Grab a bowl and spoon because National Cereal Day is right around the corner (March 7!). Not only do breakfast cereals boast some of the best mascots of all time — like Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam — nearly 50% of Americans start their days with a bowl of this stuff, according to Today.com and other reports.
But why stop at a bowl? From cornflakes to Cap’n Crunch, these are also some of the most versatile ingredients in your pantry. Case in point, the unexpected ideas to indulge in below.
There’s no better breading
Out of breadcrumbs? You can substitute your favorite cereal … seriously. Crushed cornflakes is a classic, but you can also go to a sweeter cereal if you prefer.
“My husband was reading an article on a professional athlete who had a chef that traveled with him and used Cap’n Crunch to bread his chicken,” said Peggy Jelacic, from Milwaukee. “We tried it, and it’s become a family favorite.”
Jelacic’s go-to using her Cap’n Crunch breading is a fried cheddar cheese-stuffed chicken breast and chicken tenders. The cereal adds just a hint of sweetness, which pairs perfectly with chicken.
“We never have any leftovers. I like it because I don’t have to hear a kid complain that they don’t like what we’re having!” she said.
Cedarburg resident Heather Lenox likes using Corn Chex as a gluten-free panko-breadcrumb alternative because of her daughter’s celiac disease.
“I think it actually tastes better, and it’s much cheaper than buying specialty gluten-free breadcrumbs,” she said.
To make it, she’ll pulse Chex in a food processor with onion and garlic powders. Then she’ll use it in any recipe that needs breadcrumbs, such as meatloaf, baked chicken tenders or oven-fried chicken.
Top it off
Topping off a dish with cereal adds some crunch, sweetness and an often unexpected flavor. Take a cheesy potato casserole. You know the kind; it’s often a staple at everything from your holiday dinner table to potlucks and funerals (which is why you’ll often see them called “funeral potatoes” in recipes).
Some recipes call for topping the casserole with crushed potato chips, but it’s just as common to see cornflakes.
Frosted Flakes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch or cornflakes are also a common topping for a noodle kugel, a traditional Jewish casserole made from lokshen. or egg noodles. But there are many more types of kugel, too, including those with veggies, potatoes and others (almost all of them contain eggs).
“A lot of synagogues in town have their own recipe, and a lot of families will use a kugel recipe that’s been passed down through the years,” said Hannah Sattler, owner and head chef at Hannah’s Kitchen, a kosher catering business.
Although Hannah’s Kitchen is not affiliated with the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, the business has been renting basement space at the JCC in Whitefish Bay since August.
“Jews eat brunch food at any time of day, and kugel is often served alongside brunch or with lifestyle events, like bar and bat mitzvahs, shiva or baby naming ceremonies,” she said. “I like the idea of a sweet crunch to the top by using Frosted Flakes or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. You want a little more of it at the end.”
In addition to casseroles, cereal can top ice cream, yogurt or doughnuts.
Sweet eats
Since most cereals are on the sweeter side, adapting them into a dessert is a natural fit.
Take your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, for instance. Simply add a cup of Rice Krispies, Frosted Flakes, Chex or cornflakes to your dough to add more texture and a bit of crunch. Around the holidays, cornflakes are the stars of the show in Christmas cornflake wreaths — which use cereal, marshmallows and butter for an edible holiday treat.
And you can’t forget cereal bars. Rice Krispies bars are a classic, but you can play around with the recipe by combining the puffed rice cereal with other cereals (like Golden Grahams for a s’mores bar) or other ingredients besides melted marshmallows, like peanut butter, chocolate chips or crushed Oreos.
You can also substitute an entirely different cereal like Trix, which makes the treats super colorful and fun.
Snack time
Although cereal is synonymous with breakfast, it also makes a great snack (in a bowl or not).
Just about everyone loves Chex Mix, but like Rice Krispies bars, you can use the same basic recipe to make your own snack mix. Try using Crispix and creating your own maple caramel coating, then add honey-roasted peanuts and M&Ms.
You can also use Chex or Crispix to make “reindeer food” — a combination that includes mini pretzels, peanuts and M&Ms. Drizzled white chocolate holds it all together.
For something more healthful, take any whole-grain cereal and add nuts and dried fruit to make a trail mix.
And for an alternative to popcorn, try making hot buttered O’s. In this old-school recipe, Cheerios are heated and coated in a skillet with melted butter and salt.
The most important meal of the day
If you don’t want to choose between cereal and pancakes for breakfast, head over to Don’s TV Repair in Milwaukee to get a plate of Fruity Pebbles pancakes. Don’s is part of Don’s Grocery and Liquor in Walker’s Point, 1100 S. First St.
If you ask the clerk for an “Ice Cold 7UP,” you’re taken through a secret entrance to the repair shop, which is like taking a trip back in time. Don’s is filled with quirky vintage décor, from Zenith TV sets to gremlins from the 1984 movie.
“Creating the speakeasy experience and the menu was all around feeling good,” said general manager Taylor Gillen. “We want each guest to relive a little bit of their childhood. With one bite of Fruity Pebbles pancakes, you’re transported back to the kitchen table having breakfast, watching Saturday morning cartoons.”
To make this dish, cooks add 7UP to the batter to make a fluffy and sweet pancake.
“Then we add lots of Fruity Pebbles once the pancake is almost cooked through, then top it with even more Fruity Pebbles and Cool Whip — two of the most nostalgic, sweet treats our team adored growing up,” Gillen said.
Cheers to that
At South Milwaukee’s Better Together Café, 1301 N. Chicago Ave., customers can’t get enough of the cereal milkshakes — namely Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
“They are one of the more popular shakes behind espressOreo and salted caramel pretzel,” said owner Becky Kinzer. “We were walking through the store and saw the cereal aisle and thought we should do a cereal shake. It started with the Fruity Pebbles, and a customer recommended doing Cinnamon Toast Crunch.”
