Browned Butter Furikake Chex Mix Lisa Lin

Furikake Chex mix is a delicious snack mix that’s covered in a sweet glaze and a Japanese condiment called furikake (ふりかけ). There are many varieties of furikake, but a typical mixture contains toasted chopped seaweed, sesame seeds, sugar, and other seasonings. Often, furikake will also contain dried fish flakes for umami flavor. Furikake is a magical condiment that you can sprinkle over many foods, such as rice, vegetables, fish, and even a sweet Chex mix! I often prepare furikake Chex mix for large parties because it is easy to make and it’s a crowd pleaser. The first time I made the Chex mix for my family, my mom and sister loved it so much that they asked me for the recipe right away! They enjoyed the delicious combination of sweet and savory flavors and the irresistible crunch of the cereal and pretzels. This furikake Chex mix keeps well for a week or two, so the recipe is great for gifts as well.

DEVELOPING MY FURIKAKE CHEX MIX RECIPE

USING MAPLE SYRUP INSTEAD OF CORN SYRUP

To make furikake Chex mix, you need to prepare a sweet glaze. When I first learned how to cook this dish, I followed recipes that used a considerable amount of sugar and corn syrup for the glaze. I don’t cook with corn syrup often, and I thought it was silly to buy a bottle just to make a batch of Chex mix. Moreover, I found the Chex mix made from those recipes to be a bit too sweet for my tastes. Over time, I started experimenting with the glaze by cutting out the sugar entirely and replacing corn syrup with maple syrup. I loved the results! The slight hint of caramel flavor in maple syrup works so well for the glaze.

BROWNING THE BUTTER

On a whim, I decided to brown the butter for the glaze instead of simply melting the butter. I thought the malty flavor in the browned butter complemented the maple syrup in the glaze very well and elevated the flavors of the Chex mix overall. To brown butter, melt the butter in a saucepan over the stove. Keep heating and stirring the melted butter until the milk solids in the butter start to brown. Once the butter starts browning, pay close attention to the butter because it can go from brown to burnt very quickly. Right when the butter starts to go from a caramel brown color to a darker brown (like the color of medium-roast coffee beans or milk chocolate), turn off the heat. I like to add the maple syrup to the saucepan right away to prevent the butter from browning further and potentially burn.

CHEX MIX INGREDIENTS

You can make the Chex mix with any combination of cereal, nuts, and savory snacks that you like. In the original recipe that I published in 2017, I used a combination of corn Chex, pretzels, and mixed nuts (pecans, walnuts, cashews, and almonds). 2023 Update: I made a version of the Chex mix with a lot of different ingredients: corn Chex, honeycomb cereal, pretzel twists, pretzel balls, nuts, and Bugles. When making substitutions, I swapped out ingredients based on their volume measurements, and not the weight. For instance, I swapped out 4.5 cups of popcorn with 2 1/2 cups of Bugles and 2 cups of Snyder’s pretzel balls. Because popcorn weighs differently from Bugles and the pretzel balls, it wouldn’t make sense to make the substitutions based on weight. What matters more is volume of the ingredients you coat with the browned butter and maple syrup mixture.

BE PATIENT WHEN BAKING THE CHEX MIX

I like to bake the furikake Chex mix at 250ºF (120ºC) for 1 hour. I know it’s tempting to want to crank up the heat to shorten the baking time but resist the urge to do so! Baking the Chex mix at a lower temperature for a longer period makes the snack mix extra crunchy without burning the sugars.