Today we’re feasting on Gluten-Free Chex Mix – YEEHAW!!! You guys, I’m dying. I don’t break out the caps all that often (HAHAHA YES I DO) but this time it’s for a good reason. The holidays have been saved thanks to Gluten-Free Chex Mix!
Ben and I both have fond memories of non-stop Chex Mix batches baking in our respective Mom’s ovens over the holidays. Is this a Midwest thing? Ben’s Mom has always traded Chex cereal for Crispix and added Cheerios, while my Mom version called for enough Worcestershire sauce to send an elephant into cardiac arrest.
Literally, on the hand written copy of the recipe she’s had in a plastic page protector for 15+ years it says, “shake Worcestershire sauce on every 15 minutes while turning for Krissi.” Busted. What can I say, Chex Mix drenched in flavor completes me, and having to go gluten-free isn’t going to stop me from eating it!
Ok, truthfully this recipe kind of feels like cheating. Homemade Chex Mix is like, 75% gluten-free already and it’s so easy adapt the other 25% that I feel ba- wait no I don’t, you need this recipe in your life – Ben and I can’t get enough of it! And by “it” I mean the three batches I’ve made in the last two weeks. Forget the fragrance of cinnamon and cloves – seasoned salt, butter, and Worcestershire sauce signals holiday time to us.
By the way, in an effort to give gifts that people can use/eat/drink this year, I’m giving away big mason jars of Gluten-Free Chex Mix for Christmas. Because come on – fuzzy socks, or jars of homemade Gluten-Free Chex Mix? No contest!
Star with your cereal. Wheat Chex is NOT gluten-free so we’re ditching it and sticking with 3-1/2 cups each gluten-free Rice and Corn Chex, plus 2 cups gluten-free O’s cereal. We loved this Nature’s Path brand – it gets way more crunchy in the oven compared to regular O’s!
Add the cereals to the largest bowl you own, along with 1 cup gluten-free peanuts. Peanuts can be difficult to find gluten-free (all nuts are naturally gluten-free but they can get cross contaminated when processed on lines shared with gluten-containing products.) That said, I buy certified gluten-free peanuts from Nuts.com.
Next, in a microwave-safe bowl combine 6 Tablespoons melted butter or Earth Balance Vegan Butter to keep the recipe dairy-free, which is what I did on account of Lincoln’s dairy allergy with 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce (I like Lea & Perrins,) 2 teaspoons seasoned salt (recipe below,) plus 1/2 teaspoon each garlic and onion powders. Drizzle the mixture over the cereals then stir with a spatula until the cereals are evenly coated.
By the way, the original Chex Mix recipe calls for seasoned salt which is CRAZY easy to make at home. It’s just 1-1/2 Tablespoons salt, 3/4 teaspoons each paprika and garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon each sugar and onion powder. I just looked at the ingredient list of Lawry’s online and blended my own batch. SO GOOD. You’ll have some leftover after using 2 teaspoons for the Chex Mix recipe so use it on chicken, popcorn – anything, really!
Spread the mixture into a large baking dish like an 11×17, then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 250 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes. My batches have been taking 51-52 minutes to get perfectly crunchy and golden brown.
Once the Chex Mix has cooled, stir in 1 cup bite-sized gluten-free pretzels. Normally the pretzels are baked right in with the cereal but GF pretzels don’t hold up well in the oven, which is why they’re stirred in at the end.
Scoop the Chex Mix into an airtight container then keep within arm’s reach on the kitchen counter for 3-4 days, or pour into a bowl and let your family go to town!
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Gluten-Free Chex Mix
Description
Gluten-Free Chex Mix is salty, crunchy, and totally addicting. Just like the original, only gluten-free (easily made dairy-free, too!)
Ingredients
- 3-1/2 cups Rice Chex
- 3-1/2 cups Corn Chex
- 2 cups gluten-free O’s cereal
- 1 cup gluten-free peanuts (I like Nuts.com)
- 6 Tablespoons butter or Earth Balance vegan butter, melted
- 1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce (I like Lea & Perrin's)
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt (recipe below)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup bite-sized gluten-free pretzels (I like Synder's or Glutino)
- For the Homemade Seasoned Salt:
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine ingredients for Homemade Seasoned Salt in small dish then set aside.
