An easy recipe for the best homemade trail mix that’s high in protein, with the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Made with simple & healthy ingredients, like dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, and more!
A few years ago someone asked how our family balanced our protein intake given the little amount of meat my family eats. Until she asked, I hadn’t really thought much about our protein intake.
We eat beans at least once a week, serve grass-fed cheese at meals and for snacks, include kefir and homemade yogurt in our daily smoothies, serve a dollop of peanut butter with slices of fruits and vegetables in our healthy homemade Lunchables, and often reach for a handful of nuts when we’re seeking some hand-to-mouth food action… but doesn’t everyone do that?
Knowing we were cutting back on meat consumption at dinner, there needed to be a plan to replace the missing calories with nutrient-dense food whenever possible.
That’s mostly why I wrote my most popular ebook High Protein, No Powder. We quit using expensive protein powders that tend to contain various (unnecessary and potentially harmful) chemicals. Instead, we started incorporating real food into our smoothie regimens, which purposefully include high protein ingredients.
I like to call this recipe High Protein Sweet & Salty Trail Mix… or just “trail mix” for short. I make several portions at one time so I can easily grab a bag as my husband packs his backpack each morning. It’s great for quick snacks on the go and long road trips where healthy, affordable food is hard to come by.
Homemade Sweet & Salty Trail Mix
Protein smoothies are part of our morning routine. But to keep ourselves on track with bellies full of nutrient-dense foods, we need delicious snacks. The best afternoon snack needs to fit these requirements:
- Hand-to-mouth action
- Sweet
- Salty
- High in protein
Actually, this snack is so protein-packed that one serving rivals a 3-ounce portion of chicken! It’s also gluten-free!
Ingredients For the Healthiest Trail Mix
These are the best high protein, sweet & salty ingredients in my trail mix recipe:
- Almonds (some people like salted almonds)
- Cashews (dry roasted are good)
- Peanuts
- Dried coconut, chopped
- Sunflower seeds
- Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- Cranberries
- Dark chocolate chips (optional)
There are two ways to make this high protein trail mix:
Option 1: Measure everything into a big container, shake and serve.
Option 2: Measure everything into individual containers.
I’m a big fan of #2. It’s probably related to my inner love with lists and ratios (such a nerd, I know), but there’s another reason too. If the family had free reign on a big batch of trail mix, the kids would take all the chocolate and the husband would take all the cashews and almonds.
Not that I don’t enjoy what’s remaining, but I think we can all agree that the chocolate, almonds, and cashews are the best parts! Those single servings are preventative maintenance.
FAQs
Store-bought trail mixes tend to be expensive because of the various nut ingredients and the convenience of buying a ready-mixed trail mix. But, you get a much healthier, cost-effective, and customized trail mix when you make your own. It doesn’t take much effort either, I promise!
If this recipe for homemade trail mix lasts that long, you can store it in an airtight container for about a month. Nuts will tend to go rancid after a month.
Yes, when you use simple healthy ingredients to make your own trail mix without all of the additives that are commonly found in expensive store-bought mix.
Additional Tips for a Successful Batch of Trail Mix
- Omit the chocolate if you’re taking this trail mix on a real trail. The chocolate will melt quickly and make a big mess.
- I like to get a lot of my nuts from Thrive Market if I can’t find them for a good price at Costco. (Click here to see the Exclusive Offer for Crumbs readers!)
- The dried coconut is from large chunks of coconut flesh, not the shredded sweetened variety. This kind on Amazon is the same version we buy from Costco.
- Dried cranberries and/or even Goji berries can be swapped for raisins, depending on your taste preferences and budget.
- Peanuts have the most protein per serving and are the least expensive. If you’re looking to shave a bit off the cost, swap peanuts for one of the other two more expensive nuts.
- Making your own dried fruit is another frugal option. Dried cherries, apples, strawberries, and banana chips would all be delicious. Consider this as fruit becomes more and more affordable when it’s in season.
- Measuring snack mix into small baggies is difficult. Instead, line up several coffee mugs and measure one ingredient into each of the mugs until all ingredients have been measured. Then pour the mug of mix into the baggies and seal.
More High Protein Snacks and Meals
There are all kinds of ways to add protein to your diet without eating a lot of meat. Making tasty snacks and meals from beans and nuts are frugal ways to increase protein and stretch the budget.
- Sweet & Salty Energy Bites
- Homemade Granola Bars
- Pumpkin Larabar Bites
- Hummus: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate, Cake Batter, Snickerdoodle
- High Protein Pancakes
- Black Bean Brownies
- White Bean Blondies
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An easy recipe for the best homemade trail mix that’s high in protein, with the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Made with simple & healthy ingredients.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Bowl
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 10 almonds
- 10 cashews
- 10 peanuts
- 1 Tbsp dried coconut, chopped
- 1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1 Tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- 1 Tbsp dried cranberries
- 1 Tbsp chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a reusable container. Store sealed in the pantry.
