Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The Super Bowl of Snacks {Recipe: Ranch Snack Mix}


Whether you are a football fan or not there is one game that unites us all. Of course I am talking about the Super Bowl. It's a great excuse to have a party, and if you are not a football fan, the half-time show and commercials are always entertaining. It is also a great reason to make your favorite snack foods!

Over the holidays I made this Ranch Snack Mix and the family loved it. The recipe is a Pinterest find, but I modified it to suit our family's tastes. The original can be found @TheCommonPlate.com. When I came across the football shaped pretzels by UTZ at Walmart, I knew I had to make these for our Super Bowl get-together!

Ranch Snack Mix

The hardest thing about this recipe is keeping everyone from eating the crackers and pretzels before the mix is made! My family likes to snack on all of these on their own. 

Preheat oven to 250°F. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or spray lightly with cooking spray; set aside. 

Place in a large mixing bowl:

8-9 ounces of oyster crackers*
1 11.5 box of Reduced Fat Cheese-It Baked Snack Crackers
8 ounces football or waffle shaped pretzels

Toss until coated with:

Scant 1/2 cup vegetable oil

(Its easiest to use your hand to toss this mixture, but a large spoon works just as well.) 

In a small bowl, mix together:

3 tablespoons ranch dressing mix*
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dill

Toss the seasoning mixture into the cracker mixture 1/3 at a time to make sure the crackers get evenly coated. Divide the snack mix between the two cookie sheets. Spread the shack mix evenly in the pans. Bake at 250°F for 30 minutes, after 15 minutes, give the mix a stir and return to oven. This mix can be stored for a week in an airtight container.

*Note: I like the Trader Joe's Oyster Crackers which come in a 8-ounce box, the bagged oyster crackers come in a 9-ounce bag. Also, I buy ranch dressing mix from Costco in bulk which indicates that a packet of mix is 3 tablespoons, but apparently a packet only has 2 tablespoons. Using one packet of dressing mix will work fine for this recipe. 



NYE 2020 Update:

For New Years Eve 2020 I decided to add a 7.5 ounce Bugles Corn Snacks, Original Flavor to the mix, the family agrees that this was a good decision! For this addition make sure to use an entire 1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I use a bit less in the original recipe) and add about 2 teaspoons more of ranch mix, 1/4 tsp more of garlic and onion powder, and a pinch more of dill. Also, I substituted Premium Mini Saltine Crackers for oyster crackers-they worked great, but Trader Joe's Oyster Crackers are still the favorite. 

Happy Snacking!







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