Large Batch Chex Mix Recipe (Intensely Flavorful & Fills over 20 tins!)

Preparing homemade gifts for a hungry horde of 20 friends or neighbors?! This Chex Mix isn't just a snack; it's a much-appreciated, flavor-loaded, thoughtful gift...and we also made it easy on your end. 

We prepped a recipe that isn't measured in cups (how ridiculous), but by the box so that you can make one trip to the grocery store and know exactly how many tins of goodness you'll have for gift-giving. This method allows you to double and triple the recipe by the box instead of calculating math while standing in the cereal aisle googling how many cups of Cheeze-its are even inside a 1-pound box. 

This ultimate chex mix is not only easy to make, but also customizable to cater to your taste buds. This crowd favorite is the perfect snack for the Christmas season or an inexpensive way to gift a friend your favorite snack at any time of the year. So, let's get started!

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How Much Chex Mix Does The Recipe Make?

This generous recipe fills 20 colorful holiday tins, which is plenty to gift to a family or several servings for an individual. (I'd eyeball it at about 3-4 cups of homemade Chex mix per tin.) For holiday gatherings, you'll find an array of festive Tupperware, sacks, and boxes to fill with snacks. This recipe prepares 20 3-4 cup portions. 

Intensely Flavored Homemade Chex Mix Recipe

Join us as we delve into crafting the ultimate Chex Mix that packs a punch with every bite... this is not the original Chex Mix recipe which is somewhat bland. This version is dazzled up with cheeze-its, rye chips, gourmet pretzels, 4 types of interchangeable nuts, chex cereal, and a zesty blend of double the traditional seasonings- plus my secret ingredient, dry ranch dressing seasoning. 

It tastes like the original recipe with the volume turned up. Your friends and family are going to beg you for the recipe!

Instructions:

1. Preheat and Prepare: Start by preheating your oven to 250°F (You can also smoke Chex Mix and directions are below). Get 4 baking sheets ready.
2. Mix the Snack Mix: In a 5-gallon bucket or a disposable large roasting pan mix the cereals, nuts, rye chips, and pretzels. 
3. Seasoning Sauce: In a large saucepan, melt butter fully and pour in the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, seasoned salt, dry ranch mix, garlic powder, and onion powder. Whisk well.
4. Combine and Bake: Pour the seasoning sauce over your snack mix, stirring until everything is evenly coated. Then, spread the mix evenly over the 4 baking sheets and bake for 1 hour. Stir every 20 minutes to ensure even baking and crispness.
5. Cool and Serve: Let the Chex Mix cool fully before portioning into containers.

Chex Mix Recipe Barbecue Directions: Set your barbecue to low heat (I used 200°F). The lowest setting usually makes the most smoke. I smoked for 1-2 hours, tossing it around 3 times while smoking. The touch of smoke adds phenomenal flavor to this traditional chex mix. Please note that only 2 large baking sheets fit in my barrel smoker, so you might choose to do 2 baking sheets in the oven, and 2 in your barbecue smoker. 

Substitutions With Chex Mix:

• Other additions that make this the best chex mix recipe for your particular tastes include bagel chips, cheerios cereal mixture, Cheetos, plain pretzel sticks, sesame sticks, a different nut, and cheese crackers. 
• If you add many more dry snacks to your base mix, add an additional stick of butter to your butter mixture, just to make sure you have enough sauce to coat the ingredients well. 
• For a spicy kick, add a dash of cayenne pepper or chile powder to the seasoning sauce.

​Proper Storage of Chex Mix:

After cooling fully to room temperature, the chex mix should be transferred from the sheet pan to an airtight container. This can be Tupperware, gallon ziplock bags, or festive holiday tins. 

Can You Freeze Homemade Chex Mix:

Yes, if you find yourself with a large surplus of Chex Mix place it in gallon baggies, press out as much air as possible, and freeze. We froze a batch for 1 month with good results. 

Making a large batch of Chex Mix is not only cost-effective but also a delightful way to bring people together. Its versatility in flavors and ingredients makes it a hit for any occasion. So, roll up your sleeves, get your ingredients ready, and create a batch of this timeless snack that promises to be a crowd-pleaser!

Happy Snacking! 🥨🍿🎉

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4.72 from 14 votes

Large Batch Chex Mix Recipe (Intensely Flavorful & Fills over 20 tins!)

Making a large batch of Chex Mix is not only cost-effective but also a delightful way to bring people together. Its versatility in flavors and ingredients makes it a hit for any occasion. So, roll up your sleeves, get your ingredients ready, and create a batch of this timeless snack that promises to be a crowd-pleaser!

Course Appetizer Recipes

Cuisine Appetizers

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 20 gift tins

Calories 320kcal

Author Sarah Penrod

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz. box chex mix corn squares
• 1 12 oz. box chex mix wheat squares
• 1 12 oz. box chex mix rice squares
• 21 oz. box Cheeze-Its
• 16 oz. bag Dot's Homestyle Pretzels may substitute any pretzel you like
• 14 oz. Gardetto's Garlic Rye Chips
• 1 pound cashews
• 1 pound almonds
• 1 pound walnuts
• 1 pound peanuts

Melted Butter Seasoning Sauce:

• 1 pound butter 4 sticks
• 2/3 cup Worcestershire Sauce
• 3 tablespoons Lawry's Seasoning Salt or any seasoning salt but this is my favorite
• 3 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 4 tablespoons dry ranch mix plus more for dusting the top if you wish for extra flavor
• 2-3 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce I used crystal hot sauce

Instructions

• NOTE: This is a big batch recipe, so you'll need a huge vessel such as a clean 5-gallon bucket, an enormous disposable roasting pan, turkey frying pot, or several large bowls in order to mix the large number of dry ingredients. I also recommend disposable gloves for tossing the batches of chex mix in the seasoning sauce. 
• 1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F for the oven method. Smoked Chex Mix directions are given above. 
• 2. To begin, add all of the boxes of cereal, Cheeze-its, stick pretzels, garlic rye chips, and nuts into the large mixing bowl/container.
• 3. On the stovetop in a large saucepan melt the butter (salted or unsalted butter is fine). Add in the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, Lawry's seasoned salt, and all the seasonings. Whisk well to combine.
• 4. Drizzle the seasoned butter mixture over the dry snack mixture. Using your hands (covered with gloves) toss well. Drizzle any extra sauce on the baking sheets and transfer the snack mix over to the baking sheets, evenly distributed. It's fine to toss around on the baking sheets to ensure every piece gets a little seasoning. Sprinkle extra dry ranch seasoning over the top if desired.

Chex Mix Recipe Oven Directions:

• 5. Bake at 250 tossing every 20-30 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and cool fully (this allows the pieces to really crisp up!)
• 6. When cool, transfer from the large baking sheet to air-tight, shareable containers. Let your friends know to pour a big bowl of this classic snack mix and enjoy this delicious snack with the whole family!

Notes

I used roasted and unsalted or lightly salted nuts, but even raw nuts are possible to use in this recipe due to the long bake time.

I find a large container of dry ranch dressing mix is easiest to dust the mix. If you are only using the small envelopes of dry ranch mix, be aware there is about 1 tablespoon in each packet. (So you'll need 4-6 packages).

This fills 20 of the traditional Christmas tins (which are sometimes plastic now) and the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled due to how I have written the recipe. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 320kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 573mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g