At a glance

What stands out: Trail mix is a great snack! It’s portable and everyone loves it. Use one of the trail mix recipes below or be inspired to make your own special trail mix.

How long it takes: a couple of minutes
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl
Servings: makes about 3 cups but it’s straightforward to double the recipe

DIY Trail Mix

straightforward to mix. This from-scratch trail mix recipe takes minutes (not even!) to make. All you need is a mixing bowl, a spoon and a few seconds to measure and stir it up. When you make your own, you can customize it to please, and it tastes a LOT fresher than store-bought trail mix.

Portable snack. Trail mix is reliable for travel or a fun on-the-go snack. It’s straightforward to pack, it isn’t messy, and it will give you a speedy hit of energy. Package the trail mix into snack-sized containers or resealable bags, and it’s all ready to throw into a beach bag, backpack, or diaper bag. Take it to the park, hiking trails, zoo, museums, or wherever you go. (Try from-scratch breakfast cookies, too!)

Reliable lunchbox treat. Because trail mix is so portable, it makes a great lunchbox treat, too. Portion out the trail mix ahead of time into snack bags so it’s straightforward to grab a bag to stuff into those lunch boxes. Packaging trail mix helps for good portion control, too, because trail mix can be one of those snacks that you just can’t stop eating.

Lots of goodies. Did we mention from-scratch trail mix tastes memorable? We'll give you the basic trail mix recipe so you know how to proportion the ingredients to make a balanced trail mix. We'll also give you recipes for three of our favorite trail mix combos: classic trail mix, peanut butter trail mix, and fancy (gourmet) trail mix.

Basic Trail Mix Ingredients

This is the basic formula that we use to make trail mix. You’ll see that it allows for a lot of variation!

1 ½ cups nuts: Choose your favorite type of nut. It can be almonds, cashews, peanuts, walnuts, or pecans. We've used mixed nuts, too. The nuts can be roasted, dry roasted, or raw, depending on what you like. They can be salted or unsalted.
1 cup dried fruit: Choose your favorite dried fruit. Try raisins (golden raisins are great, too), dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried apricots, or banana chips. Dried mango and pineapple are good choices for a tropical vibe. You can include unsweetened dried coconut flakes (the large flakes, not shredded).
¾ cup candy: This can be various types of chocolate chips or M&M’s.
¼ cup seeds: Seeds, such as sunflower seeds or pepitas, add extra nutrition and flavor. Choose seeds that are large enough to pick up with your fingers.

Toasting Raw Nuts

If all you have are raw nuts, that is, nuts that haven’t been roasted, you’ll find that lightly toasting the nuts first will enhance their flavor and it’s straightforward to do. Be sure to cool them completely before adding them to the other trail mix ingredients. Refer to how to toast almonds for three straightforward methods that will work for any type of nut.

Popular Trail Mix Variations

Classic Trail Mix. This classic trail mix recipe is always popular. It’s what you think of when you think trail mix. Combine 1 cup dry roasted salted peanuts, ½ cup cashews, 1 cup raisins, ¾ cup M&Ms, and ¼ cup chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Trail Mix. Peanut butter trail mix is all the peanut goodness you could want and more. If you know (or are) someone that loves peanut butter, you need to try this one! Combine 1 cup dry roasted salted peanuts, 1 cup raisins, ½ cup Peanut Butter M&Ms, ½ cup Reese’s Pieces, and ½ cup peanut butter baking chips.

Fancy (Gourmet) Trail Mix. This one usually appeals more to adults. Combine 1 cup cashews, ½ cup almonds, 1 cup dried cherries or cranberries, ¾ cup white chocolate chips, and ¼ cup roasted pepitas.

Keeping leftovers

Store trail mix in an airtight container or portion it out into individual snack bags. Trail mix will keep for a week or two in the pantry. For longer storage (up to a couple of months), refrigerate the trail mix.

Yield: 12
Prep: 5 minutes
Total: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 ½ cups nuts (salted or unsalted, such as almonds, cashews, peanuts, or walnuts)
1 cup dried fruit (such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, or banana chips)
¾ cup chocolate chips or M&M’s
¼ cup seeds (such as pepitas or shelled sunflower seeds)

Method

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients.
Stir well to ensure everything is evenly distributed.
Classic Trail Mix: 1 cup dry roasted salted peanuts, ½ cup cashews, 1 cup raisins, ¾ cup M&Ms, ¼ cup chocolate chips.
Peanut Butter Trail Mix: 1 cup dry roasted salted peanuts, 1 cup raisins, ½ cup Peanut Butter M&Ms, ½ cup Reese's Pieces, ½ cup peanut butter baking chips.
Fancy (Gourmet) Trail Mix: 1 cup cashews, ½ cup almonds, 1 cup dried cherries or cranberries, ¾ cup white chocolate chips, ¼ cup roasted pepitas.

Notes

Storage: Store trail mix in an airtight container or portion it out into individual snack bags. Trail mix will keep for a week or two in the pantry. For longer storage, refrigerate. It will keep for a few months.

Nutrition note: Nutrition information above was calculated using roasted mixed nuts, mixed dried fruit blend, M&M’s, and roasted sunflower seeds.

Recipe retested and revised December 2024.