What is Lucky Charms Marshmallow Clusters Cereal?
Rice Krispies Treats Cereal’s reformulation is one of the most controversial topics in cold breakfast history.
Introduced in 1993 and taken away for seemingly no reason in 2018, the cereal delivered an extra crunchy version of a Rice Krispies Treat that could hold up in milk and still provide a super sweet spoonful of satisfaction.
Kellogg’s brought the cereal back in 2019 and replaced the chunks of treats with sweetened puffed rice and marshmallows. The new version wasn’t awful, but a far cry from its former self, which is why I was ecstatic when I saw the latest release from General Mills: Lucky Charms Marshmallow Clusters. Did Lucky swoop in and save Snap, Crackle, and Pop from themselves? I sure hope so!
How is it?
Well, it isn’t Rice Krispies Treats Cereal. I try to go into every new product with an open mind, but the comparison was inevitable and set me up for a bit of a disappointment. But it’s not all bad.
The sweetened corn and rice clusters remind me of a crunchier version of Kix, and despite their pleasantly mild vanilla taste, they aren’t nearly sweet enough to remind me of a marshmallow treat.
The mild flavor gets even milder, almost extinct when added to milk. I also find their size kind of bizarre. They aren’t quite big enough to dominate a spoon like Frosted Mini-Wheats, but they’re far from Cap’n Crunch territory too, making the proper spoon balance tricky. There’s a reason most rectangular cereal pieces aren’t this big and flat.
Anything else you need to know?
The Lucky Charms marshmallows are excellent. Vibrantly colored and full of crunchy-yet-soft freeze-dried splendor, their pronounced sweetness brings a very welcome balance to the unfortunately bland clusters. Although Lucky Charms isn’t one of my favorite cereals, I prefer its normal Cheerios-adjacent glazed oat pieces to these new hypothetically sweeter and more fun clusters.
Conclusion:
Whether or not I had inflated expectations, this cereal would have been a letdown. Between its odd shape and texture and too mild flavor, this just makes me miss the 90s classic even more.
DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample. Doing so did not influence my review.
Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 11.2 oz. box
Purchased at: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup/37 grams) 150 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
I feel so old: I look at these and only see sugar and more sugar, and then I want to rinse out my mouth. (Interestingly, though, these seem to have the *same* amount of sugar per serving as plain-old Frosted Flakes.)
Really; these have the same amount of sugar as good old Frosted Flakes? I’m very surprised. These look like total sugar-bombs, to me (as all such cereals do, IMHO).
I, too, only see sugar on top of sugar…but I refuse to attribute it to my age! I’ve actually never been a big sweets person, even as a kid. Admittedly, though, I do outright dislike sweet stuff more and more, as I’ve gotten older. Give me something salty, any day, however!
And, is it just me, or do those clusters look reminiscent of little brains? lol
Read the book “Hooked”
Also, keep in mind that essentially everything posted/reviewed on here is a sugar or salt bomb.
I agree, this cereal was a total letdown! I ended up picking out the marshmallows and throwing the rest away.
WOW I wish I hadn’t been high at the supermarket! I so thought this was a combo of the RIck Crispy Treats cereal and lucky charms. I though it literally just had both. Then I had my first bite…biggest disappointment since getting cut from the varsity basketball team (that was in 1997). This isn’t even in my top 25 cereals. This is just plain bad!