Homemade Bits and Bites

Make Bits and Bites mix at home with this simple recipe. Shreddies, Cheerios, Cheese Bits, Ritz, Pretzels, Chex and mixed with butter, worchestershire sauce, tabasco and spices

Anytime I watch a sporting event, movie or TV show, I love to have some salty snacks. Not much is better than Bits and Bites. Every handful is different and I love the mixture of tastes and textures. Making Bits an Bites is actually very easy and this recipe makes a MASSIVE batch. I mix them and bake them in a large turkey roasting pan. This recipe is also great to switch up ingredients with other stuff.

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My Bits and Bites mixture included:

  • Shreddies
  • Cheerios
  • Mini Ritz crackers
  • Cheese Bits
  • Pretzels

Here are some other options:

  • Goldfish crackers
  • peanuts
  • almonds
  • Chex
  • corn chips
  • Crunchy Cheetos
  • Life cereal

After it is baked, try throwing in some M&Ms, Reeses Pieces, beer nuts or raisins for some sweetness.

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Homemade Bits and Bites

4.95 out of 5
20 reviews
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Make Bits and Bites mix at home with this simple recipe. Shreddies, Cheerios, Cheese Bits, Ritz, Pretzels, Chex and mixed with butter, worchestershire sauce, tabasco and spices
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 (225g) box Cheese Bits (Cheese Nips or Goldfish crackers)
  • 1 (225g) box Mini Ritz Crackers
  • 6 cups Cheerios Cereal
  • 6 cups Shreddies Cereal
  • 6 cups pretzels
  • 2 (1 pound) cups butter, melted
  • 1/3 cups Worchestershire Sauce
  • 2 tbsp Tabasco sauce
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp chili powder

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 250F.
  • Mix Cheese Bits, Mini Ritz, Cheerios, Shreddies and pretzels together in a large roasting pan (the kind used for turkey or large roast beef).
  • Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl until well mixed. Pour the butter mixture over the bits and bites. Using a wooden spoon, mix well to make sure all the bits and bites are coated in the butter mixture. Sometimes there are some that stick in the corners or bottom and do not get coated. Be sure to stir into the bottom of the pan and draw them up.
  • Bake in the oven for about 2 hours. Stir the bits and bites every 15 minutes, pulling the ones at the bottom up to the top. After the 2 hours, the moisture should all be gone. If not and some of the pieces are still moist, bake another 15-30 minutes.
  • Once cool, bag and seal the bits and bites so they stay fresh and crispy.

Categories

Make Bits and Bites mix at home with this simple recipe. Shreddies, Cheerios, Cheese Bits, Ritz, Pretzels, Chex and mixed with butter, worchestershire sauce, tabasco and spices

Did you try this recipe?

Leave a comment and let me know how it turned out. Or, take a picture to share on Instagram and tag me @theblackpeppercorn.

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Recipe Rating




35 comments

  • 5 stars
    Mine are in the oven baking as we speak. I LOVE the smell of my house right now!! Mmmm…. My only recommendation is that I whisked all my seasonings really well into the butter and, (for the 1st time ever), used a Turkey baster to slowly drizzle the butter/seasoning mixture over all the cereal/pretzles/nuts and stirred them well with a rubber spatula. I like the fact that I can really scrape the bottom of the pan with my rubber spatula and have less cereal breakage. Without a doubt, my recipe has the best well-distributed blend of the butter seasoning mixture that I’ve ever had. These are a holiday favourite in our house. Which brings me to question … why do I only make these once a year?!! Duh!! 🤦🏽‍♀️

    • Reply
  • Can I make a half batch? It’s just me and I would rather make a half a batch at a time..

    • Reply
    • You sure can. I tend to just make a full batch because it uses the full boxes of the ingredients.

  • What kind of butter?? salted or not salted???

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  • My go to recipe for bits and bites tried others this is by far the best for my family. We never ever worry about them going stale.
    My grandson and granddaughter are away at University busy time keeping them and their roommates stocked up.

    • Reply
  • We just made a batch of this to put in decorated jars to give out for Christmas! We’re in the U.S. in the winter, so no Shreddies, so we used Cheerios & Crispix. Also used a 7-oz. box of Cheez-Its + 6 individual snack bags of goldfish and added a 10-oz. box of raisins, two 10-oz. bags of red & green M & M’s, and a 12-oz. can of peanuts. We’re at high altitude, so baked 1:45, but probably would’ve been fine at 1:30, as most of the pretzels got quite dark. Definitely use all the butter, but we cut the tabasco in half. It is WAAAYYYY too delicious!!! We still had 27 cups after we each ate some!! ~ R & J in the Rockies

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  • 5 stars
    Just like my dad used to make!! My mom used to cut the butter, but just not the same. If I am making this, I am going all out!!! Fantastic!!!

