with you on this one, I can eat cereal as a snack but really don’t like the milk with it. Can’t stand soggy cereal. The “national”cereal here in Australia is Weetbix, not sure if there is anything similar elsewhere but they soak up the milk so bad. I would just rather spread butter and honey on them. But now as an adult really cant see the point in spending money on boxed cereal.
Claire says
Fellow Aussie here. I can’t stand wet weet-bix either. We call it gloop, because that’s exactly what it is. Dry, cut in half to make thin weet-bix, spread with butter and vegemite on the other hand…
The only cereal I do really like now is toasted muesli or porridge. Thanks Katie for opening my world up to so many different things you can do with porridge 🙂
Claire Elizabeth says
I eat my cereal dry too! My current favorite is Arrowhead Mills Organic Puffed Kamut. You’re definitely not the only one, haha! 😀
Ellen says
Whoa, I love the cereal milk concept. Growing up my parents weren’t keen on sugar-y cereal, but sometimes we got cinnamon toast crunch-which my friend recently told me the “cereal milk” from is what horchata tastes like…
Kerry Dyer says
What a genius idea! My BF would love this, he has cereal every morning and has done since he was little! haha!
Kerry X
Kaylee says
Grapenuts (I dumped so much sugar on them the milk was grainy at the bottom of the bowl) and captain crunch all the way . . . Oh and you can’t forget Frosted Flakes . . .
Alya says
sounds super delicioso !
Holly @ EatGreatBEGreat says
Wow, this is so interesting! I’ve never heard of cereal milk before, but I look forward to trying it out.
STUFT Mama says
Well this is just brilliant!!!!!
Jenni says
I don’t think I was the biggest cereal eater as a kid, because I can’t even remember what my favorite was. But my little brother loved Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms. I definitely remember eating Lucky Charms once in a while. Talk about junk!
Rachel says
Does it really taste different from drinking the milk after a bowl of cereal? Just seems a little silly, though I’m sure very tasty. 🙂
Victoria says
That is so cool! I’ve never even heard of it, but now I must try it 😉
[email protected] Optimistic Health says
Mmmm it’s been years!! So pumped.
Suzanne @ hello, veggy says
This sure is interesting. I bet it would taste pretty good with cinnamon toast crunch!
I used to be a HUGE cereal eater! Some of my favourites were Crispix, Just Right, and Multigrain Cheerios. Now I tend to gravitate more towards homemade oatmeal and granola (I have a recipe on my blog coming up in the next few weeks :)!
Medha @ Chewing the fat says
It seems like you read my mind! I do live in NYC and have been to the momofuku milk bar a couple of times. Everything is delicious but so sugary. I borrowed a copy of Tosi’s milk bar cookbook to see if I could adapt some of my favorites to a lower carb and sugar level but most recipes call for glucose syrup etc and in the foreword, she actively discourages making substitutions. This made me kind of mad so I returned the book, glad I hadn’t bought it! Thanks for this healthier version. I love cereal milk! I’ll probably try it using Arrowhead Mills spelt flakes which is my favorite cereal of the moment.
lauren osborne says
hi! so, I’ve been following your site for a while – i even have a section in my notebook of recipes that are just from your site – lol – they were piling up 😉 I was wondering – and totally off the topic of cereal milk (which is really cool by the way – I was a professional chef for a long time and cooked in a really well known restaurant where everyone was always gaga for Momofuku) but…..I was wondering if you have ever attempted a mock up of Dr. Praeger’s California Veggie burgers. I’m in love with them and can’t believe there doesn’t seem to be a copy cat recipe online – thought I would throw that out there – figured you would be the best option – thanks for all the great recipes!!
Kelly says
I prefer not to strain the mixture because I love the little bits of cereal in it 🙂
[email protected] OmNom Love says
That is a genius idea! And it sounds delicious! I’ll have to give it a try.
My favorite breakfast cereal as a kid were the maple and brown sugar Mini-wheats (the chocolate ones weren’t so bad either 😉 and Fruit Loops. But now I love the cinnamon and honey nut Chex cereals. In my opinion, they’re some of the best gf cereals out there.
Ashley Bee (Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine) says
I’d love to know more about you going overseas! Very cool. I wish I’d traveled more as a kid.
I loooved the chocolate milk that occurred after the cereal was gone for coco puffa or coco crispies. Yum.
Rachel @ Eat Learn Discover says
YES! Cereal milk is beyond amazing – and I don’t even like cereal that much. Next you have to recreate their cereal milk soft serve (with cornflake topping!).
Sarah @ Miss Candiquik says
Cute idea!!! I would love this with Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cocoa Pebbles, haha! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Alex @ Cookie Dough Katzen says
What a clever drink idea. The sweet milk was always my favorite part too. I’d have to say Lucky Charms were my favorite cereal. 🙂
Nessa says
Perfection!
Lauren says
Blerg. I tried Momofuku a couple months ago and absolutely hated the experience (very cheap ingredients used and the results are overly rich and sugary). I wonder if I would like your version better?
Kerry @ Healthy Happy Cooking says
We are on the same wavelength – I went to Momofuku milk bar right before this was posted! So delicious… made this today using my stale Special K cereal and it turned out amazing! Tastes just like the real thing without the expensive trip into NYC/pricy Momofuku milk/added fat + sugar 😉
As a side note, when I tried the cereal ice cream at Momofuku the first thing that came to mind was you! Mainly because of your lovely cookie dough breakfast bowl, which I need to have at least once a month 😉
So…. cereal soft serve? 😀 😀
Kerry @ Healthy Happy Cooking says
Oh, and I was a big Oreo Os person. I loved drowning them in milk to make them super soggy but I hated the milk itself. When I lived in Korea I was surprised to see they still sell them there but never had them – too much delicious stuff to have for breakfast there! I also used to hate nuts, bananas, and granola bars (probably due to the Quaker chewy bars that I was given for breakfast for years on end- still only like the crunchy stuff!)\\
TL:DR
Jessica says
I love that you would use bran flakes…only you! 😉
Sena says
This is the first recipe I’ve tried from your page and I think my new favorite drink is cereal milk. I can’t wait to try out all of your recipes! And for sweetener can I use honey?
Unofficial CCK Helper says
Yup!
Michelle says
I plan on making cereal milk soon to incorporate into a healthier milkshake. I hate to think about throwing out the delicious cereal mush after straining (I love cereal!), so do you have any recommendations or recipes you could point me to for reusing the leftover strained cereal? Thank you, Katie!