Candied Walnuts with Cinnamon and sugar, are a delicious recipe to snack all holiday long. Incredibly amazing, each crunchy bite will make you feel more and more addicted. Do not be surprised if you make these for a crowd and finish them off yourself!
Sugared Candied Walnuts
Every time I make a candied nut or spicy nut, I remember how addicting they are and how I have to put a personal ban on more for a bit. So easy to eat, so easy to make, this recipe is just one of many ways to oven bake, stove top, or slow cook your way to candied nuts. The crunch of the sugar and walnut is just so satisfying that while this recipe is 4 cups of deliciousness, it wont seem enough. Keep candied walnuts on the counter to snack on pre-holiday meal and once cool, add in a few chocolate chips to really create a satisfying handful of goodness!
These candied walnuts with a light sugary cinnamon flavor take about 15-20 minutes to make plus cooling time. I’d maybe allow an hour to cool to be safe, but all of that depends on your climate.
Scroll to the bottom for a printable version of this post, including all measurements and instructions, so you can follow along in your kitchen without being on your phone.
Here is what you need to gather to get started:
- 1 lb ( 4 cups) shelled walnuts
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Can you use other nuts instead of walnuts?
Yes! Feel free to try this recipe with pecans, almonds, peanuts, or even something fun like Brazil nuts! They are just so great to snack on.
Candied Walnuts are Good For
- Appetizers – candied walnuts are delicious as an appetizer to sit in a bowl, especially at Parties and holidays. Keeps people off your case while you finish up the rest of the food!
- Salad Topping – Candied nuts are AMAZING on salad and low key make the whole thing better. Feels like a restaurant. Make sure you set aside some for a salad for sure
- Snacks – After school fun snack. My daughter loves to eat them while doing homework
- Food Gift – Pack up in a mason jar, tie with some twine, and voila, food gift! Feeling extra nice? Add some candied bacon too!
How to make Candied Walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 and lay walnuts on a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper and bake Walnuts for 8 minutes.
Remove nuts from oven and set aside.
In a saucepan, add sugar, cinnamon, salt, milk and vanilla.
Heat cinnamon sugar mixture over medium heat stirring constantly until edges begin to bubble/boil in the pan.
Reduce heat to low and continue to heat and stir constantly for 6-8 minutes.
Add baked walnuts to saucepan and mix well to evenly coat all sides of the nuts.
Pour coated walnuts onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (my go to for everything) to cool.
Depending on the humidity in your home, this could take as little as a half hour or a few hours. Once they are mostly dry, I put them in a zip lock bag and put in the fridge to finish out.
Gently break apart large pieces into more bite sized pieces once cool.
Store in an airtight container (I store in the fridge in a zip lock bag) to keep the walnuts fresh.
Makes 4 cups nuts and they taste delicious on ice cream!
Can I use Maple or Honey to Candy Walnuts?
In theory you could use maple syrup and honey for candied walnuts. Unfortunately I haven’t tested it out yet so I do not know how it alters the recipe in timing and at this time, would not be able to tell you exactly how its done. If you are up for a challenge, instead of mixing milk and sugar, simply replace with honey and spices and monitor.
I have plans to test this out in the future but at the time of this article, have not. If you happen to give it the old college try and want to update me, please share in comments and I will update the post.
Spicy Candied Walnuts
Prefer sweet -n- spicy nuts over just plain old sweet?
Add to the walnut recipe:
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- maybe a tiny bit of ground pepper. TINY bit.
Other ways to Candy Walnuts
I have an oven baked candied pecan recipe here that contains egg whites and sugar.
You can easily candy your walnuts this way, which is oven baked, following the same instructions and just changing out the nuts.
How long to candied walnuts last? Judging by all my Pinterest feedback, about one day because you eat them all! However, in general, they typically last up to 2 weeks as long as they are sealed from moisture.
Can you use halved walnuts over whole? Sure! Its fine to use halved walnuts if you prefer. I personally like the bag of walnuts whole and then use as is straight from the bag.
Are they any side effects of eating walnuts? If they are candied like these walnuts are, your waistline would suffer if they were a daily occurrence. In general, nuts are actually really nutritious for you and shouldn’t be looked at as a negative.
Munchable Appetizer Recipes
Looking for more appetizer recipes that everyone can munch on? Try
- Homemade Butter Mints
- Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Spiced Party Nuts
- Homemade Cinnamon Chips
- Mini Pigs in a Blanket
Candied Walnuts in MINUTES!
Ingredients
- 1 lb 4 cups shelled walnuts
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and lay walnuts on a baking sheet (with parchment paper) and bake for 8 minutes. Remove walnuts from oven and set aside.
- In a saucepan, add sugar, cinnamon, salt, milk and vanilla. Heat over medium heat stirring constantly until edges begin to bubble/boil in the pan.
- Reduce heat to low and continue to heat and stir constantly for 6-8 minutes.
- Carefully fold parchment paper like a funnel (see video) and add walnuts to saucepan and mix well (spatula works great) to evenly coat nuts.
- Pour candied walnuts onto a baking sheet covered with parchment to cool.
- Depending on the humidity in your home, this could take as little as a half hour or a few hours.
- Once Walnuts are mostly dry, I put them in a zip lock bag and put in the fridge to finish out.
- Gently break walnuts apart once cool.
Video
Recipe Notes
- See full recipe for notes on how to take your cinnamon candied walnuts to spicy candied walnuts!
- Store candied walnuts in an airtight container. (I store in the fridge in a zip lock bag)
Nutrition
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