This Pumpkin Spice Fall Chex Mix is made with corn Chex cereal, pretzels, bugles, pecans, candy corn, Reese’s Pieces and drizzled with a brown sugar spiced glaze! It’s the perfect sweet snack for this harvest season!
I’m a sucker for a good snack mix. Especially at parties. No matter if it’s a salty trail mix or a sweet chex mix, they simply allow guests to munch while waiting for food.
And as a host, I can’t help but appreciate how portable snack mixes are and best of all, they don’t require reheating or refrigeration! Score!
For this fall inspired chex mix, I chose to add sweet and salty flavors. They, in my opinion, make for the best snacks. You get salt from the pretzels and bugles and you get sweet from the brown sugar glaze and of course, the candy add-ins!
Pumpkin Spiced Glaze
To make this super festive and ideal for Autumn, I added pumpkin pie spice to my glaze. This is completely optional but I think, it is a must if you are serving this mix in the fall. It is made without cornsyrup too which I love!Re
Spices add a ton of flavor without adding calories or fat. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can simply use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Microwave Ready!
I love that I don’t need to turn on my oven to make this trail mix! All you need is a LARGE microwave proof bowl and 5 minutes!
The idea is to mix together the dry ingredients first. Then, mix together your brown sugar spiced glaze and drizzle it all over your salty snacks.
Gently toss everything together and microwave on high until the sugar melts and forms a crust when cooled.
It is important to add your Reese’s Pieces LAST and when the Chex mix is fully cooled. If you don’t the residual heat will melt your Reese’s Pieces and it will look messy. If you don’t mind that, then add them in whenever you want!
Fall inspired add-ins
I used candy corn and Reese’s Pieces in this recipe so it is ideal for Halloween OR Thanksgiving. If you want to make it spookier, stick with just orange and black (dark brown) candy.
If you want to make it more Thanksgiving friendly, add in yellow.
Reese’s Pieces are peanut butter flavored so if you don’t want that flavor in your mix, then I suggest using fall colored M&M’s instead so you have a chocolate flavor! OR you can leave them out entirely.
The candy corn is a must (even if you despise the stuff). Personally I am not a huge fan but if you are serving it at a party or potluck, it adds a festive flair that will let guests know that the mix is sweet at first glance. Plus, kids love picking them out!
If you want to kick it up a notch on the festive scale, add those candy pumpkins too! I personally think they are too clunky but again, it is all about presentation so maybe a few here and there won’t hurt.
Substitutions
This is your party mix so feel free to add in whatever you like! Here are some other suggestions if you want to add other ingredients to your mix:
- Different flavored Chex cereals (cinnamon, wheat, honey)
- Different types of pretzels
- Different nuts (peanuts, cashews, walnuts)
- Dried fruit (raisins, craisins)
Chex Mix Tips
- Don’t use a spoon to mix! Trust me. It will smash all your Chex cereal together (which is very delicate) and look sloppy. Instead, use your HANDS initially! They are the best tools.
- Watch your mix! Don’t forget about it in the microwave. It WILL burn.
- Pick out the broken pieces. This is a great task for the little ones but is completely optional. Again, it is more for aesthetics.
Just remember that this mix is totally flexible! If you don’t want your mix super sweet, you can always use less sugar. All Chex mixes are very forgiving. The most important thing is that you have fun and enjoy the party!
Other sweet Fall snacks you might like:
Easy Homemade Buttery Caramel Corn (without Corn Syrup)
Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Bark
Easy Mini Halloween Petit Fours
Pumpkin Spice Fall Snack Party Mix (with Chex)
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Glaze
- ¾ cup Brown sugar
- ½ cup Butter (1 stick or 8 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- 1½ tbsp Pumpkin pie spice
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups Chex cereal (I used corn)
- 2 cups Pretzels
- 1½ Bugles
- 1 cup Pecans
- ¾ cup Candy corn
- ¼ cup Reese's Pieces or M&M's (Fall mix)
Instructions
- Add your Chex cereal, Bugles, pretzels and pecans to a large microwave safe bowl and set aside.
- Melt your butter in the microwave and add your brown sugar, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk so there are no lumps.
- Pour your pumpkin spiced glaze over your dry mix and toss everything together GENTLY. I like to use my hands for this so I don't smash everything.
- Microwave your mix for 2 minutes on high.Remove and toss gently with a rubber spatula or spoon.Place back in the microwave for another 2 minutes.Remove and toss gently.Add it back in for one more minute and toss on last time.
- Spread mixture onto a nonstick baking pan or parchment paper and allow to cool. (about 5-10 minutes)
- Mix in your candy corn and Reese's pieces and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Can it be done in the oven or slow cooker as I do not own a microwave
Hi Caroline!
You can do this in a sauce pan and oven but it is a little more temperamental. To do this, melt your butter, brown sugar, vanilla and spice in a saucepan over medium heat letting it simmer nicely. After about 5 minutes, take it off the heat and pour over your check mix on a baking sheet (leaving out the candy corn and Reese’s). Toss well. Bake at 300 for about 10 minutes. Then allow to cool before adding corn and Reese’s. LMK how it turns out!! 🙂
Ready and eat. Yummy… Delicious and great. Your recipe is awesome. I followed it. After that, I did better than I expected. Before, I rarely made this dish but now I love to make it. Thank you very much for your great sharing. Hope you will have more good articles.
Thank you!