Product Review: Gluten Free Rice Krispies and Rice Krispies Treats

Unlike Chex and Fruity Pebbles, Kellogg's hasn’t made Rice Krispies gluten free but rather added a gluten free line of Rice Krispies. This line is Brown rice (the other flavors are regular rice) and lacks the malt flavoring that denies us regular Rice Krispies. I’m not sure why Kellogg’s didn’t just replace the malt flavoring and make them all gluten free (hint, hint).

Gluten Free Rice Krispies with Almond Milk

On to the review: These are not the Rice Krispies you remember from your childhood. Gone is most of the sugar and gone is that chocolatey milk after a bowl of Cocoa-Krispies or sugary milk after a bowl of the other Krispies flavors. On the upside, they are made with whole grain brown rice, they have much less sugar (if you’re watching that sort of thing), and they still can be used to make a Rice Krispies Treat (more about this later). However, if you are looking to reclaim your childhood breakfast cereal, these sadly won’t do it.

Gluten Free Rice Krispies Treats

Can you believe I had never made Rice Krispies Treats before? I figured no review would be complete without them! (To make them dairy free, I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks in place of the butter called for in the recipe.) They were quite good (and quite sticky!). They weren’t overly sweet, so I’m not sure how much kids would like them. I did see Fruity Pebbles Treats on sale so if you are looking for a sweeter bar you could probably swap out the cereal you use to make them.

Almond Milk turned Chocolatey by GF Koala Crisp Cereal

And if you are looking for chocolatey milk in your bowl when you are done, then I'd recommend Koala Crisp Cereal by EnviroKidz!  (I used plain Almond Milk but I'm sure they're just as good with Rice Milk if you prefer.)

While the Gluten Free Rice Krispies were pretty hard to find earlier in the summer, I think they are pretty well rolled out at this point – I’ve seen them in multiple Shoprites and even in a Walmart! Just in case you can’t find them anywhere locally, you can get a four pack from amazon.com here: Kellogg's Gluten Free Rice Krispies Cereal (Pack of 4). Amazon also sells Koala Crisp Cereal (this time a six pack, but the price is still lower) which you can get here: EnviroKidz Gluten Free Koala Crisp Cereal (Pack of 6).

Updated 5/30/12 - Good news if you are in Canada, Kellogg's rolled these out nationwide this spring!

Other product reviews that might interest you:

Udi's Ancient Grains Gluten Free Breads (they're dairy free too!)

Product Review: Udi’s GF/DF Cinnamon Raisin Bread