Long before you could buy Chex Mix seasoning packets at the grocery store, there was Nuts & Bolts – the Original (and so much tastier!) Party Mix.
Every year at Christmastime back when I was a child (just after the dinosaurs died) my mother’s best friend Mrs Houston would make a giant batch of Nuts & Bolts and give our family a big bag of it. The problem with that was, it didn’t matter how big the bag was – there was never enough. Spicy, smokey, and perfectly seasoned, I could have crunched through handful after handful for breakfast, lunch, and late night snack and still not have had enough.
Later, as a young married, I got a hankering for my favorite holiday treat, so I made “Chex Mix” with the packet stuff. Once. It didn’t even compare: it was like jonesing for a Dark Chocolate Raspberry 12-Layer Torte and getting a Hostess cupcake and a jar of jam instead. Luckily, Mrs Houston was still living at the time, so I asked her for the recipe and wrote it down on a 3×5 card, which I guarded for years like it was Charlie’s golden ticket.
Unfortunately, we had a few bumpy years, and amid all the moving, my little golden ticket got lost in the frey. I didn’t discover the disappearance, of course, until I got a bug to make Nuts & Bolts a few years ago; at which time I spent a couple of weeks silently panicking while I tried to piece together the ingredient list from fuzzy memories of batches past.
This story has a happy ending though. After some trial and error, Mrs Houston’s was recipe at last reclaimed, and now my holidays (and my hands) are once again filled with smoky, spicy, savory, snacking goodness.
Note that the recipe below makes a boatload and then some, so feel free to pare it down. (However, if you make the whole batch, you’ll have plenty to give away as gifts. Maybe.)
Nuts & Bolts {The Original Party Mix}
Ingredients
- 1 - 14 oz. box Wheat Chex
- 1 - 12 oz. box Corn Chex
- 1 - 12 oz. box Rice Chex
- 12 cups Cheerios
- 1 bag thin pretzels – the stick kind about a pound
- 2 cups nuts
- 3 sticks 1 1/2 cups butter
- ½ cup light olive oil
- ½ cup Worcester Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Liquid Smoke
- 1-2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
Instructions
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Take out the extra rack in your oven if you have one, and put the remaining rack on the bottom or next to the bottom level. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
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In a large paper grocery bag, mix cereals, pretzels and nuts together and set aside.
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In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and oil together, and then blend in Worcestershire Sauce, Liquid Smoke, and hot sauce. Slowly pour over mixture in the bag, shaking as you do to cover everything. Sprinkle seasoned salt over everything, shut the top of the bag, and shake the heck out of it.
Roaster Pan Method:
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Pour the mixture into a large (turkey) roaster pan. (It will barely fit.)
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Place mixture in roaster pan into oven. Bake for 45 minutes.
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Using oven mitts, carefully pour mixture into the large paper bag and shake a couple of times. Return mixture to roaster pan and return to oven.
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Repeat 4 times, for a total baking time of 3 hours.
Paper Bag Method: (If you don't have a pan big enough.)
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Roll the top of the bag down and place the whole thing on a large cookie sheet.
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Place the bag on the cookie sheet into the preheated oven. Make sure that the top of the bag is at least a few inches away from the top oven element.
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Bake for three hours, shaking the bag every 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Baking times are very flexible. You can shake and mix it every 30-60 minutes and it will be fine. Just make sure to bake it for at least 3 hours.
To make things easier when using the paper bag method, I prepare two bags - one full and one empty. Then every half hour, I just take the hot mixture out of the oven on the cookie sheet, pour it from the full bag to the empty one on the counter, and then put the (new) full one back in the oven. That way, the mix at the very bottom gets stirred, and I never have a clump of mix that doesn't get stirred. If you do a half-batch, you can easily make it in a large roasting pan.
Notes:
- Most people use peanuts in this mixture, but Mr B doesn’t like them, so I use cashews instead.
- Do not leave the Liquid Smoke out! (Did you know that Liquid smoke really is made from smoke? Yep. Chips or sawdust from hardwoods such as hickory or mesquite are burned at high temperatures, and particles of the smoke are collected in condensers. The resulting liquid is concentrated down for a stronger flavor.) Anyway, it lasts forever, so even if you never use it for anything else, you can keep it in the back of your seasoning shelf and pull it out every year just for this.
- If there is a chance that vegetarians might be eating this, be sure to use a vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce.
Thank you sweet daughter. I am soooo giving this recipe to George. He loves chex mix and will insist I have all the required ingredients, including cashews which he loves. I will be smelling it as soon as I get to the store tomorrow. XXOO
I remember nuts and bolts from my childhood! Thanks for the memories and have a great SITS day!
This looks yummy! And I love liquid smoke. It comes in handy for lots of stuff!
Love this! My mom used to make this every holiday season (with a little different method). I might have to bring back the tradition this year!
Great use of flavorings–I’ll have to come up with a gluten-free version. I love these types of mixes!
I remember these from when I was in high school. Nice blast from the past. I may try it at my next party.
Oh man I remember this stuff from when I was a kid. I’m going to have to make it this year. Happy SITS day!
I know just what you mean! Once you taste it, it become one of those very strong taste memories.
P.S. I checked your Family Dinner post and really enjoyed it (said the older mom whose kids can all tie their own shoes). Another truth: family dinners never look like the picture in your head. And that’s OK. Great family memories rarely look like the picture.
I’ve never seen Chex mix made in a paper bag…interesting! Chex mix is one of my all-time fav recipes. My mom (and every other mother in my hometown) made Chex mix for holiday festivities. That time of year was definitely a feast for the snack!
Have a wonderfully happy SITS Day! 🙂
Thank you for stopping in! The paper bag was more of an end-solution: I didn’t have a pan big enough to put a whole batch in, and the bag idea worked great, so I just kept doing it.
My mother used to make something just like this when I was a kid! Ha. She called it Trash. We were just talking about it the other day. I’m not sure of everything she used to make it, but I don’t think it was much different from yours. Takes me back. AHHH. Visiting from SITS!
Looks so yummy!! Pinned this one!
Thank you for the pin!
My mother in law makes this and I just love it!
I’m finding that a lot of Moms made this before ready-made Chex mixes hit the scene. I think it’s time to revive the tradition!
I didn’t grow up with Chex Mix so I never understood the appeal until I got older, but I always saw it in all of the party planning articles I’d peruse. It’s so tasty, and I love that you used cashews instead of peanuts in your recipe! What a great gift to package up and give during the holidays, too.
WHAT!!!? That mouse is the cutest thing I have ever seen!!!
This sounds amazing! I definitely love a good amount of worcestershire sauce in my chex mix – Love keeping hand me down recipes alive!
I remember this from my youth. My great aunt introduced me to it, she baked it in a large Nesco turkey roaster. and it was called Texas Trash. it did not have liquid smoke but it did have a generous helping of chili powder. I wish i had her original recipe but alas it has been lost.