One of my biggest struggles transitioning to Paleo, was figuring out my breakfasts. I used to eat honey nut cheerios and frosted flakes like candy. Well it pretty much is candy, poisonous candy disguised as cereal. Luckily, Kelly Bejelly read my mind and listened to my stomach, which lead her to create this delicious paleo cereal recipe.
This recipe is from her brand new book Paleo Eats which includes 110 additional recipes to this home run paleo cereal. It was just released and the 5 star reviews are flooding in. Kelly knocked it out of the park with this book. Go grab your copy of the book today :)
Paleo Cereal
There are tons of amazing paleo companies as well as bloggers that have created a multitude of paleo cereal recipes. This recipe for coconut cinnamon cereal is a perfect start and then you can rotate it weekly with some of my other breakfast favorites. Check out:
- Caveman Crunch
- Banana Nut Porridge from Against All Grain
- Paleo Krunch
- Paleo Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Obviously when it comes to breakfast, you can also go the eggs, bacon and avocado route as well. These are just some amazing recipes that allow you to keep your food diversified and fun. Not to mention, I know I am not the only one who misses cereal. Time to replace the old junk with this new paleo cereal.
Given that most people in the New Year always focus on health and wellness, I want to share some breakfast tips that will keep you energized and motivated to stick to those resolutions.
Healthy Breakfast Tips
- Let someone else do the meal planning and list making for you. Less work = less stress = more happiness. Do you know anyone who provides such information? Hint: it’s me. Get all of your meal plans here.
- Eat breakfast early (even if it means you have to wake up 5 minutes earlier). I used to be a chronic coffee for breakfast drink and it ended up trashing my adrenals. You can still have your coffee, just ensure you get some quality food in early.
- Eat more breakfast. Yes eat more. There is that stupid calories in vs calories out myth that has most brainwashed. It’s wrong, eat more and give your body the fuel it needs to function and burn fat.
- Eat more fat. Yes, I am giving you permission to eat more bacon and cook in grass fed butter, ghee or bacon fat.
- Have fun with it. Life is supposed to be fun and your breakfast sets your mood and tone for the whole day. Go for it :)
Time to start including this new paleo cereal into your breakfast rotation. Leave me a comment and let me know your favorite breakfast dish I should try!!!
Coconut Cinnamon Cereal
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon melted coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the shredded coconut and sunflower seeds in a food processor and grind for 30 seconds.
- Add the cinnamon, salt, maple syrup, egg and coconut oil and pulse until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Scoop the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and cover with a second piece of parchment paper.
- With a rolling pin, flatten the mixture to 1/4-inch thick. Remove and discard top piece of parchment paper.
- With a wet knife, score the mixture into 1-inch squares.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until firm to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and let sit in the pan for 15 minutes to allow the cereal to become crisp.
- Gently break or use a knife to cut the cereal into 1-inch pieces.
- Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
****Disclosure: If you purchase any of the products linked in this post or products through the links on the right side of my page, I receive a small percentage from the respected affiliate programs****
Weekly Meal Plan – Eat Healthy While Traveling
Hi, I don’t have a blender, food processor or grinder in my university accommodation, can I buy coconut flour and sunflower seed flour instead of flaked coconut and sunflower seeds?
Has anyone tried batch cooking this and freezing some?
good question, post it here if you have
I make a triple batches, and that works well. I double bake it though so it is crispier (take it out let it cool, break it up and put back in the oven 8-10 more minutes) I have had it as long as two weeks and it is still crunchy. LOVE this stuff.
Can I use a banana as a substitute for an egg? Or maybe something else vegan?Thank you.
For the sunflower seeds in this recipe, do you use shelled or unshelled (just kernels) seeds?
Unshelled
Do u think it would be possible to replace the sunflower seeds with more coconut? I think I am intolerant to nuts and seeds and I am trying to keep my omega 6 levels down
I sure do, it should work
Just made this, and its amazing!! As another poster said, the edges were perfect, but middle was softer. Next time I’m going to divide the mix between 2 sheets to get more edge bits.
