Are Honey Bunches of Oats Vegan? Can Vegans Eat Honey Bunches of Oats?

Are Honey Bunches of Oats Vegan?

A bowl of healthy cereal is all you need to start your mornings. Honey Bunches of Oats is a favorite cereal for many, even after 32 years of its launch. It is a vegetarian cereal but may not fit into a vegan diet chart.

Below you will find the ingredients, alternatives, nutritional values, and more about these cereals. 

What Are Vegan Honey Bunches of Oats?

Most kids and some adults still like to eat cereals for their breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. If this suits your diet, you can eat them whenever possible. But if you are a vegan, you must look closely at the box for its ingredients. 

With Honey Bunches of Oats, you won’t have to check any labels as the box has a separate space for honey bunches and cornflakes. You need this to make a bowl of vegan Honey Bunches of Oats. 

Vegan Honey Bunches of Oats is granola made from oat clusters, cornflakes, and agave-coated almonds. This cereal is an oat-based option free from gluten, and it can become nut-free if you remove the almonds. 

Vegan Alternatives for Honey

There is an ongoing debate on whether honey is vegan or not. But honeybees produce honey for themselves and not for human consumption. The answer is clear: Honey is not vegan. So, debating over this topic makes no sense at all. 

Since vegans do not eat any food extracted or made from animals, honey is a big no. There are vegan alternatives to honey that you can try. Here are some delicious options: 

• Bee-free honey: Made from lemon juice, apples, and sugar, it looks, feels, and tastes like real honey.
• Brown rice syrup: The producer has to expose brown rice to enzymes that later break down the starch. It produces thick and dark-colored syrup, brown rice syrup, or malt syrup. 
• Maple syrup: Maple syrup comes from the sap of maple trees and contains various vitamins, minerals, and 24 antioxidants.
• Barley malt syrup: It is a sweetener in the form of syrup made from sprouted barley. The syrup is golden in color and tastes quite similar to another vegan liquid, blackstrap molasses. 
• Blackstrap molasses: Thick and dark brown liquid from boiled sugar cane juice. 
• Date syrup: Extracted from cooked dates, it is a caramel-colored sweetener that comes in liquid form. You can buy it from the supermarket or make it in your kitchen. 

Calories in Honey Bunches of Oats

Just like every cereal, Honey Bunches of Oats is rich in nutrients. 

• Energy: 1700 kJ
• Fat: 7.8g
• Carbs: 81.25g 
• Fiber: 6.2g
• Sugar: 18.75g
• Protein: 6.25g
• Sodium: 0.4g
• Salt: 1.07g
• Vitamin A: 703IU
• Zinc: 0.9mg 
• Iron: 33.75mg   
• Phosphorus: 188mg  
• Vitamin Pp: 15.6mg 
• Vitamin B2: 1328.1mg 
• Vitamin B1: 1172mg 
• Vitamin B6: 1.56mg 
• Vitamin B12: 4.7µg
• Vitamin D: 3.125mg 
• Copper: 0.25mg  
• Magnesium: 50mg  
• Potassium: 203mg  
• Monounsaturated Fat: 4.7g
• Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.56g 

Recipe for Vegan Honey Bunches of Oats

The vegan recipe for Honey Bunches of Oats requires some readily available ingredients and just a little bit of your time. These cereals contain light-flavored sugar; to sweeten them, you can use agave nectar that tastes like honey. 

Ingredients

Below are the ingredients required to make a fully-vegan cereal. With this quantity, you can yield six bowls of oats.

