Sweet, salty, and crunchy, puppy chow, also known as muddy buddies, is a crowd-pleasing sweet snack and treat that’s loaded with chocolate and peanut butter goodness. Through lots of testing, we’ve perfected the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate in our easy 4-ingredient recipe. With our simple instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips for success, you’ll be mixing up a delicious batch of this no-bake treat in no time!
I’ve been making no bake dessert recipes with cereal for as long as I can remember. It’s such an easy way to mix up a fun treat with great texture and flavor with minimal effort.
Both my husband and I have loved puppy chow since childhood (I’m pretty sure this treat is a quintessential part of growing up in the Midwest). While this classic chocolate and peanut butter puppy chow is always a favorite, we’ve also made fun variations on it like our cookies & cream muddy buddies, strawberry puppy chow, and Christmas puppy chow too! And if you love cereal treats as much as we do, be sure to try our fruity pebbles treats, cocoa krispie treats, and lucky charm treats recipes too!
What is Puppy Chow (Muddy Buddies)?
Puppy chow, also commonly known as muddy buddies, is the name for a sweet snack or dessert-style Chex mix (Wikipedia calls it “homemade candy” which is kind of funny) made with crispy cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar.
General Mills sells their own packaged version of this popular treat, but it’s super easy to make at home (and tastes so much better!).
Why You’ll Love Our Recipe for Puppy Chow
The perfect ratio of chocolate and peanut butter. Through lots of testing, we’ve created a puppy chow with the ideal ratio of chocolate to peanut butter, resulting in an extra luxurious treat.
Just 4-Ingredients (no butter). I never skimp on butter when it’s needed, but you just don’t need butter to make amazing puppy chow. We let the peanut butter and chocolate shine in our recipe, along with the Chex cereal and powdered sugar coating.
Fun to make. There’s just something fun about shaking up a batch of muddy buddies to get that perfect powdered sugar coating…
Easy enough for kids to help with! With minimal steps, no stove or oven work required, and easy directions, this recipe is a great opportunity to get the kids involved if they’re wanting to help.
Homemade Puppy Chow Ingredients
- Rice Chex Cereal. Rice Chex is the classic base for any puppy chow or muddy buddy recipe.
- Creamy Peanut Butter. Used to coat our cereal (along with the chocolate).
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate. The other part of our coating, semi-sweet chocolate is the perfect pairing for our peanut butter. You can chop up a bar of chocolate or use chocolate chips. Both will melt well along with the peanut butter for this recipe.
- Powdered Sugar. Also known as confectioners sugar, powdered sugar is what gives our puppy chow that classic, powdery coating.
See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for full instructions and ingredient measurements.
How to Make Peanut Butter Puppy Chow
Prep. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place the powdered sugar in a gallon sized zip-top bag and set aside.
Make the puppy chow. Place the Chex cereal into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Put the chocolate chips and peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave the chocolate and peanut butter in 30-second increments, stirring after each cycle, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Pour over the Chex.
Gently stir to coat the cereal, doing your best to avoid breaking the cereal as you mix.
For the best results, continue to stir until you no longer see any bare cereal and allow it to rest a few minutes once fully coated (see tips below).
Expert Tips
Be sure to fully coat your cereal with the melted chocolate and peanut butter mixture – no plain cereal should be showing! Taking a few extra minutes to ensure your cereal is fully coated is worth it! This allows the powdered sugar to coat all parts of your cereal, resulting in the very best puppy chow.
To create optimal clusters, and limit the amount of powdered sugar used, let the coated cereal rest a few minutes before transferring it to the zip-top bag to shake and coat again. This helps you create some ‘clumps’ of cereal which area always a delight to bite into, and also helps ensure you don’t have an overly sweet treat due to needing extra powdered sugar to coat all the pieces. If the chocolate coating is too wet / warm, the powdered sugar tends to soak up into the chocolate instead of creating a nice coating as desired.
Place the coated cereal into the resealable plastic bag with the powdered sugar.
Close the bag and shake to coat the cereal with the powdered sugar. Peak in periodically and add more powdered sugar, ¼ Cup at a time, if needed.
Pour the coated cereal onto a lined cookie sheet.
Spread the puppy chow to the edges of the sheet to allow any wet areas to set and dry.
Muddy Buddy Recipe Variations
Swap out some or all of the Rice Chex. Some people like to use a blend of Rice Chex and Corn Chex (just use equal portions of each) for puppy chow. Crispix is another great alternative to the Rice Chex (replace all of the the Rice Chex for this option).
This recipe is gluten free as written, however, if you are feeding this treat to someone with celiac disease, be sure to double-check the labels of all ingredients you use to make this recipe to confirm they are certified gluten free.
Chocolate Puppy Chow Serving Suggestions
Some claim eating frozen puppy chow is the bees knees (even going so far as to claim it to be “life changing”)… so give it a try if you want to serve it cold vs. at room temperature. Whatever way you want to enjoy this chocolate and peanut buttery treat it is just fine.
How to Store Chocolate Puppy Chow
Store puppy chow in an airtight container or zip top bag for up to 1 week at room temperature or up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long!). You can also freeze this puppy chow for up to 2 months if desired.
Puppy Chow Muddy Buddies FAQs
Is puppy chow just a Midwest thing?
While puppy chow originates from the Midwest dating back to the 1960s, it has become a beloved treat and snack that you can find all around the United States.
What is another name for puppy chow?
The most common alternative name to puppy chow is muddy buddies. But you may also hear it referred to as monkey munch, muddy munch, reindeer chow, or doggy bag.
Love this Recipe? Try One of These Easy Christmas Treats Next!
Muddy Buddies Recipe
Equipment
- Microwave Safe Bowls (for melting chocolate)
Ingredients
- 8 Cups Rice Chex Cereal
- 1 , 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips (12oz package = about 1.5 Cups)
- 1 Cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 + ¾ Cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Prep. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Set out another piece of parchment paper (on the counter or on another baking sheet). Place the powdered sugar in a gallon sized zip-top bag and set aside.
- Make the puppy chow. Place the Chex cereal into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Place your semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each cycle, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
- Pour the melted chocolate and peanut butter mixture over the Chex.
- Gently stir until all of the ingredients are well coated. Then let the chocolate-peanut butter coated cereal rest for a few minutes.*
- Transfer the coated cereal into the resealable plastic bag with the powdered sugar in it.
- Close the bag and shake to coat the cereal with the powdered sugar. You'll need to tip the back sideways and upside down throughout shaking to distribute the powdered sugar.(I recommend peaking into the bag periodically and adding more powdered sugar in ¼ Cup increments if you're noticing there are sections of cereal that are still wet / without powdered sugar coating it).
- Pour the coated cereal onto a lined cookie sheet, spreading it to the edges to dry.
Video
Notes
- Swap out some or all of the Rice Chex. Some people like to use a blend of Rice Chex and Corn Chex (just use equal portions of each) for puppy chow. Crispix is another great alternative to the Rice Chex (replace the Rice Chex completely).
David says
How have I not reviewed this sooner!? Made it many times. Easy and delicious.
Meredith says
🙌 you really can’t beat homemade puppy chow
Marge says
the best snack! and this recipe has THE BEST amount of chocolate and peanut butter to cereal. YUM