This Impossibly Easy Appetizer Starts With a Bag of Oyster Crackers

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Humble oyster crackers—what do you do with them? Pour them in a bowl of soup? Snack on them? There's just not much there. Certainly not anything to write home about. That is, until you try my family's favorite easy appetizer recipe.

I call it "my family's favorite" because for a long time, I thought it was an heirloom blend. For years, my grandmother mixed up seasoned oyster crackers for special occasions, and people had to coax her to share the incredibly easy and utterly addictive recipe with them.

Fast forward to the present day, and imagine my surprise when I searched "seasoned oyster crackers" on Google and found that a secret family recipe, this is not. No top-secret stuff here, no proprietary blends. It's all over the Internet. As it happens, people have been tossing together this addictive mixture of herbs and oyster crackers in kitchens everywhere for a long, long time. You, dear reader, have probably whipped these up once or twice. And if not, you're in for a treat.

The ubiquity of this dish doesn't make it any less delicious, so jot down the recipe, toss the ingredients together, and get ready to taste your new go-to, indulgent, snack-size appetizer.

Craveable Seasoned Oyster Crackers
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 x 1-oz. packet ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix (such as Hidden Valley)
2 x 9-oz. bags of oyster crackers

Pour all of the ingredients into a gallon-size zip-top bag, and toss until the crackers are well coated and the ingredients are adequately dispersed. Let sit overnight, and voila!

In my opinion, this is the ideal blend, but Hidden Valley also has some good ideas, as they recommend baking the crackers on a sheet pan for 15-20 minutes after tossing the ingredients together. You could also use mini saltines instead of oyster crackers. No matter how you prepare these seasoned crackers, you'll want to bookmark this recipe for your next party. The takeaway is: Customize them to your heart's content. Make them an heirloom recipe, even if they didn't start out that way.

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What's your go-to easy appetizer? FYI: If you make this recipe, you may want to whip up two batches, because they disappear quickly. (You've been warned.)