Last updated on May 23rd, 2023
Homemade Chex mix is everyone’s favorite snack. This Southern version is seasoned with lots of butter, garlic powder, and bacon grease.
You may be surprised to learn that The Husband possesses a little known secret talent. During the holidays, he becomes the official family homemade Chex mix maker.
He’s not a cook, per se. But the few recipes he does make, he does them well. Every year around this time, he asks me to locate his grandmother’s recipe. I retrieve it, carefully preserved in a plastic sleeve, from the back of my recipe notebook, and he sends me to the store with a list of ingredients. I must not deviate from the list. I must not substitute the harder-to-locate red-skinned Spanish nuts for easy-to-find regular peanuts. I cannot replace pretzel sticks with pretzel knots. If I do, I have failed the master.
You Must Start with Bacon Grease
Before anyone asks, no, there is no substitute for the seven tablespoons of bacon grease. So says The Husband. You must use bacon grease. Do not fail the master.
I am a Southern cook, so I always have a Mason jar of bacon grease in my fridge (I am not kidding). But if you don’t happen to have an entire jar of bacon grease on hand, one pack of bacon should yield you the proper amount. You can always eat the leftover bacon as a snack while you’re cooking.
How to Make Homemade Chex Mix
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. In a large roasting pan, add the bacon grease, two sticks of unsalted butter and five tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. We prefer to use a roasting pan vs. a cookie sheet because of the high sides. You’ll be doing a lot of stirring and the high sides keeps the homemade Chex mix from spilling out during the process. Sometimes I use a disposable roasting pan for this occasion so I can just throw the pan away when we are done.
Place the roasting pan in the oven just long enough for the butter to melt. This usually takes about seven minutes. Pull the pan out and sprinkle in three tablespoons of garlic salt. Stir until the garlic salt is completely dissolved.
Next, add your cereal. You’ll need to measure out four cups of Rice Chex, five cups of Corn Chex and Cheerios, two cups of Wheat Chex, two cups of pretzel sticks and two cups of Spanish nuts. The Husband typically measures everything out into a large mixing bowl then stirs it all together so everything is evenly mixed.
Add 1/3 of the cereal mixture to the melted butter and bacon grease. Stir until the cereal mixture is completely coated. Repeat with the remaining cereal, adding 1/3 at a time and stirring between each addition. Homemade Chex mix needs to roast for 2 hours, but you’ll want to stir every 15 minutes.
How to Store Homemade Chex Mix
While homemade Chex mix is positively awesome to snack on when it’s warm right out of the oven, you’ll want to let it cool completely before storing it in an airtight container. As long as the container is stored in a cool, dry place, the Chex mix should last for a few weeks. Though at out house, it never lasts more than a few days.
Beware, we also like to refer to this as Crack Mix. Once you start eating, it’s darn near impossible to stop.
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Homemade Chex Mix
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoons bacon grease
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
- 5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons garlic salt
- 4 cups Rice Chex
- 5 cups Corn Chex
- 5 cups Cheerios
- 2 cups Wheat Chex
- 2 cups pretzel sticks
- 2 cups Spanish nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Place bacon grease, butter, and Worcestershire in a large roasting pan. Heat in the oven until the butter is melted, about 5-7 minutes.
- Slowly add garlic salt and mix until completely dissolved.
- Combine the cereal, pretzels and nuts in a large mixing bowl.
- Gradually pour 1/3 of the cereal mixture into the roasting pan with the melted butter and bacon grease. Stir the cereal to coat. Repeat, adding 1/3 at a time, with the remaining cereal mixture.
- Roast the Chex mix for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes.
I really need to make Chex mix from scratch. It totally tastes the best that way, and your recipe looks delish!
You had me at bacon grease. This homemade chex mix sounds like a perfect game day snack for a crowd. Thanks for sharing.
What a great snack. I am all about that bacon grease in this! I am going to have to make it for my hubby!
Margie, I’m so glad to hear this! I sincerely hope the recipe is everything you remember it to be.
I used to make this recipe with bacon grease but, over the years and a move to an apartment behind me, I lost track of the recipe. On a whim, today I located your (hubby’s) recipe and found it was joyously much like my lost one!! I will be making this real soon. I hope the memory of it isn’t better than the reality of it; that sometimes happens but, hey, you can’t go wrong with bacon grease and worchestershire sauce–the combination is heavenly. Thank you for sharing this special recipe. Not everyone is willing to share their family recipes (my daughter is one of them). I’m officially a happy lady thanks to your post!!
Hi Judy, it’s garlic salt.
At the top of your Chex mix recipe it says “this homemade version is seasoned with lots of butter, garlic POWDER and bacon grease. But the recipe calls for garlic SALT. Which is it? 2 tablespoons of garlic salt sounds like too much salt. I’d like to make this but don’t know which to use.
can your husband teach my brother or father the manly art of chex mix making? Cause right now they have NO food skillz and i think they need to get some…ASAP.
It’s the bacon grease that won me over! 🙂
I love it when the men get in the kitchen! c