Recipe: Beef Jerky Trail Mix

There are loads of snack options for the health conscious, and what all good snacks have in common is that they're a good energy boost and often high in protein and healthy fats. Foods such as nuts, peanut butter, beef jerky or biltong, dried fruits and even dark chocolate are all very popular among those who enjoy a good snack but are keen to avoid junk food. 

One of the ultimate snack foods is a good trail mix. Why? Because it combines the most popular snack foods together and turns it all into one delicious, high energy, high protein, low carbohydrate super snack. It's sweet, it's savoury, it's rich, it's super satisfying, and ideal for after the gym, on a hike, an addition to your cheeseboard or simply a handful as an afternoon snack.

However, there is one thing missing from regular store-bought trail mix, and that's beef jerky. Beef jerky in itself is something of a super food. It's extremely high in protein, low in fat and very low in carbs. It also comes in multiple flavours, which means if you're using it to add to something like a homemade trail mix, you can be creative with flavours to get the perfect balance.

A healthy trail mix is a relatively simple thing to make, but with the addition of beef jerky, you can still get a little bit creative in finding the balance of flavours and textures that best suits your palette. Let's take a look at a couple of recipes, starting off with a basic savoury mix.

Savoury

If you're more of a savoury person, it's best to stick mainly to these kinds of ingredients. The following recipe should hit all the right parts of your palette while giving you exactly the energy and protein hit you need.

• 1/2 cup chopped traditional beef jerky
• 3/4 cup salted peanuts
• 3/4 cup smoked almonds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 cup dried raisins or sultanas
• 3/4 cup pretzels
• 1/2 cup popcorn 

Simply mix it all up in a big bowl and divide up into zip lock bags or or small, airtight containers.

Sweet

If you have a sweet tooth then you may like to focus a bit more on dried fruits and other sweet ingredients. One rule, though: don't be that person who just picks out all the good bits and leaves the rest for everybody else!

• 1/2 cup chopped sweet BBQ beef jerky
• 3/4 cup cashews
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried banana chips
• 1 cup dried coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup chopped 70% dark chocolate
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Toast your coconut flakes in a frypan over a low-medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Add all ingredients to a big bowl, except for the beef jerky. This is because we want the cinnamon to focus mostly on the other ingredients. Once you add the jerky to the mix there will be some inevitable mixing, but ideally, most of the cinnamon should be on the other ingredients.

Spicy

Spice in a trail mix is an often neglected option that can otherwise add that hit of flavour. By adding some spicy flavours you can really add some heat to your trail mix, and as an added bonus, your friends that have zero tolerance to chilli certainly won't be stealing it any time soon!

• 1/2 cup chopped texan beef jerky
• 3/4 cup cashews
• 3/4 cup almonds
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped chilli dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup wasabi peas (optional)
• 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes (adjusted to taste)

A good way to get the chilli flakes to stick to the other ingredients is to lightly toast the pumpkin seeds and the nuts in a frying pan with just a touch of olive oil. Add the chilli flakes while toasting and the heat and oil should combine all the ingredients nicely.

You can play with spices depending on your taste preferences as well. This recipe also works well with toasted cumin seeds, smokey paprika or cajun seasoning. You can also sub out our classic texan jerky for our delicious limited edition flavour — great southern outback spiced jerky.

Or, create your own recipe!

These are just a few easy examples of beef jerky trail mix recipes that shouldn't take more than about 5 minutes to put together. These recipes can be tweaked depending on your own preferences. You could try adding other ingredients that aren't mentioned in these recipes including; dried mango, dried cherries, macadamias, peanut butter chips, pistachios, popcorn or chopped dates. These can be used as substitutes for existing ingredients, or you can use them to come up with your own delicious recipes from scratch.