Spicy Party Mix
Published Feb. 4, 2021
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 9cups rice, corn or wheat Chex or Crispix cereal, or a combination
- 2cups any kind of lightly salted nut
- 2cups small pretzels
- 3cups add-ins, such as cheese crackers, rice crackers, bagel chips, sesame sticks or a combination
- ½cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 to 2tablespoons hot sauce, plus more to taste
- 1teaspoon garlic powder, plus more to taste
- 1teaspoon onion powder, plus more to taste
- ¼teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
- 1½teaspoons fine sea salt
- ¼teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving (36 servings)
382 calories; 14 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 8 grams protein; 427 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Arrange racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and heat to 250 degrees. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Step 2
Combine cereal, nuts, pretzels and add-ins in a very large bowl. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave in 20-second increments, about 1 minute. (You can also do this in a small saucepan over low heat on the stovetop.) Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Stir until well mixed.
- Step 3
Add half of the melted butter mixture to the cereal mixture. Gently and thoroughly fold to combine. Add the rest of the melted butter mixture and stir until evenly coated. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Step 4
Divide the mixture evenly across the prepared pans. Bake, stirring and switching racks every 15 minutes, until crisp and slightly darkened in color, about 1 hour. Cool completely on the pans on wire racks before serving (if you can wait that long). Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Private Notes
Comments
Save your parchment paper and bowl for melting butter and just use a roasting pan. Melt the butter in the pan as you heat up the oven to temp. Add the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper to the roasting pan. Then add the cereal mix a little at a time to the butter and seasonings. Stir the amount until the mixture sounds wet. Stir every 15 min for 1 hour.
I have been making chex mix once a month in the fall for years in a super large roasting pan (yield fills a 2-gallon ziplock bag). About ten years ago, I substituted sunflower or light olive oil for the butter and haven’t looked back. I use a mix of 1-1/2 cups oil and 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce to coat all the dry ingredients. My family’s favorite recipe uses 3-4 packets of ranch seasoning to flavor the mix.
Not enough butter. For 16 total cups of crunchy mixture, 1/2 cup barely coated. I double the mixture & then it finally covered. I used Siracha for heat & sweet paprika. Yummy!!
Does this freeze well? Anyone tried it?
Every year my wife's family gathers at a lake in NH and has a contest for best chex mix They label teh bottom of the bowls with the chef's name and scramble them up I entered for the first time and won by a landslide - 5 votes, second best received two votes Many said it was no contest, my submission was far and away the best I used 3T of sriracha and used almonds, Trader Joe's sesame sticks and Cheez-Its in the add ons TY NYT Cooking!
After reading others' notes, I doubled the butter mixture. I now think 1.5 would have been adequate. Twice the amount of butter sauce seemed to leave the final mix oversaturated and even a little soggy.