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These candied spiced nuts taste like those delicious roasted nuts you get at the mall during the holiday season! Your whole house will smell like delicious, sweet roasted nuts. Perfect for gifting during the holidays!
Nothing screams the holiday season to me quite like walking into the mall and getting assaulted with the smell of the spiced nuts roasting away.
Those things are hard to pass by, but gosh, they are pricey!
It’s so simple to make them at home, and people go crazy about it if you make them before having guests over. Your house smells amazing and everyone gets so excited to start munching!
Ingredient Notes:
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Mixed Nuts – You can use any variety of nuts that you like, or even just one if you have a favorite like pecans. We like a good mix though! Pecans, peanuts, cashews… they’re all perfect for roasting! We use lightly salted nuts.
Egg Whites – You’ll mix these up with some water and use it to coat the nuts. This is what helps keep all the sugar and spice in place while the nuts roast!
Sugar – You’ll need white sugar and brown sugar.
Cinnamon – A couple teaspoons to mix with the sugar will add loads of flavor and will have your house smelling so good!
Kosher Salt – This helps balance out some of the cinnamon sweet flavor, and the kosher salt adds a nice texture. If you’re using salted nuts and are worried it will be too salty, you can skip this.
Cayenne Pepper – You can omit this if you don’t want any spice, but we really like how it balances the flavors. A good substitute would be smoked paprika or chili powder.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- The smell! Seriously, roasted candied nuts smell amazing and irresistible. Your whole house will smell like Christmas!
- Just about everyone loves these so they are perfect for holiday parties, gatherings, or gifts!
How to Make Candied Nuts:
Eggs: Begin by separating the egg whites from the egg yolk and adding the whites to a small bowl with the water. Whisk together until it is frothy. The egg/water mix will help to coat the sugar and spice on the nuts.
Mix: In a larger mixing bowl add the nuts of your choice (I prefer to buy a package of mixed nuts for lots of variety, but you can choose your favorite!) and then add the sugars and spices and stir to evenly distribute the mix. Next pour in the egg/water mixture and stir again until the nuts are well coated in the sugar and spices.
Bake: Spread the mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to break them up a bit. These roasted candied nuts are amazing straight out of the oven!
Helpful Tip!
Make it Low Carb!
Use your favorite low carb sweetener in place of the sugar for a low carb snack that’s perfect for the holidays! We use and love Lakanto sweeteners.
FAQs:
This candied nuts recipe calls for a mix of spices, including cayenne.
You can swap the cayenne for paprika (we like the smoked variety) to keep these 100% mild, but we absolutely love the tiny bit of spice you get from the cayenne.
It pairs so perfectly with the sweet cinnamon goodness of the nuts.
You can keep the roasted candied nuts in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 to 2 weeks!
More holiday favorites!
- Microwave Peanut Butter Fudge
- Christmas Popcorn
- Soft Ginger Cookies
- Air Fryer Christmas Tree Cookies
- Christmas Crack
- Oreo Fudge
- Keto Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
- Christmas Rice Krispies Treats
Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts
Ingredients
- 2 pounds nuts any variety
- 2 large egg whites room temperature
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper see note
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
- Add nuts to large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites and water until frothy. Pour over nuts and stir to coat all the nuts.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the sugars, salt, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. Pour over nuts and stir to coat.
- Spread nuts in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and separate nuts if they are stuck together.
- Store in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Recipe lightly adapted from Elizabeth Karmel of Hill Country.
This post was originally published in 2009. It was updated with new photos and a video. Original photo below.
then-came-jen says
Oh yes! These are one of the main reasons I go to the renaissance faire every fall… but now I don’t have to buy the big gigantic bag to bring home, I can make them myself!!
Ashley says
This would definitely be dangerous for me to make! I love your photos.
rachel-asouthernfairytale says
SO yummy! I love making these at home, although I’ve never seen this exact recipe before 🙂 I always just toss things together depending on my mood 🙂 or pantry 🙂
Want to submit this to Blissful Food??? I’d love to feature it 🙂
Audrey at Barking Mad! says
OH be still my heart. I just died and went to heaven! Thank you for this. I have never ever tried roasting nuts myself but this looks pretty damned easy….even I could do it!
Mandy says
Oh.My.Word. These look incredible. All your recipes do! I want to come to your house! Thanks for sharing these amazing recipes.
Barbara says
My boys are going to love nibbling on these while watching football!
Abbie says
I’m ready for Christmas food, too. These look great!
Bunny says
I always drive myself crazy trying to think of what to make for people as gifts, I’m making these!!!!
Mother In-law says
I hope these are the ones you made for Halloween!!! They were awesome! Thanks for sharing on facebook. Hey, by the way, my son paid you the best compliment ever on Sunday! He said you were the “best cook ever” (or something like that). Even though it throws the “son’s always miss their mom’s cooking” theory out the window, I was proud he paid you such a wonderful compliment.
Steph says
I was making my cookie/goodie list today and I thought about spiced nuts. These look perfect! Can’t wait to try them.
averagebetty says
I could eat my weight in candied nuts. YUM!
Cheri says
As soon as I saw that first photo I said “Oh Yum!” Out loud. I want to say it again! These look absolutely delicious! I am going to try this for sure!
I can never get over how lovely your photos are.
Alanna says
I make these every year, and all of the men on my list move to get a package of them attached to their gift 🙂
Pam price says
Are the peanuts salted? Can’t wait to try them.
Karly says
We do use salted nuts, but it’s totally personal preference.
grace says
these definitely fall under the “sugar and spice and everything nice” umbrella. what a treat, and perfect for the nibble dish at any party.
Erin @ One Particular Kitchen says
I had NO idea these were so simple. How fabulous! My dad will go nuts for these.