Sweet & Spicy Sesame Snack Mix

When you’re craving intense flavor and satisfying crunch, something salty and sweet with just a hint of heat, this sesame-forward snack mix hits all the right notes, with the perfect variety of crunchy bits and a flavor-packed glaze featuring soy sauce, sesame oil, honey and spices.

Because of the honey in the glaze (which is prone to burning), this snack mix bakes at a lower temperature for a longer time, resulting in a perfectly crisp texture every time. And while the longer baking time might test your patience, the favor-packed results are well worth the wait. Might I suggest making an extra large batch (because it surely won’t last long!)

Taylor is a snack fanatic, always crunching on something even if we just finished dinner, going through bags of various snack mixes at an alarming rate (at this point he should probably just change his last name from Hackbarth to Snackbarth).

Lately, however, he’s gotten a bit bored of the same generic snack mix, and was hankering for something bolder with more spice and a more unique flavor profile. So he set out to make his own flavor-packed snack mix.

If you’ve ever searched the internet for homemade snack mix recipes, you’ve probably noticed that almost every snack mix recipe out there is some variation on the same thing (basically the original Chex Mix recipe right from the box). A little Worcestershire, a sprinkle of garlic and onion powder, butter and salt and that’s it. How boring.

Instead, let’s turn that generic flavor up a notch with a gut-punch of sesame (both oil and seeds in addition to the sesame sticks within the snack mix itself), plus soy sauce for saltiness and umami, honey for sweetness, and Korean gochugaru pepper flakes for smokey heat. (more…)