Aunt Kay’s Trash Mix

I get a lot of great recipes from my friend and neighbor, Kelli!  We share a love of food and wine (shhh…) so when she brought over her Aunt Kay’s Trash Mix recipe, I was not expecting much more than a mix of snacks.  But what I got was a very gourmet, sophisticated snack.  I’m not usually a huge trail mix fan but she quickly changed my mind.  I would actually call this the creme de la creme of trail mix recipes!  And there’s not much too it until you get to the sauce.  And that is what changed my mind about this trail mix.

You start with your favorite snacks or cereals.  You can basically use whatever you want.  Aunt Kay uses more Cheez-Itz than we used — we doubled up on pretzels but you can do whatever you want that’s the beauty of it.  I used Cheez-Itz, pretzels, Cheerios, Wheat Chex and Rice Chex.

Mix it all up in a large roasting pan.

Now the fun part…melt about 3 sticks of unsalted butter and whisk in garlic salt, onion powder and Worcestershire Sauce.

Pour evenly over your mixed up trail mix.  Put in oven at 250 degrees.  This will bake slowly for 1 1/2 hours — the key is to mix it up every 30 minutes.  This will keep the liquid from burning at the bottom of the pan.  It also helps to make sure all of your trail mix is covered.

Here’s what it looks like when it’s done.  Doesn’t look very different right?  Well it tastes different and you will not be able to put this down.  Try it this weekend especially if you are having a backyard BBQ!  Your friends and family will love it!

I have never met Aunt Kay but I wanted to make sure she got credit for this great summer snack idea.

This is a picture of Aunt Kay.  Kelli says she has made this forever and it’s a family favorite!

Thanks Kelli and Aunt Kay for sharing your awesome recipe.

Print

Aunt Kay’s Trash Mix

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1/2 large box Original Cheez-Itz
• 3 cups Plain Cheerios
• 5 1/2 cups Wheat Chex
• 5 1/2 cups Rice Chex
• 3/4 bag Pretzel Sticks
• 3 sticks Unsalted Butter
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Garlic Salt
• 1 tablespoon Onion Powder

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees
2. In a roasting pan, mix together the Cheez-Itz, Cheerios, Wheat Chex, Rice Chex and Pretzels
3. In a saucepan, melt the butter
4. Whisk in the garlic salt, onion powder and Worcestershire Sauce
5. Pour liquid mixture evenly over the dry mix in the roasting pan, mix together
6. Put in oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes
7. Cool completely before serving or putting into ziplock bag or plastic container

Recipe Notes

Thanks again to Kelli and Aunt Kay for this recipe. You can use whatever snacks you want in your trash mix. I varied the amount of snacks in this recipe.