At-Home Chex Mix Recipe

A reliable snack should offer several qualities, like being tasty, filling, somewhat nutritious, and easy to eat on the go. Chex mix certainly fits into these parameters, with a combination of cereals, nuts, delicious seasoning, and a wide range of customizations. If you're picking up bags of the stuff at the grocery store, it tends to contain a long list of ingredients, typically included to guarantee flavor over time. 

If you'd rather pick and choose exactly what goes into your snacks, recipe developer Erin Johnson's at-home Chex mix recipe is the answer. With her straightforward instructions, you're looking at a fresh batch of crunchy goodness in just over an hour — and most of the time is hands-off. She comments, "This is perfect to throw in a bowl for movie night or to give as a gift." If you ask us, you'll need a lot of willpower to hand this over to just anyone, and it is tempting to keep it all for yourself. Still, you'll get plenty of compliments by setting out a bowl of this at parties — a simple but tasty snack goes a long way!

For this recipe, you'll need three types of Chex cereal: rice, corn, and wheat. You'll also need Kix cereal, pretzels (small twists or sticks), and peanuts. To season the mixture and coat it in flavor, you'll need melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt (Lawry's is a good option), Beau Monde seasoning, and garlic powder. 

"Beau Monde is a blend of salt, celery, and onion," Johnson explains. She notes that an easy substitution is to use ½ teaspoon of celery seed with ½ teaspoon of onion powder for similar results.

Our recipe developer recreates a fairly classic Chex mix with this recipe, but encourages home cooks to experiment: "You can use any combination of cereal you'd like. I love the addition of Kix but you can also add (or substitute) Cheerios." 

First off, preheat the oven to 250 F. Then, grab a large bowl and dump in the rice, corn, and wheat Chex, as well as the Kix cereal. Toss in the pretzels and peanuts and give everything a good stir to distribute it evenly.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, Beau Monde seasoning, and garlic powder. Make sure it is well combined, then pour it over the cereal mixture. With a large spoon, mix the contents of the bowl so that they are well coated in the seasoning. 

Spread the mixture out onto a baking sheet. There's no need to use parchment paper as Johnson comments, "The mixture isn't very wet and there's easy cleanup regardless." Place the tray in the oven and bake the Chex mix for 1 hour, regularly stirring so that everything gets nice and golden.

Once it's done, remove the tray from the oven and let it cool down before storing it in an airtight container. Johnson notes, "this will last for weeks" — that is, if you don't eat it before then. Chex mix is the perfect snack to enjoy solo, and having a fresh homemade batch takes it to the next level.