Caramel Crispix Mix in the Microwave

This caramel Crispix mix features peanuts and cereal in a crispy caramel coating. It is kind of like caramel corn, but made with cereal instead of popcorn. This microwave recipe makes getting that crispy finish even faster and easier. You have to try this fun sweet and salty snack.

Clusters of hardened caramel coated Crispix cereal and peanuts, ready to eat.

If you are a fan of crunchy sweet and salty snack mixes, you are in the right place! The crisp caramel coating on this cereal and peanut mix is absolutely perfect.

The best part is you can finish it in the microwave, making it so much faster than the baked version.  I am sharing two different ways to get to the finished product fast, so do whichever sounds easier to you! You will be in snacking heaven before you know it.

My Aunt Jenny is famous!  She submitted this recipe to Gooseberry Patch and had it published in Homestyle in a Hurry. Isn’t that fun?

If you liked Grandma Schanhorst’s Microwave Caramel Corn, you will love this!  It is the same principle of making a caramel and using the microwave to dry it out.

Ingredients including Crispix cereal, peanuts, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and baking soda, ready to be made into caramel Crispix snack mix.

It is so much quicker than using the oven.

We threw together an impromptu BBQ this weekend.  It was just too nice not to cook something over fire.

Now, when I say cook something over fire, I really mean it.  My husband cooks over a wood fire.

He starts with logs and paper and kindling and the whole bit.  So, it takes a while before we are ready to cook.

He has to make the kindling, build a pretty little fire (sometimes he gets pretty artistic with his wood placement), start the fire, feed the fire, burn the fire down a bit to get a nice bed of coal.   Finally, a few hours later we are ready for the food.

Needless to say, the process can make us all hungry!  It just so happened I had bought the cereal to make this.

 So, I ran inside and made a little snack for everyone while we waited for the fire master to do his thing.

Everyone LOVED it.  Maybe too much.

We all stood around saying how wonderful it was while feeding our faces.  Then when dinner was ready, we weren’t quite as hungry as maybe we should have been.

You live and you learn!  Next time we’ll make a smaller dinner. 😉

Glass Bowl Method

This is the way my Aunt Jenny makes it.  It is super simple and works great.

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Make sure you have a large glass bowl ready for this.  My 4 qt glass bowl is just barely big enough for to make a full batch.

You are going to want to use glass because it is microwave safe and you don’t want that super hot sugar burning into anything else!

Have you wax paper ready when it comes out so you can spread it out while it’s hot.  That way you don’t have one big clump of caramel goodness.

Paper Bag Method:

Shaking a paper bag is such a great way to get everything coated and crunchy.  After trying several different recipes with this method, I thought it was time to try this one.  It worked really well!

This gets the caramel really evenly distributed and crunchy.  Plus some of the extra grease seeps into the bag, so it feels healthier!

More Recipes to Try: 

Jenny also shared her Feta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts with us and they instantly became a favorite dinner here.  We highly recommend them!

Snack mixes are always so much fun to make and eat.  They are perfect for parties.  This is a favorite and so is the Brownie Batter Puppy Chow.

Clusters of caramel coated peanuts and Crispix ready to eat.

For another fun caramel snack mix, check out caramel muddy buddies.  Or try caramel Chex mix, it is similar in a lot of ways but with a wider variety of crunchies.

Or whip up some fall puppy chow, which is another fun play on puppy chow.  It features white chocolate and fall candies in a fun mix that is always a hit. 

Now I am curious, do you have a favorite sweet snack mix?

Caramel Crispix mix with peanuts broken into pieces, ready to eat.
5 from 12 ratings

Quicker Easier Caramel Crispix Mix

Author: Carlee
Servings: 18 Servings
Crunchy caramel-y goodness.  This cereal mix is perfectly delicious for snacking. It is sweet, salty and quick and easy to make too!
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 20 minutes

Ingredients 

  • 12 oz Crispix cereal or similar
  • 16 oz dry roasted peanuts
  • ¾ cup butter
  • cup light brown sugar packed
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions 

Glass Bowl Method

  • Combine cereal and peanuts in a large microwave-safe glass bowl, set aside
    12 oz Crispix cereal, 16 oz dry roasted peanuts
  • In a large (it will bubble up!) sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring frequently. Boil for two minutes
    ¾ cup butter, 1½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup light corn syrup
  • Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the baking soda. Pour caramel mix over cereal and peanuts, stirring to coat
    1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove and stir. Repeat two more times.
  • Pour onto lightly greased baking sheets or strips of waxed paper
  • Cool completely then break into pieces and serve. Store in an air-tight container

Paper Bag Method

  • Make sure there are no staple in your paper grocery sack!
  • Combine cereal and peanuts in your paper bag, set aside.
    12 oz Crispix cereal, 16 oz dry roasted peanuts
  • In a large (it will bubble up!) sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring frequently. Boil for two minutes
    ¾ cup butter, 1½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup light corn syrup
  • Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the baking soda. Pour caramel mix over cereal and peanuts, roll the top of the bag down and shake to coat
    1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Remove from the microwave and shake well to mix.  Repeat this process until it has been cooked and shaken 5 times.
  • Pour onto lightly greased baking sheets or strips of waxed paper
  • Cool completely then break into pieces and serve. Store in an air-tight container

Video

Youtube video

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Nutrition Information

Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 372kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 267mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 26g
“Cooking With Carlee” is not a dietitian or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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5 from 12 votes (6 ratings without comment)

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27 Comments

  1. I don’t know what I did wrong, but my batch tastes awful. Not quite a caramel taste. Just sweet, but not in a “oh, I want to eat this” way. SO disappointed. And I THINK I did everything right. Trying to figure out what to do to salvage this entire box of cereal. Add…what? Any ideas? Thanks.

    1. That’s strange, the brown sugar should have definitely given it a caramel-like flavor. Would drizzling it in some dark chocolate or adding some nuts help?

  2. Gah! I wish you lived with me to cook snacks. I want ALL the snack mixes. Maybe one with chocolate? And the baked oatmeal! So innovative! I’m subscribing!

    1. Ha! I need more snack eaters, so that would be convenient! Thank you.

  3. This sounds delicious and I am always up for something simple! The Gooseberry Patch cookbook looks like fun. That is pretty awesome that this is in there.

    1. isn't it fun all the way around?!

  4. Andrea Nine says:

    I just love the ideas to get the finished product faster. Yummo. Happy Weekend dear friend!

    1. It is so quick and easy this way!

  5. Frugal Hausfrau says:

    I haven't heard of this, but it sounds amazing! I love that you said you'd make less dinner rather than less of this! 🙂

    Mollie

    1. Well you have to have your priorities straight 😉 Thank you so much!