Last Updated on April 27, 2022
Today, we’re going to be answering the question: are Grape Nuts gluten free? And taking a look at the best gluten-free healthy cereal choices for breakfast, or as a snack. Grape-Nuts cereal has been around for well over a hundred years – and it’s a household favorite across America. But is it typically gluten-free? Or can you make a gluten-free alternative? Let’s take a closer look.
What Are Grape Nuts?
You’ll likely already be familiar with Grape Nuts, but if you’re not, it’s simply a brand of cereal. It’s known for its nutritious value and being healthier than similar cereal brands. Despite the name of the cereal, Grape-Nuts do not actually contain either grape or nuts.
Learn more about: List Of Gluten Free Cereal: Our Top Picks
Ingredients In Grape Nuts
There are two types of Grape Nuts cereal available. However, today we’re going to be looking at the Original Grape-Nuts cereal. This product contains the following ingredients:
- whole-grain wheat flour
- malted barley flour
- salt
- dried yeast
- reduced iron
- vitamin B3
- zinc oxide
- vitamin B6
- vitamin B1
- folic acid
Nutritional Information Of Grape Nuts
If you’re looking for the nutritional value of Grape Nuts, each half a cup serving contains the following:
- Calories: 200
- Fat: 1g
- Sodium: 280mg
- Carbs: 47g
- Dietary Fiber: 7g
- Sugar: 5g
- Protein: 6g
Are Grape Nuts Gluten Free?
Unfortunately, as you can probably tell from the list of ingredients – Grape Nuts are definitely not gluten-free. This is because the two main ingredients of this cereal are wheat and barley. Both of these ingredients are gluten-containing grains and should not be consumed when following a gluten-free diet.
For this reason, Grape-Nuts are not gluten-free. And currently, they do not offer a gluten-free option in their range. However, there are plenty of healthy gluten-free cereal choices available and will be doing a round-up of those later in this post.
How To Make Grape-Nuts Taste Good
Everyone enjoys Grape Nuts in their own way, but if you’re not gluten-free and can enjoy Grape Nuts, the best thing to do is cover the Grape Nuts with milk and put in the microwave for around a minute to a minute and a half. This makes it slightly softer. Then add some flavor! A pinch of cinnamon, a handful of seeds or nuts, a selection of sliced fruits – there are plenty of ways to enhance Grape Nuts and still keep it healthy and nutritious.
Gluten Free Healthy Cereal
You’ll want to start the day the best way you can – with healthy cereal. But it can feel tricky to find a healthy cereal that’s gluten-free. Don’t worry! Here are some of our top picks when it comes to gluten-free cereal choices that are nutritious.
- Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Muesli. What I love about Muesli is that it’s already bulked out with seeds, nuts, and fruit – so it requires no preparation or effort at all! Bob’s Red Mill is a great brand that offers a range of gluten-free products, which I would highly recommend.
- Purely Elizabeth Gluten-Free Granola. Purely Elizabeth has a huge selection of flavors of gluten-free granola, including peanut butter, vanilla chocolate chip, chocolate sea salt, original, pumpkin cinnamon, blueberry hemp, honey almond, maple almond, cranberry pecan, and chocolate peanut butter. You can find their full range of products here.
Mock Grape Nuts – Gluten Free Recipe
If you’re looking to make a gluten-free cereal as close to Grape Nuts as possible, this recipe from Fountain Avenue Kitchen is a great choice. It doesn’t need many ingredients and is just as delicious.
Ingredients
The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe are:
- 1 cup of certified gluten-free oats (Bob’s Red Mill is my go-to choice if you’re not sure)
- 1 cup of water
- 1 tablespoon of melted butter
- 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar or maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
Recipe
Now all you need to do is:
Step 1: Prepare the Oats
Grab a bowl and add the oats and the water. Now leave them this way at room temperature for at least a few hours (ideally overnight if possible).
Step 2: Cook the Oats
Preheat your oven to 300F. Grease a baking sheet (preferably rimmed) in preparation. Ensure there’s no water left on the oats after draining and add the melted butter to the bowl. Now add the salt and sugar and be sure to cover all of the oats with this mixture. Place the oats on your prepared baking sheet and cook for around 15 minutes. Give them a shake and cook for a further 15 minutes. Repeat the shaking and cook for another 15 minutes. The oats should have now dried out.
Step 3: Cool and Store
Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before handling. Place into an airtight container and your Mock Grape Nuts cereal is ready to use and will be okay at room temperature for at least several weeks.
Conclusion
I hope this article has helped to answer the question: are Grape Nuts gluten-free? And also gives you an idea of the best choices to go for when selecting a healthy gluten-free cereal. If you’d rather make your own, our Mock Grape Nuts recipe is a perfect starting point.
Do you know of any other healthy gluten-free cereal choices? If so, please feel free to let me know in the comments below. I’m always open to trying new options. Sharing is caring!
FAQs
What are Grape-Nuts Made of?
Grape Nuts are made using two main ingredients: whole grain wheat flour and malted barley flour. It just so happens that both of those ingredients contain gluten!
Are Grape-Nuts Healthy?
Grape Nuts is considered a healthy cereal choice. It's known for being an excellent source of fiber, and is also high in iron and folic acid (which is great if you're deficient or anemic). It also can help to promote a healthy heart, if consumed as part of a balanced diet.

Hi, my name’s Zoë. I’m 28 years old and live in London, UK. I work full time as a freelance writer and critic for West End theatre. Writing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I spend most of my free time at the theatre, or at conventions. I’m married to the love of my life, and live in a small apartment with my fur baby, Lillie. I run two of my own blogs: No Safer Place and Stage to Page: both of which have won awards. I also have a YouTube channel where I talk about all things stagey.