Name: Large Batch Chex Mix Recipe (Intensely Flavorful & Fills over 20 tins!)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 20
Cuisine: Appetizers
Ingredients: 1 12 oz. box chex mix corn squares; 1 12oz. 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; 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)

Jump to Recipe

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.

a close up container of prepared classic chex mix — It’s smiles all around when you gift friends and family with homemade chex mix.

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!

4 sheet pans of chex mix ready to bake in the oven.

What You’ll Need:

Cereals: 1 12 oz. box each of Corn Chex, Rice Chex, and Wheat Chex.
Snacks: Cheeze-its, Dot’s Homemade Pretzels, Rye Chips (specific box sizes are given in the recipe card)
Nuts: 1 pound each of 4 types of nuts. We used peanuts, cashews, almonds, and walnuts. (You are welcome to use whatever you like or have on hand.)
Seasonings: Worcestershire Sauce, Lawry’s Seasoning Salt, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dry Ranch Dressing Mix.
Butter: 1 pound
Hot Sauce: I used Crystal Hot Sauce, but any Louisiana-style Hot Sauce may be used or you can leave it out.
Gloves: Because we’re making such a large batch you will find disposable kitchen gloves are useful for mixing the sauce into the snack mix. It’s also appropriate to use gloves when preparing food as gifts.

ingredients for chex mix: butter, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, ranch dressing dry mix, seasoning salt, onion and garlic powder

Instructions:

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.
Mix the Snack Mix: In a 5-gallon bucket or a disposable large roasting pan mix the cereals, nuts, rye chips, and pretzels.
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.
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.
Cool and Serve: Let the Chex Mix cool fully before portioning into containers.

large vessel filled with chex cereal, pretzels, crackers, and nuts — assemble dry ingredients

seasoning butter sauce for chex mix in a skillet — assemble dry ingredients

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.

sheets of bold and delicious chex mix — Place the coated chex mix ingredients on baking sheets for the final bake where they get crisp.

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.

Best Times To Make A Batch Of Chex Mix From Scratch?

Game Day
Holiday Season (Especially For Gifting)
College Football
Road Trips
New Year Festivities
Birthday Parties
Potlucks or Office Parties (Often called Party Mix)

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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20 gift tins

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

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 12 oz. box chex mix corn squares
1 12oz. 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 Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 320Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 573mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 8g

This nutritional information is provided as a courtesy as an estimate only. Consult with a dietician for precise estimates. This website makes no claims that the nutritional values listed are accurate.