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Nothing says Christmas like homemade nuts and bolts and this particular homemade nuts and bolts recipe is my family’s favourite. I hope you like it!
I can’t believe that it’s taken me this long to share my family’s classic nuts and bolts recipe with you all.
You can actually thank these two in the photo below, for the kick in the pants this year for finally getting a homemade nuts and bolts recipe up for you guys.
Yes, my Mom and Dad. Who gleefully – and most deservedly – spend their winter in Phoenix now and are coming home for Christmas. This makes our Christmas ever MORE of a food fest of all of their favorite things to eat. I was talking to Dad on the phone the other day and was emphatically told :
“There’s NEVER enough garlic in homemade nuts and bolts! Make sure to double, no, TRIPLE the garlic!”
You can take the boy out of the Ukraine, but you can’t…you know. Take the garlic out of the Ukrainian.
Here’s the thing: I totally agree with Dad and that might be because I’m a Ukrainian girl, through and through. There is NEVER enough garlic or flavour in homemade nuts and bolts. You know how the store-bought versions of nuts and bolts burn your mouth? You are aiming for a wee bit shy of that flavour explosion.
There has to be a happy medium between the ho-hum recipes out there – man, you should see how little butter some of the other recipes for homemade nuts and bolts use! Sacrilege!- and the store-bought bags. I actually don’t even like the store-bought bags of bits and bites or nuts and bolts. It has to be homemade nuts and bolts or nothing!
Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
We aren’t making Chex Mix.
Mainly because we don’t get all of the different varieties of Chex mix that the original recipe calls for.
We are making Homemade Nuts and Bolts and Canadians use far different cereals than my American friends do. Homemade nuts and bolts are far different here in Canada, as the mix that I grew up with also included Shreddies. We always had Shreddies in our homemade nuts and bolts.
I don’t include them because those buggers always cut my mouth.
Is it just me? Those dang sharp cereal corners! BAH!!! Always cut me!
Please tell me that it’s not just me. I feel like such a freak just typing that. Shreddies in a homemade nuts and bolts mix totally remind me of cutting my gums as a kid. That’s all there is to it. I would always bite them the wrong way and stick those sharp corners into a gum.
Why do you guys even come here and read this stuff, seriously. Bleeding gums and homemade nuts and bolts recipe. Er, welcome to my website?
I use the Rice Chex that is available here in Canada, but my family has always had a love for Crispix cereal. To be honest, the Crispix works even better than the Chex does- more on that later.
Take a look at this finished homemade nuts and bolts. The Rice Chex appears to be the exact same colour as it was before, however the Crispix is loaded with salty, savoury homemade nuts and bolts goodness. It also crisped up and darkened slightly!
I might be inclined to change my entire recipe to all Crispix, I’m not sure. This was my first year making our homemade nuts and bolts recipe so I didn’t really sit and analyze what was going on before, I just, well, ate it. Now as the cook who’s making it, I am taking a second look.
Granted the Chex does give it a different shape and texture, so I’ll most likely keep it.
Happy holidays to us!
There is nothing like a homemade nuts and bolts recipe for the holidays. I’m rather excited for Christmas this year, we are home, Christmas is going to be at my house and everyone will be here.
The Nuts
You will notice that my nuts and bolts has no nuts – believe it or not it’s not called nuts and bolts because you used to be able to fit the pretzels and Cheerios together like nuts and bolts, now you can’t) and that’s because my nephew is allergic to them. You can certainly toss in a cup of peanuts if desired!
This is like Bits and Bites in the bag at the grocery store, those don’t come with nuts either, but you can add them!
Is it Christmas yet?
I’m ready.
I’m done my book tour, or at least the part that involves major travel. We’ve done a lot of rearranging in our house, because you know, this is my busy time of year so why not throw in some house projects as well, right?
Stay tuned for a post on that! The bonus room upstairs has been turned into a retro bar area…pinball machine included! I am so excited, it was worth every aching muscle. And every aching muscle to come, because we’ve been at it a week and my house is still topsy-turvy.
Well, I wanted a Mad Men Christmas party at my house… and I’ll be getting it!
So here’s the real question, what is in YOUR family’s homemade nuts and bolts recipe? I have found that recipes vary so much from family to family. As you can tell, ours has a lot of garlic and paprika, which actually isn’t usually found in homemade nuts and bolts. We just like our paprika, just like our garlic!
Happy baking everyone! Let me know what you think!
I think this is definitely a recipe that you need to try this holiday season, trust me. It makes SO much and stores for two weeks in an airtight container! Make it a week before Christmas and hide it so that it lasts until the big day! It’s also a big enough recipe to make for a party and since you make it ahead of time, it’s perfect!
Love you more than garlic,
Karlynn
Classic Homemade Nuts and Bolts Recipe
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Courses
- Appetizer, Snack
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 21
- Calories
- 284
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 2 cups of salted butter melted
- 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 2-3 tablespoons garlic powder 3 is my dad’s level!
