Home Recipes Great Grandma’s Chex Mix Recipe
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By:Ashley
Sharing my family’s old recipe (from my great grandma Mildred!) for homemade chex mix! It’s a family tradition to make this around the holidays and everyone gets a container to take home.
I’m sure everyone and their grandma (literally) has a recipe for homemade chex mix, but what’s one more?!
I had a craving for my family’s chex mix recipe and I thought, why not share the recipe here for you to enjoy as well?
My great grandma passed when I was still fairly young, but I have fond memories of her. From playing with her wrinkly hands (yes, this is one of my memories) to camping in Canada, and her holiday tins filled with her famous family chex mix recipe.
Drew’s mom made me a scrapbook cookbook one year for my birthday, and in it she included my great grandma’s recipe for her chex mix.
The Best Homemade Chex Mix Recipe
This never lasts long at holiday gatherings! My aunt has taken over making the family recipe but this was my first time having a go.
Not sure why I waited so long because this stuff is SO GOOD. I was literally salivating while I was stirring the mixture together.
Ingredients needed for homemade chex mix
- mixed nuts – you can also opt for one nut variety, go for peanuts, or a blend. Whatever your heart desires.
- mini pretzels – a classic addition.
- cereal –Corn and rice Chex, Crispix, Cheerios. My family alway used Crispix but you can use the whole wheat Chex in place of!
- butter –you can use a plant based butter to keep this recipe dairy free, or conventional butter if that works for you.
- worcestershire sauce –you can’t really make homemade chex mix without it! If you know of a vegetarian sub, go for it.
- seasoning salt – another classic ingredient that you can’t go without.
- onion and garlic powder – this was my addition that great grandma’s recipe didn’t call for but you know me 🙂
I actually got much more specific for you compared to what Grandma wrote down.
i.e. “a can of nuts” – Okay, what size can? What kind of nuts? Well, I opted for a 12 ounce can (about 1 1/2 cups) and chose a blend with cashews because who doesn’t love those? meaning: I will be picking all of the cashew out first.
Or how about “12 cups cereal- cheerios, corn chex, rice chex, crispix”. We’ll make that one easy and do 3 cups each. If you can’t find crispix (I actually had to go to two different stores to find! Target saved me) you can use wheat chex.
Recipes were most certainly made from memory and by “feel” back then. I’m sure to get someone in that time to actually write down a recipe with decent directions was a grand accomplishment.
How to Make a Homemade Chex Mix Recipe
Step 1 –melt the butter
Grandma says “melt butter in roasting pan in 250º oven.” Which makes this an easy one pan recipe! Add the stick of butter to the pan and you can let it melt while the oven preheats. This should take about 5 minutes or so.
Step 2 – add Worcestershire sauce & seasoning
Next stir in the Worcestershire sauce and seasonings.
Step 3 – add cereal and nuts
Now it’s time to add in the cereal, pretzels and nuts. Make sure to really stir this well and get all the butter in the corners of the pan. Use a large wooden spoon or sturdy silicone spatula.
Step 4 – bake
Time to bake! You’ll bake the chex mix for one hour total, stirring every 15 minutes.
Step 5 –cool
To speed up the cooling process, I spread out the chex mix on baking sheets, so the mixture is cooling in one layer.
Also! If you’re adding chocolate candies to the mix, make sure the mixture is *completely* cooled so the chocolate doesn’t melt once you go to store it.
How to Store Homemade Chex mix
Store in a closed container, such as holiday tins, glass containers, or jars to give as gifts!
If you make this recipe, don’t forget to comment and review below! I love hearing from you and it helps others learn about the recipe too! Xx Ashley
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Homemade Chex Mix Recipe
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star
5 from 3 reviews
Great Grandma’s homemade chex mix recipe! An easy recipe that can be made in one pan. Makes a large batch perfect for parties, gift giving, anything!
- Author: Ashley
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: About 16 cups 1x
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- 1 stick + 2 TBSP unsalted butter (10 TBSP)
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp seasoning salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 3 cups Corn Chex
- 3 cups Rice Chex
- 3 cups Crispix Cereal (or Wheat Chex)
- 3 cups Cheerios (or O cereal)
- 2 cups mini pretzels
- 12 ounces mixed nuts (about 1 3/4 cups)
Instructions
- Place butter in bottom of roasting pan in preheating oven, set to 250ºF. Allow butter to melt completely, about 5 minutes or so.
- Once butter has melted, remove pan from oven and add Worcestershire sauce and seasonings, stir to combine. Add in cereal, pretzels and nuts stirring really well until sauce has coated mixture. Stir really well using spatula, getting in all of the corners of the pan.
- Bake chex mix for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Allow chex mix to cool completely before storing. TIP: Spread out chex mix in large baking sheets so it’s in one layer to speed up cooling process.
Notes
If adding chocolate candies, be sure to let the chex mix cool entirely before adding in and storing.
You can easily make this gluten-free by using certified gluten-free cereals and pretzels. Make sure you get gluten-free Worcestershire sauce as well.
Recipe can be made vegan friendly by using plant-based butter, and a vegan friendly Worcestershire sauce.
Prep time includes cooling time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 280
- Sugar: 4
- Sodium: 297
- Fat: 18
- Saturated Fat: 6
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 27
- Fiber: 3
- Protein: 6
- Cholesterol: 19
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About Ashley
"Ashley Walterhouse is the founder of Fit Mitten Kitchen, based in the Greater Lansing Area of Michigan, AKA “the Mitten.” Ashley grew up as a picky eater but later discovered that eating healthy was actually easy and fun. She started FMK in 2015 as a way to share her newfound love of developing healthier recipes for all to enjoy."
Reader Interactions
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Molly Gurski says
This is our family’s go-to recipe for a weekly snack; especially during quarantine and the holidays! We substitute a whole bag of cashews instead of mixed nuts and get rid of the pretzels and replace those with garlic rye chips! Yum.
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Ashley says
Cashews are my favorite so I am totally down with that! So glad you guys are liking, Molly! Thank you for your comment!
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Dianne G says
My Mom makes this. Delish!
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Haley says
Great! Can adjust the spices or mix ingredients as you like! I think I added a little extra garlic powder. Like that this is on the milder side for Chex mix and the low and slow method makes it!
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Janie Adkison says
I forgot my nuts. Can I add them after it has cooked??
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Ashley says
Yes that’s fine! They just won’t have as much of the savory flavor but that’s okay. Or you could sauté them in some butter and spices, let cool and add.
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