This Japanese Seasoning Will Totally Upgrade Your Homemade Chex Mix

By now, you've probably hopped on the seasoning your popcorn train, but puffed-up corn kernels aren't the only savory snack that you can elevate with your spice rack. While Chex Mix is already a blend of different flavors and textures, you can take it from a basic gas station snack to a movie night-worthy treat with additions like crumbled bacon and ranch seasoning. But to give your bowl a Japanese American twist, go with furikake instead.

Furikake-laced Chex Mix is a beloved Hawaiian snack, and there are a few good reasons why, the most prominent being it's delicious. Furikake is a popular Japanese seasoning made with dried seaweed, sesame seeds, salt, and sugar, although you may also see versions with dried fish flakes, shiitake powder, dulse, or wasabi powder. 

While it adds a tasty mix of salty, umami, and potentially spicy flavor to your Chex Mix, the full Japanese American treat involves more than just tossing your Mix with furikake. You'll also want to incorporate a few other ingredients that will bring in sweet, rich notes, and bake everything all together to cement the flavors.

When it comes to picking up a bag of Chex Mix, you'll want to go with one of the most basic savory varieties, avoiding the dessert-like types with chocolate. You can also, however, make your own Chex Mix by combining Chex cereal, pretzels, honeycomb cereal, and Bugles. Feel free to also toss in roasted peas, Fritos, peanuts, or even goldfish if your heart desires.

While the rest of the components vary by recipe, you'll of course need some furikake along with the other ingredients needed to make a sweet and savory butter soy sauce glaze: Combine you seasonings over the stove with melted butter, soy sauce, a neutral-flavored oil (like vegetable oil), and a sweetener, which can be honey, maple syrup, or even corn syrup. If you want to leave the furikake out of the glaze, however, you can also toss it into your Chex Mix separately. Either way, spread your crunchy snack out in a wide baking dish, coat it completely with your glaze and seasoning, and bake it at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour — pausing about every 15 minutes to toss.

If you want to switch up your furikake Chex Mix even more, throw in ingredients like chili crunch, red pepper flakes, or shichimi togarashi (a Japanese seven-spice blend) for some heat; Cheez-Its, Cheetos, or nutritional yeast for some extra cheesy goodness; or your favorite nut for more salty flavor.