This fun, crunchy, and sweet Chocolate-Peanut Butter Snack Mix is filled with chocolate, peanut butter cereal, dry-roasted peanuts, miniature peanut butter cups, and pretzels!
Love chocolate and peanut butter? Us too! Try our chocolate peanut butter pie or chocolate peanut butter muffins next!
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Snack Mix
Muddy Buddies are a family favorite snack and one we make often, so I had the idea to channel those flavors into a crunchy and sweet snack mix. The result? A total hit! We couldn’t get enough of this; in fact, it disappeared quicker than I could snap pictures.
And that’s not a complaint; I was more than happy to make it again to get some photos and share it here! 🙂
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Snack Mix Ingredients
- Chocolate Chex® Cereal:. This fun cereal is a combination of Rice Chex and Chocolate Chex pieces. While plain Chex cereal works fine in this recipe, it’s fun to have the additional chocolate.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios® Cereal:. This cereal uses real cocoa and real peanut butter and it’s delicious–the perfect addition to the mix.
- Dry-roasted peanuts: We like dry-roasted and lightly salted peanuts — they add more flavor for no additional work.
- Pretzels: Pretzel twists or sticks work great. You may need to break down the pretzels so they aren’t too big and overpowering in the mix. I use pretzel twists and give them a quick coarse break with my hands.
- Reese’s Minis Peanut Butter Cups®: Not to be confused with miniature Reese’s cups, these ones are even smaller!
- Milk chocolate chips: We love milk chocolate with peanut butter, but if you prefer a little less sweetness, use semi-sweet or dark chocolate instead.
- Peanut butter baking chips: These baking chips are usually found with other chocolate chips in the baking aisle of the grocery store.
- Vegetable Oil: A little bit of oil in the chocolate and peanut butter chips helps to make them more manageable and pipe nicer on the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Snack Mix. Canola oil or coconut oil will also work great.
Melting the Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips
- Using high-quality chocolate will always result in a better melt and a richer taste. My favorite is Ghirardelli® or Guittard®.
- To avoid burned chocolate or peanut butter, microwave in microwave-safe bowls for 30 seconds at a time, and stir it for at least 20-25 seconds in between each microwave burst. Remember, the chocolate is still melting even after it has been removed from the microwave.
- Work quickly! Melted chocolate can harden quickly, so pipe it on this Chocolate-Peanut Butter Snack Mix as soon as it’s melted.
- Don’t allow any liquid near the chocolate. If the chocolate or peanut butter chocolate gets wet it can seize and harden.
- While you can certainly use a piping bag and small tip to pipe the melted chocolate on to the mix, you don’t need any special tools. I use a small snack-size plastic bag to transfer the chocolate into. Snip off the tip and pipe it on the snack mix.
- Line the sheet pan with parchment paper before piping the melted chips on the snack mix. If the chocolate is piped onto the mix on an unlined pan, it will be difficult to get it off!
Quick Tip
Using a plastic storage bag to pipe icing saves cleanup time! Using a plastic bag, fold the top over so that when you spoon in the icing, it won’t get stuck in the zipper-top area. When filled, squeeze excess air out and seal. Push the icing into the lowest corner of the bag and wrap the unfilled area around the full part of the bag. Snip off a teeny tiny corner from the icing bag, and with the top twisted tightly, squeeze the icing onto the snack mix.
Storage
To store this Chocolate-Peanut Butter Snack Mix, place in an airtight container (I like using Mason jars or Weck® mold jars). Keep container in a cool dry place for up to a week (we like it best within 2-3 days). For optimal freshness, store in the fridge.
Leftover snack mix can be frozen in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to 3 months; thaw at room temperature.
More easy snack mix recipes
- Snack Mix with a cinnamon-sugar coating
- White Chocolate Chex Mix with M&M’s
- Sweet Chex Mix Recipe sticky and gooey snack mix
- Trail Mix with five different variations!
- Christmas Snack Mix festive and fun
Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Mix
Equipment
- Sheet pan 15 x 21-inch, lined
Ingredients
- 3 cups chocolate Chex cereal
- 2 cups chocolate peanut butter Cheerios cereal
- 1 cup dry roasted and lightly salted peanuts
- 1 cup pretzel twists
- 1 cup Reese's minis peanut butter cups
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 2-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil divided
- 1/2 cup peanut butter baking chips
Instructions
- Line a 15 x 21-inch sheet pan, or 2 smaller sheet pans, with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cereals, dry-roasted peanuts, mini peanut butter cups, and pretzels. If the pretzels are large, break them into pieces with your hands. Gently stir to combine mix. Spread mix in one even layer on the prepared sheet pan(s).
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the milk chocolate chips and 1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil. Melt, in bursts of 15 seconds, stirring in between each burst for 15 seconds, or until chocolate is fully melted and smooth. Transfer melted chocolate into a small plastic bag and cut off the very tip with scissors. Pipe the chocolate generously across the snack mix on the sheet pan.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the peanut butter baking chips and 1 teaspoon vegetable oil. Melt, in bursts of 15 seconds, stirring in between each burst for 15 seconds, or until peanut butter chocolate is fully melted and smooth. Transfer melted peanut butter chocolate into a small plastic bag and cut off the very tip with scissors. Pipe the peanut butter generously across the snack mix on the sheet pan.
- Chill the snack mix in the fridge for 15 minutes to allow the chocolate to firm up.
- Coarsely break into pieces and enjoy!
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