- In a very large bowl combine Rice Chex, Corn Chex, O's cereal, and peanuts. In a small bowl stir together butter, Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons seasoned salt (NOT the whole batch you made!), garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture then stir with a spatula to coat. Pour into a 11x17" or larger baking dish then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Stir in pretzels when Chex Mix is cool, then serve!
Notes
- If you are sensitive to salt, cut the seasoned salt amount down to 1-1/2 teaspoons.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
As I mentioned, I like my Chex Mix on the EXTREMELY zesty side, so if you’re sensitive to salt I’d cut the seasoned salt amount back to 1-1/2 teaspoons or so. Otherwise, grab a bowl and enjoy!
This looks like a great holiday treat! Question…do you use salted nuts or unsalted?
Happy Thanksgiving!
I use salted but you could use whatever you have on hand!
I love these as inexpensive holiday gifts! Great idea and sure to be a crowd pleaser.
I’m an Ohioan, and my mom also makes a TON of this stuff for the holidays. She also uses Crispix and way more seasoning than most recipes call for, and she finds the little Christmas shaped pretzels! It’s the most addictive stuff on the planet and everybody we know goes crazy for it. :)
Hi Kristin! Love the new website :) Just a quick question about Worcestershire sauce cause I am a bit confused as I thought all Worcestershire sauce had gluten in it? I just read the a brand Heniz is gluten free but then L&P contains gluten. Can you help me understand?
Not all Worcestershire sauce has gluten in it. I’m not sure about Heinz’s, but Lea & Perrin’s is advertised on their website as being GF (http://www.leaperrins.com/Products/The%20Original%20Worcestershire%20Sauce,) and the bottle I have here at my house says gluten-free. Always a good idea to check whatever you are buying or already have before using though!
Awesome…confusion gone :) Thanks so much for getting back to me…Happy Holiday to you and your family!!
Of course!! Happy holidays to you too!
Thinking this is a Midwest thing :) Planning to keep the tradition alive this year and use all of the boxes of ingredients in my roasting pan used to cook our turkey. We freeze ours and eat them out of cups (to keep our hands clean and makes for easy inhaling :) Happy Turkey Day!
I LOVE Chex Mix, but always regret overindulging (it’s SO hard not to!) because the high sodium content makes my hands and legs swell. It’s like I’m an old lady at 37 – wah! Think I could reduce the amount of salt when making my own Season salt??
For sure – that’s the beauty of making your own. Totally customizable! I’d also maybe cut back on the Worcestershire sauce since it’s very salty too. :)
I have Low Sodium L & P Worchestershire sauce which is very tasty.
I am ridiculous and always pick out just the corn/rice chex to eat (I always feel like a terrible guest when I do this at parties). So last week I made an entire batch of this with just corn chex- 13 cups worth….and then I devoured it in under 3 days. I wish I felt guilty, but I can’t- it was amazing and I’ll probably do it again leading up to Christmas!
HA! I love it – might as well make and eat what you like!
I would go through bags of Chex Mix a week, then took a closer look at the ingredient list – yikes! This looks like a healthier, less processed, alternative. Thanks!
Love it. we make a batch every weekend, great for guests.
GO HUSKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is worchestershire sauce gluten free?
You’ll want to double check the bottle of whatever brand you buy, but Lea & Perrins is gluten-free!
I’m planning on making this mix this weekend to give as gifts (if I don’t eat it all myself!). I’m not doing gluten free so I’m going to use the bagel chips as well. Do you think they go into the oven with everything else (is that what your mom did!?)?
Hi Amanda! Yep, you would add the bagel chips to the bowl with the cereal and coat with the butter mixture!
I made the GF snack mix twice within the week. It is so delicious. This recipe of yours is a keeper. Thanks so much for sharing it Iowa Girl.
