Rainbow Puppy Chow is a colorful gluten free and vegetarian snack or dessert! Perfect for a unicorn or rainbow party and St Patrick’s Day.
 I love puppy chow, also called muddy buddies, for all the different flavors you can use. It brings me back to my childhood! You can find all of the puppy chow recipes here! This Rainbow Puppy Chow recipe also makes a great Pride month dessert!Â
Ingredients
To make this rainbow dessert recipe, you will need:
- Red Candy Melts
- Orange Candy Melts
- Yellow Candy Melts
- Green Candy Melts
- Royal Blue Candy Melts
- Purple Candy Melts
- Bright White Candy Melts
- Powdered Sugar
- Corn Chex Cereal
You can also find candy melts at your local craft store.
Equipment
This is the equipment you need to make this recipe:
- Medium Bowls
- Measuring Cups
- Spoons
- Sifter
- Large Resealable Bag
- Trays for Drying (like baking sheets)
Instruction Overview
Melt one color of the candy melts in a medium bowl per package directions.
Once melted, gently stir in the cereal until mostly coated.
Transfer the coated cereal to the resealable bag with powdered sugar. Seal and shake to coat.
Remove the coated cereal into a fine mesh strainer and shake to remove the excess powdered sugar.
Let the cereal dry while repeating with remaining colors.
Now at some point in the process, you are probably going to think at least one of the following (if not all, like I did):
- There is NO WAY that little amount of candy melts will cover all this cereal!
- OH NO the cereal is BREAKING!
- WHY DO THEY ALL LOOK WHITE! I MESSED UP! I CAN’T SEE THE COLOR!
But it’s okay, all of the above are FINE. The candy melts DO cover that much cereal, just keep stirring.Â
The cereal might break a little but that’s okay! Just be gentle.Â
And the colors DO look pretty white when they come out of the bag. But shaking them in the fine mesh strainer gets rid of all that extra powdered sugar and you will see the color! Have faith!
Kim’s Tips
Arrange the rainbow muddy buddies in either a rainbow shape, or simply as stripes or in bowls. The recipe below makes more of red, orange, and yellow, because you need more of those for the rainbow shape.
If not making the rainbow, make the same amount of each color and you can skip the white. You just need 1 cup of cereal for 1/2 cup of candy melts and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. A serving is considered 1/2 cup of cereal.
Modifications and Substitutions
You can use any flavor of Chex cereal. Just make sure it is the cereal and not the seasoned Chex that you find with the chips.
I do not recommend using white chocolate and trying to color it, because white chocolate does not melt very well and it takes a lot of coloring to make bold colors. Adding coloring to white chocolate will also likely make the chocolate seize up.
Candy melts are pretty sweet, but they provide the perfect color for colored rainbow puppy chow.Â
If these are too sweet on their own, you could mix them with something salty like little pretzels or peanuts.
Equipment
- Medium Bowls
- Spoons
Ingredients
- 5 1/2 cups rice Chex cereal divided
- 1/2 cup red candy melts
- 1/2 cup orange candy melts
- 1/2 cup yellow candy melts
- 1/4 cup green candy melts (sometimes called dark green)
- 1/4 cup royal blue candy melts
- 1/4 cup purple candy melts (called lavender)
- 1/2 cup bright white candy melts
- 2 1/3 cups powdered sugar divided
Instructions
- Place each color of candy melts in separate bowls that are large enough to mix the cereal in for each color (I like to use deep soup bowls).
- Place 1/3 cup powdered sugar in a quart or gallon sized resealable plastic bag.
- Melt the lightest color (white) of candy melts in the microwave as per package directions. Stir frequently to encourage melting.
- When fully melted, immediately mix in 1 cup of the Chex cereal. Gently toss with a spoon to fully coat.
- Immediately transfer the cereal to the plastic bag with the powdered sugar. Seal and shake. Gently massage the bag from the outside to encourage the cereal to separate, but gentle enough so they do not break.
- Pour the bag contents into a sieve (fine mesh strainer) over another bowl. Shake to remove excess sugar.
- Pour the cereal out on a parchment paper or silicone baking mat lined baking sheet to dry. If there are any pieces that were stuck together, you can pull them apart, dunk them into the discarded sugar, and shake again.
- Let the candy melts that was left behind in the bag dry for a few minutes, then you can crinkle up the bag to remove the candy melts and make it ready for the next color.
- Repeat the process with the yellow candy melts next, using 1 cup of Chex cereal and fresh powdered sugar.
- Repeat the process with the orange candy melts next, using 1 cup of Chex cereal and fresh powdered sugar.
- Repeat the process with the purple candy melts next, using 1/2 cup of Chex cereal and fresh powdered sugar.
- Repeat the process with the red candy melts next, using 1 cup of Chex cereal and fresh powdered sugar.
- Repeat the process with the green candy melts next, using 1/2 cup of Chex cereal and fresh powdered sugar.
- Repeat the process with the blue candy melts next, using 1/2 cup of Chex cereal and fresh powdered sugar.
- Mix the colors together, or keep separate, and serve. The puppy chow can be stored in a container or bag for up to 2 days.
kids are going to love this one!! thanks