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Simple ingredients, loads of flavor, and 100% irresistible. You won’t be able to stop grabbing handfuls of my homemade Chex mix. It’s so easy to make and the perfect snack for any time and occasion!

homemade chex mix in a large bowl with a metal, red-handled scoop
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When you see bowls of homemade Chex mix hanging around your house, you’ll know it’s holiday time. It’s one of the most popular snacks made around the holidays. I think it’s a tradition for a lot of households and it makes so much that it’s easy to feed a peckish crowd with this.

homemade chex mix ingredients

Ingredients for Homemade Chex Mix

  • Chex cereal – for this recipe, I did a combination of rice chex, corn chex, and wheat chex. As mentioned below in the variations section, you may choose to swap any or all of these.
  • Mini pretzels – you gotta have some salty pretzels in the mix!
  • Unsalted butter – buttery and rich.
  • Vegetable oil – this helps the seasonings stick to cereal and pretzels.
  • Worcestershire sauce – the complex flavor of this ingredients really brings depth and uniqueness to the mix. It is such an umami booster.
  • Garlic powder – load it up. I use a lot because, why not? If you aren’t as into the garlic flavor, you can adjust to taste.
  • Salt – adjust to taste.

How to Make Homemade Chex Mix

  • Set oven and prepare baking sheet. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Make butter mixture. Whisk together melted butter, vegetable oil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and salt.
  • Add cereal and pretzels to a large bowl. Put Chex cereal and pretzels in a large bowl.
  • Combine snack mix with butter mixture. Pour butter mixture all over the cereal and pretzel mix then stir to coat.
  • Pour onto baking sheet in an even layer. Pour Chex mix onto prepared baking sheet in an even layer and bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Homemade Chex Mix Variations

  • Add in something sweet. Make this chex mix a sweet and savory snack by adding in some sweet add-ins like mini chocolate chips, M&M’s, or dried fruit.
  • Nuts: adding in nuts to really customize your homemade chex mix with additional crunch and texture! Pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, almonds — whatever you fancy!
  • Cereal swap: I love the corn chex mix and would totally swap the entire mix for that, and you can too! If you have a particular favorite, feel free to swap out the mix, or add in more variations of Chex if you want each handful to be a variety.
  • Crackers: I’ve never done this before but I’ve seen others do it. Adding in goldfish! You can even find the holiday-colored ones during the holiday season. Orrrr, even better — rye chips. Now, those are my favorite when I get the store-bought chex mix and to be honest, I’m that person that picks it all out immediately. You can buy the rye chips separately and add them to the mix.
  • Make it spicy. Add some hot sauce or cayenne pepper to the butter mixture to give this snack some heat. Keep in mind if there are littles enjoying this that they might not like the spice as much as the adults!
chex mix mixture on a metal, red-handled scoop in a large bowl

FAQs

Can you lessen the garlic flavor on these?

I honestly like it super garlicky and am very heavy-handed with this spice. If you prefer less, go less. This is a very “to taste” recipe.

Can you use all rice chex or all corn chex?

My favorite part of chex mix is you can use whatever ratio of chex you want. You can mix up the chex varieties or only use one kind.

Why is my chex mix soggy?

You had too much liquid so instead of crisping up in the oven, it just sat on the cereal and pretzels resulting in soggy chex mix. Make sure you are measuring correctly and if you are somehow getting too much liquid, add more dry ingredients (cereal, pretzels, etc.)

Also make sure you are spreading the mixture in an even layer on the baking sheet and not having ingredients stack on top of one another. This won’t create enough air flow to bake.

homemade chex mix in a metal christmas tree tin

Storage Instructions

These don’t last very long so you may not even have to store them, haha – if you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-6 weeks.

Gifting Ideas

Divide homemade chex snack mix into decorative metal tins or small mason jars and gift to friends, family, and colleagues! Putting them into food-safe decorative plastic bags would be really cute as well.

Serving Suggestions

Serve this tasty homemade Chex mix with other party snacks! Maple Cinnamon Spiced Nuts, Ranch Oyster Crackers, or Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzels. Or put out some heavier apps like Pizza Bites, Baked Brie with Fig Jam, or Taco Ring!

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4.45 from 36 votes

Homemade Chex Mix

Simple ingredients, loads of flavor, and 100% irresistible. You won't be able to stop grabbing handfuls of this!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients 

  • 4 cups (108 g) rice chex cereal
  • 4 cups (248 g) corn chex cereal
  • 4 cups (248 g) wheat chex cereal
  • 3 cups (240 g) mini pretzels
  • 10 tablespoons (140 g) unsalted butter, melted
  • cup (79 ml) vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
  • Garlic powder, to taste (we use a lot – like 1+ tablespoons, haha)
  • Salt, to taste
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Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 250 °F (121 °C) and line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, vegetable oil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and salt.
  • Add chex cereal and pretzels to a large bowl then pour butter mixture all over and toss to coat.
    butter mixture being poured on top of chex cereal and pretzels
  • Pour onto prepared baking sheets in an even layer and bake for 1 hour, stirring halfway through.
    homemade chex mix being poured out onto parchment paper
  • Store in an airtight container for up to 4-6 weeks.

