Though the name might be a touch misleading, make no mistake: Texas Trash is solid gold when it comes to snack time.
It’s a spicy Chex Mix made extra flavorful thanks to a buttery coating seasoned with Creole spices, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and seasoned salt. You’ll find this particular mix addictively delicious thanks to the special addition of airy Bugles and over-the-top crunchy bagel chips!
Texas Trash comes together with ease and takes less than 10 minutes to assemble! Just melt the butter, combine ingredients, stir and bake! Use it as an easy party appetizer for feeding a crowd, package it up as a salty-sweet homemade gift for the holidays, or simply whip up a batch for curing your snack attacks any time of year! Like it spicy? Try our spicy-sweet Rosemary Candied Pecans next!
WHAT IS TEXAS TRASH?
Texas Trash is a salty, obsessively delicious spicy Chex Mix and it’s made up of a crunchy combination of Chex cereal, crackers, and pretzels. It gets its spice from a savory butter sauce featuring Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and cayenne-rich ingredients like Creole Seasoning and hot sauce. Once the mix is coated in the butter sauce, it’s baked at a low temperature until toasty and extra crunchy. It’s a highly addictive snack that lasts and lasts, perfect for both homemade gift-giving and vacation munchies!
As with every homemade Chex Mix recipe, Texas Trash is easily adjustable to suit your own personal taste, heat preference, and even gluten allergies. We’ll cover all of this below and more!
WHAT’S IN IT?
The main ingredients that make up Texas Trash are a crunchy mix of Chex cereal, chips, crackers, and pretzels. While the three different types of Chex are standard, you’ll find the other ingredients vary from one recipe to another. We’ve found this particular combo extraordinary in both texture and flavor:
- Corn Chex
- Rice Chex
- Wheat Chex
- Bugels
- Bagel Chips
- Rye Chips
- Pretzel Sticks
Of course, if there is an ingredient on the list you don’t particularly care for, feel free to leave it out or sub in something else! See below for a list of substitutions.
WHAT ELSE CAN I PUT IN TEXAS TRASH?
- Cheerios
- Nuts
- Goldfish
- Sesame Snack Sticks
THE BUTTER SAUCE
Once you have your snack mix decided on and ready to rock, it’s time to move on to that savory, spicy butter sauce! The ingredients are as follows:
- Unsalted Butter
- Worcestershire
- Creole Seasoning Mix
- Seasoned Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Hot Sauce (optional)
This butter sauce is what makes for a spicy Chex Mix. If you want to pull the reigns back on the heat, cut back on the Creole seasoning and leave out the hot sauce altogether.
IS TEXAS TRASH GLUTEN FREE?
No. This particular Texas Trash Recipe is not gluten-free. However, the recipe could easily be adjusted by leaving out wheat-filled ingredients and using gluten-free substitutions from the sub list.
HOW TO MAKE TEXAS TRASH (A.K.A SPICY CHEX MIX)
- Make the Chex Mix – Combine the three types of Chex cereals, Bugels, rye chips, bagel chips, and pretzels in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Microwave the Butter Sauce – Add the butter, Worcestershire sauce, Tony’s Creole Seasoning, seasoned salt, fresh chopped garlic, and hot sauce (if using) to a microwave-safe bowl or pitcher. Cover with plastic wrap to avoid any messes. Microwave the mix at 30-second intervals, just until the butter has melted.
- Combine Sauce with Chex Mix – Stir the mix to make sure the ingredients are evenly incorporated, and drizzle it evenly over the ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Use your hands and gently toss the butter sauce with the cereal, and continue doing so until the mix is evenly coated in it.
- Bake – Transfer the mix to a rimmed baking sheet. You want the mix to be no higher than 1″ thick on the pan, and you may need two baking sheets. Bake for 30 minutes at 275°F, and then remove the pan/pans from the oven, stir the mix and return to bake for another 15 minutes.
HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?
Keep Texas Trash for up to 3-4 weeks in an airtight container.
CAN YOU FREEZE IT?
Yes! Texas Trash freezes extremely well. You can freeze it in either a freezer-safe, airtight container or in freezer-safe gallon-sized zip-top bags for up to 3 months.
6 MORE TEXAS RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Texas Toast
- Texas Chili
- Texas Caviar
- Texas Sheet Cake
- Tex-Mex Beef Enchiladas
- Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
Texas Trash made extra flavorful thanks to a buttery coating seasoned with Creole spices, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and seasoned salt, and it’s addictively delicious!
- 2 cups Corn Chex
- 2 cups Rice Chex
- 2 cups Wheat Chex
- 1 1/2 cup Bugels
- 1 1/2 cup bagel chips
- 1 1/2 cup rye chips
- 1 1/2 cup pretzel sticks
- 1 cup unsalted butter cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce (optional for extra spicy mix)
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Preheat the oven to 275°F and have ready one to two large rimmed baking sheets.
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Add the Corn, Rice, and Wheat Chex to a large mixing bowl, along with the Bugels, bagel chips, rye chips, and pretzels. Use your hands to toss until evenly combined.
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Add the butter, Worcestershire sauce, Tony's Creole Seasoning, seasoned salt, and garlic powder to a microwave-safe bowl. If you want the mix to be extra spicy, add the hot sauce as well. Heat at 30-second intervals, until melted.
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Drizzle the melted butter evenly mixture across bowl cereal mix and use your hands to gently toss until everything is evenly coated. Be sure to wash your hands well.
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Add the mix to the rimmed baking sheet in a layer no thicker than one inch thick. Use a second baking sheet if necessary.
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Bake for 30 minutes. Then, stir up/toss the mixture using a spatula, return to the oven, and bake for 15 minutes more. Allow to cool and serve, or store in an airtight container for up to four weeks.
Recipe Video
Very Good mix! Will go great with your Watermelon Margarita’s! (which I think I will go make). Looked like you used Dots as your pretzel choice. Highly recommend using. They are awesome
Thank you, Cary!
Some of my pieces came out chewy…can you tell me what I did wrong?
That’s so strange…I’ve never had that happen 🙁 Could have been two things: Were your ingredients fresh to begin with? And did you make sure your mix wasn’t piled too high on the baking sheet? It’s really best if you can get everything in as close to a single layer as possible, and if you can’t do that on one baking sheet, you’d want to use two. That helps every piece to get nice and toasty!
Did you use wheat chex or rye crackers…both of those seem to absorb more of the butter sauce there by making them chewy
I noticed if I don’t use all of the bugels, bagel chips and rye chips you have to reduce the butter to 6 table spoons or it will come out chewy also. I added peanuts to mine also and it turned out great.
After 10 years of marriage, I have finally found THE recipe for Texas Trash! My husband is so happy! Thank you!!!
Thank you so much, Miranda! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
What brand of hot sauce do you like to use? The flavor of 1 T could really vary depending on what kind you’re using!
We either use Louisana or Chalulah hot sauce!
I used Chrystal
I have tried several different chex mix versions but this is the bomb!! I added cashew halves, Pecans, famous Dave’s seasoning. It is the best!!
My brother loves when I make him my homemade mixes- and this is by far the BEST one yet!!!! We love it! Thank you so much for sharing this! 🙂
Yay! Thanks, Colleen!