Muddy Buddies. Puppy Chow. Whatever you call it, we all know it’s highly addictive. (And *gasp*, if you’ve never made them, you absolutely must–we have a recipe for the old-school version over here.)
So what do you do when you’ve got a yearning for Muddy Buddies, but either a) you don’t have any Chex and don’t really want to put on a bra to leave the house or b) you keep buying Chex for things like Muddy Buddies, but no one will ever eat them if they’re not covered in peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar (or coconut and caramelly butter stuff), so you have, like, 3 stale boxes of cereal in your house and you don’t want to add a fourth?
You make it with popcorn.
That’s right–you take the world’s most addictive treat and then make it with the second most addictive treat. Plus, if you use microwave popcorn, you’ve got that whole sweet and salty thing going on. It’s really hard to go wrong here.
I pulled out my friend Ashton’s book Party Popcorn (she’s the wonder behind Something Swanky) to see if she had a recipe for Muddy Buddy Popcorn and, because there’s a recipe for just about any kind of popcorn you can imagine, she sure did. So I made it. And it was everything I hoped it would be.
You’re going to need 8 cups of popped popcorn (about 1 standard bag of microwave popcorn), peanut butter, chocolate chips, and powdered sugar. You can also add vanilla, but it will cause the chocolate to seize up and then life gets complicated, so I’d just leave it out (or if you happen to have alcohol-free vanilla, you could use that. I don’t think it makes that big of a difference overall.)
Pour the popcorn into a large bowl, removing any unpopped kernels. Set aside.
Place the powdered sugar in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Set aside.
Place the peanut butter and chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl (a cereal bowl is fine). Heat for 30 seconds, stir, then heat for an additional 20 seconds at a time until the mixture is melted and smooth.
Pour the chocolate-peanut butter mixture over the popcorn. Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir to coat.
Spoon the coated popcorn into the bag with the powdered sugar. Seal the bag and shake until the popcorn is evenly coated in powdered sugar.
Once the popcorn is coated, serve immediately. Store up to 2 days in an airtight container.
Muddy Buddy Popcorn
Ingredients
- 8 cups popped popcorn
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Pour the popcorn into a large bowl, removing any unpopped kernels. Set aside.
- Place the powdered sugar in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Set aside.
- Place the peanut butter and chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl (a cereal bowl is fine). Heat for 30 seconds, stir, then heat for an additional 20 seconds at a time until the mixture is melted and smooth.
- Pour the chocolate-peanut butter mixture over the popcorn. Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir to coat.
- Spoon the coated popcorn into the bag with the powdered sugar. Seal the bag and shake until the popcorn is evenly coated in powdered sugar.
- Once the popcorn is coated, serve immediately. Store up to 2 days in an airtight container.
Questions & Reviews
Such a fun and easy treat! The powdered sugar coating must add the perfect touch of sweetness. I’d love to know if this method works with other types of coatings, like caramel or flavored sugars. Thanks for sharing!
Quick question… does the popcorn get soggy at all when you add the melted chocolate and peanut butter mixture?
If you eat it quickly things stay crunchy!
Yum! Thank you for this easy and delicious snack! Love it!
I don’t know if you have any control over this, but your page is bombarded with ads for the “Bad Moms” Christmas movie. Like, multiple times all over the page. FYI. Seems like something you would want to know about.
Didn’t see the winner for the summer giveaway in your post on this day of expected announcement? I forgot about it and then just checked today, but must have missed it.
Hmmm…I can’t keep Chex stocked in my house, because my kids love it! I’ve thought about trying muddy buddies with Kix, but I have the same problem with Kix – kids snarf it down in a day or two!
I made this last night with two bags of Costco popcorn (minus a kids ikea bowl full of regular popcorn for my child that doesn’t want sweet things). I might of added more pb too. Really yummy and super fast to make, plus the kids like to shake it up while in the bag. Thanks for the recipe.
Why have I never thought of doing this? I live in Europe (aka the land of NO CHEX), and I miss Muddy Buddies! I’m doing this asap.
I made muddy buddies for Christmas this year and gave them as treats to teachers and family. People kept commenting on how delicious my recipe was! It was just the one on the Chex box! Just goes to show that sometimes simple is just as tasty!
This could be a HUGE problem for me! Muddy buddies are like crack! Seriously, can’t even make a batch because I know I’ll eat every single piece! Thanks for adding to my addiction!?
Oh my goodness, not wanting to put on a bra is exactly my reason for not wanting to go out!
I had to laugh. Sounds like you have the same chex cereal problem we do at my house. Will have to try muddy buddy popcorn someday.
This looks so good! I might try adding in some butterscotch chips to make it have a scotcheroo-like flavor. I’ve done that with muddie buddies and it’s my absolute favorite way to make them.
Great idea!!