The ultimate crowd-pleasing party food! With just 4 simple ingredients — pecans, Crispix cereal, butter, and brown sugar — you can whip up this crunchy, sweet and salty snack mix in a matter of minutes.
Table of Contents
Looking for even more party appetizers? Try this shrimp dip, a crab dip recipe, Bisquick sausage balls, or this 5-minute corn dip, too!
This is dangerous! So easy and so delicious! I’ll be making this often.
– Kathy
My friend Kaci shared this cereal snack mix recipe with me over 10 years ago, and I instantly knew that it would be a hit. It’s fast, easy, requires just a few ingredients, and it tastes amazing. So amazing, in fact, that it’s hard to stop eating. Hence the name!
This sweet and salty snack mix would go perfectly paired alongside other potluck munchies like my 4-ingredient spinach dip, make-ahead ham and cheese sliders, pepperoni rolls, and soft pretzels with beer cheese dip. Packaged in a cute container, it’s also a great holiday snack mix for gift-giving.
A Few Notes Before You Get Started
- Line the baking sheets with foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup. Otherwise it can be difficult to get the hardened caramel sauce off of the pans.
- Use salted butter for this party mix recipe, which gives the dish a great sweet and salty flavor.
- As the mix starts to cool, use a wooden spoon or spatula to break up some of the larger clumps.
- For a smaller batch, cut all of the ingredients in half. The cooking instructions remain the same.
Directions
This sweet and salty snack mix recipe comes together quickly and easily! You’ll find step by step instructions in the recipe card below, but here’s the overview:
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Spread the cereal and the pecans in an even layer on the baking sheet; set aside.
- Combine the butter and the brown sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil the mixture for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until a thick, creamy caramel sauce forms.
- Pour that sweet, buttery sauce over the cereal and nuts.
- Use a spatula or wooden spoon to toss until the sauce coats the Crispix and pecans.
- Bake the snack mix for 16 minutes. Stir the mix halfway through the cooking time. This will help the ingredients toast evenly and will prevent individual pieces from burning. The end result is this sweet and salty party mix that has a perfect balance flavors and textures!
Storage Tips
Cool completely, then package the party mix in airtight containers or large Ziploc bags. The mixture will keep at room temperature for 2-3 weeks.
Looks and tastes amazing! Came out awesome! I swapped pecans for cashews, that’s what I had on hand! Can’t wait to try it with other nuts and maybe pretzels!
– Anna Lee
More Snack Mix Recipes to Try
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55 minutes mins
Ranch Pretzels
25 minutes mins
Puppy Chow {Muddy Buddies}
45 minutes mins
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
“Crack Snack” Sweet and Salty Snack Mix
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 (12 ounce) box Crispix cereal (about 12 cups)
- 1 ½ cups chopped pecans (6 ounces)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an extra large baking sheet (or two smaller baking sheets) with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Spread cereal and pecans on prepared baking sheets. Set aside.
- Mix butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil for two minutes, stirring constantly.
- Pour caramel sauce over cereal and nuts.
- Toss to coat all of the ingredients in the caramel sauce. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir, and bake for an additional 8 minutes.
- Allow to cool, breaking apart any large clumps with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Notes
- Line the baking sheets with foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup. Otherwise it can be difficult to get the hardened caramel sauce off of the pans.
- For a smaller batch, cut all of the ingredients in half. The cooking instructions remain the same.
- Add a little bit of cayenne pepper to the butter mixture if you want a sweet and spicy snack mix!
Nutrition
Snack Mix Recipe Variations
- Use Chex cereal instead of Crispix cereal. If you’re using Chex, I recommend a combination of different Chex cereals (such as a few cups rice chex, a few cups wheat chex, and a few cups corn chex). That way you get the same flavor variety that you taste in Crispix, since Crispix includes both rice and corn. You’ll need 12 cups total.
- I you prefer a more savory snack mix that includes a couple tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon onion powder, and garlic powder, try this homemade Chex mix recipe.
- If you’re using unsalted butter, you’ll need to add some salt (about ½ teaspoon, or more to taste) to the caramel sauce to balance the sweetness of the brown sugar. You want that combination of sweet-and-salty in this crunchy snack mix.
- Use peanuts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, or mixed nuts instead of the pecans.
- Add other ingredients to your snack mix. For instance, swap out some of the cereal or nuts and replace them with Cheez Its, Goldfish cheese crackers, oyster crackers, pretzels, bagel chips, Bugles, or sesame sticks.
- Make it spicy by adding cayenne to the butter mixture for some heat.
This recipe was originally published in January, 2014. It was updated in September, 2024.
Just curious if you could sub olive oil, I have butter flavored oil for the butter?
Oh, I have no idea if that would work or not. Sorry, Lorna. To be safe, though, I would stick with real butter when making this caramel sauce.
I’m excited about making this recipe. How long can you store it and what is the best method? I like to do a lot of my Christmas baking ahead of time.
Hi Angela,
Cool completely, then package the party mix in airtight containers or large Ziploc bags. The mixture will keep at room temperature for 2-3 weeks.
We hope you enjoy it!
Delicious! ❤️ Love the caramel coating over the mix! Added a variety of additional items to our liking: a can of mixed nuts in addition to pecan halves, mini pretzel squares, popped corn, and after baking added Christmas M & Ms and white chocolate coated mini pretzels (so they wouldn’t melt in the hot oven). We do like bagel chips and sesame sticks too! Thinking those would make nice additions as well!! A tin of this mixture makes an excellent gift and a yummy addition to a holiday party! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!! ❤️ Enjoy!!
Thank you, Gigi! We’re so glad you enjoyed it and appreciate you taking the time to leave a review. Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you as well!
This was a favorite treat this past Christmas. 🙂
Thank you for letting us know! It’s a holiday staple for sure.
I made this for a kids birthday party but honestly I think more adults ate it. I made a few changes…used half Crispix half Bugles and threw in a couple handfuls of itty bitty mini pretzels. Also used mixed nuts, and when it came out of the oven I added a cup and a half of m&m’s. Winner! Thanks for the inspiration!
We’re so glad you were able to make it work for you and enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing, Tami.
I forgot my rating!
Thank you! We appreciate it!
Mine burnt – not sure if I can salvage any- went right by the recipe but it burnt at 6 minutes!
We’re sorry to hear this, Sallie! We’ve never had that happen but are happy to help troubleshoot if you want to try it again!
This recipe is awesome. This is the second Christmas that I have made it. Always get lots of if compliments
Thanks so much, Phyllis. Merry Christmas!
How far ahead can this be made and to store it?
Hi Debbie! The mixture will keep at room temperature for 2-3 weeks. We hope you enjoy!