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This Slow Cooker Nuts and Bolts Recipe is perfect for when you don’t have the oven available for two or three hours to bake up a bath of nuts and bolts! Now, this recipe is smaller than my usual batch of Nuts and Bolts, but this is also perfect for kids to make as well! My son made himself this very batch in the photos because he wanted to have some as a snack for school. If you are wanting a large batch for a big party, you would have to make a few batches as this is half of my normal batch. That said, my normal batch of Nuts and Bolts is large and in charge! This is perfect for school lunches and snacks for the family during the week.
Spicy, Delicious Slow Cooker Nuts and Bolts Recipe
There has to be a happy medium between the ho-hum recipes out there – man, you should see how little butter some of the other recipes for homemade nuts and bolts use! Sacrilege!- and the store-bought bags. I actually don’t even like the store-bought bags of bits and bites or nuts and bolts. It has to be homemade nuts and bolts or nothing!
Why isn’t this called Chex Mix?
We call this slow cooker Nuts and Bolts because we don’t get all of the different varieties of Chex mix that the original recipe calls for. We get Rice Chex and that’s IT! I’m Canadian so we make Nuts and Bolts, not Chex Mix. We are making Homemade Nuts and Bolts and Canadians use far different cereals than my American friends do. Homemade nuts and bolts are far different here in Canada, as the mix that I grew up with also included Shreddies. We always had Shreddies in our homemade nuts and bolts however I don’t include them because those buggers always cut my mouth. Every time!!
And by we made them, I meant that my son made these slow cooker nuts and bolts.
Which Crockpot should I use to Make Slow Cooker Nuts & Bolts?
For making slow cooker nuts and bolts you are going to need a LARGE crockpot so we recommend a 6-8 quart oval shaped crockpot (slow cooker) such as the one pictured below. While this recipe will certainly work in other styles, this one affords the right amount of space for just the right amount of food. This is a large capacity crockpot at 8 quarts – if you are serious about slow cooking then this baby is affordable, has amazing reviews and is beautiful!
You can easily find this crockpot on Amazon here if you currently don’t own one and would like to purchase it.
Our top 3 Crockpot accessories that are worth the money
- Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners (Pack of 8)
- Non-Stick Roasting Rack for Oval 6×9 Crockpots
- Meat Shredding Claws for Pulled Pork, etc.
Tips for Making Great Slow Cooker Nuts and Bolts
- You have to get rid of moisture, moisture is your enemy when it comes to making nuts and bolts. If your slow cooker doesn’t have a hole in the lid ( and not many do) you are going to have to use paper towel underneath your lid. The paper towel will absorb all of the moisture in the mixture, helping to dry out the pieces from the sauce.
- You have to stir it so that it doesn’t burn. We found that it is more important to remember this than it is when you make nuts and bolts in the oven.
- You can add in some hot sauce for a spicy kick!
- Add in some peanuts as well if you like, we tend to not include them.
Happy slow cooking!
Love,
Mike and Karlynn
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Slow Cooker Nuts and Bolts Recipe
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 2 hours
- Total Time
- 2 hours 5 minutes
- Course
- Snack
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 10
- Calories
- 297
- Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Author
- Fast & Slow Cooking
Ingredients
- 1 cup of salted butter melted
- 1/2 tbsp seasoning salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp paprika
- 4 cups of Crispix Cereal plain corn and rice
- 2 cups of Rice Chex
- 2 cups plain Cheerios
- 2 cups of pretzel sticks
- 1 box cheese stick crackers
- Optional spices: 1 tsp onion powder 1/2 tbsp dried dill
Instructions
- Get out your slow cooker and spray the inside with vegetable cooking spray.
- In a very large bowl, combine the cereals, nuts, crackers and pretzels. In microwave (or on stove) melt butter and mix in spices and Worcestershire. Pour over dry ingredients and stir gently to mix thoroughly.
- Place in the crockpot. Place a paper towel over top of the crockpot and place the lid on top. Cook on high for an hour, then remove the lid and stir and turn it down to low. Stir every 20 minutes or so to prevent burning.
- The mix will be done when you can see that all of the butter mixture has been absorbed and is dry.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Made this recipe?
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Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!
Kaitlyn Telford says
I changed a few things from past experience…
Added a bit more butter
(extra 3 or 4TBS)
Also added the optional onion powder as well as a 1/4 tsp of chilli powder and started right away on low heat stirring every 20 mins or so to prevent burning
Susie says
Ok so maybe this is a stupid question, but I am not so good with instructions. In step 3 it says to take the lid off, turn to low and mix every 20 minutes. Do I leave the lid off for the duration of the low temp?
Mike Johnston says
Yes
Earl says
Have not made this yet but the next family getogether it will be on the menu.
Tina McNeely says
where are the nuts in the nuts and bolts I enjoy it with nuts
SO says
I followed the instructions to a “T” & it was awful! I will go back to my oven recipe that is very similar to this.
Fast & Slow Cooking says
To each their own but I suspect you didn’t follow the recipe to a T like you mentioned.