Notes
Total Protein = approximately 15.5g
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 175
Keywords: trail mix, homemade trail mix, high protein trail mix, healthy trail mix
Hi, any chance you can tell me the measurements in Gramms? I don’t have US measuring spoons and think it’s more precise if I measure it by weight
Hi Johannes, there are plenty of free recipe converters online you can use to convert any recipe yourself! 🙂
Love recipes but need calorie counts. Anyway you can add???
Hi Dee! Adding calories is a bit beyond my capacity at the moment, but there are several calorie counters where you can enter ingredient info and they’ll tell you! ♥
This sounds great. Has all the stuff I like in it, and the perfect amount of protein. But do you have any idea about calorie count? High protein is great, but if it’s 400 calories per serving, it might not fit my new diet.
I don’t have the calorie count Alyson, because I don’t keep track. 🙂 You can use any calorie counter though.
Hi! I’m frying to convert the recipe to get the nutritional info so I can track in My Fitness Pal. How did you get the best 15g of protein? I’m trying but can’t get that much!
when I figured out with almonds, cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cranberries it is 372 not counting the coc flakes(which are 1/4 cup for 100 cal) did not take time to figure out the 1 tbsp amount, if do raisins instead of cranberries another 7 calories added.
Do you do salted or raw nuts? What kind of chocolate chips do you use? We prefer dark chocolate. Yum!
We like salted and I prefer dark chocolate too, but usually use semi-sweet because it’s what we have on hand most often. 🙂
Trail mix is such a great way to get protein and energy mid afternoon. I love any dried fruit in mine…apricot, mango, cherries. Would you like to share this at Raw Foods Thursdays? We’ve never had a trail mix linked up before!
http://www.glutenfreecat.com/2013/05/raw-foods-thursdays-5913/
Hope to see you there!
Heather
Thank you for the invite Heather! I’ll see if I can link up this coming week!
That sounds like a very healthy and easy snack. I am trying to go gluten-free for my daughter, whom I suspect has a gluten-intolerance, so this may be a great snack for her. She also has tree-nut allergies, so I may omit the almonds and cashews, but the combo of everything else sounds great!
Thanks for sharing on Natural Living Monday!
Thanks for hosting Andrea!
Yum! We love homemade trail mix. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thanks for hosting Trisha!
I agree completely about the cashews and chocolate chips! This looks like a great mix, and I love the idea of individual portions! Maybe someday I’ll be that organized. 🙂
Individual portions was a necessity at the time Joanna – if I made a big container, there really wouldn’t be any left! Our grocery budget isn’t big enough to warrant a few containers of nuts each month, so we had to portion it out. Doing it in containers first and THEN pouring into the baggies was a learned experience though. That route was much faster than trying to pour 1 Tbsp scoops into baggies that weren’t staying open on their own. 😉 ~Tiffany
P.S. the time stamp on the blog is incorrect. I sent the above reply at 10:15 a.m.
I tweaked it a bit – thanks for the heads up!
Thanks Tiff. You have a lot of great ideas. And you put in a lot of time keeping us informed. How do you do it and work outside the home too?
I really like Kirkland Fruits and Nuts. I often put a handful of this mix on my cereal. On our middle kitchen counter we have containers of walnuts, pecans, peanuts, sunflower seeds and often pistachios. Plus a container of raisins. I plan on purchasing a variety of dried fruits too.
Leona,
I don’t teach anymore… at least not in a formal classroom. I research some things for my own family, so I’m able to pull double duty for writing too. The kids really like the cherry/mango mix from Costco. 🙂 ~Tiffany
Oh my, I didn’t realize how much protein we were eating in our nuts. Mixed in a huge mixing bowl, 2 cups each of soaked walnuts, almonds, cashews (yes, my fav), pistachios, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, only a few $$ macadamias, and raisins, then stored in the freezer. A two cup serving bowl is always on the counter for the munchies. We are munching way too much of these to say nothing about the calories and fat! Too much of a good thing. Thanks for the wake-up! 😉 (I don’t dare put chocolate in this.)
Your munchie bowl sounds delicious Linda, and it’s obviously addicting enough without chocolate! Remember that despite calories & fat, it’s the GOOD fat. Much better to eat those nuts than icky veg oil. 🙂 ~Tiffany
I realize this post is years old, and I don’t know if you’ll still receive this – if not maybe someone else who comes across this question might know and be able to reply: Why do you soak the nuts? How do you soak them, and do you buy them that way, or soak them yourself?
Hi Sapphire! I’d start with this post: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2013/07/sprouting-almonds-giving-food-new-life/
Hmm…I must be honest and say that my favorite ingredient is the chocolate chips! 🙂
I’m already subscribed to your blog but somehow missed the download with the 22 Days to a Fresh Start. I’d love to have that info in one convenient place!
😉 It’s coming your way Tara!
Got it! Thanks, Tiffany!