Healthy Harvest Trail Mix

Sweet & salty, full of nutrients, antioxidants, and unique fall flavors, you will love snacking on this healthy harvest trail mix!

Set yourself up for success when hunger strikes with this healthy homemade harvest trail mix! I love having healthy snacks like this on hand to hold me over between meals, keep in my car when I’m on the go, or to satisfy a sweet craving.

Best tip for eating healthy

I think the most effective tip I could ever give someone to ensure success with clean eating is to be prepared! Make the healthy options easy, convenient, and accessible for yourself. When you’re rushed, busy, or tired, you’re not going to feel like taking the time to make a healthy snack or to cut up some veggies. Being unprepared to make the healthy choice will make you more prone to hit that fast food drive-through or reach for the easy packaged/processed foods in the pantry.

That’s where this healthy harvest trail mix comes in - it has lots of healthy fats that provide lasting energy with no sugar crash and yummy fall flavors from the combination of maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice.

What’s usually in a trail mix?

Typically, trail mix is a combination of nuts, dried fruit, and sometimes chocolate. Unfortunately, a lot of trail mixes we commonly encounter at the store are packed with added sugars and chocolates that contain even more refined sugar. Trail mix is an easy way for brands to give the impression that the snack is healthy. Lucky for all of us who try to eat clean, trail mix is so easy to make at home and can be a legitimately healthy snack!

What nuts go in this harvest trail mix?

You can really make this harvest trail mix with any sort of nut! Don’t like cashews or don’t have any on hand? No problem, just sub your favorite nut or add extra almond, pecans, and/or walnuts. As long as you have 3 cups of nuts, all the ratios will work out.

I especially love the walnuts and pecans in this recipe since they are more textured and the maple syrup/spice mixture sticks to them better. This trail mix would also be delicious with hazelnuts or pumpkin seeds! You could also sub hemp seeds for the chia seeds. There are endless combinations so don’t be afraid to experiment a little!

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice...

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can easily make your own! Here is an easy conversion:

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice =

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

⅛ tsp cloves or allspice

⅛ tsp nutmeg

How long does this harvest trail mix keep?

You can store it in an airtight container for up to a month. I also love individually packaging the trail mix in snack size baggies for portion control or busy on-the-go days!

Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 3.5 cups

Ingredients

• ¾ c raw cashews

• ¾ c raw almonds

• ¾ c raw pecans

• ¾ c raw walnuts

• 1 Tbsp chia seeds

• 2 Tbsp coconut oil

• 2 Tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

• ¾ tsp salt

• ¼ c stevia sweetened chocolate chips (I like Lily’s)

• ¼ c dried unsweetened cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts and chia seeds. Set aside.

3. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the coconut oil. Then add the maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Whisk together until well combined.

4. Pour the liquid mixture over the nuts. Make sure to use a rubber scraper to get all of the liquid out of the saucepan.

5. Stir the nuts to make sure they are completely coated.

6. Arrange the nut mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

7. Bake the nut mixture for 10 minutes, stirring at the 5 minute mark.

8. Cool on the baking sheet until the maple syrup begins to set (about 5 minutes) and then stir once to make sure the maple syrup sticks to the nuts and not the parchment paper.

9. Allow to cool completely and then stir in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.