The 3 Ingredients You Need To Make Old-School Hot Buttered Cheerios

The biggest food trends of today may seem awfully novel to people a few generations from now. Fads like drinking hot Dr Pepper, for instance — once very popular — are downright unheard of now. One throwback practice, common in the 1970s and '80s, involved frying up a leading breakfast cereal with butter and salt and eating it as a snack. Some retro food trends are due for a comeback, and this creation, called hot buttered Cheerios, may be one of them. Thanks to social media, the old-school concoction is once again making the rounds as a snack food.

You've likely eaten Cheerios the normal way, in a cereal bowl covered with milk. Transforming the oaty little Os into the hot buttered version is easy — all you need are three ingredients: Cheerios, butter, and salt.

Largely used as a substitute for popcorn, hot buttered Cheerios are created by melting butter in a pan, tossing in the Cheerios, and letting them crisp up for a few minutes, then topping with salt. The snack can also be made in a microwave by melting butter in a microwave-safe dish, stirring in the Os until they're evenly coated, and returning the container to the microwave for about three minutes, stirring the cereal a few times as it cooks.

As with popcorn, there are various ways to improvise when making hot buttered Cheerios. In addition to the traditional salt, you can get creative with your toppings, such as using a flavored popcorn salt or a seasoning mix, like ranch, or even a ramen seasoning packet. You can also make the snack doubly hot (hot, hot buttered Cheerios) by adding extra heat with a Cajun seasoning or other spicy blend. Additionally, try taking a sweet route and top them with something like cinnamon and sugar, powdered hot cocoa mix, or apple pie spice.

Hot buttered Cheerios can further be upgraded by frying up an alternative flavor of the cereal, rather than the standard version. A host of Cheerios products now exist that weren't around back in the '70s and '80s, ranging from flavors like Chocolate, Cookies & Crème, and Chocolate Peanut Butter to fruity tastes like Apple Cinnamon, Very Berry, and Strawberry Banana. Honey Nut Cheerios were introduced back in 1979, so they would fall into the retro category in terms of usability, but would definitely make a yummy version of the snack. General Mills also regularly releases limited-edition flavors like Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate Strawberry, and Frosted Lemon, providing ongoing opportunities for limited-time treat versions of the snack, as well.