This Muddy Buddy recipe makes a bowl of delicious bite-size snacks that are impossible to resist. A mouthwatering combination of sweet, crunchy, and creamy. If you haven’t tried a Muddy Buddies recipe, you are in for a treat! Chex cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar are the base for this tempting snack, but the sky is the limit when it comes to adding your own creative additions!
You’ll Love This Muddy Buddy Recipe
Sometimes referred to as Puppy Chow (though don’t feed this to your dog; bake them my dog cake instead!), one of the best things about this recipe is how flexible it is. You can add almost any sweet or salty bite-size snack to the mix. Nuts, candies, trail mix, cereal, pretzels, sprinkles, marshmallows… the list of ways to personalize your muddy buddies is almost endless!
Why You’ll Love This Muddy Buddy Recipe:
- For quick, easy, no-bake sweet treats, these are a classic choice.
- Muddy buddies aren’t just easy; they are quick! Less than 15 minutes, start to finish.
- This melt-in-your-mouth snack is gluten-free!
- It’s easy to dress up your muddy buddies for any holiday or occasion. Get creative with your mix-ins!
- This is such a great recipe to make with the kids.
- It’s easy, and the microwave is the only heating element used.
Muddy Buddy Recipe Ingredients
This is a discussion about the ingredients. For the actual recipe with amounts, please see the recipe below.
- Chex Cereal: Make sure you grab plain, unflavored Chex cereal for this recipe. We’re adding plenty of sugar and flavor to this snack recipe, so we don’t want it to be overly sweet.
- White Chocolate Chips: You can also use white almond bark or candy melts. If you don’t like white chocolate, you can use butterscotch, peanut butter chips, or plain chocolate chips.
- Butter: I like unsalted butter; you can use salted butter if you like the contrasting flavors of sweet and salty.
- Vanilla: Use whatever vanilla extract you have on hand.
- Powdered Sugar: I don’t recommend swapping this for any other sugar; the results just won’t turn out the same.
- Peanut Butter: I recommend using a basic jar of smooth peanut butter; you might run into issues if you use a natural peanut butter, since those can be oily and not adhere well to the snack mix.
- White Chocolate-Covered Pretzels: Also sometimes labeled as yogurt-covered pretzels. You can leave these whole or break them up into smaller pieces, or leave them out entirely.
- M&Ms: You can use plain, peanut, minis, or swap them for Reese’s pieces.
How to Make Muddy Buddies
This is just a visual overview of how this recipe is made to help you visualize the process. For the actual recipe directions with full details, please see the recipe card below.
Step 1: Add peanut butter, white chocolate chips, and butter to a bowl.
Step 2: Microwave the mixture until smooth and mix until combined.
Step 1: Toss the Chex cereal in the peanut butter mixture.
Step 2: Put portions of the mixture into a large gallon bag with powdered sugar and shake to combine. Add mix-ins, then enjoy!
Christi’s Tips For Success!
Dress it Up – The reason I love this recipe so much is that you can customize it with different add-ins and flavors, or change up the colors and theme of your muddy buddies to match holidays or events.
Some of my favorite mix-ins are nuts, candies, crushed Oreos, chocolates, dried fruit, sprinkles, and marshmallows! You can get so creative with this.
Storage Tips
Storing: Store the leftover Muddy Buddies in an airtight container or a gallon bag at room temperature. They stay fresh for about 4-5 days.
More Snack Mix Recipes to Try
If you enjoyed this recipe for homemade muddy buddies, you’ll love a few more of my similar, just as fun & easy recipes!
Muddy Buddy Recipe
Ingredients
- 9 cups Rice Chex Cereal
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (almond bark works as well)
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup M&Ms (or other mix-ins)
- 1 cup small white chocolate covered pretzels
Instructions
- Pour cereal into a very large mixing bowl, then set aside.
- In a microwave-safe dish, combine white chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Microwave on high for one minute, then remove from the microwave and stir well. If the mixture can not be stirred smooth, return to the microwave for 15 seconds, remove and stir well. If still not smooth, repeat the process in 15-second heat and stir intervals. Add vanilla and stir.
- Pour melted mixture over cereal in large bowl and stir to coat. Add a portion of the coated cereal to a Ziploc style freezer bag and add 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Shake gently until well coated. Remove coated muddy buddies and repeat process until all pieces are coated with powdered sugar. Spread onto a baking sheet to allow to cool.
- Once cool, add pretzels and M&Ms candies (or other mix-ins). Gently stir to combine. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
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Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
