Old Bay Snack Mix
May 9, 2017 by Nicole Collins
Today, we're talking Old Bay.
Old Bay is a Maryland staple. It goes on all of our seafood...especially steamed crabs and steamed shrimp. And, that's just scratching the surface. We put it on pizza. We put it on potato chips. We put it in beer. We even put it in ice cream
I definitely take for granted that Old Bay is a local spice. I'll never forget the first time I met my bestie's hubby. It was pretty early on in their relationship, so they were still in the “impress” phase. We were visiting him in New York, and he made us shrimp for dinner. As soon as we both took a bite, we looked at each other in disgust. It was awful. Finally, one of us spoke up and was like “Where's the Old Bay?” His response was “What's Old Bay?” I truly had no idea that there was anyone in this world that wasn't blessed with the knowledge of this amazing spice blend.
I recently got back from a girl's trip to St. Michaels. I got so much recipe inspiration from this trip; I can't wait to share it all with you! Today's recipe is the first of many inspired by those beautiful ladies
We had 3 Floridians on this trip, and they go nuts for crab chips. They're in the same boat as my bestie's poor hubby was, back in the day. They don't have a lot of access to Old Bay flavored things. They can buy Old Bay in the store, but that's about it. They don't really know what to do with it. Between the 3 of them, they bought 4 bags of crab chips to ration out over the course of the weekend. One morning for breakfast, the crab chips were the “potato” element of our meal. I'm going to visit them in a few weeks, and I've already received a few orders for crab chips to bring along with me.
Somewhere over the course of the weekend, in between Old Bay crab chip trances, we had a discussion about Old Bay Chex mix. I knew that I had to make a version for them that included potato chips. So, that's what I did!
I took some crunchy snack mix elements: Chex cereal, pretzels, kettle chips, cashews, and Honey Nut Cheerios (per the suggestion of one of the ladies); then I mixed them in a tangy, buttery Old Bay coating that has the tiniest underlying sweetness to it. I'm telling you, this stuff is addicting!
Side note...I generally like to buy store brand ingredients, because they taste exactly the same and they're significantly cheaper. For some reason, I think it's HILARIOUS that Chex becomes Crispy Hexagons, and Cheerios becomes Tasteeos. I really appreciate the double E's in the Tasteeos knock off.
Side note 1A...don't buy knock off Old Bay for this recipe. There are impostors out there that may be labeled Chesapeake Bay Seasoning or Seafood Seasoning. They're not the same. You've got to go for the real stuff on this one.
I can't wait for you guys to try this recipe. I hope you love it! Betsy, JJ, and JB...this one's for you!
Let's snack!
Old Bay Snack Mix
Serves: 16 (½ cup portions) Print
Ingredients:
3 cups Chex cereal (rice, corn, or wheat would work)
2 cups plain kettle chips
1 cup mini pretzels
1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios
1 cup lightly salted cashew halves
1 stick (½ cup) butter, melted
2 ½ tbsp Old Bay seasoning
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
Directions:
Mix cereals, chips, pretzels, and nuts in a large mixing bowl, and toss to combine.
In a small bowl, add melted butter, Old Bay, worcestershire, and brown sugar. Stir to combine.
Pour butter mix over cereal mix, and gently toss with a rubber spatula to incorporate. Microwave mix for a total of 6 minutes, stopping to stir the mix every 2 minutes. Lay out foil or wax paper on a table or sheet pan, and spread the mix out evenly to dry for about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container.
Recipe notes:
*I like to use a rubber spatula to stir the mix, because it's a little more flexible making the risk of crumbling the cereal lower. Use what you have.
*Use real Old Bay for this. Don't use a fake. Store brand cereals, pretzels, and nuts are just fine though (and actually preferred by me).
*Old Bay is pretty salty, so be sure to use lightly salted nuts for this. If you're not in to cashews, peanuts would work too.
