Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix

24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix combines pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies with a coating of white chocolate.

An easy no bake Dessert that is perfect for the Holidays, as a gift or served at a party with Gingerbread House Candy Bark, Slow Cooker Chocolate Candy, or Peppermint Oreo Balls.

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Mix in serving bowl

CHRISTMAS WHITE CHOCOLATE TRASH SNACK MIX

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix has been a favorite holiday gift for many years, since a small container of it costs $$ from a department store and this is much easier!

White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix is a no bake, microwave friendly recipe which takes just five minutes to make in one large batch. Everything but the white chocolate goes into the trash bag which is shaken for just a couple of seconds and then a second shaking of the bag with the melted chocolate added makes a HUGE batch of delicious snack mix with no cleanup! Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix with pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies all tossed together with a generous coating of white chocolate.The best part is that with strong trash bags you won’t have to worry about any tears (can you imagine that kitchen mess?!) or the top opening up thanks to the break resistant drawstring.

You can add almost anything you’d like to this Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix but the classic recipe is attached. You could add raisins or cranberries as well as different shapes of pretzels (sticks are pokier than the mini pretzels, which are much more friendly to bag up in gift bags).

If you’re looking for a Halloween version, simply swap out the chocolate coated candies for brown and orange versions (you can even add in yellow). Save yourself lots of money and make a huge batch yourself, you’ll be glad you didn’t decided on baking cookies for everyone instead. Plus, it is the perfect snack because the white chocolate helps keep the snack mix from getting stale.

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix with pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies all tossed together with a generous coating of white chocolate.

You may not think of of incorporating trash bags into your kitchen tolls, but some awesome recipes can be made with them including the Shrimp Boil from a few months ago. Most people think of the obvious uses for trash bags and others get creative, crafting with them.

If your life revolves around the kitchen, and when you are used to cooking in large quantities a good quality trash bag is a HUGE lifesaver when it comes to prep. In smaller doses people routinely use sandwich or even gallon sized bags for adding ingredients, marinating and more. When you’re cooking for 50, a clean and sanitary option larger than the largest mixing bowl is essential to your kitchen!

Tools Used in the making of this Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix:
White Chocolate Melting Candy: Melts great, doesn’t burn, a total pleasure to work with.
Christmas M&Ms: Any color combo will do, you can customize to your desired holiday or occasion.
Hefty Trash Bags: Makes this recipe a total breeze to make and clean up after!

HOW TO STORE CHRISTMAS WHITE CHOCOLATE TRASH SNACK MIX

  • Serve: Once cooled, Christmas White Chocolate Trash Mix can be left out for the duration of any gathering.
  • Store: Store Christmas White Chocolate Trash Mix in an airtight container, or wrap in individual cellophane bags for gifting, to keep fresh for up to a month.
  • Freeze: It is not recommended to freeze this snack mix, as the moisture from defrosting would make the cereal and pretzel pieces soggy.

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Mix in serving bowl

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Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix combines pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies with a coating of white chocolate.
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 20 ounces white chocolate chips , (2 bags)
  • 1 large box rice cereal
  • 16 ounces mini pretzels , (1 bag)
  • 10 ounces M&Ms
  • 2 cups peanuts , (salted is preferred but unsalted would work too)

Instructions

  • Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe glass bowl in 30 second increments until fully melted.
  • Add the cereal, pretzels, ¾ of the chocolate candies (reserve some for sprinkling on top so the red and green color stands out) and peanuts to a large trash bag.
  • Close and shake the bag for a few seconds to mix the ingredients.
  • Open the bag and add the melted chocolate.
  • Close the bag again and shake until fully coated, about 30 seconds.
  • Spread out to dry.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 328kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 272mg | Potassium: 184mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 34IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword: Christmas Snack Mix, Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix, White Chocolate Pretzel Snack Mix, White Trash Snack Mix

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Mix Collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.
Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix with pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies all tossed together with a generous coating of white chocolate.Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix with pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies all tossed together with a generous coating of white chocolate.

Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix with pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies all tossed together with a generous coating of white chocolate.
Christmas White Chocolate Trash Snack Mix with pretzels, cereal, peanuts and chocolate coated candies all tossed together with a generous coating of white chocolate.

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I love this recipe. I have made this for last two Christmases. Sold at a bake sale, called them reindeer treats. Gave to co workers in small cellophane bags and last year to my brother. My brother is a chef and he called me couple of months after Christmas and asked for recipe as he couldn’t stop thinking about them , biggest compliment ever. Recommend these to everyone who loves salty and sweet combined. Thanks for a great recipe

  2. We’ve made this multiple years now and it’s now a tradition! The only change we’ve adapted is adding caramel bugles. We dip them in white chocolate dyed red and add a mini marshmallow to the top to make Santa hats. They’re a hit!

