Whether You Call Them Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow…
Rice Chex is a popular cereal that happens to be low FODMAP and gluten-free containing whole grain rice, sugar, salt and molasses – and we have turned it into Muddy Buddies! Chex are great out of the box with lactose-free or alt dairy milk for breakfast, but that box goes a long way and many folks love making Chex Mix Snack (check out our low FODMAP version) as well as these Muddy Buddies, also known as Puppy Chow. NOT for actual dogs! Supposedly it just looks like dog chow.
I actually like the Puppy Chow moniker better…
except that after I saw all the comments in this post at Epicurious, where folks thought the recipe developer was suggesting feeding a chocolate treat to puppies and dogs and people were generally freaking out about it, I decided to use the other popular name, Muddy Buddies.
Easy, Chocolaty & Low FODMAP
These are super easy to make and create a chocolaty treat that keeps well. You combine chocolate and peanut butter with a little maple syrup, then the cereal gets folded in and some cocoa and confectioners’ sugar gets sprinkled on top. They are sweet and should be considered an occasional treat – and of course adhere to serving sizes to assess your tolerance. The image below shows you what our recommended serving size looks like.
More Chocolate Peanut Butter Favorites
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
- Chewy Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies
- Buckeyes
- Chunky Rice Krispie Treats
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Bites
Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow
You can have Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow on the low FODMAP diet if you follow our recipe and stick with serving sizes.
Low FODMAP Serving Size Info: Makes about 6 cups (240 g); serving size ¼ cup (10 g)
Makes: 24 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces (55 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, preferably about 50% cacao mass
- 1/4 cup (67 g) creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups (120 g) Rice Chex
- 1/4 cup (23 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
Preparation:
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Line a rimmed half-sheet pan with aluminum foil and lightly coat with nonstick spray; set aside.
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Melt the chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl in the microwave. Whisk in peanut butter, maple syrup and salt until all combined. Fold in the cereal until evenly coated, then scrape out onto prepared pan in an even layer. Allow to sit at cool room temperature for several minutes just until the chocolate coating feels tacky to the touch. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, add confectioners’ sugar and cocoa to bag and shake, shake, shake! Pour out onto pan to cool completely. Muddy Buddies are ready to eat or pack into airtight container and store at cool room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes:
Tips
- This is an example of how you can work with conventional prepared products and still maintain a low FODMAP diet. Pay attention to the serving sizes.
Nutrition
Calories: 193kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 414mg | Potassium: 100mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 730IU | Vitamin C: 8.7mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 13.3mg
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more. For a more detailed explanation, please read our article Understanding The Nutrition Panel Within Our Recipes.
My son is allergic to peanuts so I made this with pecan butter.
That sounds delicious! Did you check the FODMAP load when you made the changes? Whenever you change your recipe you should be in a habit of checking the FODMAPs and the stacking of the FODMAPs. Peanuts only contain traces of FODMAPs whereas pecans contain Fructans. Hopefully your son did well with his treat!
I think they would be good with 1/2 or a 1/4 of the salt. Way too salty for my taste
Then by all means reduce the salt to your liking. Please note that the salt called for is Kosher salt, which measures very differently from table salt. If you used table salty you would have used 1.5 to 2 x as much salt, FYI.