Name: Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn Party Mix
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Ingredients: 5 cups Corn Chex or Rice Chex cereal; 2 cups Corn Pops cereal; 2 cups popped popcorn; 1 cup CornNuts; 6 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted; 2 tablespoons maple syrup; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Why This Recipe Works

Crunchy, salty, and borderline addictive, homemade party snack mix is guaranteed to disappear quickly at any gathering. But after making a back-of-the-box party mix recipe, we felt there was room for improvement. For our Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn Party Mix recipe, tasters preferred the nutty sweetness of melted butter to margarine and olive oil, both of which left a greasy finish. We used maple syrup for our recipe’s sweetness, and a bit of salt lent the party mix recipe enough saltiness.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Combine cereals, popcorn, and CornNuts in large bowl. Whisk butter and syrup in small bowl, then drizzle over cereal mixture. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper and toss until well combined.

Spread mixture over rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden and crisp, about 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Serve. (Mix can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.)