Are you sitting down? If not, you need to for this! This treat is going to change your low carb / keto life…Low Carb / Keto Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow! You know the snack I am talking about…the rice cereal coated with peanut butter and chocolate then tossed in powdered sugar. You may call them by a different name puppy chow, reindeer chow, monkey munch, muddy munch but you know exactly the yummy morsel I’m talking about. Yep, you are hearing me right…it’s no longer off limits and the good news is its so easy to make and tastes absolutely amazing!!
I first got the idea for making a low carb version of this yummy snack because one of my favorite snacks is pork rinds dipped in peanut butter. If you have not tried it…you need to. Every time I dipped my crunchy pork rind into that creamy peanut butter I thought of one of my favorite treats from my past…Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow. Peanut butter and chocolate have always been one of my favorite combinations, so that crunchy treat, for me, was always irresistible. I wondered if one of my favorite snacks could me transformed into a tasty, crunchy, sweet low carb treat. Well, I am here to tell you it has happened….and it is glorious!!
The Cowboy walked in just at the end of my recipe experimentation and I asked him to do a taste test for me. He said “this is great….what is the crunchy part?”. When I told him it was a pork rind, he just smiled and I knew that I had tricked him in the best way. He would have never guessed…and he walked away with a handful!
Low Carb / Keto Muddy Buddies are is just as simple to make as the traditional recipe and takes just minutes to make. A great treat for traveling, low carb or keto kids, lunchboxes, a movie snack, holiday gifts…the possibilities are endless!
I know there are several low carb & keto friendly powdered sweeteners available, but the Lakanto Powdered Sweetener worked fantastic and left absolutely no aftertaste or weird cooling sensation. It’s a mix of monkfruit extract and erythitol…You can find it here. I also used Lily’s Chocolate Chips. They are sweetened with stevia work perfectly in this recipe and you can find them here or they are available at HEB, Whole Food and tons of other grocery stores!
Do yourself a favor… spend 10 minutes in the kitchen and make this treat. You know, I try not to snack during the day and I do limit the sweet treats I have to only on special occasions. That being said if you do snack, are trying to come up with low carb treats for the kids or if you are trying to convince loved ones… kids, husbands, etc…. to live a low carb/keto life with you, these Muddy Buddies may be just the proof you need to convince them that they won’t miss out one bit on tasty, sweet treats!
Low Carb / Keto Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow
This treat is going to change your low/carb keto life…Low Carb / Keto Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow! A gluten free crunchy, peanut butter and chocolate treat that will blow your mind! Cowboy and kid approved, this is one snack that you will be making time and again!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup pork rinds, broken into bite size pieces
- 2 oz sugar free semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/4 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
- 1 Tbsp butter
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 5T Lakanto Powdered Sweetener
Directions
- Step 1 Place pork rind pieces into a medium bowl. Put chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a small bowl and microwave 30 second or until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla.
- Step 2 Pour chocolate mixture over the pork rinds and toss to coat them evenly with the chocolate mixture.
- Step 3 Pour coated pork rinds into a large zip top bag and add sweetener. Close bag and shake till pieces are coated well. Pour the coated pork rinds onto a small sheet pan to cool and set. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature and try not to eat them by the handful!!
Each serving has approx. 140 calories, 11.3 grams of fat, 6.1g total carbs, 2..3g fiber and 5.7g protein…net carbs 3.8. Nutrition facts will vary depending on ingredients used.
Do you think I could use bakers chocolate and sweeten it, since I don’t have access to Lily’s chips? I will order some when it’s not summer and risk them sitting in the sun on my porch! If yes, you think liquid sweetener to sweeten the chocolate?
I would think bakers unsweetened chocolate would work. I find liquid sweetener sometimes causes the chocolate to seize some so I would add it in at the end with the vanilla. Let me know how it works!
What us the nutritional facts for the puppy chow! Which I made and loved! So did my kids!
