Texas Trash
Last Updated on March 7, 2023 by Annie
Texas Trash makes a salty and addictive dairy-free snack the whole family can enjoy! Make this dairy-free version of Chex Party Mix for the holiday season and snack away!
A few Christmas’s ago, my mother made my sisters and me a copy of our grandmother’s cookbook. I love flipping the pages and finding random recipes my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother had made like Fudge, Pecan Pralines, and Ice Cream Pie.
Now, after Jason and I married, he brought with him a collection of recipes his Mimi would make. We put these recipes into my grandmother’s cookbook, along with recipes from my dad’s side of the family to create a book where all of our family favorites live.
Leafing through the pages, I stumbled upon a recipe called “T.V. Trash” I chuckled at the name and began telling Jason about this recipe. He looked up and said, “that sounds exactly like the Texas Trash” my Mimi makes. Sure enough, we had two pretty similar recipes that both our grandmas would make at the holidays.
What is Texas Trash
Texas Trash, as Mimi calls it, T.V. Trash as Doris calls it, and Chex Party Mix as probably all of the world calls it is a wonderful holiday snack. A mix of Chex, Cheerios, nuts, and pretzels are slathered in a buttery, savory sauce and baked at a low temperature for hours to get just the right flavor.
While snacking on Texas Trash brings back wonderful holiday memories, there were some much needed updates to the recipe. For starters we agreed that as much as we LOVE bacon, frying enough bacon to make 1/2 cup of grease seemed to be a bit much.
We removed the bacon grease, added some more Lea and Perrins, a dash more seasoning and wound up with one snack-able mix!!
How to Make Dairy-Free Chex Party Mix
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chex Cereal– A blend of corn and rice Chex work perfectly in this recipe.
- Cheerios– I like to use traditional, plain Cheerios in this snack mix.
- Pretzel sticks– Broken in half.
- Nuts– A blend of peanuts, pecans, and mixed nuts add a little flavor and change up the texture of the snack mix.
- Chex Mix Sauce- A blend of melted vegan butter, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt coat this addictive snack.
Step-By-Step Directions
- Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 200°F.
- Mix the dry ingredients together: In a MASSIVE mixing bowl stir together the Chex, Cheerios, nuts, and pretzel sticks.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together: In a liquid measuring cup melt vegan butter, mix in Worcestershire, tabasco, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
- Coat the dry ingredients with the liquid ingredients: Pour the liquid into the mixing bowl slowly, stirring the mix to coat.
- Divide and spread the mixture into two 9 X 13 baking dishes.
- Bake for 2 hours, remove every 15 minutes to stir the mixture.
- Cool and store: After 2 hours, remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature. Store in an air tight container, snack as often as desired.
Dairy-Free and other Allergy Changes
- Swap butter for vegan/dairy free butter.
- For a gluten free option, remove the pretzels, feel free to add additional Cheerios or Chex.
- Lea and Perrins* is gluten free, if you are using a different Worcestershire sauce check the label before using.
*Lea and Perrins, produced in the US is gluten-free. If you are outside of the US Lea and Perrins is not gluten-free.
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Making this dairy-free Chex party mix involves a few helpful kitchen tools. Here’s what we use to keep it simple.
- Large liquid measuring cup– For mixing up the wet ingredients.
- Glass mixing bowls– The largest one fits the party mix well.
Pro Tips for Making Texas Trash
- Give yourself at least 2 hours to make this dish. While it takes a long time, your active work is minimal. To pass the time, curl up with a book, work on some laundry, or watch a little Great British Baking while the trash cooks.
- It may help to season and coat the trash with the seasoning in a large bowl, then transfer to your baking dishes.
- If you do not have a large enough bowl, simply measure half of each of the ingredients into the pans and stir carefully.
Other Holiday Favorites
If you tried this savory dairy-free Chex Party Mix recipe feel free to leave a comment below! I would love to hear how it went! Or, snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram by tagging @mylifeafterdairy to share all your life after dairy adventures!
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Texas Trash
This salty snack makes the perfect holiday mix to enjoy through the season!
Ingredients
- 6 cups Rice Chex
- 6 cups Corn Chex
- 4 cups Cheerios
- 2 cups Peanuts
- 3 cups Pretzel Sticks Snapped in Half
- 2 cups Mixed Nuts
- ½ cup Pecans
- 1 cup Vegan Butter Melted
- 2 Tablespoons Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 dash Tabasco
- 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 2 teaspoons Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 200°F.
-
Option 1:
In a MASSIVE mixing bowl stir together the Chex, Cheerios, nuts, and pretzel sticks.
In a liquid measuring cup melt vegan butter, mix in Worcestershire, tabasco, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
Pour the liquid into the mixing bowl slowly, stirring the mix to coat.
Pour the mixture into two 9 X 13 baking dishes.
-
Option 2:
In the largest bowl you have stir together HALF of the Chex, Cheerios, nuts, and pretzel sticks.
In a liquid measuring cup melt HALF the vegan butter, mix in HALF the Worcestershire, tabasco, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
Pour the liquid into the mixing bowl slowly, stirring the mix to coat.
Pour the mixture into a 9 X 13 baking dish. REPEAT with second half.
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Once the mixture is in the baking dishes. Bake for 2 hours, remove every 15 minutes to stir the mixture.
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After 2 hours, remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature. Store in an air tight container, snack as often as desired.
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