10-Minute DIY Chex Mix Seasoning

Ditch the seasoning packet with this easy homemade Chex Mix seasoning that takes less than 10 minutes to make. All you need are a few basic seasonings like garlic and onion powder and a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.

My version of homemade Chex Mix seasoning is a bold take on the official recipe thanks to a few added spices like smoked paprika and a pinch of cayenne pepper. It's a copycat Chex Mix seasoning recipe with a bit of a twist just to really enhance those savory, snacky flavors.

Homemade Chex Mix seasoning stores well for a long time so I usually make a double or triple batch of it and store it in my pantry for snack recipe emergencies.

I use this DIY Chex Mix seasoning to make my own homemade oven-baked Chex Mix with pita chips but it's also great for seasoning these reader-favorite homemade bagel chips, and I even use it as a savory seasoning when making my crispy chicken fingers recipe.

Look, making Chex Mix seasoning from scratch isn't practical for everyone. But if you're making a big batch of homemade Chex Mix, you'll save money in the long run by using spices you can buy in bulk, rather than stocking up on individual seasoning packets.

If you make Chex Mix from scratch often (I know I do, especially around the holidays) you can make this blend and store it in your pantry so it's always ready to use.

If you've ever wondered what Chex Mix seasoning is made of, you might be surprised to learn just how simple it is. You might even have all the ingredients in your pantry already.

Seasoned Salt - Seasoned Salt is what it sounds like, a salt seasoned with a blend of herbs and spices. I use either Morton's or Lawry's brand seasoned salt, both of which include things like paprika, black pepper, onion and garlic powders, celery salt, and a small amount of chili pepper. And yes, we're going to add more of some of these to our DIY Chex Mex blend to really amp up the flavors. But a store bought seasoned salt is a good starting point!

Garlic and Onion Powder - Make sure they are labeled as "powder" or "ground" not "chopped" or "minced".

Smoked Paprika and Cayenne - I personally prefer a smoked paprika over a regular paprika 99.9% of the time, but if you're just not into smoked paprika, regular paprika is just fine here too. While cayenne is optional, it adds a bit of warmth to the blend. It's such a small amount, it doesn't make the Chex Mix spicy. You can leave it out if you're particularly sensitive to spice or increase the quantity for a spicier seasoning blend.

MSG - Yes, that MSG. Monosodium glutamate is a naturally occurring plant-derived fermented flavor enhancer and has two-thirds less sodium than most salts. It's a great way to amp up the flavor without making things too salty. MSG is sold as "Accent!" seasonin in America, though I'm partial to the Japanese Ajinomoto brand which comes in a cute panda bottle. (Check out the work KnowMSG is doing to undo decades of xenophobic fear mongering around this misunderstood and unfairly maligned ingredient!)

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the secret ingredient in so many of your favorite snack foods. When I first started making my own Chex Mix, I followed the recipe on the Chex Mix site. But something was missing. It tasted homemade. It was missing that savory umami flavor that store-bought Chex Mix has that keeps me reaching back in the bag for more.

I looked into the ingredients list for both "Original" and "Bold" Chex Mixes, because they're my two favorite flavors and I wanted my DIY Chex Mix blend to land somewhere between the two, flavor-wise. The main difference? Bold Chex Mix has MSG in it.

MSG enhances — bolds, if you will — the already great flavors of Original Chex Mix. I added a dash of MSG to my homemade Chex Mix seasoning, along with a few other savory spices to round it out, and voila! It was perfect.

The best part of making DIY Chex Mix seasoning is having control over the ratio of ingredients. The official Chex Mix recipe calls for 1½ tablespoons seasoned salt, ¾ teaspoons garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon onion powder.

I'm a garlic girl, and I knew I wanted to add some other flavors to my blend, so I doubled the garlic powder and onion powder so those core Chex Mix flavors would still make up a larger portion of the final blend.

My final Chex Mix ratio is approximately 4 parts official Chex Mix spices (seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder) to 1 part of my own added flavors (smoked paprika, MSG, cayenne).

You can absolutely play around with the ratio of seasonings! Just make sure you always have a larger proportion of those core three Chex Mix seasonings — seasoned salt, onion, and garlic.

• If you really like the smoky flavor, increase the amount of smoked paprika.
• If you want a spicy Chex Mix, increase the amount of cayenne.
• If you don't like the MSG flavor you can cut it in half or omit it entirely.
• If you're not a garlic fiend, you can reduce the amount of garlic.

When I know I'm going to use my DIY Chex Mix seasoning to season meat or vegetables, I often add ½ teaspoon black pepper, so I don't need to season them with pepper separately.

How to Use Chex Mix Seasoning

Making the Chex Mix seasoning blend is easy. Using it is where things get a little trickier. Not tricky, just trickier.

You see, Chex Mix seasoning on its own isn't enough to make something taste like Chex Mix. To make DIY Chex Mix seasoning taste like Chex Mix, it needs Worcestershire Sauce, which is a liquid and can't be mixed with the seasoning blend until you're ready to use it.

As a rule of thumb, you'll want to use a 1:3 ratio of Worcestershire Sauce to unsalted butter and a 1:3 ratio of Worcestershire Sauce to Chex Mix seasoning. That means for every 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, you'd use 3 tablespoons of melted butter and 3 tablespoons of Chex Mix seasoning blend.

There are so many different ways you can use my DIY Chex Mix seasoning, from snack mixes to meat marinades. How you plan to use it will determine how much Worcestershire Sauce (and sometimes butter or oil) you need to go with the seasoning.

If you want to make any sort of Chex Mix flavored snack or snack mix, like Chex Mix popcorn, crackers, pretzels, oops-all-Chex, roasted nuts, etc., you basically just need to make sure you have enough liquid to fully coat the mixture.

You have a LOT of control over the final measurements here and can absolutely tweak the quantity and balance of flavors to your liking.

• The only time you don't really need to add butter is if you're using it as a meat marinade, brine, or breading mixture, like in my Fried Chex Mix Chicken Tenders recipe, which uses a buttermilk brine.
• For roasting or sauteing vegetables, you may prefer using oil instead of butter. Finish with a drizzle of Worcestershire sauce, or toss the veggies with a 3:1 mix of Worcestershire sauce and oil to cook.
• For something like grilled corn, brush each cob with a 3:1 mix of melted butter and Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle with the Chex Mix seasoning. It's so yummy!

At this point I'm handing the reins — and the Chex Mix power — to you. You'll have to scale it up or down or adjust the ratios based on what you're making with it, and there are so many possibilities I can't possibly guide you through all of them in one blog post.

If there's a specific way you want to use your DIY Chex Mix seasoning and aren't sure how to go about it, leave a comment on this post and I'll do my best to help you figure it out.

📖 Recipe