Caffeinated Trail Mix

Ok! Still catching up on my backlog of homemade trail mix recipes.

Our first trail mix recipe required a bit of grace when it came to meeting the definition of “trail mix”. It was our S'Mores Trail Mix, which was more of a sweet snack mix, than a traditional trail mix.

We did try to reign the nonsense in a LITTLE, after that one - aiming for healthier ingredients, having a bit of protein, lots of healthy fats when we could, etc: Pumpkin Spice Trail Mix, Thanksgiving Trail Mix, Halloween Trail Mix, and Christmas Trail Mix so far!

Today’s recipe is a HUGE favourite for us, especially when it comes to drive days: a Caffeinated Trail Mix!

Earlier in 2025, Porter requested a caffeine-spiked trail mix almost as a challenge. Honestly, I think he wanted an excuse to go to Bulk Barn and buy a bunch of chocolate covered coffee beans.

Going on my earlier statement, though, I put some serious time and thought into which of our favorite mix-ins would work well with chocolate covered coffee beans.

I looked to one of my favourite protein powder flavours - chocolate banana. I often mix it with coffee, so it seemed like a fun flavour profile to go with.

So, chocolate covered espresso beans were joined by banana chips... and then I was a bit stuck.

We ended up deciding that peanuts - and peanut butter - would work well, and help us with the nut component (peanuts) AND another chocolate component (Reese’s Pieces).

Then, I added pepitas for colour, texture, and fiber as the “seeds” component, and more coffee beans, just to up the caffeine a bit.

In the end, we produced an AMAZING trail mix. It’s pretty, has a great blend of flavours and textures, and that caffeine kick is DEFINITELY welcome at times!

The only issue is that it’s kind of addictive. ¼ cup is a standard serving for trail mix, but this stuff is WAY too easy to hoover down in much larger quantities.

Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need for this sweet and salty trail mix recipe... which we photographed last fall, at Kap-Kig-Iwan Provincial Park!

Ingredients

It was fun coming up with the trail mix ingredients for this recipe, putting together some of our favorite ingredients to have a great mix of flavours, colours, and textures.

You shouldn’t have any problem finding at least MOST of what you need in any grocery store. If you’re a fellow Canadian, just go to a Bulk Barn - they have everything you need - and good quality - in one stop!

Anyway, not a lot of ingredient notes this time around. Overall, you’ll need:

Roasted, Salted Peanuts
Banana Chips
Roasted, Salted Pepitas (Shelled Pumpkin Seeds)
Reese’s Pieces
Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
Coffee Beans

I guess the only thing I’d recommend is that when it comes to the coffee beans, flavoured beans could be fun ... as long as the extra flavour works with everything else.

French Vanilla coffee beans are a nice, neutral option, but consider banana flavoured, caramel, salted caramel, etc. There are all kinds of good options out there.

How to Make Caffeinated Trail Mix

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients.

Transfer to an airtight container - a large Mason jar or large Ziplock bag - for storage, or portion out into smaller containers. We’ll usually measure ½ cup amounts into small Ziplock snack bags.

Either way, store in a sealed container at room temperature - out of direct sunlight - for up to 3 months.

More Camping Snack Recipes

Looking for great ideas to cook on a campfire, bring on a road trip, enjoy while RVing? Here's a few of our favorite camping recipes to start with!

Apple Fritter Bread Pudding
Basic Ground Beef Jerky
Best Marshmallows for Camping
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Campfire Cheddar Queso
Easy Campfire Nachos - 2 Ways!
Campfire Walking Tacos
Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread
Fire Roasted Spiced Nuts
Halloween Trail Mix
Homemade Mushroom Jerky
Hot Chocolate Mix [Protein Powder Mix]
Jalapeno Cheddar Bannock
Jalapeno Chicken Jerky
Maple Cinnamon Apple Chips
Maple Snow Taffy
No Bake Cornflake Cookies
No Bake S'Mores Bars
Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
Pepperoni Jerky
Pumpkin Spice Trail Mix
Roast Chestnuts on an Open Fire
Rosemary & Blueberry Beef Jerky
Smoky Campfire Brie with Maple & Rosemary
S'Mores Board
S'Mores Trail Mix
Thanksgiving Trail Mix
Tofu Jerky, 2 Ways
Traditional Bannock

Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes.

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!