Sweet and Savory Party Mix

This post is sponsored by Sprouts Farmers Market. As always, all opinions and recipe are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support The Speckled Palate!

Entertain a crowd with this Sweet and Savory Popcorn Party Mix recipe. This popcorn-based snack, which features lightly buttered popcorn, salted mini pretzels, dark chocolate-covered pretzels, trail mix, tart dried cherries and dark chocolate almonds, balances salty, sweet and tart beautifully. If you’re looking for a tasty party mix recipe that’s perfect for a large group of people, this sweet and salty popcorn is what you need to make!

Movie night has been one of my favorite things, dating back to Friday nights of my childhood, slumber parties and perusing the shelves of our local video store, searching high and low for the perfect movie to watch after basketball practice. Those memories of curling up with a bowl of popcorn, a cozy blanket and a film I’ve specifically chosen for that evening make me smile.

But… movie night is hard with small children.

While our firstborn is a movie lover (hello, wouldn’t you be if you had a large swath of childhood classics to choose from?), our younger daughter is not… yet.

After all, she’s just five months old, and movies aren’t really a thing for her yet.

A few weeks back, some friends invited us to their home for movie night. The plan was to watch a musical that we’d never seen, but adored the music from.

… Any guesses on the movie?

I’ll give you a hint: It’s animated and set in New Orleans. (And the food in the movie made me hungry because who doesn’t love some gumbo and other Louisiana fare, like King Cake?)

My friend’s only stipulation for movie night?

“Bring fancy popcorn.”

Well, all right!

This Sweet and Savory Party Mix recipe is perfect for movie night, and it’s oh-so-simple to put together.

And thanks to my friends at Sprouts Farmers Market, I was able to create this recipe in no time flat.

By now, y’all should know my affinity for shopping at Sprouts. I’m all about the grocery’s mission, which speaks to healthy living being a journey, and every meal being a choice. I’m also all about their low prices and high-quality products. (Honestly, y’all, it’s a win-win, and I’d love them, even if they didn’t sponsor posts on this here blog.)

So. Let’s talk about this popcorn snack mix recipe.

The base is Sprouts Lightly Buttered Organic Popcorn. While I toyed with the idea of getting popcorn kernels and popping them myself, the convenience of pre-popped popcorn won over. Also, it ran less of a risk of me burning it, which is kind of my specialty when it comes to popping popcorn.

All you’ve got to do is open up the bag, pour it into a bowl and then add the toppings, which I purchased from the Bulk Department at Sprouts.

Have you ever used this? If not, you’re missing out! You can mix and match so many products, like coffee, rice, nuts, dried fruits, granolas, trail mixes, spices and sweet treats and more! And then bring home as little or as much as you want without the fuss of purchasing a giant container or bag. It’s also better for the environment because it requires less packaging!

I’ve found shopping bulk super handy if you want to try something out, but it’s also clutch for snacky things like this because you don’t need a ton of the ingredients.

And then the toppings can be anything you wish… though I went for mini pretzels, dark chocolate pretzels (a personal favorite snack), trail mix, dark chocolate almonds and some dried cherries.

I don’t like the toppings in your snack mix. How can I change things up?

I’m all about sweet-and-salty flavors, which is why I used a bunch of salty products along with dark chocolate. The pairing makes my tastebuds sing!

That said, if you’re not a dark chocolate fan, feel free to purchase something with milk chocolate or even white chocolate!

If you’re skeptical of the dried cherries, leave ‘em out or throw in some raisins (which are sweeter) or dried cranberries (which Sprouts offers in various flavors in their Bulk Department!)

Most party mix recipes call for some sort of rice cereal. Would that work here?

I chose not to use rice cereal since we had popcorn as a base. That said, if you want to throw it into the bowl in lieu of pretzels, you absolutely can!

This recipe is really more of a guide, and you can totally customize it for your taste.

How do I make this popcorn snack?

It’s really quite simple, but what it comes down to is having the right ingredients. I purchased popcorn, mini twist pretzels, dark chocolate pretzels, trail mix, dark chocolate almonds and dried cherries as the ingredients for mine at Sprouts.

Once you have your ingredients that suit your taste, throw them into a bowl together for the ultimate snack mix.

What are some other popcorn or snack recipes I can try, too?

• Caramel Corn with Almonds
• Tabasco Honey Butter Popcorn
• Caramel Corn Cookies

Ready to make this goodness?

Scroll on down to learn how simple it is to make!

What is your favorite kind of snack for movie night?

Would you like some of this Sweet and Savory Party Mix right now?