Hangry Trash Mix (aka: Party Snack Mix)

I’ve been getting a lot of requests for the recipe for my Trash mix since posting some pictures on Facebook and Instagram, so here’s the guideline I use. This is my basic structure, and sometimes I modify it depending on my mood. With that being said, please feel free to substitute anything you think would be delicious or remove something you don’t prefer for your version. Your Trash, your rules.

Hangry Trash Mix

Dry Mix:

1 family size box each of Rice Chex and Corn Chex

1 regular box Wheat Chex

1 large bag of Bugles

1 – 14 oz bag of Gardetto’s rye chips

1 – 1 lb bag of sesame sticks

(Add or delete dry mix components as you see fit)

Wet mix:

2 sticks of butter

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

3 Tbsp Knorr or Maggi liquid seasoning (or soy sauce if you can’t find these)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp celery seed powder (sub celery salt if you can’t find the powder)

1 tsp Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (or creole/cajun seasoning you have access to. Slap Ya Mama or Zataran’s are great subs)

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp Tabasco of your choice


Mix your dry mix together until all ingredients are as evenly distributed as possible. This is where “trash” comes from, as the easiest and best way to do this is put it all into a trash bag and close the top in your fist. Then toss the bag around on the counter to agitate the mix and make it as uniform as possible

For the wet mix, put everything into a small sauce pan, except the butter, and get it warm by putting it on low. After everything is warm, place one stick of butter in and melt into the sauce slowly so the butter doesn’t break. Once the first stick is melted in, add the second stick and melt that in slowly as well. Set aside. It’s now ready to be drizzled over the dry mix.

Dump the dry mix into a counter top roaster oven, or into a turkey roasting pan. You may need to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your vessel of choice. If dividing in half, do the same for the wet mix and save second half for the next batch. Set roaster or regular oven to 225. Drizzle the wet mix over the dry with a small ladle, trying to get as even coverage as possible. Pour one ladle at a time over the dry mix, then stir it to expose uncovered dry mix, drizzle another ladle over that mix, stir, etc., until you’ve got as much of the dry mix covered as you can, or you run out of wet mix. Cover the counter top roaster or cover roasting pan and place in the oven. Stir the mix every 15 minutes for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until the wet mix seems to be dry or very close to dry.

Then, lay the trash out on paper towels on the counter to dry and cool completely before packaging in popcorn tins or gallon sized zip top bags.