The Retro 2-Ingredient, 5-Minute Snack I Can't Stop Making

Crunchy, buttery, salty... sounds like the perfect snack mix to me. While Chex Party Mix might be the first homemade recipe that comes to mind, there’s another retro recipe that’s a little less known. However, it's even easier and only two ingredients: Hot Buttered Cheerios.

General Mills published a recipe for this snack mix, also known as Hot Buttered O’s, in the mid-1980s. Of course, the star of this recipe is plain old Cheerios—except that they're anything but plain. The cereal is coated in butter, toasted on the stove, and sprinkled with salt. It's ready in less than five minutes.  

A (Very) Brief History of Cereal Snack Mixes

Clever home cooks have been turning crunchy breakfast cereals into snacks for decades, many inspired by perhaps the most well-known of the bunch: the Original Chex Party Mix recipe, published in the 1950s. More cereal companies jumped on the bandwagon and published magazine recipes for crunchy party mixes made with cereals like Kix, Crispix, and Golden Grahams.

Author and mid-century culture aficionado Charles Phoenix has a sweet take on retro fried cereal snacks. His cookbook, Holiday Jubilee, has a recipe for Fried Confetti, a buttered and toasted mix of sweet cereals like Apple Jacks, Trix, Cap’n Crunch, and Lucky Charms.

Of all these throwback recipes, Hot Buttered O’s is among the fastest and simplest. Here’s how to make this retro appetizer for your next holiday get-together, game night, or lazy weekend afternoon.

How I Make Hot Buttered O's

There’s not much to Hot Buttered O’s; it's truly so easy. Start by melting butter in a skillet set over medium heat (I used a nonstick one to make it easy to toast the cereal without it sticking). Stir the Cheerios into the melted butter until coated, then cook, stirring, until they're toasted and fragrant. Toss in some salt, and it’s ready to serve.

Although the recipe says to toast the Cheerios for two to three minutes, I think the snack mix tastes better a minute or two longer because it deepens the color and flavor of the cereal. Just be sure to stir it often so it doesn’t burn.

The recipe also has tasty variations made by adding ingredients like cinnamon and sugar, or go the savory route and sprinkle in garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. Try experimenting with other variations, using spice blends, sauces, and grated cheeses you have on hand. 

Tips For Making Hot Buttered O’s

• Sprinkle some salt over the cereal while it’s toasting in the pan, and then add the rest once it’s finished. Doing this dissolves the salt so that it sticks to the cereal and doesn’t all fall to the bottom of the serving bowl.
• Don't sleep on the microwave option; it's ideal for dorm rooms, or if you crave a hot snack mix at work.
• If you can, dig into the Buttered O’s while they’re warm—they taste especially buttery right away, but it's still a tasty, crunchy snack once cooled.