Best White Chocolate Christmas Chex Mix Recipe with M&M's (2023)

Chow down on the best Christmas Chex mix recipe with M&M's, pretzels, peanuts, and white chocolate. Get sweet, salty, and crunchy in every bite.

It’s that time of year again. Yup. Time to loosen your belt and chow down on Christmas goodies.

Need a Christmas Eve snack to munch on while you wait for Santa to come? Looking for a festive potluck dessert? Want an easy neighbor gift? It’s time to pull out your Christmas Chex mix recipe with M&Ms.

It is an easy back pocket recipe with simple ingredients that make a perfect combination of sweet, salty, and crunchy.

This Christmas Chex mix recipe with M&M’s is stress-free and easy. Best of all, it is quick enough to make even with all your other holiday cooking. Better yet, turn this assignment over to your kids. They will love it.

To make Christmas Chex mix stir Chex cereal, salty pretzels, roasted cocktail peanuts, and milk chocolate M&M candies together. Melt white chocolate in the microwave and drizzle it over the dry ingredients. Stir, dry, and munch.

Homemade Chex mix goes by a variety of names, including white trash, puppy chow, muddy buddies, reindeer chow, and Christmas crack Chex mix. Wow! Whatever you call it, this is one of those snack mixes that is as easy to make in a double batch as it is to make in a small bowl.

So, make a big batch of your famous white chocolate party mix recipe and you have an instant snack throughout the busy holiday season.

Christmas Chex Mix Ingredients

Like all great snack mix recipes, it includes salty, sweet, and crunchy ingredients.

Base Ingredients

• Chex Cereal
  
  General Mills has a variety of Chex cereal flavors to choose from. Choose one or two varieties of these cereal squares.
  • Rice Chex
  • Corn Chex
  • Wheat Chex
  • Peanut Butter Chex
  • Chocolate Chex
  • Vanilla Chex
  • Cinnamon Chex

I recommend combining rice and corn Chex.

Salty Ingredients

• Pretzels

Regular pretzels and gluten-free pretzels come in many sizes and shapes. Choose pretzels close to the size of the Chex cereal squares.

Snyder’s of Hanover sells itty bitty mini pretzels and butter-flavored pretzel balls. These pretzels are the perfect size for this Christmas mix. Snyder’s snap pretzels are also a good choice.

If you use any brand of pretzel sticks, break them up. Even Rold Gold tiny twists are too large and are better snapped in pieces. You will like the size and the feel of smaller pieces in the mix.

• Roasted Peanuts

Peanuts are the ideal choice for a Christmas Chex mix recipe with M&M’s. Use Planter’s lightly salted cocktail peanuts or roasted peanuts.

If you are feeling adventurous, try a different nut.

Sweet Ingredients

• Christmas M&M Candies
  • Regular M&M chocolate candies. Good choice for any recipe variation.
  • Peanut M&M’s. If you use peanut M&M’s, add fewer peanuts and more M&M’s. Or skip the peanuts altogether.
  • Pretzel M&M’s. Skip the pretzels or add fewer when you use pretzel M&M’s.
  • Brownie M&M’s.  Brownie M&M’s have a little more substance to them. They are chewier and would pair well with a crushed candy cane.
  • Mint M&M’s. Mint M&M’s are a Christmas flavor if ever there was one.
  • Don't forget your homemade chocolate chip fudge. That would be a sweet addition too.

Lots of M&M flavors taste good in Christmas crack Chex mix. Choose your favorite variety. If you have time on your hands, pull out the red and green candies to make the snack festive.

I’m sorry, but you will have to eat the other colors of M&Ms on your own. Hide them from the kids. They are your present-wrapping snack.

• Melted White Chocolate or White Morsels

Drizzle melted white chocolate over all the other ingredients and stir to mix. You need white chocolate or white candy coating that will melt easily and then harden again.

Here are some white chocolate choices:

White chocolate or white morsels. Most “white chocolate” chips are not true white chocolate. All white chocolate has a minimum of 20% cocoa butter.

Read the ingredients on the label and you will find that “white chocolate” chips have no cocoa butter at all. That is why they are called chocolate morsels or chocolate bits.

You can use white morsels, but you may need to add coconut oil, vegetable oil, or shortening to thin it out.

You can also use white chocolate baking bars. Break them up before melting.

Almond bark flavored coating is a candy coating that melts smoothly. It is an ideal choice for this recipe. Discover when to use almond bark in place of white chocolate.

Wilton candy melts are a choice to use as a last resort. They are harder to melt and may need the addition of shortening. They do not taste as good, but are great for decorating. Learn more about candy melts vs white chocolate.

• Christmas Sprinkles, Jimmies, or Nonpareils.

These are purely for Christmas decoration. Add them right after the melted chocolate so they stick to the other ingredients. You do not want the jimmies collecting on the bottom of the bowl.

• Optional Add-ins for Christmas White Chocolate Chex Mix Recipe:
  • Marshmallows
  • White chocolate chips (unmelted)
  • Milk, dark, or semi-sweet chocolate chips (unmelted)
  • Coconut flakes
  • Macadamia nuts, roasted almonds, pistachios, or candied pecans
  • Crushed candy canes. Brach’s sells crushed candy canes for convenience. Or pull out your hammer and pound.
  • Red hots or cinnamon imperials
  • Kit Kat minis or Kit Kat white chocolate minis
  • Junior mints

You can create lots of different variations of this Christmas white chocolate Chex mix recipe.

