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    You are here: Home | Recipes | Gluten Free Desserts

    The Best Puppy Chow Recipe (Vegan + GF)

    Dec 7, 2022 by Faith VanderMolen

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Special nut butter will jazz up this classic, gluten free dessert to create the best puppy chow recipe you'll ever eat or serve!

    a bowl of vegan puppy chow
    Jump To
    • Also Featured In
    • Puppy Chow Variations:
    • New Year's Eve Dessert Ideas:
    • 📖 Recipe
    • The Best Puppy Chow Recipe (Vegan + GF)

    Also Featured In

    This recipe is also featured in the following vegan recipe roundups:

    • Vegan 4th of July Recipes
    • Vegan Super Bowl Snacks
    • Vegan Valentine's Recipes

    How could I have forgotten about the amazingness that is puppy chow?! Or muddy buddies...or monkey munch...or whatever you want to call it. I've actually never heard of it called monkey munch, have you? While I have heard this recipe called muddy buddies, I've always called it puppy chow.

    Anyways! Enough about what to call this dessert. It's all about the taste and I'm pretty sure we can all agree that this recipe tastes AMAZING! It's crunchy, sweet, rich and chocolatey. What more could you want? Easy to make? Well, it's that too. It's basically the best dessert ever and I'm slightly appalled that I forgot about it. Actually, this recipe reminds me that back in college I went a year without eating desserts. I know. It's practically a crime and I have no idea what inspired me to remove one of life's greatest pleasures from my life for an entire year, other than the fact that I like giving myself weird challenges. Well, puppy chow was the first dessert I had after my year of no desserts and it was a great reentry back into eating sweets. 

    Puppy Chow Variations:

    But what makes this puppy chow recipe the best puppy chow recipe, you ask? Jem Organics Salted Caramel Cashew Almond Butter. Trust me, swapping the peanut butter out for a more special, flavored nut butter makes all the difference! If you don't have access to Jem Organics, don't worry. There are tons of other special, dairy free flavored nut butters that would make amazing puppy chow as well. Chocolate hazelnut butter, maple almond butter and cinnamon almond butter are a few flavored nut butters that come to mind. You really can't go wrong!

    In addition to switching up the nut butter, you could take this puppy chow to the next level by serving it mixed with some other goodies. To add some saltiness you could mix in some mini pretzels or salted nuts. For extra decadence you could mix in some chocolate covered nuts or candies or even caramelized nuts. Get creative and switch things up! Whatever you decide, this puppy chow recipe would make for an amazing New Year's Eve party snack!

    New Year's Eve Dessert Ideas:

    If you're hosting or attending a New Year's Eve party this year, this puppy chow would definitely take the spread up a notch. In addition to making this puppy chow, be sure to check out the other amazing vegan desserts below!

    Easy Vegan Sugar Cookies

    Nutella Hot Chocolate

    Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies

    Chocolate Orange Bliss Balls

    Vegan Cream Cheese Stuffed Dates

    Easy Vegan Ice Cream Cake

    5 Ingredient Date Sweetened Chickpea Cookie Dough

    mixing the vegan puppy chow inside a ziplock bag
    a handful of crunchy, chocolatey puppy chow
    vegan and gluten free puppy chow

    If you give this puppy chow recipe a try, please let me know in the comments below what kind of nut butter you ended up using! Also let me know if you turned it into a chex mix of sorts by adding in other fun goodies. Be sure to rate this recipe and share it with your friends as well!

    📖 Recipe

    The Best Puppy Chow Recipe (Vegan + GF)

    Faith VanderMolen
    Special nut butter will jazz up this classic, gluten free dessert to create the best puppy chow recipe you'll ever eat or serve!
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Total Time 15 minutes mins
    Course Desserts
    Cuisine American
    Servings 8 cups
    Calories 525 kcal

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar
    • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
    • ½ cup nut butter*
    • 8 cups Chex cereal**
    • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar

    Instructions 

    • In a large sauce pan over low heat, warm the chocolate with the coconut oil until melted.
    • Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the nut butter.
    • Next add in the Chex cereal and carefully stir the cereal into the melted chocolate/nut butter mixture until all the cereal has been coated.
    • Place the powdered sugar into a large zip lock bag. Place the chocolate coated Chex cereal into the bag with the powdered sugar, seal the bag and shake everything until the Chex cereal has all been coated with the sugar.
    • Enjoy!
    • Store any leftovers in an airtight container or zip lock bag on the counter for up to a week!

    Notes

    *To make this recipe extra delicious, use a special, flavored nut butter. For example, I used Jem Organics Salted Caramel Cashew Almond Butter! Some other amazing nut butter brands I love are Georgia Grinders, Justin's and Abby's Better!
    **You can really use whatever kind of Chex cereal you like, such as rice, wheat or corn Chex.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 0.25cupCalories: 525kcalCarbohydrates: 90gProtein: 11gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 355mgPotassium: 346mgFiber: 11gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 660IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 216mgIron: 21mg
    Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

    More Gluten Free Desserts

    • Almond Pulp Brownie Bites
    • Vegan Cream Cheese Stuffed Dates
    • Salted Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates
      Salted Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates
    • Easy Vegan Tahini Brownies Recipe


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    Comments

    1. Shirley Rougely says

      March 28, 2022 at 4:53 pm

      I made these yesterday, and they were fantastisch! I got a lot out of the batch, and certainly healthier compared to the brand name version. I'm gonna try em with some trail mix, and see how that turns out. Thank you for posting!

      Reply
      • Faith VanderMolen says

        April 17, 2022 at 9:42 pm

        I'm so glad you commented on this recipe, because now I'm reminded of how good puppy chow is! And adding in trail mix sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing Shirley!

        Reply
    2. Haley says

      March 08, 2019 at 10:44 am

      I absolutely love puppy chow.

      Reply
      • Faith says

        March 09, 2019 at 3:14 am

        Me too! Never fails to satisfy!!

        Reply
    3. Dena says

      December 30, 2018 at 3:03 pm

      Perfection! Thanks Faith!

      Reply
      • Faith says

        December 30, 2018 at 4:50 pm

        Sure thing Dena! I hope you can make and enjoy some!

        Reply
    5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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