{"id":3086,"date":"2008-11-20T17:12:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-20T23:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/?p=3086"},"modified":"2022-11-22T15:08:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T21:08:30","slug":"chex-mix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2008\/chex-mix\/","title":{"rendered":"Wonder-Working Chex Mix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated for 2022.<\/strong> My Grandma Martha Borzykowski used to make a mean Chex Mix — and it inspired me in the late 1990s to push the envelope and try to perfect the classic holiday finger food. Here, for the first time [back in 2008], I share my highly customized recipe for the best Chex mix.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

I have many happy memories of munching by the fistful on one version of Chex Mix or another at Thanksgivings and Christmases since I was a little boy. My mom still often makes a milder recipe, and we’ve generally found that having more Chex Mix on hand is hardly unwelcome.<\/p>\n

Wonder-Working Chex Mix \u2014 Updated for 2022<\/h3>\n

Pro tip: Double or triple all of the sauce ingredients while making, then divide before mixing with the single-batched dry ingredients. (My preferred approach of tripling yields approximately 2 cups of sauce \u2014 so each batch of dry ingredients takes about two-thirds of a cup of sauce.) But heed this important note: you must toss and bake only one batch at a time<\/strong> in a single pan for it to crisp up during baking. By all means, make two or even three batches, but mix and bake them sequentially (or at least separately, if you’ve got two ovens, as Ann Boyd does).<\/p>\n

Dry Ingredients<\/h4>\n

8 c (cup)\u00a0cereal<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can mix the cereal however you like, but my default blend is 3 c Crispix, 2 c Rice Chex, 2 c Corn Chex, and 1 c Wheat Chex<\/p>\n

1 c nuts<\/strong><\/p>\n

I favor whole cashews, but there’s an intense debate about whether standard mixed nuts are preferable.<\/p>\n

1 c Goldfish<\/strong><\/p>\n

I usually use “Original” flavor, but cheese or even pretzel flavors work, too. (In the latter case, you’ll want to leave out the real pretzels.)<\/p>\n

1 c small pretzels<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the years, my allegiance oscillates among mini twists, “thins,” and those square “window pane” types.<\/p>\n

1 c sesame sticks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long ago, these used to be considered “optional” in my recipe. No longer. They’re just too awesome. They only problem is that they disappear so quickly from the mix once people catch on!<\/p>\n

1 c melba toasts<\/strong> and\/or bagel chips<\/strong><\/p>\n

If both, ease up a little on the cereal. If they’re large\/oversized, break them up into bite-sized pieces.<\/p>\n

Optional (up to 1 c each):
\nwasabi peas<\/strong>
\nsmoked almonds<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you use smoked almonds or wasabi peas, I strongly recommend adding them after<\/em> the bake, just added in on top during the cooling phase. Otherwise, much of their distinctive flavor “washes off” without contributing enought to the flavor of the sauce overall.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the sauce:<\/p>\n

Wet Ingredients<\/h4>\n

\u00bd stick (4 oz) butter
\n3 T (tablespoon) Worcestershire sauce
\n1 T soy sauce
\n1 clove garlic, pressed
\n1 T Frank’s Redhot hot sauce<\/p>\n

Yes, I believe Frank’s is best, but Trader Joe’s “Green Dragon” hot sauce makes a pretty awesome substitute. If all you’ve got on hand is Tabasco, reduce to 1\u00bd teaspoon.<\/p>\n

1+ t (teaspoon) sesame oil
\n1+ t grated fresh ginger
\na shake or more of chili powder<\/p>\n

Optional:
\nthe zest of \u00bd an orange<\/p>\n

Optional but highly recommended. Think of a Chinese dish like spicy orange chicken, and you’ll imagine how yummy the orange zest makes this Chex Mix. (What will you do with the zest from the other<\/em> half the orange? Just make two batches! Problem solved.)<\/p>\n

Procedure<\/h4>\n

Measure out the dry ingredients in the biggest bowl you can find. No bowl is too big. Melt the butter, then mix in the other wet ingredients. Pour the sauce over the dry ingredients and turn with your bare hands repeatedly to thoroughly<\/em> coat everything evenly. Put in a large roasting pan. Bake at 250\u00b0F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and spread out on large sheets of paper towels to cool and dry. Store in airtight containers only after completely cool. Not that it’ll be around for long!<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated for 2022. My Grandma Martha Borzykowski used to make a mean Chex Mix — and it inspired me in the late 1990s to push the envelope and try to perfect the classic holiday finger food. Here, for the first time [back in 2008], I share my highly customized recipe for the best Chex mix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3086"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9938,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086\/revisions\/9938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}