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Looking for healthy road trip snacks? Here are our top 10 snacks for a car trip, with spicy hummus & veggie jars at the top of the list!
Each year in December, we pack our car with presents and our Pomeranian and drive the 10 hours to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s a serious trek, but we do it because it’s cheaper than flying, and we get to bring said Pomeranian.
It’s been Alex and my tradition going on 16 years, but it wasn’t until 2 Christmases ago that an appreciation of our safety kicked in. That year, after driving 10 hours with under 5 miles left to our final destination, we got T-boned.
If you’ve ever been in a car crash, the sound of metal on metal is unforgettable. While everyone walked away from the scene without injury, it’s been blazed into my memory ever since. Keep reading for our healthy road trip snacks, and a bit more about road trips!
Staying safe on road trips
This post is themed around healthy road trip snacks in honor of State Farm’s new highway safety program, Assist Patrol! Assist Patrol vehicles patrol the highway looking for crashes, debris, and stranded motorists to provide assistance and help drivers get safely on their way.
This includes complimentary roadside assistance like a tire change, fixing minor mechanical problems, and even removing debris from the road! The program runs in 15 states with 20 sponsored patrols; in Indiana, our program is called Indiana DOT Hoosier Helpers Sponsored by State Farm.
If you’d like, you can learn more about the Assist Patrol program here. Knowing how many people’s lives have been forever changed by traffic accidents, we’re excited to get the word out about this program to help keep our roads safer!
Our top healthy road trip snacks
OK, let’s get down to these healthy road trip snacks. When we’re in the car, we crave healthy. We’ve done the snack-on-potato-chips-from-Indiana-through-Wisconsin thing and it makes us feel, well, gross! What are your favorite healthy road trip snacks? Here’s a list of our top usual suspects that are easily portable and healthier than most:
- Veggies and hummus (like the Spicy Hummus recipe in jars, below!)
- Crackers and cheese
- Roasted salted almonds
- Dried cherries
- Apples
- Snap peas
- Homemade sandwiches (even PB&J is better than gas station sammies!)
- Popcorn
- Real-food energy bars (homemade or purchased)
- Thermos with smoothie or purchased smoothie (just check the label to make sure it’s all natural)
- Dark chocolate
- Hummus and veggie roll ups
How to make this spicy hummus recipe
Now for the recipe. Hummus and veggies is our default snack anytime, and putting them in individual jars for easy eating is perfect for healthy road trip snacks! Of course you can always purchase hummus, but this spicy hummus recipe is easy to whip up and reminiscent of the taste of hot wings with the Tabasco-style hot sauce. All you need is a food processor to blend together chickpeas, lemon, garlic, tahini, and hot sauce. It’s also perfect for a healthy game day snack, and works for a variety of diets including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free.
Did you make this recipe?
We’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks.
Looking for more healthy snack recipes?
If you enjoyed this healthy road trip snacks post, you might enjoy these other recipes on A Couple Cooks:
- Healthy Super Bowl Snacks
- Appetizers & Healthy Snack Recipes
- Classic Homemade Hummus
- How to Make Popcorn on the Stove
- Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt Dots
- Very Verde Cilantro Dip
- Healthy Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
- Hummus and Veggie Roll Ups
Healthy Road Trip Snacks + Spicy Hummus Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8 jars 1x
Description
Looking for healthy road trip snacks? Here are our top 10 snacks, with spicy hummus & veggie jars at the top of the list!
Ingredients
For the spicy hummus recipe
- 1 medium garlic clove
- 15-ounce can chickpeas + ½ cup can liquid
- ¼ cup tahini
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce (like Tabasco or Frank’s)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
For the hummus jars
- 6 to 8 mason jars
- 1 bunch rainbow carrots
- 1 bunch celery
- 1 red bell pepper
Instructions
- Peel the garlic. Drain the chickpeas into a liquid cup measure. In a food processor or blender, blend garlic, chickpeas, ½ cup chickpea can liquid, tahini, lemon juice, Frank’s hot sauce, paprika, and kosher salt. Blend on high until completely creamy. Taste, and add additional hot sauce if desired. Place a dollop of hummus into the bottom of each mason jar.
- Peel the carrots. Slice the carrots, celery and bell pepper into thin strips, then place them into the jars in the hummus.
- Category: Snack
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: American
I tend to buy gas station popcorn during road trips, and then always regret it. I love this hummus jar idea, though. I can’t wait to make them for my next road trip.
Your pup’s instagram account is awesome! Made me laugh. ;-) And I love these hummus jars for a road trip snack idea. I usually bring energy bites and throw together a toasted nut, dried fruit, and dark chocolate mix. If I’m feeling inspired and have the time to prep, I’ll make a quinoa, veggie, or chickpea fritter/patty. I find savory protein-rich snacks are so much more sustaining on road trips. Looking forward to many road trips in Spain. ;-)