Christmas Chex Mix Recipe with M&M’s

This is the family size (feeds 8-10). Double the recipe for a crowd.

1. 2 cups rice Chex cereal
2. 2 cups corn Chex cereal
3. 1½ cups itty bitty pretzel twists
4. 1½ cups dry roasted peanuts
5. 2 cups of red and green M&M candies
6. 12 oz. vanilla almond bark or 1 bag of white chocolate chips (plus ¼ to ½ teaspoon of shortening or coconut oil if necessary)
7. 2 tablespoons red and green jimmies (optional)

How to make White Chocolate Christmas Chex Mix with M&M’s

Step 1. Prepare ingredients. Chop pretzels, if necessary. Pull out a cookie sheet. Grab a large mixing bowl.

Step 2. Mix cereal, pretzels, and peanuts in a large bowl. Do not add the M&M’s or jimmies yet. Stir to combine.

Step 3. Melt the white chocolate, almond bark, or white chocolate candy coating.

The best way to melt white chocolate is in the microwave. Pour chocolate pieces or chips into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on 50% power for 1 minute. Stir. If necessary, heat at 15-second intervals at 50% power until the chocolate is 85 to 90% melted.

Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir until all the chocolate is melted. If the chocolate is thick, add coconut oil, vegetable oil, or shortening ½ teaspoon at a time. Stir after each addition.

Evaluate the consistency to see if more fat is needed. Add the lowest amount necessary. Each brand of white chocolate or white candy coating is different. Some may not need shortening or oil and some may need more than the ½ teaspoon recommended. Use your best judgment here.

Alternately, you can melt the white chocolate in a double boiler, slow cooker, or on the stove.

To melt almond bark candy coating, melt in the microwave on full power for 60 seconds and then stir.

Step 4. Pour ½ of the melted white chocolate into the cereal mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining chocolate and stir to coat. Use a spoon (best) or your clean hands (if necessary) to hit all the dry pieces.

Step 5. Sprinkle in the jimmies or nonpareils when the chocolate is wet. Stir.

Step 6. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Spread the Chex mix as evenly as possible on the cookie sheet. Allow the white chocolate to dry. Depending on the room temperature of your kitchen and the quality of white chocolate, this could take from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

Step 7. When the white chocolate has dried, break apart the Chex mix pieces that are stuck together. Pour into a big bowl.

Step 8. Add the M&M’s. Mix evenly. Adding the M&M’s last keeps the red and green colors vibrant.

Step 9. Serve to your favorite people to celebrate the season.

Fun Varieties of Christmas White Chocolate Chex Mix Recipe

If you want to mix things up, try these variations on the classic white chocolate Chex mix recipe.

Winter Wonderland Christmas White Chocolate Chex Mix Recipe

• 4 cups rice Chex cereal
• 1½ cups macadamia nuts, lightly salted
• 1½ cups white mini marshmallows
• 1 cup unwrapped mini white Kit Kats, chopped
• 1 cup Snyder’s of Hanover buttery pretzel rounds
• 1 cup M&M’s (optional)
• 2 tablespoons toasted coconut flakes (optional)
• 12 oz. vanilla almond bark or 1 bag of white chocolate (plus ¼ to ½ teaspoon of shortening or coconut oil if necessary)
• 2 tablespoons white jimmies (optional)

Minty Christmas Chex Mix Recipe with M&M's

• 2 cups Rice Chex cereal
• 2 cups Corn Chex cereal
• 1½ cups shelled pistachio nuts, lightly salted
• 1½ cups mint green M&M candies
• 1 cup dark M&M’s – pick out the green ones
• 1 cup of pretzel snaps
• 12 oz. vanilla almond bark or 1 bag of white chocolate (plus ¼ to ½ teaspoon of shortening or coconut oil if necessary)
• 2 tablespoons green jimmies (optional)

How to Serve Chex Mix at a Christmas Party

Your family may be used to eating Chex mix from a common bowl. However, that is not sanitary when serving it at a party.

Instead, set up your food table so guests can serve themselves without dipping their hands into the bowl. We are all aware of germs in common areas now, am I right?

Serving Method 1

1. Pour the sweet snack mix into a large serving bowl.
2. Provide a large serving spoon or a scoop, along with festive bowls or red plastic cups.

Serving Method 2

It may be easier to dish out individual servings of the mix into cups for guests.

1. Pre-dish the Chex mix in cups, bowls, paper bags, or plastic treat bags.
2. Arrange on a platter or in a basket.

Whip up some chocolate chip hot chocolate and you are ready for the party.

How to Gift White Chocolate Chex Mix

Now that you have made a large batch of Christmas snack mix, you are ready to gift it to your friends, coworkers, and neighbors.

Choose cute holiday tins or festive cellophane bags. Fill with the Christmas snack mix, secure it with a Christmas string, and add personalized gift tags.

How to Store Chex Mix Christmas Crack

Store your Christmas Chex mix in an airtight container. This prevents the Chex cereal, pretzels, and nuts from drying out.

Keep the container on the counter or in the cupboard. Unless your kitchen is very hot, you should not need to refrigerate the Chex mix.

The Chex mix will be good for 5 to 7 days.

For longer storage, freeze the Chex mix in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag. Store in the freezer for 3 months.

To thaw, pull it out of the freezer and set it on the counter for about 20 to 30 minutes.

All set? Now you have a plan to feed your houseguests and kids the week of Christmas. Just make a colossal batch, keep it prominently on the counter, and subtly point to it whenever you hear, “I’m hungry”.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

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