Puppy Chow Recipe (Muddy Buddies)
Posted: 11/30/2021
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This puppy chow recipe will quickly become a favorite. It’s easy to make and everyone loves it!
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Ummm, because it tastes so good?!
How long it takes: 10 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: microwave safe bowl, microwave
Servings: makes 9 cups – you decide how many servings that is!
Table of Contents
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Puppy Chow. Muddy Buddies. Where do I begin with my love for these?
Actually, if we’re being honest, I have a love-hate relationship with anything with powdered sugar on it.
I love it because, well, it’s powdered sugar.
I hate it because, well, IT GETS EVERYWHERE! EVVVVERYWHERE. Don’t even get me started on the kids eating stuff like this (They don’t. I do it in hiding.). Even making any recipe that involves powdered sugar is bound to end up with a major disaster requiring a lot of cleaning.
Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating just a wee bit.
When powdered sugar is paired with crispy cereal, chocolate and peanut butter — well, I’d clean up pounds of the stuff if necessary. This is what snacking is meant to be. Finger licking good. Literally.
I made this puppy chow for my son’s 1st birthday party. I threw him a “Winter ONEderland” party and the puppy chow attended disguised as “little snowflakes.” They fit the part pretty well, don’t you think? I served them up in little snack cups to cut down on the mess a little bit, and they were a huge hit. How could they not be?
About This Puppy Chow Recipe
I developed this recipe as a follow up to my Pumpkin Pie Muddy Buddies — and I gotta say, I think I like this version even better than its seasonal sister.
Do we need to review? CHOCOLATE. PEANUT BUTTER. POWDERED SUGAR.
And the great part is, this homemade treat is incredibly easy to make. I’ll run through the recipe here and give you a few extra tips. You should probably go ahead and get started right now!
As always, you’ll find the printable recipe card near the end of the post with complete instructions and nutrition information.
What You’ll Need
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: You could use milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips if you like but I’m a dark chocolate fan so I’ll always stick to semi-sweet.
- Creamy Peanut Butter: We’re talking about regular creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. I don’t think natural peanut butters would work as well.
- Butter: Either unsalted or salted is fine. It’s best if it’s at room temperature and not rock hard so it melts easily with the chocolate chips and peanut butter.
- Rice Chex Cereal: Did you know that this cereal is gluten-free? Crispix or other types of Chex can be substituted, such as Corn Chex or even Chocolate Chex (my personal favorite).
- Powdered Sugar (Confectioners’ Sugar): Yup, lots of it to give the puppy chow its snowy appearance.
How To Make Puppy Chow
Measure out the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter into a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments and stir well each time. Don’t overheat the mixture. Sometimes just stirring it thoroughly completes the melting process.
For our friends who don’t have microwaves – it’s easy to do on the stovetop as well. Just put the three ingredients into a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly.
Once the mixture is melted, stir in the vanilla. Add the cereal and mix until the cereal is coated with chocolate.
Throw the whole shebang in a bag full of powdered sugar. Shake-shake-shake and you have puppy chow.
Put it into a serving bowl and chow down! Bark bark! Ruff Ruff! Guau Guau! Or whatever dog sound you want to make. I’ll say Yum Yum!
FAQs
Why is it called puppy chow?
Apparently it’s called puppy chow because it (somewhat) resembles dog food. I don’t think I’ve ever seen white dog food but hey, whatever. It’s kind of a cute name. It may be a Midwest thing.
According to Wikipedia, it’s also called monkey munch, muddy munch, reindeer chow, or doggy bag!
Can dogs eat puppy chow?
Hmmmm, NO! This is not dog food by any stretch of the imagination. Keep this “puppy chow” away from your puppies as it can cause them to become sick.
Is there a difference between puppy chow and muddy buddies?
Nope, they are one and the same. This snack started as puppy chow and General Mills caught on to its popularity and started marketing it as Muddy Buddies.
Make It Your Own
I saw CHOCOLATE Chex cereal at the store and couldn’t resist adding a little more chocolate goodness to this snack. Not at all necessary, but more chocolate is never, ever, ever a bad thing. Ever.
Brit + Co has a collection of twenty-one puppy chow recipes to try if you’re feeling adventurous, variations from Orange Creamsicle Puppy Chow to Banana Split Puppy Chow.
Storage Tips
Store puppy chow in an airtight container after it’s completely cool. It will keep for a couple of weeks. Will it last that long? Probably not. Unless you hide it.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
servings
This puppy chow recipe will quickly become a favorite. It's easy to make and everyone loves it!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ⅓ cup butter
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 9 cups Rice Chex cereal (see note)
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in 30-second increments in the microwave. Stir after each increment until smooth. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add the Rice Chex cereal to the bowl and gently toss with a spatula to coat the cereal in the chocolate sauce.
- When the cereal has been completely coated, spoon it into a large zip-lock bag. (You may have to do this in batches if the bag is not big enough to hold all the cereal). Pour in the confectioners' sugar and seal the bag.
- Toss the cereal in the confectioners' sugar to coat.
- When the cereal is completely coated in the confectioners' sugar, remove it from the bag and put it into a serving bowl.
- Serve at room temperature. Makes 9 cups.
Notes
- Substitute other types of Chex cereal (try Chocolate Chex if it’s available!) or Crispix cereal, if desired.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 0.5cup, Calories: 204kcal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 177mg, Potassium: 183mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 265IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 69mg, Iron: 6mg
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Gina says
Just made this and it’s PERFECT!! Absolutely perfect proportions. It won’t last the day. ♥️
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you like it! Thanks for leaving a review!
Happy Valley Chow says
One of my favorite treats! Just sooo perfect :)
Happy Blogging!
Traci says
I like the idea of chocolate chex as well. It’s funny to me that some people haven’t heard of puppy chow, or “muddy buddies” — I grew up eating this stuff!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
I love making these around Christmas time! They’re always a hit!I like that you used chocolate Chex in your recipe – I’ll try that next time!
Sues says
I’ve NEVER tried muddy buddies/puppy chow, I think because the name puppy chow freaks me out :) But this looks so delicious, I wouldn’t be able to resist. I totally agree with you on powdered sugar!