Review: HEB's New Oatmeal Cups

HEB just launched 7 new oatmeal flavors, from mango to dulce de leche. Here's our review.

New Oatmeal Comes to HEB

HEB has released 8 new flavors of oatmeal. They come in both your standard box of packets, and in individual microwavable cups.

The main flavors are:

• Mango

• Strawberry & Cream

• Dulce de Leche

• Protein: Cocoa & Cream

• Protein: Maple & Brown Sugar

• Mexican Hot Chocolate (sold out when I made this grocery run)

They also released two sugar free options. These we did not test, because... I'm a fan of sugar.

These flavors are:

• French Vanilla

• Cinnamon Spice

The Oatmeal Taste-Test

My husband, my mom and I each tried the flavors and determined our favorites. We all had differing opinions for the top 4, but we unanimously voted on a least favorite. Since there was not a clear consensus for #1-4, this list is for the most part, in no particular order.

Mango Oatmeal

If the mango and strawberries & cream packages look familiar, it's because HEB also has a cereal flavor for each of these.

The mango flakes, pictured here on the right, are one of the HEB-brand cereals I really like and the oatmeal has the same tastiness.

This flavor has big chunks of mango. My husband declared these to taste almost like fresh fruit, and I don't disagree. It's also not as sweet as other oatmeal packets, which makes it an adult-friendly option. This was my husband's favorite. Try it for sure!

Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal

The strawberries & cream oatmeal also has a cereal counterpart in the form of crispy rice. One major difference between these two, is that the cereal is insanely sweet, but the oatmeal, like the mango, is not. I really appreciate this about it as the cereal tends to be too sweet for me.

This oatmeal flavor also has chunks of fruit, although they are slightly more artificial tasting than the mango bits. That being said, this was my favorite of the oatmeals. One I will definitely purchase again.

Dulce de Leche Oatmeal

The dulce de leche absolutely should look familiar, considering at this point HEB has a whole line of dulce de leche flavored products including:

• A Creamy Creations Ice Cream Flavor

• Coffee

• Candy Coated Cashews

• Protein Shakes

• And Multi-Fit Beverages

I really thought this would be the sweet one, but surprisingly, no. I would classify it as a soft taste of dulce de leche. With a flavor that can quickly be too sweet, I think this is just the exact right amount of sweetness and caramely goodness you'd want in the morning. Nothing too overpowering. Adults will appreciate the subtle flavor, kids might be disappointed.

Protein Oatmeal: Cocoa and Cream

Okay so when I took this photo, I hadn't let it sit enough. The protein flavors both need a little more time to settle than the other three. They do get less goopy with time, I just recommend allowing them to sit for five minutes instead of two.

The cocoa & cream flavor tastes exactly like hot cocoa. It's definitely a bit sweeter than the other ones I've reviewed so far, but also not TOO sweet. This turned out to be my second favorite flavor overall.

There's a lot of opportunity to jazz this one up. I ended up adding a few mini semi-sweet chocolate chips after it had cooled down a tad. I highly recommend this! Shredded coconut or chopped pecans would also be delightful.

Protein Oatmeal: Maple Brown Sugar

And that leads us to our final flavor: Maple Brown Sugar. Since this is the last one, you've probably guessed it, this is the one we all didn't like as much. The flavor is far sweeter and stronger than the other four. That maple packs a punch.

Even though it wasn't to our tastes, this may turn out to be your kid's favorite flavor due to the sweetness. They'd also get a healthy serving of protein, so do give it a try!

Have you tried the oatmeal flavors yet? Let me know what you thought in the comments below.