I used 1/8 c maple syrup and 1/8 c xylitol granules, which worked great. A bit sweet for me though, so I’m going to cut back a bit in the next batch.
Great recipe! I actually made your cinnamon apple cookies, and ended up not eating them as cookies but instead as breakfast cereal! They were great broken up in a bowl with milk and honey drizzled on top, the texture was great and they didn’t go soggy from all the nutty goodness in them :) So essentially your recipe turned into ‘portable cereal’ biscuits for me haha :)
Oh that sounds phenomenal.
Love this recipe!
Here’s a trick I learned that may help some people:
I was frustrated that so much of the mixture was sticking to the top piece of parchment paper, so I just left it on while it baked. Took it off after 5 minutes, and nothing was stuck to it at all!
From there I just went ahead and cut them and put them right back in for the remaining time.
Also, I doubled the amount of coconut oil, and they had much more crunch
Another yummy addition was drizzling paleo chocolate(coconut oil, cocao powder, and honey)
over the squares once they were near the end of the baking time.
Thanks for the great addition to my snack life,
DC
Thanks for the great tips DC
Another amazing recipe! So delicious!
I followed the recipe (except I used 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup pepita seeds instead of all sunflower). Although I let the pieces cool completely and put them in an airtight container, the following day they were no longer crisp. Still yummy, but I really liked the crunch! What did I do wrong?
Oh that is a great question, we will have to get the expert involved. I will email her now.
Hi, I’m from the U.K.. Is what you call shredded coconut the same as what we call desiccated coconut? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
As long as it is in little pieces, yes.
I have a no-egg kid… Would a chia egg work?
Not sure if it would work in this case, but often times you can substitute puree’d pumpkin in place of eggs. the consistency might change a little but overall it works well.
thank you for this great recipe. I just taste it and it s delicious. I make it a little bit thick that 1/4 inche and it s like a cookie or small bar. That will be a recipe to do with different way cookie bar and cereal for that can I give double 5 stars lol
I will accept double 5 stars
I’m currently no sugar. Would this work without maple?
You can for sure try it, I haven’t
Would these work without the maple syrup? Currently on a sugar detox. Thanks, love your recipes especially that banana bread!!
Excellent. First time I’ve had cereal since last January. I wasn’t able to click on 5 stars either.
Ok my comment yesterday was based on snacking on the pieces. I had it this morning with coconut milk and half expected it to get mushy but it was perfect just like real cereal!
Even better :)
I have a challenge for you. My son that got my husband and I to do Robb Wolfs 30 day challenge is away at school I plan on sending him this cereal but would love to be able to send him a sunbutter chocolate cereal like his childhood favorite Reese Puff chocolate peanut butter cereal. hope you can come up with something!
Oh wow, that is a tall order
That is so weird, I will let my web team know.
I want to use Paleo recipes, but almost all of them use coconut of some kind. I have a son who is horribly allergic to coconut. Are there substitutes?
In some cases there are, I will work on making some without coconut
I’d like to know how those turn out. I too have a child that is allergic to coconut.
Someone let us all know :)
This looks great! However, I’m the only one in my house that will eat coconut. It would be great to see some breakfast ideas that don’t use coconut or eggs. I’ve tried to come up with ideas, but essentially I end up with smoothies!
I will have to do some brainstorming for that
I made this cereal today and I loved it! My only problem was that the edges got nice and crispy, but the middle didn’t. Not a problem; they got eaten anyway, but next time, I’ll probably turn the oven off and leave the pan in until the whole thing is crisp. I’m new to the Paleo journey and I appreciate so much the helpful tips and recipes you and other Paleo enthusiasts put out there for people like me! Blessings~
Ah thanks for sharing Lynn. That is a great tip and I am so glad you found this journey.
While this recipe was delicious, it was an epic fail when I sandwiched the mixture between parchment paper & rolled it out. It basically stuck to the top sheet of parchment paper. Maybe put coconut oil on the top piece to prevent this? Regardless, my massive cereal cookie was delicious!
Hmmm I have never had anything stick to parchment paper. The coconut oil would work for sure.
The same thing happened to me. It seems like mine was extremely wet even though I followed it exactly. I was so excited!