• 4 cups of cornflakes
• 3 tablespoons of light brown sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons of water 
• 1/3 cup of agave nectar. Bee-free honey can also work. 
• 2 equally divided cups of oats
• 2 tablespoons of granulated white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup of sliced almonds

Recipe

Follow the steps below to make vegan Honey Bunches of Oats: 

• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. 
• Mix the agave nectar or bee-free honey, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and water, and heat them in a saucepan over low-medium heat. 
• Keep stirring until the sugar properly dissolves in the saucepan, and then set the pan aside after adding the vanilla extract. 
• Take two medium-sized bowls and add 2 cups of oats and the remaining ½ cup in the other, along with all the cornflakes and sliced almonds. 
• Now, pour half the mixture of agave and sugar you cooked earlier into the first bowl. Stir up the mix with a wooden spoon to make crunchy granola clusters. You may have to use your hands if the situation demands so. 
• The remaining agave and sugar mixture will go to the second bowl containing oats, cornflakes, and sliced almonds. Stir it to create an agave coating for those ingredients. 
• Now, you need a baking sheet with parchment paper. The size of the sheet depends on the quantity you are cooking. 
• Pick up one bowl and pour its contents into the other to mix them. Once mixed, spread out the resulting mixture evenly on the sheet. If you do not spread it evenly on the baking sheet, it won’t bake properly. 
• Bake it in the oven for at least 30 minutes. Make sure to stir the mixture once or twice while baking to prevent it from burning on the edges. 
• Take it out and place the bowl until it cools down. After that, your vegan Honey Bunches of Oats is ready to eat. You can store them in a container or eat them right away. Serve it with fruits or non-dairy milk, whatever you like.  

Are Honey Bunches of Oats Healthy?

Honey Bunch of Oats contains several vitamins and minerals that can prevent anemia, neural tube defects, and other nutrient deficiencies. However, this cereal may not be as healthy as others due to its high sugar content.

Out of all the ingredients in Honey Bunches of Oats, 30% are sweeteners. Cane sugar, molasses, honey, and barley malt are these cereal’s four sources of added sugar. So, in a single serving (3/4th of a cup), you will consume 16g of sugar. 

With this much sugar level, you will become more vulnerable to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer. 

Other Vegan Cereals     

Here are a few vegan cereal options: 

• 365 Everyday Value Organic Morning O’s: Add some fruits and non-dairy milk to this cereal for a delicious, healthy, and organic breakfast.    
• Back To Nature Gluten-Free Apple Blueberry Granola: This cereal pack contains no artificial preservatives or flavors. It has little dried blueberries and pieces of apple that make your breakfast healthier. 
• Nature’s Path Crunchy Maple Sunrise: It contains quinoa, amaranth, corn, rice, buckwheat, and flax. This cereal gives you 0.15 g of Omega-3 with every serving. 
• Living Intentions Superfood Cereal Cacao Crunch: This cereal is organic, vegan-friendly, gluten-free, probiotic, and much more than a morning meal.   
• Fiber One Whole Grain Cereal: Every serving of this cereal provides 13 g of whole grain. 
• Barbara’s Bakery Original Puffins Cereal: Made with oat pillows and crunchy corn, it offers 5 g of fiber. It contains a low amount of fat and is a non-GMO verified product. 
• Kashi Sweet Potato Sunshine Cereal: This cereal has 5 g of protein, 4 g of protein, and only 5 g of sugar. It is made with 100% whole grains and is rich in vitamin A and potassium.    

What Cereals Are Good for You?

Cereals having the lowest or no amount of added sugar are the healthiest ones. Just pick up the box and check the label for added sugars. If it contains more than 3g of sweeteners, put the box back in its place. 

Cereal with no added sugars may be hard to find, but not impossible. So, if you find one, make it your permanent breakfast meal.     

Checking the label on the box for cereal and every product is essential for vegans and everyone else. It will help you cross out unhealthy products from the list. Moreover, you can avoid consuming the ingredients you are allergic to if you read the label. 

Endnotes 

The Honey Bunches of Oats can become your new vegan breakfast. As long as you want to stay healthy, do not eat an excessive amount due to its high sugar level. You can try other vegan alternatives for your morning meals to be on the safer side. Choose the cereal that suits your diet and does not affect your health in any way.