Wohoo! That’s awesome – thanks for the feedback, Gail!
So im making this as i type this message its in mo oven realized that the seasoned salt that i made i was only suppose to use 2 teaspoons of it yeahhhhhh i accadently read it wrong and poored the whole cup in it so this should be interesting.
what? gluten is your bitch? What?
You don’t indicate if your garlic powder is gluten free.
[…] Gluten-free Chex Mix from iowagirleats.com […]
Whaaaa you don’t have to bake on a cookie sheet? This makes me so happy, no more dreading the burnt fall out pieces in the bottom of the oven. I always just assumed you HAD to make them on a cookie sheet for maximum crispness or some silly chemistry heat ratio surface area thing. Thank you so much.
Love your recipe! I’ve added 1 C Milton GF cheese crackers, broken up, to the dry mix, and 1 tsp of lemon juice to the sauce. Try it… you’ll like the additions! Thanks for a great, zesty recipe!
Ooo, love the idea of lemon juice – we will definitely give that a try!
I made this, baked for one hour and cooled for several hours. It tasted good, but it didn’t totally crisp up, a lot of the Chex pieces are chewy. Any idea what I did wrong? It’s also more tangy tasting than spicy. Thanks!
Hey Tom! I would say you probably just need to bake it longer as oven temperatures can vary. I usually remove a few pieces then let them cool for a couple minutes before eating to gauge the crunchiness before removing the whole batch from the oven.
[…] Gluten-Free Chex Mix. Get the recipe here. […]
Hi there! This looks yummy! What happens if you bake the GF pretzels? I want to make sure the pretzels get lots of the spices and flavors.
They get really hard and almost stale tasting, unfortunately!
I made this yesterday. It was a HUGE hit! I took it to another level, though. After it cooled, I also added Chocolate Chex, Vanilla Chex, and some Gluten Free Cheese crackers. It became a sweet and salty mix that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
Are all onion and garlic powders gluten free or just certain ones?
I use Tone’s, which are gluten-free!
Bumped up the worchester sauce to a bit more than a qtr cube, doubled the garlic, and add a lean qtr cup of sirachia sauce.
I’m so glad you put this up! I love Chex mix , but I’m gluten intolerant and allergic to corn – makes life interesting at least. I have another friend who’s celiac. I just use rice Chex and it is always a hit at game nights! Thanks!
I made 2 mistakes with this. I printed the ingredients list from the first page I saw with them listed. I guess this included the 1 1/2 tbs salt and 2 tsp seasoned salt. Wow too much salt. Should have read all the way to the end of the recipe before starting. Oops. The second thing, my glass baking dish is 13×9. my large metal baking pan with sides would have been better. Oh well, I will try again tomorrow. I am always happy to find a gluten free recipe. It was not as easy 20 years ago.
This states it’s gluten free, but please note that the recommended Worcestershire sauce, Lea & Perrin’s, is NOT gluten free.
My bottle specifically states gluten-free. Always important to check all packaging though!
Additionally the website lists their product as gluten-free: http://www.leaperrins.com/Products/The%20Original%20Worcestershire%20Sauce
I just wanted to say thank you! I made this today for Super Bowl and it turned out perfect. My daughter is doing a gluten elimination test for this month and I’ve been stressing as I learn how to cook this way without cutting out too many of her familiar favorites. This is the 2nd recipe from your site that I stumbled on this week (made the meatballs last night), and I have to say that you are making this all seem much less daunting! Thank you!
Made this tonight for the Super Bowl. Everyone loved it! Very delicious and so easy to make.
Thank you for posting this! It’s delicious and is a great alternative to Chex Mix (pre-packed from the store) and the original recipe that doesn’t work for my attempts to avoid gluten. (Note: my daughter has nut allergies in addition to dairy so I just added more g.f. pretzels.)
Made this for my friends at camp and everyone loved it. I substituted gf cheese crackers instead of peanuts, since we have nut allergies in camp, and used gf bagel chips instead of O’s cereal. So tasty!
