Description
This gluten-free sweet Chex mix recipe can be made two ways: 1) Gooey & sticky or 2) crispy & crunchy. Both are delicious & perfect for sharing!
Ingredients
Scale
For The Dry Ingredients:
- 5 1/2 cups Rice Chex (half a 12-ounce box)*
- 5 1/2 cups Corn Chex (half a 12-ounce box)*
- 1–1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut*
- 1–1 1/2 cup sliced almonds*
For The Sticky Coating:
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks/8 ounces)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Prep Your Space. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine Dry Ingredients. In your largest mixing bowl (or two large bowls, if that works better for you), combine Rice Chex, Corn Chex, coconut, and almonds. Mix to combine well. If using two bowls, try to divide everything evenly between them.
- Boil Sticky Syrup Mixture. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and corn syrup and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat and boil 2 minutes. Watch closely!
- Finish Syrup. Remove the syrup mixture from the heat and stir in almond extract and salt until well combined.
- Coat The Cereal. Pour syrup mixture over the cereal mixture and stir to combine. Keep stirring until the dry ingredients are evenly coated.
- Cool. Spread the sticky Chex Mix out on your baking sheet lined with parchment paper to cool. It will be sticky and gooey! If you’d like to package this Chex Mix to give away, allow it to dry 8-12 hours before packing into treat bags. (It’ll still be sticky, but it’ll be easier to handle.)
If You Want To Make It Crispy (My Preference):
- Preheat oven to 250 degress F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Follow instructions above, but pour mixture out onto 2 parchment-line baking sheets and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Let Chex mix cool completely. It will be crispy and sweet like caramel corn! (Note: if you crowd it onto 1 baking sheet, you may need an extra 15-30 minutes to get crispy.)
Notes
Ingredient Notes:
- Chex. To keep this Chex mix gluten-free, stick with Rice Chex and Corn Chex.
- Coconut. My mom likes to use large shaved unsweetened coconut flakes. You can absolutely use those here if you prefer them to sweetened coconut.
- Nuts. Feel free to swap in salted cashews or macadamia nuts instead! Or use a mix of nuts for more variety.
- Corn Syrup. Use light corn syrup NOT dark corn syrup. Don’t try to substitute honey or agave.
- Almond Extract. This is my family “secret ingredient” I LOVE the flavor, but if you already know you don’t like almond extract, you can omit it or use vanilla instead.
- Salt. I’m using kosher salt. If you’re using fine table salt, start with HALF the amount.
Make A Bigger Batch:
- If you have a large enough bowl, you can absolutely make a full-size batch of this using 1 (12-ounce) box Rice Chex, 1 (12-ounce) box Corn Chex, 2-3 cups coconut, 2-3 cups almonds, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups corn syrup, 1 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon almond extract)
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