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 8 cups of Crispix Cereal plain corn and rice
- 4 cups of Rice Chex
- 4 cups plain Cheerios
- 4 cups of pretzel sticks
- 1 box cheese stick crackers
- Optional spices: 1/2 tbsp onion powder very good 1/2 tbsp dried dill, ( haven’t tried it but sounds great!)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.
- In a very large roaster, combine the cereals, nuts, crackers and pretzels. In microwave (or on stove) melt butter and mix in spices and Worcestershire. Pour over dry ingredients and stir gently to mix thoroughly.
- Bake at 250 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring gently with a spoon every 25 minutes or so.
- The mix will be done when you can see that all of the butter mixture has been absorbed and is dry.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- This recipe was originally called nuts and bolts because the pretzels fit into the cheerios like “nuts and bolts.” However you can add in 1-2 cups of your favorite nuts to the mixture.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Jeff B says
If you follow temperature and time, you will burn it.
Nicole Heft says
It was a decent recipe. However I found there was way too much butter. Next time I would use half. Also, the Worcestershire makes an interesting flavour, I do not like the smell of it cooking. Aside from these issues, it was actually quite yummy. The smell remained, but the taste was still good. I had to throw about 1/5 of my mix away because it was so saturated in butter. I would make again, but with less butter and no Worcestershire-or less of it. Perhaps 1T instead of 3T
Dione says
I love this recipe! I also like to add a quarter tsp of cayenne, use a full 3 Tbsp of garlic and a good Tbsp of onion powder. Our family likes nuts so I also add a few cups of peanuts.
Megan says
I’ve made two batches of this already… Pretty much ate the first one myself!! I LOVE this! Subbed in cheese nibs/nips (the small square crackers) when I couldn’t find cheese sticks and they also worked really well. I’ll be making this for years to come! I think I’ll print it out and tape it in the Very Prairie Christmas Bake Book!
Angi says
I can get bugels at Asian groceries like Galleria or T&T in the corn section of snacks.
Kristen Nelson says
Hi
Kirsten Nielson says
Hi, but 5 stars
Nancy says
Do you cover the roast pan when you put your nuts n bolts in the 250deg oven???
Kim says
My mother was from Nova Scotia and used to make this every year. The card on which she’d written the recipe vanished, so I didn’t know if I would be able to give it a try. But your recipe (other than the paprika) sounds like just what she used to make, so I’m going to give it a go!
Marypixie says
I grew up on. It’s and Bolts in the US. We used something called Tidbits but they are no longer made. Can you provide a link for your cracker sticks? Or the brand? I would love to find them.
Sandra says
I wonder if Goldfish (just the original Cheddar ones) would work if you can’t find the cracker sticks?
Tricia says
I just tried this! Totally worked and the goldfish are delicious
Lisa says
In Canada, we have Christie Ritz Cheese Bits. they are just like the old ‘nips’, and we also have Christie Ritz Cheese Nibs.
Nicole Lyske says
Ritz Cheese Bits Cheddar
Darlene says
Christie brand Ritz Cheese Bits
L Andrews says
I’m not sure what happened but 250 degrees was too hot and almost burnt the entire dish!
Gail Littleton says
I have a recipie similar to this with Dill . . . yummy! I recommend!
Karlynn Johnston says
I have tried dill, it’s great!
Francine Whiteley says
It is my to go recipe, original at is so good
Patty Labbe says
Can you freeze them?
Jud Giies says
from Saskatchewan, i put in the cereals youvsuggested. i also put in multigrain cherrios, Golfish tri-colour, teddy Graham crackers, dry ranch dressing (2), 1c oil, dill & your spices. Delish!
Jeannette says
Can you freeze this.
Melanie says
I live in America the state of Georgia I’ve never heard of nuts and bolts we do have a snack that uses chex cereal it has the corn, wheat, and rice Chex in it plus various other ingredients but the seasonings are the same. you can make it homemade or you can buy it prepackaged. The prepackaged comes in 15 different flavors. My favorite is the original mix. It has rye chips similar Gardettos Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips in. I love sweet salty so I always add some M&Ms to my mix.
Alida Sheptenko says
I make mine in the pellet smoker
Marypixie says
I’m in Kentucky and we had Nuts and Bolts. They had Tidbits in them which are no longer made. They were so good in the mix. I’m going to ask her where she gets the variety she uses.
Charlene says
She is from Canada (I’m originally Canadian but in US for 35 years) so some of the things she talks about are not available in the US. I made mine today using her seasoning recipe but just tweaked my cereal mixture, used Cheeze-its, and added peanuts. My kitchen smells great and I can hardly wait to try.
Ruth Comeau says
love, love this snack mix….I like to get a couple of cups of ”Life” cereal into it…it gets so nice and lightly crispy. and I go to my local bulk food shop and get tiny little peanut butter cups for a bit of sweet..or substitute honey nut for plain cheerios. So many ways you can customize this…..I make a big batch and bring it to my mother’s senior residence…I watch the salt amounts for that.
Lori says
This is my absolute favourite recipe for homemade nuts and bolts.
Trudy says
What is our favourite recipe? This one, with almost as much garlic as your dad prefers, and a boatload of peanuts added to it. Every year I look it up and make at least 1.5 batches. Sometimes more. Thank you for sharing.
