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Craving a snack that hits both sweet and salty notes? This chocolate cherry trail mix is calling your name! Made with just five simple ingredients—roasted almonds, creamy cashews, sweet dried cherries, crunchy pistachios, and rich dark chocolate chips—this blend is a flavor-packed powerhouse. It’s perfect for hiking, road trips, or anytime you need a quick, satisfying bite. It’s easy to make and even easier to love. Your taste buds are in for a treat!
This chocolate cherry trail mix recipe takes minutes to make and tastes so good with rich and fruity flavors in every mouthful. It’s easy to make and so satisfying!
Looking for camping/hiking snacks? You might also want to try nut brittle, tropical trail mix, or a cool ranch jerky trail mix.
Why You’ll Love It
Easy: How easy can trail mix be? Well, it’s as easy as measuring out your ingredients and combining them!
Delicious: The sweet and salty flavors in this easy trail mix recipe are so good together.
Customizable: One of the great things about making your own homemade trail mix is you can add whatever you want in there and leave out anything you don’t really like.
Dark Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below
Roasted nuts: Roasted almonds, roasted cashews, and roast pistachios feature in this crunchy trail mix. Choose from salted or unsalted, as you prefer.
Dried cherries: These add a pop of sweet flavor and also introduce a chewy texture that contrasts nicely with the crunchy nuts.
Dark chocolate chips: Another sweet ingredient. Feel free to use a different kind of chocolate if dark chocolate isn’t a favorite.
How to Make Sweet and Salty Trail Mix
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card
Prepare the ingredients: Measure out your ingredients.
Combine everything: Mix the ingredients together and then enjoy. That’s all!
Substitutions and Variations
Different nuts: Try walnuts, pecans, Brasil nuts or any other kind in place of the ones listed.
Different chocolate: Not a dark chocolate fan? Feel free to sub milk chocolate or white chocolate chips.
Try cacao nibs: These offer a tasty alternative to the dark chocolate chips. You can also opt for white chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate.
Another fruit: Dried cherries are good with the chocolate but you can use another kind of dried fruit if you prefer, such as chopped dried apricots or apples, dried pineapple, or use plantain or banana chips instead.
Serving Suggestions
Snacks: If you’re taking trail mix on a hiking trip, you might also like to bring along more portable snacks such as gingerbread oatmeal bars or carrot blueberry muffins. And something to sip, perhaps sparkling strawberry lemonade.
Main dishes: At the end of your hike, set up camp and get ready to enjoy campfire French dip sandwiches or campfire shrimp scampi foil packets!
How to Store Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix
Store: As this trail mix contains dried fruit, it’s best enjoyed within 2 or 3 weeks. Keep it in a plastic airtight container, reusable silicone bag or mason jar somewhere dark and cool. You can refrigerate it but you don’t have to.
Freeze: This doesn’t freeze well, so only make as much as you will need. If you do freeze it, you’ll find the nuts soften and the dried cherries go mushy when thawed.
Top Tips
Finetune the salt content: Roasted nuts come in both salted and unsalted varieties. I like to use unsalted and then add a pinch of salt later so I can get the right amount. Using all salted nuts might mean the finished trail mix is too salty.
Portion it out: Divide the finished trail mix into portions. I like to use resuable bags (my fave here) to divide it up in to handy snack-sized amounts.
Make extra: This trail mix disappears alarmingly fast, so I highly recommend doubling up and making twice what you think you’ll need.
Fun with ingredients: Throw in anything you like – that’s one of the best things about homemade trail mix recipes!
Optimal storage: Once assembled, keep your trail mix in a sealed or airtight container to prolong its freshness.
Cherry Chocolate Snack Mix FAQs
Yes, if you’re only using nuts and chocolate chips, it will keep for a couple of months. If this recipe is one of your favorites, perhaps make the basic mix (without the dried cherries) and then you can add fruit later, when you’re ready to portion it out.
Candies, seeds, pretzels, popcorn, roasted fava beans or chick peas, coconut chips or coconut flakes are just some options for you to consider. If you’re using unsalted nuts, you might also want to add a pinch of salt.
Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix Recipe
Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix
Equipment
- Wooden Spoon or Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups almonds, roasted, salted or unsalted
- 1/2 Cup cashews, roasted, salted or unsalted
- 1/2 Cup pistachios, shelled, roasted, salted or unsalted
- 1 Cup dried cherries
- 3/4 Cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Pour all ingredients into a bowl and stir together to mix.
- Store in a Ziploc bag, silicone bag or mason jar.
Notes
Portion it out: Divide the finished trail mix into portions. I like to use stasher bags to divide it up in to handy snack-sized amounts.
Make extra: This trail mix disappears alarmingly fast, so I highly recommend doubling up and making twice what you think you’ll need.
Fun with ingredients: Throw in anything you like – that’s one of the best things about homemade trail mix recipes!
Optimal storage: Once assembled, keep your trail mix in a sealed or airtight container to prolong its freshness.
Nutrition
Making your own chocolate cherry trail mix means you have a delicious snack that’s suitable for everything from post-workout hunger pangs to hiking and camping or simply a snack to munch while watching your favorite TV show. The combination of crunchy nuts, soft and chewy dried cherries, and rich-tasting chocolate chips makes this DIY trail mix especially delicious!
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
This recipe is the bomb! So flavorful and easy to prepare! Absolutely my new fave. 👌