My favorite crunchy, savory snack is Cheddar-flavored Chex Mix — but there’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s this high-protein Catalina Crunch version
The Eater staff recently had a spirited exchange about our favorite gas station snacks, and mine, unequivocally, is cheddar-flavored Chex Mix (ideally purchased with a York Peppermint Patty, a canned iced tea, and an ugly pair of wrap sunglasses from the rack near the checkout stand). There’s just something about the umami explosion of cheesy flavor crystals coating a medley of crunchy textures, from pretzels to little sourdough crostinis.
This is how I ended up addicted to Catalina Crunch’s cheddar-flavored Protein Snack Mix. I am literally eating a bag of it as I type this.
There comes a time in every millennial’s life when you have to gloomily admit to yourself that you should be, like, caring what you eat, and probably eating less gas station food, and ensuring that you eat enough protein and all that jazz. There was a long time when this presented a conundrum, because the idea of genuinely “healthy” chips or candy that didn’t taste like barnyard hay or endocrine disrupters seemed ridiculous. Like, I know better than to keep my pantry stocked with Cheetos, but remember when we all ate kale chips in 2015, pretending to enjoy those fish-food-flavored flakes as they joylessly lodged in our teeth? That was sad. We all watched with horror as the great Olestra drama of the late 90s transpired, and it seemed like food technology could go no further. But then, the 2010s brought us a wave of protein-rich and low-carb versions of our old favorites, many of which are suspiciously good. We are undoubtedly in an era of “protein mania,” but that’s arguably better than being in an era of mindlessly eating products loaded with totally unchecked fat, salt, preservatives, and empty calories.
Hilary Pollack
Move over, Chex Mix — there’s a new sheriff in town
Perhaps no high-protein cereal and snack brand has gotten more attention than Catalina Crunch, founded in 2017 by Krishna Kaliannan, who has type-1 diabetes and noticed an opportunity in the market for tasty breakfast cereals that wouldn’t spike his blood sugar. Thus was born Catalina Crunch’s flagship product, a dark chocolate breakfast cereal, and the brand’s line rapidly expanded as demand went gangbusters and its products became a huge hit at Costco. Last year, the company surpassed $100 million in retail sales — truly staggering stuff — and became the fastest-growing health cereal company. Now, in addition to nine different types of sugar-free, high-protein, high-fiber cereal, Catalina Crunch also makes four different types of Oreo-esque sandwich cookies and five different flavors of snack mix, the latter of which is basically way healthier Chex Mix.
Look, Chex Mix isn’t terrible for you to begin with, but if you could eat a version that has five times as much protein and fiber, significantly fewer carbs, and half the sugar… why wouldn’t you? Well, the short answer is because you’re worried it doesn’t taste good. But this “better-for-you” snack mix honestly tastes just as good, if not better, than my gas station go-to. It also happens to be keto-friendly and gluten-free, if that’s important information for you.
Take a look into a bag. We’ve got the cheese crunchies. We’ve got the quadrilateral crispy little Chex-like thingies. We’ve got pretzels, made out of chickpeas and still extremely pretzel-y! And we’ve got cashews, the only nut I genuinely enjoy eating whole.
Hilary Pollack
Behold the offerings of this crunchy and delicious mix
This is a top-tier snack mix and it also happens to be very cheesy — important factor — and the seasoning is made with all the greatest hits: Cheddar cheese (duh), sour cream, milk, salt sugar, buttermilk, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder — you know, all the ingredients that make a savory snack so delightfully flavorful and snacky. I have not yet successfully been able to get my hands on the Honey Mustard and Creamy Ranch (!) flavors, but when I do, they’ll hate to see me coming.
With Easter 4/20 (I think we can just acknowledge it) this weekend and a forecast of heavy snacking, it seems like an opportune time to share my obsession with this stuff. After all, if you’re going to gleefully plow through a bag of Cheddar snack mix, it might as well help you hit your protein and fiber quotas.
Catalina Crunch Cheddar Snack Mix is available at Catalina Crunch.
