This nuts and bolts recipe is the ultimate from-scratch snack mix! Salted peanuts, five different kinds of cereal, crisp pretzels, bagel chips, cheese crackers, and Worcestershire pair with a mix of seasonings and bacon drippings to make this everyone’s favorite. You’re going to want to keep a batch of this on hand at all times!

A bowl of nuts and bolts snack mix with wooden spoon.

Before you could purchase snack mix in the grocery store, every party needed a nuts and bolts recipe! Similar to from-scratch Chex Mix, this recipe has the same savory seasoning and variety of textures. There are so many variations to play with, but this combination is easily our go-to; using bacon drippings in place of some of the butter is a total game changer!

It’s a winner for holiday parties, gifting, movie watching, and lunch boxes. Best of all? It’s simple!

Roasting pan filled with pretzel sticks, Cheezits, Cheerios, bagel chips, Chex cereals, and peanuts.

How to Make This Nuts and Bolts Recipe: Step By Step

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
Combine cereals, crackers, and snacks into a large roasting pan and mix.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Then, stir in the bacon grease and Worcestershire sauce into the pan.
In a small bowl, mix the seasonings together and set aside.
Drizzle the melted butter over the cereal mixture and toss. Once coated, add the seasoning mixture.
Use a spatula, wooden spoon, or your hands, to mix everything together until all the pieces are evenly coated.
Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
When each piece is crispy and dry, you will know it’s done. Once that happens, bring the pans out quickly and let them cool completely.

Oven or Crock-Pot?

We suggest the oven for this, but we know some folks do prefer to make this mix with their Crock-Pot. If you want to try that out, you would pour the mixture into the slow cooker rather than the roasting pan. You may need to do this in batches or use an extra-large slow cooker. You can let this go for about three hours on the lowest setting, but to prevent burning you will want to stir this once an hour, and twice in the final hour.

Ways to change it

This combo is our favorite adaptation, but you can easily make this your own! Here are some alternate options you can try out:

Rye chips, Goldfish, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and rice crackers can be added to the mixture or used to replace something else.
The peanuts can be omitted totally or replaced with a different type of nut.
If you like spice – add ½ tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce to the melted butter.
Chili powder or cayenne go great in the seasoning mix, but make sure you add in small increments to taste.
For the sweet tooth in the group, add candied peanuts, toffee bits, or flavored Cheerios for some sweetness.
After cooling, things like chocolate chips can be stirred in.

Storing and Gifting

This recipe makes an insanely large amount of snack mix!

Storage: This will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Gifting: Since this recipe makes such a large quantity, it’s an awesome (and economical!) gift. Fill a mason jar or a small cellophane bag, and tie with a bow or ribbon.

We're ready for more snacks! How about you?

Watch the Recipe Video:

We would absolutely love it if you made this nuts and bolts recipe; if you do, please stop back and leave a rating and let us know how you liked it! ENJOY! 😍

Photography by Lauren Grant.

Yield: 56 servings (2 large roasters)
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

12 ounce ( 340.2 g ) box Rice Chex cereal
12 ounce ( 340.2 g ) box Corn Chex cereal
14 ounce ( 396.89 g ) box Wheat Chex cereal
12 ounce ( 340.2 g ) box Kix cereal
8.9 ounce ( 252.31 g ) box Cheerios
13.7 ounce ( 388.39 g ) box Cheez-It crackers
16 ounces ( 453.59 g ) plain bagel chips
16 ounces ( 453.59 g ) pretzel sticks
32 ounces ( 907.19 g ) salted peanuts
¾ cup ( 170.25 g ) unsalted butter
1 cup ( 236.59 g ) bacon grease
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion salt

Method

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Place the cereals, crackers, bagel chips, pretzels and peanuts in a large roasting pan (you will probably need to use two) and stir to evenly combine.
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt together the butter, bacon grease and Worcestershire sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the seasoned salt, garlic powder, celery and onion salts.
Drizzle the melted butter mixture evenly over the dry ingredients, then evenly sprinkle the seasoning mixture. Using your (clean) hands or a large wooden spoon, gently stir to ensure that all of the ingredients are evenly coated.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

Equipment: Large roasting pan, a spatula, a small saucepan, and a small bowl.

Bacon Drippings: You can yield 1 cup of bacon grease from about 2 pounds of bacon. Store the drippings in a glass jar or airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Substitutions: You can mix and match your favorite ingredients to make this a completely custom snack mix for YOU! See the post above for suggestions and ideas.

Storage: This can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Photography by Lauren Grant.