Mine was too wet too, so I spread it with a knife!
This recipe is a winner! Just made it with a duck egg and roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds. Too busy eating them as cookies to try them as cereal, but I’m sure they would be great that way too!
Oh that sounds amazing
George, these are sooo good ! Thank you ;)
Wanted to give it 5 stars but it would not let me ? Weird
Can I use honey in place of maple syrup? TIA
I haven’t tried but I think it will work
I did as I am GAPS and not using Maple. Just as good. Two other things I did :
1) mix was too wet to roll, so I spread it with a knife!
2) After cooking I thought the centre pieces looked cooked on the top but still very moist underneath – so I flipped the lot over and cooked another 5 mins!
Great recipe!! Thanks
Hello George thank you for your lovely site!I loved your talk in wellness sumitt . This recipe is wonderfoul, it was my first paleo experiment this wekend here in Portugal :) thank you for charing!
Ah so awesome to hear, thank you for listening
I don’t have a food processor. Any substitute ideas short of buying one? :). Can I use coconut flour instead? If so how much?
Coconut flour will not work Debra. Do you have a blender or a coffee grinder? You do not want a smooth batter, it needs to be “chopped” to come out right.
I used my ninja blender, and it turned it well.
Oh perfect, thank you for letting us know :)
I’m currently participating in the Whole Life Challenge and can’t sure honey. Any other suggestions for a sweetener? Dates maybe?
Dates would be your only suggestion
I am allergic to eggs. Will it work without, or with chia to substitute?
I haven’t tried it, but it might
Chia egg does work well Susan.
Perfect timing! I just started making my own almond milk. I’m excited to have cereal for breakfast again. Thanks!
Oh yes, make sure you try the Caveman Crunch too
Excellent recipe! I love the simplicity of it and will make it as soon as I finish my Whole30 at the end of the month. Thanks!
Perfect, enjoy!!!
Thanks for the recipe!
I would love to see suggestions for school lunches that don’t need to be reheated. Leftover dinner usually doesn’t work since there is no way for my peanut to heat up his food at school. I would like to add more variety to his school lunches.
Thanks George!!
I can’t tolerate eggs. What’s a good substitute? Thanks.
That I don’t know
Susan, you can make an egg with Chia seed and it will work well.
I have some Sunbutter on hand. Do you think the equivalent amount would work?
Yes I do
Hey Erica, you would more than likely end up with a cookie versus a well “cracker”. I hope you enjoy the recipe hun!
Hi there! I love cereal, but unfortunately I do not love coconut. Any good substitutions there?? Thanks!
Oh that one I don’t know. Hopefully someone can comment with a good suggestion
Flax/chia seeds Or meal and then add extract of your favorite flavor – apple, banana, vanilla but, strawberry, caramel etc. Maybe a small amt dried fruits such as blueberries or freeze dried blueberries, raspberries, cherries etc.
Or wheat bran, possibly wheat germ or oat bran?
What do you think George?
That sounds great too
I would grind up almonds in my food processor to get the right consistency.
Great idea :)
Maddy, the recipe will not work without the coconut. I tried several things when developing it so I’m sorry, but it’s what gives the recipe it’s crunch.
I could use some ideas for portable kid-friendly breakfasts. My teenager will take food on the bus but doesn’t want to sit down to eat it.
Ok we will work on this
Hi, Thanks for the recipe. I’d like to try it but don’t have any sunflower seeds. Have you tried it with any other nuts such as cashews?
No I haven’t but I am sure that would work fine
George, do you think Pumpkin seeds would work in place of sunflower seeds. Or hemp seed, although hemp seeds might give it a different consistency. I think I will try pumpkin seeds. Thanks for the recipe – this will keep me from going on a “cereal binge” for sure!!
Ah I am not sure. Leave me a comment and let me know so we can share :)
This is delicious! I haven’t had cereal in a couple years because there aren’t any healthy ones. Thanks for the great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed :)
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Jasmine!
I love coconut and I love cinnamon and this sounds delicious pairing the two up! Pinning so I can make it for breakfast here soon!
Enjoy :)