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 gluten free Rice and Corn Chex, plus 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 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 like buying from Nuts.com or Planters unsalted roasted peanuts.
Next, in a microwave-safe bowl, combine melted butter or Earth Balance Vegan Butter with gluten free Worcestershire sauce (I like Lea & Perrins,) plus homemade seasoned salt which includes garlic powder, onion powder, salt, paprika, and a pinch of sugar. Drizzle the mixture over the cereals then stir with a spatula until the cereals are evenly coated.
Spread the mixture into a large baking dish like an 11×17, then bake for about an hour at 250 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes, or until the cereals are light golden brown. Last step is to stir in gluten free pretzels.
Normally 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 cups Rice Chex
- 3 cups Corn Chex
- 3 cups gluten-free O’s cereal
- 1 cup gluten free peanuts
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter or vegan butter
- 1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce (I like Lea & Perrin's)
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt (recipe below)
- 1 cup bite-sized gluten-free pretzels
- For the Homemade Seasoned Salt (NOTE: You will not use all of this!)
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine ingredients for Homemade Seasoned Salt in small bowl then set aside.
- Add Rice Chex, Corn Chex, O's cereal, and peanuts to a very large mixing bowl then set aside.
- Add butter to a medium sized bowl then microwave until melted, 50-60 seconds. Add worcestershire sauce plus 2 teaspoons Homemade Seasoned Salt then stir to combine. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture then stir with a spatula to coat. Pour into an 11x17" or larger baking dish then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, or until cereal is golden brown. Stir in pretzels then cool and 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.
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.
Can’t find corn Chex so make sure the amount is equal by adding extra cherrios & rice chex. Also add mixed nuts. Yummy.
[…] Gluten-Free Chex Mix Recipe […]
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!
[…] GF Chex Mix- Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats […]
[…] 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! […]
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!!
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!
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!!!!
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!
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 tonight for the Super Bowl. Everyone loved it! Very delicious and so easy to make.
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!
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 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.
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!
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.
Are all onion and garlic powders gluten free or just certain ones?
I use Tone’s, which are gluten-free!
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.
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!