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  • Recipe taste good, but too much work stirring every 15 minutes and the amount of butter was a little too much. I don’t think I will use this recipe again.

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  • 5 stars
    This is the best bits and bites recipe I have ever made. I made the “sauce” exactly as written but left out the tabasco and had so many great comments. I used cheerios, shreddies, rice chex, quaker corn squares, straight pretzels, cheese bits and a full jar of roasted peanuts. The only pan I had that was large enough was my electric turkey roaster so I used that. I stirred frequently and cooked it for about 2 and a half hours with the lid off and it turned out perfect.

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  • I have made this recipe many times now over the years and it has always been the best. I have tried others, but they don’t even come close. I will say that checking and stirring every 15 mins or so is key and this MASSIVE batch has taken me up to 5-6 hours to get it as dry and crispie as I like.
    IT IS VERY WORTH THE TIME AND COST!

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    We’ll just can’t find that perfect recipe for the holidays. Hubby and I are attempting this one tonight. I’ll keep everyone informed wether it’s a keeper or not!!!! Wish me luck. Canada

    • Reply
  • 4 stars
    I think I have used too much butter and am unable to get all the moisture out. Any tips for how to dry them up?

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  • 5 stars
    I did a gluten free version today. I used Chex, cheerios and gluten free pretzels. I added mixed nuts. It is great!

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  • have you accomplished a Gluten free mix?

    • Reply
    • I have not tried making a gluten free version so I don’t know how well this recipe translates with gluten free type snacks. Sorry!

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      • I used cheerios and they shrunk to about one third there size .. any ideas ??

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        • How long with they last in your cupboard. I’d like to make a few batches early December and give them out Dec 23. And where do you get the mini ritz crackers and cheese nibs from?

          • Reply
          • Hmm – they never last too long in our house and get gobbled up quickly. Not sure how fresh they would be after close to a month. I would say that keeping them in an airtight container would help. I think the last place I bought the cheese nibs and mini ritz was at Walmart and they had both boxes.

        • I’m wondering if adding the cheerios half way through the cooking time would keep them from shrinking & a tendency to burn?

          • Reply
          • Interesting idea. It might help the Cheerios from shrinking.

          • 5 stars
            I have made this recipe many many times and never do my cheerios shrink or burn.
            The recipe tastes just like bits and bites, even better! I use shreddies, cheerios, pretzel sticks and regular cheddar goldfish. Yum! I am thinking about making these today. Feels like a bits and bites kind of day. 😉

        • 5 stars
          I always add the Cheerios after stirring in the butter…when added with the rest, they are like lil sponges…soak in too much butter, then shrink too much. I also mix up different spice blends each year… Play,,, ?

          • Reply
      • I have made gluten free from similar recipes. They turn out fine just make sure your Worcestershire sauce is also gluten free (I know Frenches is GF).

        • Reply
      • Just made this gluten free using chex, Natures path Oat os, glutino pretzels, cauliflower cheese crackers and the French’s gluten free Worcestershire sauce. Turned out really well!

        • Reply
        • Thanks for sharing these gluten free options!!

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  • Bake covered or uncovered?

    • Reply
    • uncovered

      • Reply
  • 5 stars
    This recipe has been around in one way or another for 50 years. My mom always made a big batch of this in late November for the Grey Cup football championship up here in Canada. Then, another batch for Christmas visitors and another for New Year’s Eve. My older brothers and I still make it, each with our own variations. Last year I made a batch using butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Very nice.

    • Reply
  • Just one more quick comment. At the top of the recipe it says cook time 1 hour, but the instructions say to cook for 2 hours. Ours was done in 1 3/4 hours.

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  • 5 stars
    My 5-year-old grandson and I decided to make our own bits and bites today so I went to Google and ended up picking out this recipe as the best one to try. We love it! We used pretzel sticks, Multigrain Cheerios, Shreddies, Cheddar Goldfish and Extreme Pizza Goldfish. I left out the Tobasco as I didn’t want it to be too spicy for him, (though I’m guessing it wouldn’t have been). It seemed like A LOT of butter, but I resisted the urge to cut back and am glad I did. It’s way more tempting than I’d like it to be.

    PS: I was surprised to see your name on the recipe after I printed it, so I came back to see if it was the Steve Cylka I remembered from PECFM. This is a very attractive blog. I’ll be back.

    • Reply
    • 5 stars
      do you bake it with or without a cover.

      • Reply
      • without a cover

        • Reply
      • Made this bits and bits tonight. Wow turned out good

        • Reply
  • family favourite, going to try this version

    • Reply

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