Chex Mix Recipe for a Crowd!
Christmas Chex Mix is the savory holiday season recipe you’ve got to make! Simple ingredients make this cereal mixture the best chex mix recipe you’ve ever had!
I’ve been giving this salty snack as an edible holiday gift for several years, and people look forward to it year after year!
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Homemade Chex Mix is a crowd-pleaser! Making this Christmas gift a cinch for co-workers, friends, and family.
The Christmas snack mix is a must-make during the Christmas season. Perfect for decorating the Christmas tree, watching holiday movies, or dumped out in a large serving bowl for your holiday party!
EDIT: Many have followed this recipe without success. I have included a separate recipe if you know your oven runs hot. If you don’t know if your oven runs on the warmer side, invest in a cheap oven thermometer and turn it on to see if it’s above or below 350˚.
PLEASE READ ALL THE COMMENTS AT THE BOTTOM BEFORE BEGINNING YOUR CHEX MIX.
Every year someone makes this recipe and has issues with it. I’ve made it the same way year after year with great success. If this is your first time making this homemade chex mix recipe, take some time to read through the ENTIRE post and all the comments.
Chex mix is one of those holiday treats I enjoy all year long. I’m not sure where it got a Christmas Stamp of Approval, but it’s a holiday thing!
I’ve come up with a recipe that follows the Original Chex Mix recipe but adds a few things in place of a few things.
When I bring it to parties or serve it at home on Game Day, it gets eaten very quickly!
How to Make Christmas Chex Mix
Chex mix has lots of components that all go together.
For me, I’m not a fan of pretzels! So, I will occasionally leave them out. However, when I’m making up my holiday chex mix recipe, I’ll add a bag of pretzel sticks or the small pretzels to bulk it up a bit.
My recipe has trimmed the whole shebang down to chex, rye chips, and peanuts. The BEST parts of the Chex party mix!
The peanuts are what make this so yummy, I think! The crispy cocktail peanuts. They’ve got a snap and crunch like nothing else!
Extra sauce is a must when crafting the perfect chex mix recipe — some new ingredients are added to the original recipe to make it the perfect combination of flavors.
In a sauce pot, you’ll simmer lots of butter with Worcestershire Sauce, Seasoned Salt, Smokehouse Maple Seasoning, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder.
This is poured over the corn chex, rice chex, wheat chex, peanuts, and rye chips.
The key to perfect chex mix is how much you stir all the ingredients together.
I set the timer on my phone and stir gently for THREE MINUTES. Nothing less.
Not only does this laborious mixing ensure each “fun thing” is coated in butter and Worcestershire sauce, but it also gives the sauce a little time to sink in.
Which is when the real magic happens!
What is in Traditional Chex Mix?
- Chex – rice, corn, and wheat, usually.
- Bagel Chips – rye ones!
- Pretzels
- Seasoning/Spice Blend
What’s in Chex Mix for a Crowd?
- Chex: Rice and Corn, sometimes Wheat Chex. (The past couple of years I’ve experienced a shortage of one version, so I’ll supplement with Wheat chex. Still amazing!)
- Rye Bagel Chips (that are actually spiced, I use Ghardettos!) Walmart sells them, but I’ve also ordered Special Rye Chips on Amazon.
- Peanuts – Cocktail Peanuts, salted!
What’s the seasoning on Traditional Chex Mix?
Worcestershire, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, and butter.
What’s the seasoning on Chex Mix for a Crowd?
Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, Smokehouse Maple seasoning, and lots of butter. LOTS of butter.
I love the slightly sweet addition of the Smokehouse Maple Seasoning. It really adds a flavor you’ll know you’ve been missing!
How do you store Chex Mix?
I store them in zip-top storage bags for a couple of weeks. It usually only lasts 3-5 days, if that! An airtight container works well, too.
Before I store it in bags or a container of some sort, I’ll let it cool either on the sheet pan or on parchment paper. Once the salty chex mix recipe is room temperature you can divvy it up into bags or containers.
Chex Mix makes a great gift!
This is what we give our friends and neighbors. We order these white soup containers and print a label. People love a homemade gift, and this easy Christmas chex mix recipe is just what you need to give them!
It’s one of our favorite things, and we love sharing it with our favorite people!
Kitchen Equipment you’ll need to make this recipe:
Large Mixing Bowl — you want the big kahuna for this, so you have plenty of room to mix it all around.
- 4-Quart Pot — so all the butter and sauce and spices can really simmer and melt down well.
- Whisk — so you can really whisk all the sauce ingredients together.
- Spatula — to really mix everything well, you’ll want to use the ‘spoonula’ the one with more of a spoon shape.
- Half Sheet Pans — I have four of these, and always wish I had more!
Another crowd-pleasing snack you need to try:
What recipes do you make that people cannot get enough of?! Let me know in the comments below!
You can save this recipe to your snack boards on Pinterest:
Chex Mix Recipe for a Crowd!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Category: snack
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
People cannot stop asking for this Chex Mix recipe!
*PLEASE READ THE NOTES FIRST*
Ingredients
- 1 box Rice Chex (you could also use the corn chex!)
- 1 box Wheat Chex
- 8 ounces Gardettos Rye Chips
- 1.5 cups Cocktail Peanuts
Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 sticks Salted Butter
- 1 cup Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Onion Powder
- 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder
- 1 tablespoon Seasoning Salt
- 1 tablespoon Smokehouse Maple Seasoning
Instructions
- In a medium-sized pot add butter and Worcestershire sauce and turn stovetop to medium-low.
