Trail Mix with Fruit and Nuts

This trail mix is very quick and easy. No cooking required. You may already have all of the fruit and nuts that you need in your pantry.

Makes about 3½ Cups

Quick and Easy Trail Mix with dried fruit and nuts.

Trail Mix

There are many recipes for trail mix out there to choose from. This trail mix can probably be made from dried fruit and nuts that you already have on hand. No fancy ingredients are required. A better name for this mixture would probably be snack mix. I keep this ready for when I get hungry during the day and mealtime is still a little ways off. I also take a small container with me when I go shopping. You know what they say. Don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. It is made up completely of nuts and dried fruit. No chocolate (sorry), sugar, honey, salt, or spices. Is it healthy? Probably, but I am not a dietitian so I can’t say for sure.

History:

This trail mix contains most of the fruits and nuts that I tend to snack on during the day. As you will see, I already keep each ingredient on hand for preparing other recipes. Here is what the ingredients are used for besides snacking. Raisins are at the top of the list because they are, without a doubt, my favorite snack food. If you have a copy of the cookbook The Joy of an empty Pot, then the page numbers refer to the location of the recipes in the cookbook.

• Raisins – Curry Cabbage and Rice, added to oatmeal or any other hot cereal, cold cereal, cinnamon rolls (p. 154), raisin and spice tube cake (p. 169), light fruitcake (p. 162).
• Dried cranberries (Craisins) – Added to oatmeal in place of raisins, Cranberry Clusters Candy
• Dried Apricots – Apricot jam from dried apricots (p. 209)
• Pitted Dates – Light fruitcake (p. 162)
• Walnuts – Walnut Chews candy (p. 226), Sweet and Sour Pineapple Walnuts (p.121), Sugared Walnut Nibbles candy (p. 224)
• Roasted Almonds – (or regular raw unroasted almonds) English Toffee, Danish coffee cake ( p. 153) (you can use regular almonds if you don’t have any roasted on hand).
• Shelled Pecans – Pineapple upside down cake, light fruitcake (p.162)

When I prepare this mix for myself, I just weigh the ingredients and use 2 ounces of each item. But for this post, I am using dry measure because not everyone has a good digital scale for measuring ounces.

Ingredients:

Ingredients for trail mix: dried apricots, dried cranberries, pitted dates, raisins, almonds, walnuts, and pecans.

You will need 1/2 cup of each of the following ingredients:

• Raisins
• Dried cranberries (Craisins)
• Dried apricots
• Pitted dates
• Shelled walnuts, halves and pieces
• Roasted almonds (or regular raw unroasted almonds)
• Shelled pecans

Instructions:

1. Chop the dried apricots into smaller pieces. I usually cut a dried apricot in half lengthwise and then cut it across the width twice. This results in 6 bite-size apricot pieces that are about the same size as the other ingredients of the trail mix.
2. Chop the dates into smaller pieces using the same method that was used for the apricots.

1 - Chop apricots into smaller bite-size pieces.

2 - Chop dates into smaller bite-size pieces.

Your assembled ingredients will look like this:

Trail mix ingredients just before mixing together.

Now combine all of the ingredients – raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, pitted dates, walnuts, almonds, and pecans  – in a large bowl and mix together until well blended. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. I put some of the the trail mix in smaller containers so that I can grab them on the go.

Bowl and small container with lid of trail mix.

Notes:

• Peanuts have not been included in this recipe for two reasons. I don’t keep them on hand and a lot of people are allergic to peanuts. Peanut butter is a different matter. As far as I am concerned, a day without peanut butter is a day without food. But it would not mix in very well with this trail mix.
• I also have not included shelled pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds. Even though I love all of them, I don’t usually keep them on hand all of the time either.

Print

Trail Mix

This trail mix is very quick and easy. No Cooking required. You may already have all of the fruit and nuts that you need in your pantry

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword Trail Mix

Prep Time 12 minutes

Total Time 12 minutes

Servings 10 servings

Calories 229 kcal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 `cup shelled walnuts
• 1/2 cup shelled almonds
• 1/2 cup shelled pecans

Instructions

1. Chop the dried apricots into smaller pieces. I usually cut a dried apricot in half lengthwise and then cut it across the width twice. This results in 6 bite-size apricot pieces that are about the same size as the other ingredients of the trail mix.

2. Chop the dates into smaller pieces using the same method that was used for the apricots.
   

3. Combine all of the ingredients – raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, pitted dates, walnuts, almonds, and pecans – in a large bowl and mix together until well blended.
   

4. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. I put some of the the trail mix in smaller containers so that I can grab them on the go.
   

Recipe Notes

• When I prepare this mix for myself, I just weigh the ingredients and use 2 ounces of each item. But for this post, I am using dry measure because not everyone has a good digital scale for measuring ounces.
• Peanuts have not been included in this recipe for two reasons. I don’t keep them on hand and a lot of people are allergic to peanuts. 
• I also have not included shelled pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds. Even though I love all of them, I don’t usually keep them on hand all of the time either.