Creole Chex Mix

The first time I ever had chex mix was when I was a little kid growing up in Mississippi. It was around the holidays and family friends dropped some off as a gift that was still warm! It was at that moment I became hooked, and I’ve been making it ever since. Now, I know it is more popular around the holidays, but I urge you to make this all year long. I promise you, no one will think it is weird or complain! They will simply gobble it up with joy and thank you for being such an amazing human for making something so delicious.

CREOLE CHEX MIX INSPIRATION

Now y’all know I didn’t come up with this recipe. It’s actually based off of the original one from the 1960s. Take a look at what it looked like on the back of a cereal box way back then! What’s cool to note is that this recipe still stands strong and I bet if you were to follow it exactly as is, it would still be perfectly delightful. But if you’ve been a reader for some time, you know that I can’t sit still and I have to put my own spin on things.

That’s where my Creole Chex Mix comes in. I’ve turned up the volume to the max when it comes to seasonings and added both olive oil AND vegan butter for richness. In addition to cereal grains and nuts, I’ve also added some vegan mustard pretzels and crispy onions for an added crunch and boost of flavor. The results are literally addictive and make for the perfect holiday snack and gift. Warning! Once you make this for friends and family, they will request it every year. I’m not kidding!

A BIG THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR

For today’s sponsor, I would like to give a big shoutout to the makers of Ball® home canning products! I am a huge advocate for the brand and highly recommend their products for many different reasons. First, I literally use their jars and lids every single day. This recipe is another great example of how useful and effective their jars can be for storage (and for gifting). I also use the jars you see here as drinking glasses. I love the look of them on the shelf and the feel when you sip out of them. Lastly, I am quite literally obsessed with any wide mouth jar Ball® offers. They are easy to use for storage and perfect daily use. For today’s recipe, I will be using their Wide Mouth 16 oz. Pint Jars. To get your own set, tap the link here!

CREOLE CHEX MIX INGREDIENTS

I’ve streamlined this recipe as much as possible and here’s how: I break the recipe down into 3 main bowls. One large bowl will hold all of the dry ingredients like cereal grains, toasted nuts, crispy onions, and pretzels. In a second smaller bowl, I like to mix all of the spices together. To make this mix ‘creole’ I am using paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and dried oregano and thyme. Of course, I am adding nutritional yeast because it is bursting with umami and makes this mix really sing.

COMBINING THE WET INGREDIENTS

For the the third and last bowl, I like to mix together the wet ingredients. This includes melted vegan butter, olive oil, vegan Worcestershire sauce, tamari, and the littlest touch of toasted sesame seed oil for added flavor. Once these are mixed and combined, you are ready to toss everything together.

MIXING AND BAKING THE CREOLE CHEX MIX

For mixing, I like to do this in stages. First you need to stir together all of the dry ingredients. Then you drizzle over the wet and mix things immediately. You want to make sure that every single piece is coated with the wet mixture because that will be the glue to help the spice blend stick. Once everything is thoroughly coated, you sprinkle over the dry ingredients and toss the mixture until every piece is coated. Then all you have to do is spread out the mixture onto two large baking sheets and bake! If you only have small baking sheets, you may have to break this up into more batches (see the notes in the recipe card).

For baking, you want the oven at the low heat of 250°F. This allows you to toast the mix gently. I like to do an initial bake of 20 minutes. Then toss and rotate the pans (top to bottom and all around) and bake for another 20 minutes. Then, do one more mix and rotate and do a final bake of 10-15 minutes. We are looking for toasted until golden, not burnt! Feel free to take it out, let it cool, and give it a taste. If you need to bake it for more time, you can always pop it back in! Don’t be so precious about it.

JARRING UP THE CREOLE CHEX MIX

The last and final step is transferring your beautiful Creole Chex Mix into your favorite Ball® jars! Once tightly sealed, this mix will stay fresh and crisp for weeks but I can’t imagine it lasting that long. Enjoy some for yourself and gift some to friends and family. You can always tie a little string around the top with a note if you want to be cute about it.

ENJOY THIS CREOLE CHEX MIX

And there you have my Creole Chex Mix! I cannot wait to hear what y’all think. If you do make this, please leave a comment and a rating below as this greatly helps my recipes to be seen on the interwebs. Lastly, if you share it on social media, please tag me. I love to see it. Happy cooking, y’all!

–Timothy

OTHER SEASONAL RECIPES TO TRY

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post that is part of an ongoing partnership with the Fresh Preserving Division of Newell Brands. They have provided jars, equipment and monetary compensation. All thoughts and opinions expressed remain my own.

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