Kevin Scott says
I’ve been eating nuts and bolts since the 70s and my grandfather’s recipe was similar to this but the subtle difference so many recipes don’t have is HP sauce, rather than just Worcestershire. I think our family recipe has 3 Tbsp of both HP and Worcestershire. And this is another thing giving the recipe a more subtle Canadian edge since I don’t think HP is available (easily) in the US.
I will make your recipe tonight…maybe I’ll try a bit with HP and a bit without since I’d like to try yours as it’s written here too.
Connie Romager says
What’s HP sauce? Hot pepper sauce? Do you add ice substitute with it instead of WS?
Mark Kozlowski says
“HP” stands for Houses of Parliament… there is a picture of the UK Houses of Parliament on the label. It is a brown sauce, similar to A1 Steak Sauce.
Patrick Wright says
HP Sauce is the “house of Parliament” sauce…. I’m happy to send you a bottle of you, if you’re covering the costs…
Cori says
which version did you like better?
Cheryl Arsenault says
I do like this recipe. I however only use 1 cup of butter (using the same amounts of cereal) and it’s perfect!
Chandra Mugford says
best one so far, that I’ve tries to make. I also love the garlic. I did add in celery salt as that is my “it’s not nuts and bolts unless” spice. but the extra butter and paprika is a game changer as well. thank you for this recipe.
Charlene says
my mom always added celery salt as well. I added about a tsp. of celery salt to mine as well.
Jen Snider says
Do you cook with lid on roaster or not? thanks!
Melanie says
I live in America the state of Georgia I’ve never heard of nuts and bolts we do have a snack that uses chex cereal it has the corn, wheat, and rice Chex in it plus various other ingredients but the seasonings are the same. you can make it homemade or you can buy it prepackaged. The prepackaged comes in 15 different flavors. My favorite is the original mix. It has rye chips similar Gardettos Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips in. I love sweet salty so I always add some M&Ms to my mix.
Rara says
Got to cook it with the lid off so all the moisture is evaporated.
Nope says
You really should give a measurement for the cheese sticks that’s not helpful to just say a box when everything changes all the time…
Kerry says
We have dairy AND nut allergies in our house so we use
shreddies, cheerios, rice chex, bugels, frito lays and pretzels and vegan becel margerine which is milk free
Tanya Descoteau says
Made my Mom’s old recipe which calls for Hickory salt. Guess it’s not made anymore because I can’t find it anywhere. There are artisanal smoked salts but, not the original kind. Guess it’s been banned along with Bugles! As this was the only salt in the recipe, the batch turned out bland. I’m thinking I’ll add seasoning salt?
In regards to Shreddies cutting your mouth, I haven’t ever experienced that nor anyone I know. I put them in my batch along with Rice Chex (Riceroos on the old recipe! Also called for Corneroos😂), Cheerios and Cheese Nips, pretzels and nuts. I tried Crispix (my son’s favourite cereal) one year but, found them a bit sweet.
Thanks for the recipe!!
Brenda says
I added Hickory Sticks in mine this year (to replace the very muchly missed bugles)….. GAME CHANGER!!! They will now be a staple in my mix. I’m thinking they may be able to replace the Hickory Salt flavour in yours?
Oh… where are you from? I believe Hickory Sticks are a Canadian thing… Let me know if you want me to mail you some!
Sue says
Just finished making my nuts and bolts for Christmas. I took your dads advice using 3 tbsps of garlic. It was perfect. In addition though to the melted butter I added one package of uncle dans California dill dried salad dressing and about 3 tbsps (or too your own personal taste) lemon juice. I like the freshness it adds. I also included cheesy jalapeño cheesies. So good. Thank you for sharing your family recipe with us all.
Joanne says
Would love to try this recipe. Do you bake covered or uncovered?
J McEwan says
Meant bugels
J McEwan says
Unfortunately they are not shipping buyers to Canada anymore,at least that’s what I have been told.
J McEwan says
Meant bugels
Niki says
Add Bugels!
J says
Um… how many cups of nuts??? It not in the recipe???
Trudy says
I add at least 4 cups or more of unsalted peanuts. I used salted one year and it was too salty
Alanna Dillon says
Hello from Regina, SK. Delighted to find your recipe which looks like my mother’s recipe. Question re the Cheerios – regular or whole wheat? Thank you.
Sharon says
What are cheese stick crackers?
Pauline says
Excellent! So good! I just made it! I added 2 cups of salted peanuts and used Shreddies instead of Rice chex. 1 bag of Goldfish crackers instead of cheese sticks. Question….. can this be frozen and then re-baked later…. ?????
Melisa says
I use Ritz Cheese Bits. They are made by Christie.
Angella says
Hi, wondering if you have made a vegan version of this recipe? With olive oil?
Trudy says
They are actually called cheese bits.
Nancy Jacobson says
We like to add Honey Nut Cheerios instead of plain – gives a hint of sweetness
Katherine says
LOVE this recipe! Did 1 tbsp of garlic powder and added 2 cups salted peanuts, could have even added 4 cups. Amazing! Will use this recipe everytime.