Gluten-Free Chex Mix is salty, crunchy, and totally addicting. Just like the original, only gluten-free!
“This is our go-to recipe every year. It’s so good! I started buying Trader Joe’s gluten free everything bagels and use a whole bag of 4 to make bagel chips to add to the mix. Delicious!”
My husband and I are both from the Midwest, and have fond memories of our respective mothers baking Chex Mix nonstop during the holidays growing up.
My husband’s Mom trades Chex for Crispix, and adds Cheerios, while my Mom uses traditional ingredients but her personal twist is adding extra dashes of Worcestershire sauce each time she stirs the mixture in the oven.
The mere thought of a butter and worcestershire sauce-soaked square of corn chex is enough to send me running into the kitchen right now, ha!
All that said, Chex mix is a deeply personal concoction, which became even more personal after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. The holidays, especially, became a time of worry and sadness about having to say goodbye to cherished dishes and traditions – including having the scent of baking Chex Mix embed itself into the walls during the months of November and December.
Or so I thought. My crispy, crunchy, super-savory Gluten Free Chex Mix recipe is just as easy as the original, but made gluten free!
Ingredients Needed
Truthfully, homemade Chex Mix is already 75% gluten free – there’s just a few easy tweaks that need to be made to get it fully there. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Rice Chex: already gluten free.
- Corn Chex: already gluten free.
- Gluten Free O’s Cereal: I like O’s cereal in my Chex Mix because they get super crunchy in the butter and worcestershire sauce. Be sure the brand you buy is both gluten free AND unsweetened (or naturally/lightly sweetened, in a pinch).
- Peanuts: I like Planter’s Lightly Salted Roasted Peanuts which only contain “peanuts” and “sea salt”. Other varieties, including their regular salted flavor, contain extras.
- Butter: for that signature, golden-brown crunch.
- Worcestershire sauce: adds lots of savory, umami flavor. In the United States, at the time of this writing, 11/25, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce IS gluten free.
- Mini Pretzel Twists: I’ve tried countless GF pretzel brands, and Snyder’s Gluten Free products taste identical to regular hard pretzels.
- Homemade Seasoned Salt: salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and a wee pinch of sugar add salty, savory flavor to the Gluten Free Chex Mix.
Make It Your Own
Like I said, Chex Mix is highly personal – it seems no two families make it the exact same way. That said, here are ways to customize your Chex Mix:
- Go cheesy: add Cheetos (which ARE gluten free!) or gluten free cheese squares. I love Simple Mills Cheese Pop Mmms.
- Bagel chips: to my knowledge, GF bagel chips don’t exist, though reader Brooke commented she makes her own from GF Bagels to stir in at the end. Brilliant!
- Add crunch: corn nut-style snacks make a great, mega-crunchy addition.
- Go nuts: swap or cut the peanuts with cashews, pistachios, almonds, etc.
- Add flavor: since the pretzels aren’t coated in the butter mixture, they’re unflavored. That said, feel free to swap for flavored gluten free pretzels, like honey-mustard, or spicy buffalo.
Sure, sugar and spice scream “holidays” – but so does the combination of seasoned-salt, butter, and worcestershire sauce. Let’s get you some Gluten Free Chex Mix to start snacking on!
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItTry Christmas Crunch
How to Make Gluten Free Chex Mix
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients, EXCEPT…
Start 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. Add the cereals to an extremely large mixing bowl then add gluten free peanuts.
Aren’t Cheerios Gluten Free?
Cheerios are labeled gluten free, though General Mills uses a mechanical sorting method to separate oats from rogue, gluten-containing grains that may have gotten mixed up with the oats in the growing fields or during processing. This method is not 100% accurate and I’ve heard of folks getting sick after eating Cheerios. As a person with Celiac Disease, the risk isn’t worth it and I steer clear.
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’ve eaten Planters lightly salted roasted peanuts for many years without issue.
Notice that we are NOT adding gluten free pretzels at this time, as we’d typically do when making traditional chex mix. Gluten free pretzels are almost always made with rice flour, which takes on an almost stale texture when coated in the butter and seasonings, and then baked. That said, we stir them in at the end.
Step 2: Combine the wet ingredients.
To a medium-sized mixing bowl or cup add butter then microwave until melted, 60 seconds. Add gluten free Worcestershire sauce and homemade seasoned salt then stir to combine.
Drizzle the butter mixture over the cereal mixture then stir with a large spatula until everything is evenly coated.
Step 3: Bake the Chex Mix.
Pour the mixture into a large baking dish, like an 11×17″, then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, or until the cereals are light golden brown.
Step 4: Add the pretzels.
While the Chex Mix is still warm, stir in the gluten free pretzels. Again, these don’t hold up well to being baked which is why we add them now.
Cool then scoop the Chex Mix into an airtight container and keep within arm’s reach on the kitchen counter for 3-4 days, or pour into a bowl and dig in.
Whether you serve this irresistible snack mix for the holidays, or any occasion in between, I hope you love every crunchy, savory bite – enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 cups Rice Chex
- 3 cups Corn Chex
- 3 cups gluten-free O’s cereal
- 1 cup gluten free peanuts, Planters Lightly Salted Roasted Peanuts, recommended
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup gluten free Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt, recipe below
- 1 cup gluten free mini pretzel twists, Snyder's recommended
For the Homemade Seasoned Salt (NOTE: You will not use all of this!)
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Combine the ingredients for the Homemade Seasoned Salt in small bowl then set aside.
- To a very large mixing bowl, add the Rice Chex, Corn Chex, O's cereal, and peanuts then set aside.
- To a medium-sized mixing bowl or cup, add the butter then microwave until melted, 60 seconds or so. Add the worcestershire sauce plus 2 teaspoons Homemade Seasoned Salt (again, you WILL NOT USE ALL the seasoned salt!) then stir to combine.
- Pour the butter mixture over the cereal mixture then stir with a spatula to evenly coat. Pour the mixture into a 11×17" or larger baking dish then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, or until the cereals are light golden brown. Stir in the pretzels then cool and serve.
Notes
- If you are typically sensitive to salt, cut the seasoned salt amount down to 1-1/2 teaspoons.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Have an allergy to soy…..cannot have worcheshire sauce by Lea&
Perrin…any suggestions?
I actually thought it was bland, so I doubled each spice. Yum!
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!!!!
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.
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.
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!
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.