  3. I’m planning on making this at the holidays …. it looks so festive!
    Can you use white (vanilla) bark instead of the chips?

  4. Love this idea! To dry it out, did you spread it out over a large cookie sheet or what? I’ve been saving your recipes for a long time, 68 of them at last count! Thanks!

  5. I would not make in a trash bag, messy and wasted chocolate and cereal stuck to bag. Use a large pot and scrap with spatula, much easier. If you don’t have large pot, reduce recipe in half and make 2 batches.

  6. Hi there
    Love your idea about the trash bag, I have been making this recipe at x-mas time since I was in high school and I am now 38!! I always dread the clean up part since the white choc hardens so quickly on the bowls, ha ha.
    Thanks so much for posting and I look forward to following your other yummy recipes. I love to bake and cook, and I am always looking for fun, easy and manageable recipes

    1. Glad you liked that hack! Looking forward to you trying my other recipes and letting me know how they turn out! If you haven’t yet, you can sign up for notifications and emails for fun, new (and old) recipes to try!

  7. In my opinion, this recipe is great for family reunions! Is as simple as this, add marshmallows if you prefer sweetness and/or soneone is allergic to peanuts. Add salted peanuts to give it a crunch and make the mix sweet and satly, or add unsalted peanuts to just give it a crunch! This is perfect for everyone with different likes in taste, all though the mix will still be sweet caused by the the white chocolate. Anyway my family and i love this, and hopefull you will love this sweet treat as well

    Enjoy!

  8. Hi! I am going to make this this weekend. Thanks for the recipe! The recipe has listed “large box of rice cereal” – rice cereal seems to come in 12 oz boxes, or “family size” 18 oz boxes. Can you tell me which size is meant?

    Thanks so much, and Merry Christmas!

  9. This is our second Christmas in a row making this recipe and it is always a huge crowd pleaser! Here are the changes we made:

    – Added 14.5 ounces Bugles

    – Added 12.1 ounces Vanilla Chex

    – Used 20 ounce mixture of Christmas M&M’s in Milk Chocolate, Caramel, White Peppermint, and Hot Cocoa

  10. What would be the best substitute for peanuts? I have a peanut allergy but can eat other kinds of nuts. Just not sure what might taste best.

    1. It’s a total of 20 ounces. You’ll need 2 bags since each bag is 10 ounces. Hope this clears up any confusion. Enjoy!

  11. Hi,

    I am hosting an early Xmas party around Dec 5th
    Would love to make White trash for a gift
    To each if my friends.
    How early can I make this and still have it fresh? Best way to store it.
    Thx so much

    1. So sorry I’m just now seeing this. If you store it in sealed containers, I would think it would stay fresh for at least up to a week.

  12. I’m about to make This. Wondering would it store well in the freezer till Christmas!?? Or would the chex n stuff be a bit soggy when it re thaws.

  13. I can’t imagine that the Hefty bags are food-safe. Can this be a problem when making the mix for a school carnival where everything has to be prepared in food-safe bags?

    1. A simple Google search reveals that garbage bags, generally, are not food safe and should not be used for food preparation

  14. Using a trash bag for mixing this is a great idea! Although, the Hefty Ultra Strong bags you are promoting only come scented. The scent will transfer to the food. Found this out when we used one to toss massive amounts of salad for a work event.

    1. I am so sorry you had that experience with your work event, what a terrible waste of food because of the scented trash bags. We used the lavender scented ones and also unscented ones with no issues.

  15. This will be my first time making this, so I’m wondering if the mix needs to be spread out to dry after it’s coated in white chocolate?

    1. Yes! You have to because if it sets in one big clump you’ll break the pieces separating them after they’ve dried. It won’t look as pretty.

    2. So glad I read the comments! It doesn’t mention spreading it out to dry in the recipe. Just made it and it’s delicious!!!

      1. Thanks for catching that! I’m not sure how that got deleted but I just added that step back in. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

  16. I would make this again, but I wouldn’t use the white chocolate chips; I just don’t like the flavor. It would have been much better with milk chocolate chips or even butterscotch chips. I also added dried cranberries, which were really good in this.

  17. This sounds like a great idea for coworkers gifts since I’m on a very tight budget this year, but I’m curious as to what size the 24 servings are.