Notes

Feel free to add whatever other ingredients you may like in your chex mix. Some suggestions are: nuts (cashews, peanuts, almonds, etc.), dried fruit, chocolate chips, M&M’s, and more!

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving (62 grams), Calories: 359kcal, Carbohydrates: 50g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.4g, Cholesterol: 25mg, Sodium: 551mg, Potassium: 184mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.

The default measuring system for this website is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. While we strive to provide accurate unit conversions, please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.

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Photographs by Meg McKeehan Photography

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28 Comments

  1. I was married for 20 yrs and my ex-husband’s grandmother made this mix. I loved it like anybody who ate it couldn’t stop with just one. When she passed I asked several for her recipe. They would say I’ll get it to you. Never did. So, I’m thrilled I ran across this. The hardest thing is going to be in the waiting period. Happy Holiday everyone.

  2. I made just a little batch of this mix. OK who am I kidding, twice the recipe as posted. I also added candy coated peanuts, pretzel sticks, and lots of butter with garlic. I love this recipe. We do not really have Chex cereal here in Canada, so I did a special order through Amazon, and had it shipped from the states. Imaging your turkey roasting pan, I have two of them filled to the top. They are in the oven as I write this. I bought lots of “nice” Tupperware, and I am going to package it all in them. As Christmas approaches, I will be handing out a container of the mix as a Christmas gift. Oh yeah, there is lots for me as well. I am not that generousness. Thank you for posting this. I have made it for years but lost the recipe. So very thankful you posted it. Merry Christmas to Julie Wampler, and everyone else that visits this site.

  3. Great recipe!!! After my own heart! I do everything that you do plus more nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, and pecans…..all a cup each or a bit more pecans and cashews. I use a cup 1/2 pretzel sticks as well. The big thing is more butter, garlic powder, onion powder, and seasoned salt. I use the same amount as you in the seasoning mix but every 15 minutes when I stir I powder lightly the entire mix with all three spices. Of course I love the finished product but I also get rave reviews and even a few offers to produce and sell it commercially. So give it a try and see what you think!

  4. I’m a woman, understand our pressures. Here I am, scanning recipe after recipe to impress my family for Christmas, with something that should be simple, like a Chex mix*Oh, but we always have to make the best one don’t we. I guess, I just hate trying to read all these author stories and coming across increasingly more graphic descriptions of food.. Such as your “titty cookies ” reference. Why do we have to do this to food,make it funny or vulger? Only way to prove we are funny and cool? I’ve never heard peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies called that before you. Can we please stop sexualizing food and other objects. As woman,we should hold our standards a bit higher, since we are sexualized and objectified to begin with.. Now my food gets caught up..?? Excuse any misspellings.. I’m in a hurry here. Ha!

    1. oh lord. yes, i’m totally trying to be “cool and funny” by sexualizing food. come on. if you actually read the post on peanut butter blossom cookies, you’ll have read that the “sexualized” cookie name has been in my husband’s family for over 25 years. they have called it that since his cousin was a kid. it’s a funny, family story. please lighten up. additionally, BLOGS always a story along with the recipe. we are content creators and writers and real people. we aren’t a database of recipes and robotic like AllRecipes. if you “hate trying to read all these author stories,” then you can definitely keep on scrolling! it may shield you from the sexualized content i put out.

    2. Excuse me Emily, we are all women here (some men too I’m sure) and you seem to be the type to look for anything and everything that could be offensive to only you, do not speak for all women. This is the problem with blogs is we’re really not looking for your opinion but we have to read it anyway. Your opinion had nothing to do with the actual recipe I actually shook my head reading it. Don’t act like you do not have time to share your opinions with everyone, I wish you’d have less time because I would have rather not read your opinion myself. Your type is why this world is holding back becoming less real and it’s a shame, stop being so easily offended, gtfu. On the upside, I’m actually very excited to try this recipe! Thank you for sharing Julie!

      1. I am a single man. Growing up, a very smart woman, my mother, told me that no woman will put up with me if I do not know how to cook. So I cooked with my mom as I grew up. When I moved on my own, it was great to cook my own dinners, and have lots of left overs to bring to work for lunch. I was raised, that a woman can do anything a man can do. So my mom taught me the so called woman skills such as cooking, cleaning and laundry. Most of the women I date love my cooking. I am proud of it at times.