Sweet and Spicy Chex Mix Recipe

This sweet, spicy, crunchy, salty chex mix recipe is perfect snack for holiday season and great for gifting! It’s super easy to make and crowd favorite. Get your holiday party started with this spicy chex mix.

Chex Party Mix

This chex party mix is one of the easiest snacks you’ll ever make. Simply mix in all the ingredients, pour the spicy buttery seasoning and bake.  The best part, customize it with any mix ins of your choice.

The wonderful combination of sweetness from honey, spicy kick from cayenne and chili powder, saltiness of pretzels and crunch from chex cereal makes it a go-to recipe for snack mix for parties or every day snacking!

If you look back at the original chex mix recipe that was made during the 50s the snack mix had no pretzels and the recipe called for margarine instead of butter. Over the years the recipe was modernized and customized based on people’s choices and preferences.

Make this snack mix following the original recipe or give your own modern twist, it sure is to become one of your favorite savory snacks to munch on.  Think of game day, football snacks, or kids lunch box snack, or every other family gatherings, this homemade chex mix would fit it perfectly for all. My husband loves to snack on this with his beer.

If you are looking for less laborious holiday gifting food, this would be AMAZING choice! Your family and friends are sure to enjoy these! Guaranteed to be a crowd favorite!            

Ingredients To Make Sweet and Salty Chex Mix

Dry Snacks –

1. Chex Cereal (I used a combination of rice, corn and wheat chex cereal)
2. Mini pretzels twists
3. Mini pretzel rods
4. Mini breadsticks
5. Nuts (I used a combination of almonds, whole cashews and pistachios)
6. Bagel chips (I used Rye bagel chips. You can use plain bagel chips)

Sweet & Spicy Sauce For Seasoning –

1. Butter
2. Worcestershire sauce
3. Honey
4. Onion powder
5. Garlic powder
6. Salt
7. Cayenne pepper
8. Chili powder

How to Make Chex Mix

Chex snack mix has three types of chex cereal in it. They are rice, corn and wheat chex cereal. You can use equal quantities of all three chex cereal or reduce the amount of wheat chex cereal. I have used 1 cup of rice chex cereal and ½ cups of both corn and wheat chex cereal. Feel free to use 1:1:1 ratio of all three cereals if you prefer it.

Other mix-ins are pretzles, nuts, candies. A mix of both pretzels twists and pretzel rods can be used. For nuts, use pecans, whole cashews, almonds, pistachios and/or macadamia nuts.  Along with these mix in I added mini bread sticks. I avoided the candies.

Mix-ins doesn’t stop just there. Think of adding some crackers – mini oyster crackers, ritz crackers, cheese crackers too. The more mix-ins you include, the better it’s going to taste. And the flavors are going to enhance.  Don’t shy from adding more variety of ingredients.

One last thing to make this the best chex mix recipe is to add the seasoning.  A homemade seasoning that is going to give this snack that spark of flavor. A sweet and spicy chex mix sauce made from scratch is what you need, not the store bought simple chex seasoning mix.

To make your own seasoning, you’ll need to melt butter and mix in Worcestershire sauce, honey, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt.  

Pour this seasoning over the snack mix and give it a good mix to coat everything evenly with the seasoning.

Spread the seasoning chex mix over baking tray into one single layer.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 250 F for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the mix turns crispy. To prevent burning, be sure to stir it once or twice in between.

Now here’s the thing – chex mix can be made in oven, microwave, or even slow cooker. Chex mix in oven needs about a little more than an hour, whereas slow cooker chex mix recipe needs close to 3 hours to make.  

Once chex snack mix is crispy, remove it from oven and allow it to cool completely. Place it air tight containers and store in cool place for upto 3 weeks.

Sweet and Spicy Chex Mix

Who can resist wonderful combination of sweet, spicy and salty snack! Once you start eating, you need good couple of handfuls more, these are super addictive. The dry snacks that you mix-in in the recipe have saltiness in it. But it’s not enough salt (atleast to my taste buds).

A little more salt, along with a killer seasoning sauce that has honey, worcestshire sauce, cayenne pepper and chili powder is mixed with melted butter and poured over dry cereal mix before baking in oven. What you get is a wonderful balanced flavors of sweet, spicy and salty.

How Spicy Is This Homemade Chex Mix

Not spicy at all. It is medium spicy. 

Honey cuts down the spiciness making this Christmas snack mix mildly spiced. If you are someone who loves spice, I recommend you to increase the amount of chili powder and cayenne pepper. You can also sprinkle the spice powders once the snack mix is baked and out of the oven while it’s hot.

Chex Mix Flavors and Variations

This recipe can be customized according to your preferences –

Make it your own :  If you don’t like any ingredient, feel free to replace it with other ingredient that you prefer, or leave it out.

Gluten-Free – use rice chex mix, pretzels and gluten free bagel chips.

Nut-Free – Leave out  nuts and use seeds like pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds instead.

Flavoring or Seasoning : If making for kids you can leave out chili powder and cayenne pepper complete or reduce the quantity and add it.

MORE GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTING RECIPES –

Candied Walnuts

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Christmas Popcorn

S’mores Puppy Chow

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