- Stir in spices and bring to a simmer.
- While the sauce simmers, combine your cereal, rye chips, and peanuts in a very large mixing bowl. (Sometimes I use two bowls, so I can mix properly without items going flying about)
- Toss with your hands to combine.
- After the sauce has thoroughly melted and combined (I like to give it a good whisk!), pour over dry ingredients.
- Set a timer for three minutes, and gently stir in an almost folding manner. Turning the bowl with your spatula. If you are using two bowls, do one bowl at a time. i.e. Pour half the sauce into one bowl and stir for 3 minutes. Then repeat with the second bowl.
- Pour out on to two half sheets pan, and even out. It’s okay if the snack mix overlaps! But, you want to make it easy for yourself when you go to stir these in the oven over and over.
- Place sheet pans in a 350˚.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Bake for 45 minutes on 225˚ stirring every 15 minutes. I also rotate the pans each time: top to bottom, front to back.
- After 45 minutes, take out of oven and cool.
Notes
Store in an airtight container for up to three weeks! <—— It won’t last this long!
I also love to give this as gifts — pour some into glass mason jars, and get gift giving!
See below if your oven runs warm – you may need to adjust your temperature.
Keywords: the best chex mix you will ever make
**If your oven runs hot, use this method.**
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Chex Mix Recipe for a Crowd!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 1 hour
Description
People cannot stop asking for this Chex Mix recipe! Combining a few of the original recipe components, along with a few new and improved ingredients! This Christmas foodie gift will have people bringing an empty jar back and asking for refills!
Ingredients
- 1 box Rice Chex (you could also use the corn chex!)
- 1 box Wheat Chex
- 12 ounces Gardettos Rye Chips
- 1.5 cups Cocktail Peanuts
Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 sticks Salted Butter
- 1 cup Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Onion Powder
- 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder
- 1 tablespoon Seasoning Salt
- 1 tablespoon Smokehouse Maple Seasoning
Instructions
- In a medium-sized pot add butter and Worcestershire sauce and turn stovetop to medium-low.
- Stir in spices and bring to a simmer.
- While the sauce simmers, combine your cereal, rye chips, and peanuts in a very large mixing bowl. I like to use two mixing bowls so things don’t go flying about.
- Toss with your hands to combine.
- After the sauce has thoroughly melted and combined (I like to give it a good whisk!), pour over dry ingredients.
- Set a timer for three minutes, and gently stir in an almost folding manner. Turning the bowl with your spatula. If using two bowls, do each bowl separately. i.e. pour half the sauce into one bowl and stir. Then repeating with the next bowl.
- Pour out on to two half sheets pan, and even out. It’s okay if the snack mix overlaps! But, you want to make it easy for yourself when you go to stir these in the oven over and over.
- Place sheet pans in a COLD oven, then turn the oven on to 250˚.
- Once the oven has come up to temperature, immediately turn down to 220˚.
- Bake for 45 minutes on 220˚ stirring every 15 minutes. I also rotate the pans each time: top to bottom, front to back. If your chex are not getting crispy, after 45 minutes, shut the oven off, and leave it for an hour, checking every 15 minutes. There is a lot of steam that needs to escape, please be careful when opening the oven.
- After 45 minutes, take out of oven and cool.
Notes
Place your sheet pan in the MIDDLE rack, in the MIDDLE of the oven. Too close to the top or bottom, and you could risk burning your chex.
As with most anything you bake – stay close by. Keep a close eye.
Keywords: chex mix
I made this by the directions and when I turned down the oven from 375 to 300 the entire bottom tray was burnt! I cooked the other tray per instructions on other recipes at 250 for an hour stirring every 15 minutes. Very disappointed because I didn’t have enough left to give to my daughter’s travel buddies so I had to scrap it!
So sorry this happened to you! Ovens are finicky things, and even though a recipe says one thing, always trust your oven. I’ll make a note in the recipe. Thanks for trying this!
Same thing happened to me. Watched so much money on ingredients go up in smoke!
I also followed the recipe and put the chex in a cold oven and then turned to 375. I checked on it before the oven reached temperature (about 10 minutes later) and the mixture was completely burned on the bottom. : ( All that time and a lot of money wasted! Such a disappointment!!!
I’m so sorry this happened to you! I’ve changed the recipe to 300 degrees. However, I made this again last night, per my original instructions, and nothing burned.
I should have read all the comments. I turned my oven down early, plus only cooked 28 minutes as it appeared to be burning .
Its Ok, a bit scorched, but did not have to trash!
Glad it didn’t burn! So, when I make this, I never have any scorching, burning, etc. Was there any point in the recipe that was unclear or confusing? I would love for everyone to have a positive experience! 😉
Worked perfect for me and didn’t last but a few days. I’ve been giving away as gifts this Christmas season. Thank you for sharing! I plan to make this every Christmas season. YUM!
Woo hoo! Love hearing that, Sherry! Happy New Year to you and yours!
I think it should be reduce to 200 perhaps?
I just made this and it turned out perfect!! Thanks so much!! Will definitely make again.
Yay!!! Thanks so much for trying my recipe — happy new year to you and yours!
Approximately how any cups does one batch make?
I fill 12, 8 ounce soup containers and have a little snack left!