Making them is actually quite simple. It starts with quality ice cream mixed with milk and cereal.
“You can also add espresso to bring them up a level — your coffee and cereal all in one,” she said.
Related:‘Dessert person’ Matt Haase finds his niche as pastry chef at Shully’s Cuisine in Thiensville
Related:This Brookfield baker creates custom-made cookies and desserts in downtown Menomonee Falls
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RECIPES
Kugel is a traditional Jewish sweet casserole, and oftentimes families will pass their recipes down through the generations. This was the recipe used at Congregation Beth El in Mequon (and before that, Milwaukee). It has since merged with Beth Israel. It comes to us by way of Hannah Sattler, owner and head chef at Hannah’s Kitchen, a kosher catering business in Whitefish Bay.
Noodle kugel
Recipe tested by Alysha Witwicki
Makes 12 servings
- 12 tablespoons butter, softened
- 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 6 eggs, beaten
- 2½ cups milk
- 12 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked according to package directions and drained
- 8 ounces golden raisins
- ½ cup apricot nectar
- 4 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add sugar and beaten eggs and combine. Gradually add milk and blend. Add noodles and gently mix by hand. Fold in raisins.
Pour mixture into baking pan. Top with cereal. Evenly pour apricot nectar on top of cereal, and bake for 1 hour, or until the kugel is set and the cereal is golden brown.
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A lot of families have a version of this recipe that they make for holidays or brunch, and they can go by another name — funeral potatoes. This specific recipe is from the blog Tastes Better From Scratch.
Potato casserole with cornflakes
Recipe tested by Alysha Witwicki
Makes 10 servings
- 30 ounces frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
- 2 cups sour cream
- 10½-ounce can of cream of mushroom soup
- 10 tablespoons butter, melted, divided
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups cornflakes cereal
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, 6 tablespoons of melted butter, salt, pepper and dried onion in a bowl. Mix well. Add potatoes and shredded cheese and stir to combine. Spoon mixture into a greased 9-by-13-inch pan.
Add cornflakes to a large zip-top bag and crush slightly with your hands or a rolling pin. Add remaining 4 tablespoons of melted butter to the crushed cornflakes and combine well. Sprinkle mixture over potatoes.
Bake uncovered for 40 to 50 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy on top.
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Although this recipe from kickassbaker.com uses Cocoa Krispies, any puffed rice or crispy cocoa rice cereal can be substituted.
S’mores Rice Krispies treats
Recipe tested by Alysha Witwicki
Makes 12 servings
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 9 cups mini marshmallows, divided
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal
- 2 cups Golden Grahams cereal
- 4 1.55-ounce Hershey chocolate bars, broken into small pieces
Line an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray or coat with butter. Set aside.
In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat, stirring with a heatproof spatula until the butter is just browned and smells nutty. Turn heat to low. Add 7 cups marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla.
Remove pot from heat. Add Cocoa Krispies, Golden Grahams and 1 cup mini marshmallows, stirring well to combine. Add half the mixture to the prepared pan.
Using a small square of waxed paper or parchment paper that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, press down on mixture to form an even layer in the pan. Sprinkle ½ cup of mini marshmallows and half the Hershey’s bar pieces on top.
Repeat the layers by adding the remaining Cocoa Krispies mixture on top and pressing down, then sprinkling with the remaining mini marshmallows and chocolate. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.
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This recipe is from Milwaukee resident Peggy Jelacic. The secret is baking the chicken on a rack on a baking sheet after frying. The other secret is the Cap’n Crunch cereal she uses for the breading that adds just a hint of sweetness. Jelacic likes serving her chicken with biscuits or mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables.
Cheese-stuffed chicken breasts
Recipe tested by Alysha Witwicki
Makes 6 servings
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 6 thick (about ¼ inch) slices cheddar cheese
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal, crushed fine
- Canola oil, for frying
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Set out three shallow bowls.
In the first, mix together the flour, seasoned salt and Parmesan cheese. In the second, beat together the eggs with ½ cup water. In the third, add the crushed Cap’n Crunch cereal.
Blot chicken with paper towels. Using a very sharp knife, cut a 4-inch slit into the thick part of the breast that’s 2 to 3 inches deep. Fold cheese slice and place it inside the slit. Use two toothpicks to close up the opening.
Next, bread the chicken in the flour mixture, then dip in the egg mixture, and finish with the cereal. Repeat for all chicken breasts.
In a large Dutch oven or high-sided skillet, heat a half-inch of canola oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot enough to shimmer, place the chicken breasts in it and fry for 3 minutes on each side. Depending on the size of the chicken and the pan, you may have to do this in two batches).
Place the chicken breasts on a rack over a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
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This is my own creation. You can use whatever fruit and cereal you like. But I’m partial to a mixture of fresh raspberries and pineapple with Special K Fruit & Yogurt cereal.
Fruit and yogurt parfaits
Recipe tested by Alysha Witwicki
Makes 2 servings
- 2 cups Greek yogurt, divided
- 1 to 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 teaspoons chia seeds
- 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
- 2 cups fresh raspberries
- 1 cup Special K Fruit & Yogurt cereal
In a bowl, mix together the yogurt and honey. Place ½ cup yogurt in the bottom of a bowl or glass. Top with 1 teaspoon chia seeds. Next, layer ½ cup pineapple. Top with ¼ cup cereal. Repeat with another layer of yogurt, chia seeds, ½ cup raspberries and cereal. Repeat the process for the other serving.
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