Roasted Nuts Recipe - 4 Ways (2024)

FAQs

Why do you soak nuts before roasting? ›

It may seem counterintuitive to soak your nuts before you roast them, when the goal is a crunchy cashew. But some experts swear by this trick to give your cashews extra flavor, as well as helping them be more digestible.

I prefer to use avocado oil or coconut oil when roasting nuts, because they both have a much higher smoke point while cooking than olive oil does. Avocado oil is a very neutral flavor, and it's my favorite oil to use for cooking.

Roasted, for me, means you cook them in the oven, and toasted means you cook the nuts on the stove top. I see both words used interchangeably online, though. I use both methods, depending on whether I need to roast a few nuts or a lot, and how quickly I need them.

How to do it: Spread nuts in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet (or in a smaller baking pan). Bake in the center of a preheated 325°F oven, stirring to redistribute nuts every 5 minutes or so. Keep your eyes peeled and your nose on alert: Nuts in the oven can quickly go from just right to burned.

To get the spices to stick to the nuts, use egg whites, butter, coconut oil, olive oil or blanch the nuts in boiling water. Some recipes call for nuts to be fried in oil prior to seasoning, but this adds unnecessary fat – you can make them just a delicious without all the extra calories.

Long-soak nuts (almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts) need at least 8 hours. Medium-soak nuts (pecans, walnuts, and Brazil nuts) are oilier and swell up quickly, so require less soaking time. Short-soak nuts (cashews, macadamias, and pine nuts) have the highest fat content and require only 2 to 4 hours soaking.

Sally Fallon (founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation) explains that using salt to soak nuts “… helps activate enzymes that de-activate the enzyme inhibitors. For grains, we soak in an acidic solution to get rid of phytic acid.

Soaking nuts

Simply place your nuts in a bowl, add 1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt and cover with warm or room temperature water. Leave to sit for 7 hours or overnight before draining (note: cashews shouldn't be soaked for more than 6 hours).

At 325°F, most nuts will only need to stay in the oven 5 to 8 minutes. On the stovetop in a pan, toasting nuts may take a few minutes less, about 5 minutes.

For Fat and Flavor When Roasting, Choose Olive Oil or Ghee

Not only do they help food cook up with the crispiness you crave, but each one also imparts its own unique flavor that you just don't get from neutral oils like grapeseed or canola.

Is extra virgin olive oil good for roasting? ›

While it's true that olive oil has a lower smoke point than the likes of sunflower, vegetable and rapeseed oil, it's still high enough to roast and sauté with.

However, roasting nuts may damage their healthy fat, reduce their nutrient content and lead to the formation of a harmful substance called acrylamide.

Stovetop toasting works well for small batches of nuts or seeds. With this method, the parts of the nuts or seeds touching the skillet may become darkest, unlike the oven method where they become more of an overall golden color. Toast nuts BEFORE chopping them into smaller pieces.

Spread them out in an even layer on a sheet pan, and pop them in a 350° oven. Generally speaking, lighter, more tender nuts like pecans, pistachios, and walnuts will take 6-8 minutes to get to a good place. Denser nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and macadamias will take more like 8-10 minutes to finish toasting.

Place rinsed nuts in a bowl and toss well with sea salt. Spread tossed nuts on parchment paper and place in oven for 8 minutes, then stir them to ensure all sides get evenly dried, and roast for another 7 minutes.

How to roast nuts on the stove. You can toss the nuts right into a pan over medium heat, no oil necessary. Just shake the pan occasionally so they toast evenly and don't burn. When they're finished, transfer them out of the hot pan so they don't keep browning.

In the end, roasting temperature and duration can have a big impact. If nuts are roasted at a low-to-medium temperature of about 284°F (140°C) for approximately 15 minutes, vitamin loss is kept to a minimum, healthy fats are unharmed and acrylamide is less likely to form.