Ah, yes. It’s Super Bowl time again. Which means I just had to share my very favorite football snack recipe: DIY homemade party snack mix.
The beauty of this recipe is its flexibility. While I love the classic “nuts ‘n’ bolts” snack mix (my mom still uses the recipe from the back of the Chex cereal box in the 1980s … lots of butter). But why not add other savory, crunchy bits to the mix? Why not cheddar fish crackers, or seasoned pretzels or Fritos?
So herewith, I give you permission to improvise your own party snack mix for the game. Love you some Corn Nuts? Throw ’em in. Fiery Cheetos? Go for it. (Hey, it’s the Super Bowl; we can all agree to throw our usual tendencies toward healthful and local eating to the wind.) Game on!
ultimate build-your-own party snack mix
Seasoning
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (I use Jane's Crazy Mixed-up Salt)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Cayenne pepper to taste
Snacks (see notes below)
6 cups base snacks
1 1/2 cups nuts
4 cups flavored snacks
Base snacks
Unsalted: Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Cheerios, oyster crackers, plain popcorn
Salted: Bugles, Fritos, sesame sticks, salted pretzels, plain bagel chips, potato sticks
Nuts
Dry-roasted peanuts, salted roasted peanuts, salted roasted mixed nuts, sunflower seeds, honey nuts, pumpkin seeds, salted roasted cashews, salted roasted almonds
Flavored snacks
Wasabi peas, mini cheese crackers, cheddar goldfish, Terra Sticks, Corn Nuts, sweet potato chips, flavored bagel chips, Bar Chips, Cheetos, Combos, cheese puffs, flavored pretzels, puffed veggie stix
Preheat oven to 225°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. In a large bowl, stir all the seasoning ingredients to blend; add 6 cups of base snacks and 1 1/2 cups of nuts and toss everything gently to combine thoroughly. Spread mixture on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and spread 4 cups of flavored snacks on top of the base snacks. Let everything cool, then transfer back to the large bowl and toss gently to combine.
For the version you see above, I used 5 cups Cheerios, 1 cup Fritos (broken into bite-size pieces), 1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts and, for the flavored snacks, 2 cups Snyder's Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Pretzel Pieces and 2 cups Pepperidge Farm Cheddar Goldfish.
