It’s not just for breakfast anymore

If you have children, chances are good that you have a few boxes of breakfast cereal in your cabinets. You might not think about using them in your cooking and baking, but they can be used in a surprising number of ways. Taste of Home put together a slideshow of 30 ways to use cereal for everything from snacks to desserts to main dishes. 

One common use for breakfast cereal is as a coating or breading for everything from fish to chicken and beyond. Corn flakes are the go-to breading material for savory items because they have a satisfying crunch and aren’t loaded with sugar. Other choices for breading include shredded wheat, crisped rice, and cream of wheat. In a similar vein, cereals work well as binders in meat loaf and meatballs. For this application crisped rice seems to be the preferred option.

Desserts provide the most natural fit for breakfast cereals. Here they are used to provide crunch, whether as a mix-in for ice cream or as part of a crust for a tart or pie. Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar elevated breakfast cereal to new heights with her delicious creations like Compost cookies, Cornflake crunch, and the many variations on Momofuku Milk Bar’s cereal milk. 

What’s your favorite way to use cereal as an ingredient?

Photo of Cereal and milk ice cream sandwich from Food Network Magazine