The recipe has between 3-4 servings. After subtracting sugar alcohols, each serving has about 140 calories, 11.3g fat, 6.1 total carbs, 2.3g fiber, and 5.7g protein. So 3.8g net carbs per serving. These facts will vary depending on ingredients used. Glad you enjoyed Elisha! It’s one of my girls favorites!
I had SERIOUS doubts about the pork rind scenario. This was amazing though and so easy! I will definitely be making again.
I found the PB/choc/butter mixture to not be creamy enough (I think because I have natural, sugar free and thus very dry PB) so I doubled it and added a little more butter. I didn’t use the 5 TBSP of powdered swerve and instead just used 2TBSP and found that to be perfect!
Katelyn- So glad you liked it! I wouldn’t steer you wrong!!! The type of peanut butter used is definitely going to change the consistency some…adding some extra butter is a great solution!
What else can be used in place of pork rinds? Thank you!
Lynn- I don’t know of a good low carb or keto substitute for the pork rinds. You really can’t taste them once it’s all said and done!! You’ve got to try them once!
some of us cannot eat them due to religious reasons.
Of course! You could use nuts like almond or pecans or maybe even a fathead dough cracker…the nuts will increase the carbs some. I’ll keep thinking on this…that crunch is what I’m thinking will be hard to replicate…but it’s worth a try!!
If a person does not want to use Pork rinds for a religious or dietary reason I have seen turkey and chicken rinds.
Yes…great idea! I’ve seen a chicken version on Amazon.
What does the 5T mean when you put that for the sweetener? I am new to baking! Haha! Can’t wait to try this 🙂
Sorry! That’s Tablespoons! I will change so it’s easier to understand!
I do not have the lankanto sweetner but I have swerve and Sukrin. Will either of those work instead?
As long as your using a powdered sweetener you enjoy I think it will be fine. I have not used either of those so let me know how it turns out!!
Yummo!!! I used swerve powder confectioners sugar, macs original pork skins along with the rest of the ingredients listed. Wow! I was nervous, especially because the looks I kept getting when I said what I was doing! I wont lie… the first one I went to try, I hesitated! But man…. so damn good! Seriously these are a game changer for road trips and other impossible to not snack situations! I do agree that 5T of powder sugar is a bit TOO sweet so next time I’ll do 3. Im wondering if I can sub the chips for unsweetened cocoa powder next time? My pb is super creamy and on the more viscous side vs typical pb. I’ll mess aroundwith it a bit. Honestly I’m so grateful I found this. I cant wait to “Wow” my family next weekend on our camping trip when the realize what they are “chowing” down on! Ahaha! Thanks for saving me from many nights of regrettable binge eating on sweets.
So glad you enjoyed! My husband had no idea they were pork rinds when he first tasted them! You can definitely tweak to fit your tastes…Hope your family enjoys!
These are delicious! I want to send some in a carepackage to a friend just starting out on keto. What do you think is the general shelf life of these? Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Omg – in Florida on the East Coast. I didn’t buy any junk food for the hurricane Dorian wait. Finally broke down and started searching for something I could make and eat with Keto approved ingredients I had on hand. I had to modify a little-used bakers chocolate and crunchy pb, but these are so awesome right about now!!
So glad! Stay safe!!!
Omg this sounds incredible. Could I ask what peanut butter you used? Thank you!!
Honestly I’ve used different types of peanut butter in this recipe. I prefer natural peanut butter because if has no added sugar. Be sure if you use the natural peanut butter that separates that you stir it well before using. I have also used Skippy Natural in a pinch…they both worked great.
These were so good and easy to make. I used crunchy peanut butter and ended up adding a little extra butter to help the sauce become creamier. Love your recipes and site, btw. As a native Texan these keto recipes definitely hit home. 🙂
Sara so glad you liked it! It’s one of our favorite treats!! This made my day!!
Thanks so much for the recipe. I now have a keto substitute for my beloved Muddy Buddies! I subbed almond butter for the peanut butter, and even my mom LOVED it. She typically doesn’t like sweets but thoroughly enjoyed it.
These were soooo good. Ate them all in 2 settings. Not good for my diet but the best snack I’ve made yet. Thank you.