Is Chex Cereal Gluten-free?

Find out what Chex cereal is made of, what varieties it comes in, and which flavors of this cereal are safe for a gluten-free diet.

Note: I am a proud Amazon, Chomps, MunkPack, and Thrive Market affiliate and am happy to recommend their service and products to you. Please know that as an affiliate, I may receive a small commission on the products you purchase after clicking through my links. For more info, please see my disclosure policy here.

Do you love Chex cereal for breakfast? A quick bowl of cereal can’t be beat on those mornings you just don’t have time to think about making a big breakfast.

But if you are following a gluten-free diet, you know that some cereals have hidden gluten. And especially in a cereal brand that offers a variety so obvious with gluten (ahem, Wheat Chex, I’m looking at you), you’re probably pretty curious how Chex cereal can fit into your diet.

Find out in this post what Chex cereal is and what it’s used for, plus what flavors and varieties it comes in.

We’ll dive deeper into the ingredients of some of the most popular varieties of Chex and finish the post up by talking about whether or not this brand of cereal is a good choice for folks trying to eat a gluten-free diet.

Whether you’re looking to fill up your bowl for breakfast or mix up a batch of Chex mix for the holidays, let’s get you the answers you’re here for!

What is Chex cereal?

Chex cereal is a brand name cereal that comes in a signature checkerboard pattern in each and every square. This cereal is most popularly eaten with milk as a breakfast food.

Many people, especially in the US, love making Chex mix around the holiday season. This classic savory snack mix is a mixture of Chex, pretzels, nuts, and a few other ingredients to season and flavor this snack.

After the rise in popularity of this type of snack mix, other Chex mixes were born. The company has created all kinds of sweet and savory recipes using their different varieties and flavors of cereal.

You can find Chex mix ideas for every holiday and occasion on their website – there are so many fun options! Here is my gluten and dairy-free Chex mix recipe.

Chex has even gone on to make their own Chex Mixes and distributes them at grocery stores. They come in three varieties: Traditional, Cheddar, and Muddy Buddies. Muddy Buddies has a number of different flavors too – like brownie, cookies & cream, and mint chocolate.

An idea that you might not have heard of to use Chex cereal is to make your own gluten-free panko breadcrumbs using Rice Chex! It’s true – check out my blog post about it!

Read on: Is panko gluten-free?

Read on: Is Chex mix gluten-free?

What flavors does Chex cereal come in?

Chex cereal comes in a few different varieties. The most popular are the three original options, their Rice, Corn, and Wheat Chex. These are most commonly used in Chex Mix and many of their snack mixes you can find recipes for online.

There are other flavored varieties of Chex cereal, as well. Here is a list of all the current varieties that Chex offers, according to their website:

Rice Chex
Corn Chex
Wheat Chex
Chocolate Chex
Apple Cinnamon Chex
Peanut Butter Chex
Cinnamon Chex
Blueberry Chex
Honey Nut Chex

Ingredients in Chex cereal

The ingredients in Chex cereal differ from variety to variety. Let’s look at the ingredients of a few popular flavors from their website to get an idea of what ingredients are most commonly used in this brand of cereal:

These are the ingredients in Rice Chex:

“Whole Grain Rice, Rice, Sugar, Salt, Molasses. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.”

Corn Chex has these ingredients:

“Whole Grain Corn, Corn Meal, Sugar, Corn Starch, Salt, Baking Soda. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.”

Wheat Chex has these ingredients:

“Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, Salt, Molasses, Baking Soda. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness. CONTAINS WHEAT INGREDIENTS.”

The flavored Cinnamon Chex option contains these ingredients:

“Whole Grain Rice, Rice, Sugar, Canola and/or Sunflower Oil, Salt, Rice Fiber, Cinnamon, Molasses, Natural Flavor. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.”

The additional ingredients used in the different flavors of Chex are usually in the form of a powder, like Blueberry Powder, Dried Apples, and Cocoa. Most flavors use Rice Chex as the base, except Honey Nut Chex which uses Corn Chex.

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in most wheat products, and acts as the “glue” that helps to hold wheat, barley, kamut, spelt, farro, durum, bulgur, rye, and semolina together to maintain their shape.

Gluten is naturally occurring, and therefore is impossible to strip away from the grain. If a grain naturally has gluten in it, there’s no way to make that food gluten-free.

Gluten or other wheat derivatives are sometimes added to foods as a flavoring or binder. Barley and malt derivatives are common ingredients in many cereal options.

All but one variety of Chex cereal is considered gluten-free. If you are avoiding gluten, steer clear of the Wheat Chex.

Otherwise, all these different varieties and flavors are safe for you to enjoy on a gluten-free diet:

Rice Chex
Corn Chex
Chocolate Chex
Apple Cinnamon Chex
Peanut Butter Chex
Cinnamon Chex
Blueberry Chex
Honey Nut Chex

You can even look for a gluten-free label on the box to help you ensure that the product you’ve chosen is right for you.

This label assures you that the brand has done testing to ensure that it is gluten-free with less than 20 ppm of gluten in that product.

Find out which other brands of cereal are considered safe for a gluten-free diet here: Gluten-free Cereal

Is Chex cereal dairy-free?

Chex cereal contains no dairy ingredients in the cereal itself. That said, many people use cow’s milk, which is a dairy product, to pour on their cereal.

If you are trying to stick to a dairy-free diet, be sure to avoid using cow’s milk when enjoying this cereal. Opt for your favorite dairy-free milk alternative instead.

If you’ve been wondering if Chex cereal is a brand of cereal you can buy regularly on your gluten-free diet or use in your favorite Chex mix during the holiday season, I hope this information has been helpful for you.

Most Chex cereal is gluten-free, but not all. Avoid Wheat Chex while you’re aiming for a gluten-free diet, and look for flavors with a gluten-free label to help you make an easy decision while at the grocery store.

If you loved this post, I hope that you’ll share it with your friends on Facebook and pin it for future reference on Pinterest.