This healthy trail mix requires just 5 ingredients & makes for a tasty snack!
A couple of months ago, I went strawberry picking at a local farm and not so surprisingly, became temporarily obsessed with whipping up strawberry recipes. I had so many fresh, locally grown strawberries that were going to go bad quickly, so I figured why not go berry crazy?
I made healthy strawberry banana bread, strawberry oat pancakes, and strawberry crumble pie, to name a few things. Since I love smoothies, I also put some berries in the freezer (which disappeared so fast!), and I also pulled out my dehydrator to dry some strawberries.
And then a funny thing happened… I ran out of strawberries in less than a week!
Dehydrating strawberries – or any fruit or veggie for that matter – is not difficult, it just takes all day to work its magic. I found myself unable to resist the temptation to open the dehydrator every time I walked by it to sample my berries and see how they were coming along.
Here’s how I dehydrate my berries:
- Wash the strawberries and pat them dry.
- De-stem the berries and cut them into relatively thin slices. I halved smaller berries and cut larger ones into 3 slices.
- Place the berries on your dehydrator sheets in a single layer.
- Bake at 140 degrees for 10-12 hours, until they reach your desired texture. I like them a bit soft still, so I baked them for 10 hours the first time, and 11 hours for the second batch.
I liked dehydrating strawberries so much for a healthy on-the-go snack, I wound up making a batch two days in a row. What can I say, tis the life of a foodie! 🙂
It occurred to me that my dehydrated strawberries would be great in a healthy trail mix, and that’s how today’s recipe was born… if you can even call it a recipe! If you don’t have a dehydrator at home (or 10 hours to wait, ha!) simply nab some dehydrated strawberries at the store to use in this trail mix.
Some trail mixes call for heavy binding ingredients like butter or margarine. The way I see it, each of these ingredients is delicious by itself, so why add in unnecessary calories and fat?
My healthy trail mix recipe calls for rice squares cereal, mini pretzels, roasted cashew pieces, and dark chocolate chips – making for a great sweet & salty combo. But you can add in any of your trail mix favorites, such as peanuts and dried cherries. You really can’t mess it up!
When I recently had family visiting, I put out an entire batch of this trail mix as I was preparing brunch for us… and when I came back out, ALL of the trail mix was gone. In 20 minutes three people ate the entire batch, I kid you not. So I suppose I should warn you that once you start munching on this healthy trail mix, it’s hard to stop!
5-Ingredient Strawberry Cashew Trail Mix
Ingredients
- 6 cups rice squares cereal
- 3 cups mini pretzels
- 2/3 cup dried strawberries
- 2/3 cup roasted & salted cashew pieces
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to evenly combine.
- Transfer the trail mix to a closed container or two, such as extra large mason jars.
- Tip: If you're looking for an easy on-the-go snack to have for the week, portion the trail mix out into small baggies so that you can easily grab them whenever you'd like.
Nutrition
Tell me.. When was the last time you ate trail mix? Have you been loving strawberries this summer too?
I loveeeee trail mix so much! I love the idea of using strawberries in it!
The sweet and salty combination here sounds delicious! I can totally see how the entire batch disappeared in 20 minutes. I’ll have to pull that dehydrator out of the basement and put it to use now!
I love this! I need this especially because I need more healthy quarantine snacks!