Recipe: Spicy Chex Mix

As I sit here writing up this spicy chex mix recipe, I’m realizing just how long it’s been since the last recipe was posted. I will save you from my list of (feeble) excuses, but let me just say, this snack mix is worth the wait. Since December, I have made two (two!) giant batches of this, bagged up for holiday baskets and Christmas stockings, given to friends as new year’s treats, and squirreled away (-in the most literal sense) in my Kia Soul for emergency snacking.

You will make this once and like it, and then you will make it again **to your own personal specifications** and love it. I have found that I like to dial down the heat on this since I tend to snack on it liberally, so I make it with the hot sauce on the lighter side, but you may choose to go heavier. I like a dry crunch, so I might double up on goldfish and omit the nuts, but you might swap the proportions of nuts vs. pretzels for a more filling snack — etc. In short, I hope you use this recipe as a guide toward your own Personal Best™ Snack Mix. Enjoy!

Snack Mix

• 6 cups Chex cereal (I like the mix of rice, wheat and corn — such crunch, so many textures. But just 1 variety is okay, too!)
• 1 cup nuts (your choice)
• 1 1/2 cups gold fish, cheez-its, or other cheese-adjacent snap factor
• 2 cups pretzels

Feel free to make this your own — just keep an eye towards maintaining the same total amount of dry ingredients (~10.5 cups) as you experiment with components, to keep a similar sauce-to-snack-mix ratio.

Sauce

• 1/4 – 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce (*or soy sauce)
• 2 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 2 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Measure out snack mix ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Combine hot sauce, melted butter, worcestershire (or soy sauce), onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and brown sugar, making sure that your salt and sugar dissolve in the mixture.
4. Pour sauce over Chex Mix ingredients and stir until well coated.
5. Spread evenly onto a cookie sheet or roasting pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Stir about every 20 minutes to keep from burning. Around the 1 hour mark, start testing for crunch and doneness: scoop out a spoonful of chex mix and let cool completely before sampling. The mix is done when it’s dried out and crunchy to your liking.
6. Let cool before serving and/or storing.

Keep a little for yourself, too; This snack mix lives in deli quarts in my pantry.

*For my vegan friends — many varieties of worcestshire sauce contain anchovies or fish sauce. Soy sauce is a great alternative, and/or coconut aminos, for my soy-sensitive pals.