Lea and Perrins is gluten free in the US only. I am in Canada and it uses Barley malt vinegar instead of white vinegar : (
Not sure if you’ll read this, but I live in Ontario and just found French’s Worchestershire Sauce at our local Fortino’s and it’s clearly labelled “Gluten-Free”. I was soooo happy!!!!
Thank you for this! We make Chex Mix every year for the holidays as well. It truly is my favorite thing. Most people make cookies, we make Chex Mix. This is my first Christmas being gluten free. Thanks for the tip on the GF pretzels, I had NO idea they would taste stale if baked! The only other thing that I am really going to miss is the bagel chips. :( Does anyone know if you could make bagel chips with GF bagels? Or would it end up coming out weird like baking the pretzels? Thanks!
Toufayan makes great gf pita chips to sub for the bagel chips. Also, I use Glutino gf pretzel sticks, broken up,and they bake just fine. So glad I stumbled upon this site!!
[…] Gluten-free Nuts and Bolts Recipe: if you’ve got Celiac it’s easy to prepare a gluten-free nuts and bolts recipe. Many of the cereals today are made of oats, rice and corn. Simply swap out pretzels and Shreddies for your favourite gluten-free options and enjoy! […]
[…] GF Chex Mix- Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats […]
Love this recipe, as someone with celiac it’s great to be able to make old favorites! Question: if I froze this, do you know how long it would keep? Thanks for the great recipe!!
Hi Madison! I’m stumped! I’ve never frozen Chex Mix so I can’t say for sure!
[…] Gluten-Free Chex Mix Recipe […]
Can’t find corn Chex so make sure the amount is equal by adding extra cherrios & rice chex. Also add mixed nuts. Yummy.
Have seen two variations of the seasoned salt recipe, one with sugar and the other without, which do you recommend for Chex mix?
I made this over the Thanksgiving holiday. I just recently had to start eating gluten free and was so sad I couldn’t eat chex mix anymore, so this was a lifesaver! It was delicious and easy to make.
One note of caution. My problem isn’t Celiac disease but an allergic reaction to wheat. I started subbing GF “breads” (bread, crackers, cereals, etc.). Only to discover that the substitute for wheat gluten is various forms of tapioca – which I now have a far worse reaction to than wheat. I only mention this because according to my allergist she is seeing more and more severe allergic reactions to tapioca.
This looks like a great recipe, but I need to tell you that I’m Canada, Lea & Perrin Worcestershire Sauce has gluten in it. Specifically, malt vinegar. Canadian brand French’s and American Heinz are both gluten free versions, though. I haven’t tried this yet, I just found it tonight!
Not sure if you’ll read this, but I live in Ontario and just found French’s Worchestershire Sauce at our local Fortino’s and it’s clearly labelled “Gluten-Free”. I was soooo happy!!!!
I actually thought it was bland, so I doubled each spice. Yum!
Have an allergy to soy…..cannot have worcheshire sauce by Lea&
Perrin…any suggestions?
Thought Worcestershire sauce wasn’t GF because of the malt vinegar in it? Is there a substitute for this sauce?
Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce contains no malt vinegar and is GF. That said, I believe the Lea & Perrins sold in Canada is *not* GF, so read labels carefully.
Cant keep enough around. Only wish I could find corn chex.
Oh my goodness! I have been waiting for a gluten free recipe for Chex mix! Thank you so much! It will satisfy my salt and sweet cravings all at once!
Hi, I love your story and your blog. Even tho’ I could be your granny, your blog is an inspiration to me for my IBS blog. This trail mix is so perfect and I can change it for low fodmap and IBS safe. Would you mind if I tweak this recipe on my IBS blog and credit Iowa Girl Eats for the original? Even tho you are not an IBS person, celiac people have much in common with us. Wheat allergy for one, even tho it isn’t gluten for us, it is a fodmap called fructan. Also, does your brother still give out blogging advice? If so, where can I find it? Merry Christmas to you and your adorable family.Btw every time I ask BLue Sky to help me with my blog, I show them yours and I say to them, “I want to flow like this one.” They never can do it (sob)
No problem at all, Joan!