This season on Top Chef, Chef Kelsey Barnard Clark created one of the most coveted dishes this season, Top Chef Key Lime Crunch aka Coconut Lime Puppy Chow. When I say this is a coveted recipe, I mean it! Various versions are being floated around Reddit and message boards, and the recipe keeps getting released then retracted. People like me really need this recipe for The Super Bowl! It’s total food drama, so of course I’m on it!
I’ve been searching for this recipe since Season 16, Ep. 8: Whatever Floats Your Boat aired. I found one Reddit photo posted by Top Chef that had the recipe. Alternatively, there is a recipe on Kelsey’s Instagram now as well. The original recipe was designed to feed a huge crowd, so I have scaled it down to an average puppy chow recipe size and modified it slightly.
If you are as big of a Top Chef fan as I am, then you will excited to make this snack for the upcoming Super Bowl or anytime you are making tropical treat bags!
This Top Chef Key Lime Crunch is sweet, crunchy, and all about key lime and coconut. It’s a tropical twist on a classic snack that is really addictive!
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Puppy Chow
Classic puppy chow is made up of melting butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips then coating Chex cereal with it. A generous dusting of powdered sugar gives puppy chow the look you’re used to. Puppy Chow is also known as Muddy Buddies, a variation by Chex.
Sweet, salty, and finger coating, puppy chow is a treat that is made during holidays and potlucks or parties of all kinds. With Superbowl coming up, I couldn’t wait to make a batch of the Top Chef Key Lime Crunch.
Top Chef Key Lime Crunch
I have watched every season of Top Chef. There are always highly coveted recipes from the show. When Chef Kelsey Barnard made puppy chow for treat bags, I was intrigued. When it got such rave reviews, I knew I had to make it. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of the original puppy chow. However, this elevated key lime twist got me salivating. I love anything that reminds me of Key Lime Pie! Also, we are literally in the middle of a deep freeze in the Midwest. So anything that brings a bit of the tropics into my life is something to get excited about!
What I love about this tropical take on puppy chow is the flavor. Coconut and key lime bring a sweet taste of paradise to this mix. This key lime crunch uses a blend of three different cereals: Life, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Chex. A mix of banana chips, macadamia nuts, cashews, and shredded coconuts is added to the cereal then dusted in citrus zest, graham cracker crumbs, and key lime flavored white chocolate.
Chef Kelsey Barnard Clark
I am rooting for Chef Kelsey to take home the Top Chef title! She is such a sweetheart and an incredible chef. She manages to take classic dishes and put a Southern twist to them. And she has killer some pastry skills! She seems so down to earth and supportive of her fellow contestants, and it’s awesome that she puts recipes (like her Key Lime Crunch) up for everyone.
How To Make Top Chef Key Lime Crunch
This is a very easy and quick recipe. It takes more time to grocery shop for the ingredients than assemble!
You will need a HUGE bowl for this along with a parchment lined baking sheet. I used my largest bowl and key lime crunch was still spilling out the top during the stirring phase!
The first step to making this Top Chef Key Lime Crunch is to mix together your three different cereals into the largest bowl you can find. Then add in the banana chips, nuts, lime and lemon zests, and shredded coconut.
Then use a double boiler to melt your white chocolate chips. Once they are melted, take a half cup of the melted white chocolate and stir it with the key lime juice in a separate bowl, Note that it will seize up. This breaks up once you mix it all in and will distribute the key lime flavor throughout the puppy chow. Pour it onto the mixture and then add in the rest of the melted chocolate. Stir to coat.
Then put the puppy chow onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle on the salt and the crushed up graham crackers. Use your hands to finish mixing it up. Then chow down!
If you make this recipe make sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram with @ritzymomblog #ritzymom!
Top Chef Key Lime Crunch
Top Chef Key Lime Crunch is a tropical take on the classic puppy chow, created by Chef Kelsey Barnard from Season 16 of Top Chef. I have slightly modified this recipe.
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Honey Bunches Of Oats, Honey Roasted
- 3 Cups Chex Cereal
- 3 Cups Life Cereal, Original Flavor
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup roasted and salted cashews
- 1 cup macadamia nuts
- 1 cup banana chips
- 2 Teaspoons lime juice
- zest from one lime
- zest from half of a lemon
- 2 cups white chocolate chips melted
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil optional
Instructions
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The first step to making this Top Chef Key Lime Crunch is to mix together your three different cereals into the largest bowl you can find. Then add in the banana chips, nuts, lime and lemon zests, and shredded coconut.
Then use a double boiler to melt your white chocolate chips. Use the optional coconut oil at this time. Once they are melted, take a half cup of the melted white chocolate and stir it with the key lime juice in a separate bowl, Note that it will seize up. This breaks up once you mix it all in and will distribute the key lime flavor throughout the puppy chow. Pour it onto the mixture and then add in the rest of the melted chocolate. Stir to coat.
Then put the puppy chow onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle on the salt and the crushed up graham crackers. Use your hands to finish mixing it up.
Special Equipment to Make This Top Chef Key Lime Crunch
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