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 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! 
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.
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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.
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
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Photos used in a previous version of this post.
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
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!
I’m planning on making this at the holidays …. it looks so festive!
Can you use white (vanilla) bark instead of the chips?
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!
Everyone loves this.
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.
Definitely needs another bag of white chocolate chips to fully cover!
You say large box of Chex cereal
What do you mean by large?
18 oz? 24 oz?
Please advise
I used a 12 ounce box of cereal for this recipe.
I use a Reynolds cooking bag it worked great
Thanks for letting me know.
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
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!
This Christmas trash recipe is amazing. Thank you
You’re welcome, Lisa!
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!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it!
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!
I used a 12 oz box for this recipe. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much!! Have a wonderful weekend!
Same to you!
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
How long does this keep
Did you have to increase the amount of the white chocolate chips to cover what you added?
How many oz is a big box of Chex cereal?
12 ounces 🙂
How many OZ for the Chex cereal I bought the 20 18 Oz box. Is this okay?
I used a 12 oz box of cereal for this recipe. 🙂
How long will this keep?
I’m not sure. It gets eaten here so fast that there are never any leftovers. Enjoy!
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.
I would recommend cashews or almonds. Enjoy!
Is it a total of 20 or 40 ounces of white chocolatier chips? Thanks
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!
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
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.
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.
I’ve never tested it but I would think it would get soggy after thawing.
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?
You can also use extra large ziplock storage bags. 🙂
A simple Google search reveals that garbage bags, generally, are not food safe and should not be used for food preparation
Yes it was great i also added mini marshmallows thank u so much for sharing
Love that addition! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!!!
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!
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.
Definitely some great ideas to change it up!
I added cranberries as well
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.
This would be a great gift idea! Each serving size is 3/4 cup.
Hi Sabrina ! Thank you for this quick and easy snack. Ideal for holidays !
As somebody born on December 24, I love that you’re already thinking about Christmas!
I seriously can’t wait. I LOVE everything Christmas!