How to Make Trail Mix for Road Trips
Mix and match these three delicious homemade trail mix recipes and portion them out into snack bags for your next family adventure.
For our family, summer vacation brings long trips in the car as we head out on our annual family vacations.
Even when we're staying close to home, kids are so very munchy during the summer, aren't they??
This year, why not make a batch of homemade trail mix filled with crispy cereals and dried fruits and nuts as an easy grab-and-go snack option for your adventures?
Here are some of our favorite unique mixes to add to your pantry.
Why This is the Best Recipe
When you're heading out on a road trip or family adventure and need an easy snack to bring along, this is the best trail mix recipe because:
- Unique Flavors: These fun mixes keep things fresh and interesting, especially on a long car ride.
- With Nuts or Nut Free: I have both options available and handy tips.
- Easy to Mix and Match: You can add to these mixes and make your own homemade varieties so easily. The kids will have fun helping!
Ingredients
For the three different trail mix combinations in my printable recipe card at the bottom, you will need:
- Cereal: I used Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Honey Nut Cheerios because they have a variety of flavors, textures, and shapes.
- Dried Fruits: I used dried peaches, dried cherries, and dried banana chips. The peaches and cherries can be a little pricey, so feel free to substitute whatever dried fruit is on sale or bulk up the recipe with raisins, golden raisins, or dried cranberries which tend to be more budget-friendly.
- Nuts: I used salted pecans and hazelnuts but pistachios, almonds, walnuts, or even macadamia nuts would also be delicious. Peanuts tend to be the most budget friendly. Check the bulk section of your grocery store for the best deals.
- Sunflower Seeds: This is an excellent nut-free option to add to a trail mix if you don't want to use nuts in any of the mixes I mention below. They add crunch and a lovely salty flavor to the mix.
Want to Save This for Later?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Easy Trail Mix Combinations
Making a homemade trail mix, you are only limited by your imagination. Mix and match to your heart's desire.
That said, I know it can be helpful to have some inspiration on where to start. Here are my kids' favorite three combinations:
Southern Peaches & Pecans Trail Mix
Tasty Cinnamon Toast Crunch is mixed with chopped dried peaches and salted pecan chunks.
This is my new favorite snack! I love the combo of the crunchy cereal with the chewy dried fruit chunks. A little salty, a little sweet.
Optional Add-Ins: Yogurt covered raisins or yogurt covered pretzels would bring a "peaches and cream" flavor to the mix.
Chunky Monkey Trail Mix
I had Elvis in mind for this mix but just couldn't bring myself to add bacon bits to it!
I mixed the yummy chocolatey peanut butter puffs from Reese's Puffs with sweetened dried banana chips and chopped roasted hazelnuts.
I love how the dried banana chips complement the peanut butter flavor and add an even heartier crunch.
Optional Add-ins: I wanted to keep our trail mixes quite hearty but if you wanted to make them more of a sweet treat, you could add in mini chocolate chips or M&Ms to this mix, too.
Salted Cherry Trail Mix
My kids both love a salty sweet combo and this one is amazing.
I mixed Honey Nut Cheerios with salted sunflower seeds and dried cherries for a trail mix that tastes quite a bit like a snack version of my favorite cherry crisp dessert.
If you want to make this completely nut-free, you could use regular Cheerios or another cereal of your choice.
Optional Add-ins: Dried pistachios would be an excellent addition to the cherries if you don't mind nuts in your mix.
Storage Tips
When you use completely dried cereals, fruits, and nuts together, your trail mix will keep for a very long time.
I recommend storing it in an airtight container or zip-top bag for up to two weeks.
I chose to immediately portion the trail mix out into individual snack bags for easy grab-and-go munching for my kids.
You could keep these in the fridge or the pantry, wherever your children will see them and know it is ok to grab one.
Serving Suggestions
These easy homemade snack mixes are perfect for keeping in your car for after school snacks or road trips.
I can premix our favorite trail mix blends and keep them tucked away in the car pockets for my kids to grab in a pinch knowing they won't melt or get stale too quickly.
They also make a great party mix or movie night munchie if you want something different than popcorn.
Tuck a bag in your backpack when you head out on an outdoor adventure with the kids.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Trail Mix
Ingredients
Southern Peaches and Pecans Trail Mix
- 4 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
- 2 cups dried peaches roughly chopped
- 1 cup salted pecan halves broken into quarters
Chunky Monkey Trail Mix
- 4 cups Reese's Puffs cereal
- 2 cups dried banana chips
- 1 cup roasted hazelnuts roughly chopped
Salted Cherry Trail Mix
- 4 cups Honey Nut Cheerios cereal
- 2 cups dried cherries roughly chopped
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
Instructions
- To make each trail mix combo, chop the dried fruits and nuts into smaller pieces to make them stretch farther as your family nibbles on the mix. The ratio of cereal to dried fruit and nuts is just a suggestion since some dried fruits can be more expensive than others. Each of these mixes would also taste great with raisins or golden raisins mixed in if you need an additional budget-friendly dried fruit to bulk up the mix.
- Stir the ingredients together and store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
Save This Recipe to Your Recipe Box
Find this delicious recipe next time you visit by saving it to your very own recipe box on my site. All your favorites stored in one easy place!
One Comment