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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!
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.
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!
FAQs
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.
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.
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.
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!
Homemade Chex Mix
Equipment
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
- ⅓ cup (79 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- Garlic powder, to taste (we use a lot – like 1+ tablespoons, haha)
- Salt, to taste
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.
- Pour onto prepared baking sheets in an even layer and bake for 1 hour, stirring halfway through.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4-6 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Photographs by Meg McKeehan Photography
Home made must be sooo good!
We always have chex mix at my family’s Christmas and Thanksgiving events. I think my husband’s family was a bit surprised I had it this year. It’s a must. So Yummy. Thanks for the great recipe!
Help!! Where do you find rye chips at Walmart? Are they on the chip aisle or the cereal aisle? Can’t wait to make this!
Hmm I guess they don’t have them in the actual store? This is the one I’ve always seen: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gardetto-s-Special-Request-Roasted-Garlic-Rye-Chips-8-oz/12442929
I just love a nicely wrapped gift! So funny- my grandma used to make chez mix too :) very nostalgic.
I have had great success with buying the store bought chex mix and doctoring it up with the melted butter and worcestershire sauce and garlic powder. That way, since there are only two of us, I don’t have such a large batch AND it contains the rye chips! Happy Holidays!
Admittedly, I don’t love wrapping, but having pretty paper certainly helps :)
This chexmix – on point!
I would eat this by the handfuls!
Home made mix is the best!
What a great snack or gift!
What a fun Christmas snack!!