The Healthier Eating Challenge: 3 Snack Recipes for Tastier Whole Foods

This is Day 3 of the 5-Day Healthier Eating Challenge. To start at the beginning, click here.

Americans are snacking more than ever. A recent survey suggested that 95 percent of us now eat at least one snack a day, and most of us eat two or more.

When a craving hits, many people reach for ultraprocessed snacks like candy or chips. That’s partly because, as I mentioned in yesterday’s challenge, these foods are engineered to be craveable. (My favorites are chocolate bars with nuts and any cheese-flavored chip that turns your fingers orange.)

But there’s another reason we might want an ultraprocessed snack. Sometimes, healthier whole foods like walnuts, fruit or carrot sticks can seem a little bland and joyless. And that’s too bad, because minimally processed foods generally include things that make you feel sated for longer, like fiber, water and protein, said Ashley Gearhardt, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.

Here’s the thing, though: That sad handful of almonds could be bursting with flavor.

Today we’re going to take a break from ultraprocessed snacks by making whole-food snacks just as delicious. We’ve enlisted experts to mimic the crave-worthy qualities of ultraprocessed foods, adding the salt, sweetness, fat and spice that can make more healthful foods pop.

Well Challenge Day 3: Try a sprinkle of ‘flavor dust.’

We’re making what we are calling flavor dusts — simple spice blends using ingredients you may have in your kitchen at home.

We’ve asked chefs to craft recipes just for us that you can sprinkle on nuts and popcorn — three savory, one spicy-sweet. We’ve also included some quick and easy recipes from NYT Cooking below.

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