For those of you who don’t already know, chex mix is basically a type of snack mix that includes Chex cereal as a major component.
It’s a great snack for parties or for just chilling with, with your pals and your favorite TV series. Something you can just dip your hand into, like popcorn, or trail mix, or nuts.
Today, I’m going to share with you my favorite caramel chex mix recipe, and I think you’re gonna love it. It comes packed with brown sugar to to give it a sweet, caramel taste that’s totally moreish. What’s more, it’s an easy snack mix, and prep time is only 15 minutes tops.
You don’t really need a whole lot of ingredients for this recipe, and I’ll walk you through a variation of it too, and you can just pick the one you most like the sound of. I will also give you all my hints and tips.
Let’s get straight to it!
Caramel Chex Mix Recipe
OK, so here’s a quick list of all the ingredients you need (there aren’t many):
- 9 cups oven-toasted corn chex cereal
- 9 cups oven-toasted rice chex cereal
- 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- A pinch of salt
And here’s what you need to do to make caramel chex mix (don’t worry, it’s easy):
- First you need to preheat the oven. Set it to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, and prepare some baking pans with parchment paper or two large baking sheets
- In a large bowl, mix the rice chex and corn chex cereal, then spread and mix the two forms of chex cereal and place chex cereal over the lined baking sheets.
- Then you need to make up the caramel mixture. Grab a medium saucepan, and spray a non stick cooking spray.
- Then add in everything except the chex cereal, place corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, and salt into the pan.
- Cook over medium heat 8-9 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil and stir.
- Then let it boil for about a minute or minute and a half, constantly stirring.
- Then add baking soda and mix well.
- Then you’re ready to pour caramel mixture over the chex mix. (Be careful when you pour syrup mixture, it’s very hot and sticky.) Then carefully toss the mixture so that as much as possible of the chex mix is completely coated, and spread caramel covered cereal across the lined baking sheets.
- Then you can place the caramel chex mix into the oven. Bake the chex mix between 40 and 50 minutes on a medium high heat.
- Then remove the caramel chex mix from the oven, and leave it to cool completely. This will take at least 10 minutes. Once cooled, you can break apart pieces that have stuck together if you wish.
- At this stage, you can add any optional ingredients into your caramel chex mix.
Tips For Your Caramel Chex Mix
If you don’t intend to start munching on your caramel chex mix straight away (and who can blame you if you did), then I would recommend storing it away in an airtight container. Once in an airtight container, it will last up to three days.
I recommend using light corn syrup over regular corn syrup because light corn syrup is a more soluble, sweeter version of corn syrup, making your caramel chex mix as sweet as can be.
Cooking over a medium heat is important because it helps control not only the temperature but also the texture of the syrup before any baking soda gets added.
Another top tip – please don’t forget to add baking soda, since this foams up to create tiny bubbles which aerate the caramel, and prevent it becoming too dense.
Nutrition Facts
Let me level with you here, no caramel chex mix recipe is going to be particularly healthy. Any recipe using brown sugar and corn syrup is going to be high in calories.
I would recommend that half a cup of caramel chex mix constitutes one portion, and that one portion provides 190 calories.
But the good news is that it’s not high in saturated fat. But if you’re concerned about the nutritional quality, you can check this over with a registered dietitian.
Ideas And Variations For Your Caramel Chex Mix
Caramel Chex Mix is a recipe that really lends itself well to a wide variety of different versions.
Once the caramel chex mix is completely cool, you can add all sorts of different flavors and textures. Here’s a quick list of ideas for you:
- chocolate chips (milk, dark, or white chocolate chips)
- popped popcorn
- pretzels
- your favorite nuts (I like it with peanuts)
- M&Ms
- dried fruit (e.g. banana chips, or cranberries and/or raisins for vitamin c)
Or anything else you think would go great in a caramel snack mix. You can create all kinds of recipes!
There’s enough inspiration here for you to make up a different sort of snack mix every week with your chex cereal. (Popped popcorn is my personal favorite, but I’ve also got a thing for pretzels and peanuts, too.)
When you decide to store your caramel chex mix in airtight containers, you can do this either with or without the additional optional ingredients.
But remember to bear in mind the shelf life of any optional ingredients you add to the snack mix.
Wrap Up
So, now you know just how to make your very own caramel snack mix with chex cereal and anything else you’d like to add.
I hope you find the recipe easy to follow and that I’ve given you some good ideas for any variations you might want to make.
Please don’t forget to add baking soda, because as I described in the tips section, baking soda is very important for aerating the caramel mixture just before you apply to the rice chex cereal.
I hope you have fun with it.
