Trail Mix

Michael Eisenwasser

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A trail mix portioned to match Monash nut serve sizes, so a 40 g serving stays within the low-FODMAP limits.

Prep 5 min

Cook 1 min

Serves 10

Gluten-freeDairy-freeVegan

Ingredients

Total weight: ~410 g across 10 serves (~41 g per serve).

• 1/2 cup (60 g) walnut halves
• 1/2 cup (60 g) pecan halves
• 1/2 cup (70 g) macadamia nuts
• 1/3 cup (45 g) whole almonds
• 1/3 cup (45 g) peanuts, unsalted
• 1/4 cup (35 g) pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup (35 g) sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons (25 g) dried cranberries, sweetened with cane sugar (no apple or pear juice concentrate, no inulin)
• 2 tablespoons (20 g) dark chocolate chips, no polyol sweeteners
• 1/4 cup (15 g) unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (optional)

Instructions

Measure

1. Weigh each ingredient into a large bowl. Use grams if you can; nut sizes vary enough that a volume-only measure can easily change the serving size.

Mix

1. Toss everything together with your hands or a large spoon until the cranberries and chocolate chips are evenly distributed. The seeds tend to sink, so give the bowl a second pass from the bottom.

Portion

1. Divide the mix into 10 equal servings of roughly 40 g each. A kitchen scale is ideal; a generous 1/4 cup scoop is a reasonable proxy.
2. Transfer each serve into a small zip-top bag, 4 oz deli container, or reusable snack pouch. Label and date the bags.

Tips & Substitutions

• Portion right after you mix it. Separating the "mix once" step from the "take with you" step is what makes this recipe work. A big bowl on the counter gets eaten in double serves; 10 labeled bags do not.
• Storage. Sealed bags keep in the pantry for 3 weeks or the fridge for 2 months. If your kitchen runs warm or humid, refrigerate — the chocolate chips and nut oils both keep better cold. For longer storage, freeze up to 6 months.
• Chocolate and nut variation. Drop the cranberries and coconut, bump chocolate chips to 3 tablespoons total, and add 2 tablespoons of chopped dark chocolate shavings. This keeps the chocolate amount within the Monash low serve across the batch.
• Sweet and salty variation. Swap the chocolate chips for 2 tablespoons of pure maple sugar crystals and bump the flaky salt to 1 teaspoon. Toss with the nuts before portioning so the sugar sticks.
• Seed-heavy, nut-free version. For tree nut and peanut allergies, replace all nuts with a mix of 1 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup hemp hearts, and 1/4 cup chia. Monash serve sizes for many seeds are larger, so you can portion based on appetite and fiber tolerance.
• Skip the raisins. A lot of store-bought trail mix uses raisins as the cheap sweet add-in. Raisins have a very small low serve (1 tablespoon), and it is hard to keep each bag within that. Cranberries are an easier budget to hit.
• Read chocolate chip labels. Plain dark chocolate is fine. Skip chips sweetened with xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, or isomalt; polyol sweeteners are high at small serves and a common issue for people with IBS.

Why This Works

Every serve stays inside the nut budget. Per 41 g serve, you get roughly 6 g walnuts, 6 g pecans, 7 g macadamias, 4 g almonds, and 4 g peanuts — each well under the Monash low-serve cap for that nut. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds are typically low in moderate portions and pad the mix without pushing any one ingredient past its limit.

No cashews or pistachios. Both are high at small-to-moderate serves and are typically avoided on a low-FODMAP plan. They are the two nuts most likely to sneak into commercial trail mix, and the two most likely to bother you later. They stay out of this recipe.

Raisins capped, cranberries preferred. Dried cranberries sweetened with cane sugar are low-FODMAP at small serves, and 2 tablespoons across 10 bags puts each serve at roughly 1 1/4 teaspoons — a conservative portion. Raisins, dried apple, and dried mango do not pass the same math.

Chocolate and coconut in check. Plain dark chocolate is typically low-FODMAP in moderate portions; 2 tablespoons of chips across 10 bags keeps each serve modest, and avoiding polyol-sweetened chips removes the main IBS risk. Coconut lands at roughly 1 to 2 g per serve, which is well tolerated by most people.

Pre-portioning is the safety feature. FODMAP tolerance for nuts is serve-dependent, not nut-dependent. A low nut at 10 g is fine; the same nut at 30 g may cross the line. The bags enforce the portion so you do not have to eyeball it on a hike.

Individual tolerance still matters. This recipe is designed to be low-FODMAP per serving for most people during elimination, but nuts and seeds are high in fat and fiber. If you are sensitive to either, start with half a bag and see how you do.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.