Cheerio Trail Mix is the perfect sweet snack to make from scratch and use up left over pantry ingredients in a delicious fashion. Honey Nut Cheerios combined with salty pretzels, chocolate, nuts, and more all covered in a light peanut butter glaze makes for a crave-able nibble.
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About this Trail Mix
Cheerios often get a wrath of being a ‘basic’ cereal. But I’m giving them a makeover with this sweet and salty trail mix that is far from ordinary.
It’s got sweet Honey Nut Cheerios, salty pretzels, both white and dark chocolate, plus some coconut and pumpkin seeds. All of this is mixed with a melted honey, peanut butter, and butter mixture to create clusters of snacking goodness.
What’s even better, is that this recipe is extremely easy to make. Just microwave and mix and it’s ready to go. It’s also extremely customizable to include what you like, leave out what you don’t, and clear your pantry of all those unfinished snacks.
And if you're all about the snacks, I encourage you to also check out these Apple Peanut Butter Energy Bites, this Goldfish Ranch Snack Mix, Homemade Cranberry Nut Granola, these Lucky Charm Rice Krispies or this Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola, too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Honey Nut Cheerios - For Cheerio Trail Mix, we need some Cheerios as our base. I used Honey Nut, which provided the perfect sweetness, but feel free to use plain or your favorite flavor. Pumpkin Cheerios would be fabulous to make a fall edition.
- Chocolate Chips - I used White Chocolate Chips and Mini Chocolate Chips which were semi-sweet. Feel free to use any combination of your favorite chocolate to total one cup.
- Coconut Shreds - I like to toast mine before adding to the Cheerio trail mix for some extra texture and golden color.
- Dried Raisins/Craisins/Cherries/Goldenberries - The dried fruit adds a different type of sweetness and a burst of flavor to the recipe as compared to the chocolate and honey sweetness alone.
- Peanut Butter - This will coat our entire trail mix. To make this recipe nut free, make with granola butter OatHaus. Use code COURTNEY15 for 15% off!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make This Recipe
1. In a microwavable safe measuring cup (a glass one like this is perfect), combine peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and butter. Microwave in 30 second intervals until butter is melted and mixture is silky, stirring between each interval.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add cheerios, pretzels, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, raisins and coconut shreds. Toss together gently.
3. Pour peanut butter mixture over dried snacks. Note: this will lightly cover all of the trail mix. If you’d like more clusters of goodness in the trail mix, double the amount of peanut butter / honey / butter that the recipe calls for.
4. Toss all together until everything is evenly coated. After mixing, allow the mixture to cool completely before adding a lid for storage. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 5 days. You can also freeze this trail mix for up to 3 months.
Make sure your Cheerio Trail Mix is completely cooled before storing. If it’s still warm from the melted peanut butter / butter mixture, steam will get trapped in the container and make it soggy.
Warning! This stuff is addictive. I love to enjoy by the handful and kids love it as an after school snack.
Cheerio Trail Mix is also fabulous on top of yogurt, over ice cream, or as a smoothie topper. If you’ve tried my Healthy Apple Nachos, this is also a great topper for those, too!
This Cheerio Trail Mix is SUPER customizable. Add in what you like. Leave out what you don’t like (or have). I like to make this as a pantry clean out with whatever bits of snacks I have lying around. Some additional add ins to consider:
Nuts: Cashews, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, almonds.
Seeds: Hemp seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds.
Butter: Swap peanut butter for cashew butter, granola butter, almond butter.
Cereal: Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Honey Bunches of Oats, Rice Crispies.
Pretzels: Swap for graham crackers or another type of cereal.
Chocolate: I opted for white and semi sweet. Use just one or the other, try dark chocolate, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips!
More Recipes You'll Love
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & if you really like the recipe consider leaving a comment further down. Thanks for visiting!
This recipe was inspired by, and loosely adapted from Tawnie Graham of Kroll’s Korner.
Recipe
Cheerio Trail Mix
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- pyrex measuring cup
- Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups Honey Nut Cheerios
- 1 ½ cup mini pretzels
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- ¼ cup unsweetened coconut shreds
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- ⅔ cup dried cherries/raisins/craisins/goldenberries
- 2 tbsp honey
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a microwavable safe measuring cup (a glass one like this is perfect), combine peanut butter, honey, vanilla and butter. Microwave in 30 second intervals until butter is melted and mixture is silky, stirring between each interval.
- In a large mixing bowl, add cheerios, pretzels, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, raisins and coconut shreds. Toss together gently.
- Pour peanut butter mixture over dried snacks and toss again. Note: this will lightly cover all of the trail mix. If you’d like more clusters of goodness in the trail mix, double the amount of peanut butter / honey / butter that the recipe calls for.
- After tossing, allow the mixture to cool before refrigerating. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Notes
Looking for this in MyFitnessPal?
If you're using MyFitnessPal, search 'A Paige Of Positivity' and find CHEERIO TRAIL MIX calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
Courtney Paige says
Love making this and having it for a snack!! So easy and effortless!
Sydney Van Acker says
Cheerios are definitely my favorite cereal and with the sweet and salty combo in this recipe, I'm all over it!