Puppy Chow Recipe (Muddy Buddies) Recipe

Name: Puppy Chow Recipe (Muddy Buddies)
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
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))

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!

Overhead view of puppy chow in a white bowl, small chocolate chips visible as well.

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 1^st 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?

Puppy chow dessert being held in a hand.

About This Puppy Chow Recipe

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!

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.

Overhead view of ingredients needed for recipe.

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.

Melted chocolate and peanut butter in a clear glass bowl.

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.

Chex cereal mixed with peanut butter and 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!

Muddy buddies in a small metal tin, milk in background.

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.

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.

More Easy Treats

The Best Rice Krispies Treats

S’mores Popcorn

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars

Trail Mix Recipe – 3 Variations!

Recipe