Flavors Tried: Fruity, Honey, Maple Donut, S’mores, Cocoa, Chocolate Peanut Butter
Price: $42 for 4 boxes ($10.50 per box)
Nutrition: 1 Cup = 160 Calories, 7g Fat, 10g Carbs (5g Fiber & 4g Sugar), 18g Protein
Every once in a while, a new protein cereal comes seemingly out of nowhere to thoroughly surprise me, and that is exactly the case with Truely cereal.
Truely hails from Canada, which is why they’re pretty much an unknown player in the protein cereal game here in the US.
I first reviewed this cereal in 2022, and I thought it was pretty solid. Here was my summary of the cereal at the time:
Truely cereal caught me surprise as a formidable protein cereal option. It compares pretty closely to Magic Spoon in terms of shape, texture, and crunch, but the overall flavor is one step down from Magic Spoon. Still, with a great crunch and insane macros, this is a great addition to the protein cereal game.
Now here we are a few years later and Truely protein cereal has been completely reformulated from top to bottom. And I’ve got to say, I am very impressed.
I originally thought this cereal compared very closely to Magic Spoon, which contains roughly 150 calories and 13 grams of protein. Truely has nearly the same amount of calories but with a whopping 18 grams of protein!
Ghost was also able to accomplish a protein cereal with 18 grams of protein, but there is one major difference between Truely and Magic Spoon or Ghost: the ingredients.
Magic Spoon relies on sugar substitute to keep their calories down (about 10g per serving) and Ghost has what many would consider to be less-favorable ingredients with the likes of soy protein and sucralose.
Seeing Truely’s ingredient list, combined with the macros, made me think that there was no chance it would taste great.
Well, spoiler alert: I was wrong.
Truely Protein Cereal: Maple Donut
Right out of the box, I was really impressed by the candy-like coating on this one. Seeing maple syrup on the ingredients list, combined with the fact that this cereal comes from Canada, I was fully expecting an explosion of maple flavor.
Unfortunately, that’s not what you get here. In fact, I think the maple flavor is relatively subtle, although it does become amplified in milk.
Fortunately, the cereal is still absolutely delicious.
The coating on the cereal gives it an amazing crunch, and it reminds me a ton of caramel corn or those candied nuts you find at sporting events or street fairs.
If I had to put a flavor name to it, I’d consider this more butterscotch than anything else, as you get caramel & vanilla notes much more than maple.
Still, it has the right amount of sweetness, a great crunch, and no “protein” flavor whatsoever, so it’s a winner in my book.
Truely Protein Cereal: Fruity
Fruity cereal is one that many companies completely whiff on because there is a fine line between fruit flavor and artificial fruit flavor.
Luckily, Truely seems to know what they are doing, and they nailed this one. If you’ve ever had Magic Spoon’s fruity cereal, this one tastes very similar.
Fruity cereal is always going to have some level of “fake” taste to it, but that’s because you don’t want it to taste like an actual bowl of fruit. The flavor profile is similar to Froot Loops in the sense that it is citrus-forward overall, and you aren’t going to taste different fruit flavors with each color.
If you enjoy fruity cereals, there is nothing you’ll dislike here.
Truely Protein Cereal: Cocoa
The Cocoa flavor was a winner for me. First and foremost, the smell is incredible- it smells just like chocolate.
It had the smooth taste of dark chocolate I was hoping for without being too bitter, and there was absolutely no artificial or protein flavor whatsoever.
I gave this one the “milk test” and it successfully left me with a bowl of chocolate milk when the cereal was gone- something that is pivotal with any chocolate cereal.
And if you don’t trust my judgment, my picky 3-year-old ate a bowl of this one and loved every second of it.
Truely Protein Cereal: Chocolate Peanut Butter
When you open this box up, the smell punches you right in the face (it’s a good punch, if there is such a thing).
I already knew I loved the cocoa flavor, and Truely was able to create a peanut butter flavor that pairs very nicely with it. By using peanut flour & peanut oil, you get plenty of peanut flavor, although I would consider it a stronger flavor than regular peanut butter.
I won’t go as far as saying it’s quite Reese’s Puffs levels of delicious, but as someone who considers peanut butter one of the best foods on the planet, this hits the right notes.
Truely Protein Cereal: Honey
I have to admit, I was scared of this one because the photo on the box looked… unappetizing. Hey Truely, if you see this: I would update that one.
Luckily, the cereal inside was much more welcoming, and it had that same shiny candy-like coating that the maple donut flavor had.
The flavor of the honey comes through and gives this one a satisfying level of sweetness. I personally love the fact that the coating gives it a little extra crunch, too.
There are other cereals out there that are more honey-forward, like Honey Comb, but I would consider this one similar to Honey Nut Cheerios. Just with an extra crunch.
Truely Protein Cereal: S’mores
S’mores is a seasonal flavor, which is kind of a bummer because I loved it.
The marshmallows did throw me off at first. They’re rather large, and they have the density of a stale marshmallow, not the crunch of a Lucky Charms marshmallow.
And yet somehow I thoroughly enjoyed the contrast of textures. The marshmallows might have a bit more chew to them then they should, but it works pretty well against the crunch of the cereal.
Generally speaking, s’mores is a flavor that 99% of companies miss. It tends to always be mostly chocolate flavor, with a little vanilla or marshmallow flavor thrown in that tends to end up tasting artificial.
In this one, the graham flavor actually comes through in the cereal itself, and when you get a bite of the real marshmallows, you end up getting a true s’mores experience.
The marshmallows grew on me significantly as I ate this one and it ended up being the flavor I enjoyed the most.
Truely Protein Cereal: Texture & Overall Flavor
If you’ve had other protein cereal before, you know that many of them end up sticking to your teeth. Magic Spoon is the main culprit of that one, so if you’ve tried that cereal, you’ll know exactly what the sticky mouthfeel is like.
If you’re new to the protein cereal game, just expect protein cereal to stick to your teeth a little bit more than the likes of Cheerios of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Truely cereal does have that to some extent, but it’s probably 50% of what Magic Spoon has, and it’s not off-putting. When you finish a bowl, you might be left picking some cereal out of your teeth, but it doesn’t feel like a chore the way it does after finishing some other cereals.
To put it into perspective, but my wife, who hates anything with a protein taste, and my picky 3 year old both loved this cereal.
The initial crunch of this one is great, and it holds up well in milk. Some other cereals, like Ghost, completely change when eaten with milk, but the Truely experience is the same with or without milk.
I would say that milk helps to amplify some of the flavors, like maple donut, but this cereal is just as enjoyable whether you eat it dry or in a bowl with milk.
If you read this entire review, I know it’s going to sound sponsored, but I promise it’s not. I enjoyed Truely cereal that much.
The reason why I am so excited about this one, other than the great taste, is that the ingredients truly (pun intended) blow me away. At this stage of my life, large quantities of sugar substitute really messes with my stomach. With Truely, I was able to eat a large bowl of three servings with absolutely no discomfort whatsoever.
Not to mention that the bowl of cereal with milk gave me over 60 grams of protein. That’s unheard of!
Of course, the elephant in the room here is the price. This cereal, like most other protein cereal out there, is expensive. I mentioned Magic Spoon a lot in this review, and in terms of price, Truely is nearly identical at roughly $10 per box.
Because of the price, this is never going to become a pantry staple. But if you’re searching for a protein cereal that actually tastes good, this is worth trying once (but my bet is that you’ll end up buying it again).
Quick update: I reached out to Truely about a discount code because I want my audience to be able to try this cereal. If you use the code CHEATDAYDESIGN you’ll save 10% on any order. I know it’s not much, but it helps!
