The yummiest trail mix made with only 5 simple ingredients! Crunchy, savory, and sweet, this simple recipe is easy to customize for your hiking, road trip, and everyday snacking.
Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast, love a good road trip snack, or enjoy munching on nuts on the daily, this easy and delicious trail mix is for you.
Delicious as is and easy to customize, you’ll surely get your salty sweet fix to quench your snacking desires.
Because we’re avid hikers in my household, we bring trailmix with us on long hikes to serve as a little treat and a great snack to tide us over between meals.
But you don’t have to be hitting the trails to love a good crunch! Trail mix is a healthy option for every day snacking and is particularly useful on camping trips, road trips and airline travel.
In general, I find that the ratio of savory to sweet is best in a 3:2 ratio in homemade trail mix recipes. Meaning three cups of nuts (salty source) to 2 cups of chocolate chips + dried fruit (sweet source).
We all have our own individual preferences, so feel free to play with this ratio to perfect your own trail mix.
The recipe makes 5 cups of trail mix, which I consider to be 10 servings. You can adjust the amount of ingredients based on how much total trail mix you think you need.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for the easy trail mix recipe.
Trail Mix Ingredients:
Nuts: The combination of cashews, almonds, and pistachios brings a crunchy combination of naturally sweet and savory flavors.
I use raw nuts, but roasted salted nuts yield a crunchier, saltier result.
If you know you enjoy extra crunch and salt, be sure to go with salted and roasted nuts.
Dried Fruit: Dried cranberries add sweetness and tangy flavor to the trail mix. They also bring a squishy texture, which is lovely in contrast to the crunchy nuts.
Chocolate Chips: Bringing a punch of sweetness and creamy rich flavor, chocolate chips add so much spunk to trail mixes. I like using dark chocolate chips but you can go with your favorite kind here.
If you’re going to be outside all day on a hot day, skip the chocolate chips.
Shelled chocolate candy like M&Ms fare better in the heat but they still melt after a certain period of time at a certain temperature.
Feeling like you could compile an enhanced concoction? Here are some options!
Recipe Customizations:
- For extra crunchy, salty mix, use roasted salted nuts instead of raw nuts.
- Use any combination of nuts and seeds you enjoy. Sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, and different kinds of nut mixes are all great options. I don’t recommend adding Brazil nuts to trail mixes because they are high in selenium. While selenium is an important nutrient, too much of it can cause health issues.
- Love yogurt covered raisins or chocolate covered coffee beans? Toss some in!
- Mix up the fruit additions. Dried apricots, banana chips, good old raisins, dried mango, and any kind of freeze-dried fruit are amazing options for adding to this healthy trail mix recipe.
- For low-carb trail mix, use sugar-free chocolate chips and dried cranberries, dried blueberries, or freeze-dried strawberries that don’t have any added sugar. Unsweetened dried fruit can be difficult to find at a regular grocery store, but there are a great deal of sources online.
- Milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and butterscotch chips can all be used.
- Lover of coconut? Add either sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes.
Now that we’re familiar with the basic ingredients and possible customizations, let’s whip up a big ol’ batch of trailmix!
How to Make Trail Mix:
Measure out one cup of each of the ingredients (feel free to make your own swaps here) and add them to a large zip lock bag. Seal the bag and give it a shake until everything is well-combined.
Either bring the whole bag with you on your adventure or measure out the amount you need and store it in a smaller zip lock bag.
For school snacks or workweek snacks, divide individual portions of trail mix into separate airtight containers or ziplock bags or a reusable stasher.
If you’re planning on keeping this as a delicious snack for home, store it in a glass jar such as a mason jar.
Planning on making traditional trail mix for your next party as an easy snack? Serve it up in a large bowl.
Is Trail Mix Healthy?
I know the question on some people’s mind. Is trail mix good for you? The answer to whether or not anything is good for you is going to depend on two things: the ingredients used and the dose.
In general, trail mix is a healthy snack option, as it includes healthy fats and dietary fiber from the nuts, a small amount of protein, and less sugar than a prepackaged treat.
That said, trail mix is incredibly calorically dense. For those who are trying to lose weight or lower their fat intake, I don’t recommend trail mix as a smart snack, only because it is so incredibly easy to over eat.
The combination of salty and sweet sets out taste buds afire, and it can be all too easy to pop a couple handfuls in our mouths without realizing we’ve just eaten 800 calories.
Since we’re on the topic of macros, ½ cup of this trail mix recipe includes 381 calories, 24 grams of fat, and 9 grams of protein.
The full details of the nutrition facts is in the recipe card below.
How Long Does Trail Mix Last?
Prepared trail mix lasts for about one month when stored in a sealed container or bag.
A little known fact is that nuts and seeds can go bad after about a month, so there actually is an expiration date on trail mix.
I recommend writing the date on the ziplock bag with a Sharpie, or storing it in the freezer for longer term storage.
And that’s it! The next time you need a snack on the go, whip up a batch of homemade trail mix. Let me know in the comments section down below what modifications you try!
Looking for more delicious healthy snack recipes? Also try these out.
More Healthy Snacks:
- 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Bars
- Blueberry Protein Muffins
- Easy Candied Pecans
- Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Peanut Butter Protein Balls
- Creamy Roasted Garlic Hummus
Happy trails!
Trail Mix
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 cup pistachios shells removed
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Measure out one cup of each of the ingredients (feel free to make your own swaps here) and add them to a large zip lock bag. Seal the bag and give it a shake until everything is well-combined.
- Either bring the whole bag with you on your adventure or measure out the amount you need and store it in a smaller zip lock bag.
- For school snacks or workweek snacks, divide individual portions of trail mix into separate airtight containers or ziplock bags or a reusable stasher.
- If you're planning on keeping this as a delicious snack for home, store it in a glass jar such as a mason jar. Planning on making traditional trail mix for your next party as an easy snack? Serve it up in a large bowl.
Notes
Nutrition
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