sweet & salty maple chex mix recipe

Homemade Chex Mix is an incredibly easy & delicious snack to make for the holidays! This party mix is flavored with real maple syrup and has the perfect balance of salty & sweet flavors. This recipe is made with simple ingredients and minimal effort! Watch it fly off the plate anywhere you take it.

this recipe

Serve this snack up at any holiday gathering and it’s sure to be the best part of the evening! Ok, ok, family is more important than food – but good snacks are essential, and this easy recipe is the absolute best! Let’s dive in.

Why you’ll love this Maple Chex Mix:

• Simple Recipe – Chex mix takes just minutes to put together and is completely doable for any skill level of cook or baker!
• Delicious Snack – Add this snack to your appetizer spreads or serve it alongside your Christmas cookie plates during the holiday season – it’s also perfect for game day! It’s a crowd favorite for good reason.
• Packed with Flavor – This sweet & salty twist on the original recipe is truly the best chex mix recipe you’ll ever taste!
• Perfect for Gifting – Fill jars with this snack and tie on a cute ribbon for an easy & festive homemade gift! Make a big batch, so you can keep some & gift some.

Ingredient Overview:

As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Chex Cereal – I like using a mix of corn, wheat, and rice chex.
• Pretzels – Pretzels add a fun twist (pun intended!)
• Mixed Nuts – Use mixed nuts or simply one type of your favorite nut – I recommend pecans for a solo option, but you can use a different nut if you like.
• Maple Syrup – Use real maple syrup for the best flavor & results! It’s truly the good stuff.
• Butter – I always use salted buter for the best flavor, but feel free to use unsalted butter if you prefer.
• Cinnamon – A little warmth from the cinnamon really enhances the maple flavor!
• Seasoning Salt – This may sound like an odd thing to add to a maple syrup flavored chex mix, but trust me – it makes the perfect salty sweet balance and works beautifully.
• Worcestershire Sauce – Similarly to the seasoning salt, just a dash of worcestershire sauce pairs beautifully with the flavors in this chex mix. Thisi and seasoning salt are the traditional seasonings for homemade chex mix, but I’ve reduced their quantities to let the maple flavor shine. Find this in the condiment aisle of the grocery store.

Recipe Variations:

• Dairy-free – Use your favorite dairy-free butter to make this recipe dairy-free.
• Gluten-free – Corn & rice chex are gluten-free, but you’ll need to swap out the wheat chex and pretzels for gluten-free alternatives. Use any other similar gluten-free cereal to replace the wheat chex, and use your favorite gluten-free pretzels or omit them.
• Maple Syrup Alternatives – I can’t recommend anything that I haven’t tried myself, and I fear something like honey might not taste good with the other seasonings. If you don’t want to use maple syrup, just up the Worcestershire to 4 and 1/2 teaspoons and use 1 and 1/4 teaspoons seasoning salt for a traditional recipe.
• Pretzels – Feel free to use mini pretzel sticks, the teeny tiny pretzel twists, or the square pretzels in place of the twists.
• Crunchy snacks- Feel free to add in other fun crunchy snacks like bagel chips or rye chips! Swap 1 cup of pretzels out for 1 cup of another snack item.

How to Make Homemade Chex Mix:

Step 1: Preheat Oven & Melt Butter. Add your butter to a large roasting pan and pop that in your oven while it preheats. NO need to dirty a large bowl melting it!

Step 2: Add Seasonings. Once you have a pan of melted butter, stir in the maple syrup, worcestershire sauce, cinnamon, and seasoning salt.

Step 3: Add Dry Ingredients. Add your chex, pretzels, and nuts to the butter mixture. Stir to coat everything well.

Step 4: Bake. Bake, stirring the cereal mixture every 10 minutes, to keep things baking evenly.

Serving + Storing:

Transfer baked chex party mix to sheets of parchment paper on your counter, or spread onto two sheet pans to cool. Transfer to holiday tins (make sure they’re food safe!) or an air-tight container to store. Homemade chex mix is good for up to 2 weeks.

This recipe also makes a fabulous homemade gift! Portion it out between holiday tins or festive tupperware, add a bow, and gift to friends, neighbors, teachers, and anyone else on your list.

Speaking of homemade gifts – my Double Chocolate Swirled Peppermint Bark and Black Forest Truffles also make fabulous nut-free homemade gifts!

Expert Success Tips:

• Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.

FAQs:

Special Tools:

• Roasting Pan – I love using my roasting pan to make this chex mix recipe in. You can also use it for roasting meat, of course, and as well as for the water bath in any cheesecake recipe.
• Disposable Roasting Pan – A pack of two disposable roasting pans can come in handy if your kitchen storage space is limited!

More Favorite Snack Recipes to Love:

• White Chocolate Peppermint Puppy Chow
• Classic 15-Minute Puppy Chow
• Homemade Black Forest Truffles
• 5-Ingredient Homemade Chocolate Bark (customizable!)
• Double Chocolate Swirled Peppermint Bark

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