Candied Walnuts are great for salads, baking, snacking, gifting, and more! You only need 10 minutes to make this Easy Candied Walnuts recipe! You will love the crunchy, sweet, and oh so addicting candied nuts!
Easy Candied Walnuts
My dad loves walnuts and always kept a jar of walnuts in our pantry. I was never a huge walnut fan until he introduced me to candied walnuts. Candying the walnuts transforms regular old walnuts into sugary, crunchy, sweet walnuts that are 100% addicting! It’s amazing what a little sugar will do!
I love this candied walnuts recipe because you make them on the stove top and not in the oven. They only take about 10 minutes to make and you don’t have to take up oven space, which is important during the busy holiday months when you are trying to make a million things in the oven.
We always make candied walnuts for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so freeing up oven space is very important. This stovetop method is SO easy and the nuts are DELICIOUS!
How to Make Candied Walnuts
You are going to LOVE this super easy candied walnuts recipe! Let’s get started!
- Walnuts-Use walnut halves or pieces. If you want smaller walnuts, you can chop them up after they are candied. You can also use pecans for this recipe.
- Prepare a pan-Before you start the candying process, place a sheet of parchment paper or Silpat baking mat on a baking sheet and set aside. When the nuts are candied, you will need to immediately spread them out on the prepared pan so always have the pan ready before you start.
- Sugar-Granulated sugar coats the walnuts making them sweet!
- Use a non-stick skillet-In a medium non-stick skillet, add the butter and sugar and heat over medium heat until the butter is melted, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
- Spices-Add the walnuts, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, if using. I like to add cinnamon for flavor and cayenne for a little kick. These spices are optional, but SO good! Stir so the walnuts are coated in the sugar mixture.
- Cook-Continue to cook and stir frequently over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sugar is fully melted and coating the walnuts.
- Be Quick-Immediately remove the skillet from the heat to prevent the sugar from burning.
- Spread-Place the candied walnuts onto the prepared pan in a single layer, making sure they are not in clumps.
- Cool-Let the candied walnuts cool for 10 minutes or until the candy hardens.
Ways to Use Candied Walnuts
If you are looking for ways to use candied walnuts, here are a few ideas:
- Snacking-candied walnuts are good by the handful! You can also add them to any cheese or snack board.
- Salads-add to any salad for a sweet crunch! Candied walnuts make any salad better!
- Baking-stir chopped candied walnuts into your favorite cookie or banana bread recipe.
- Topping-use candied walnuts as a topping for oatmeal, yogurt, ice cream, baked sweet potatoes or sweet potato casserole.
- Gifting-Place candied walnuts in a cute jar with ribbon and give as a gift during the holidays! They also make a great hostess gift.
How to Store
You can store cooled candied walnuts in a sealed jar or container for up to 3 weeks. You can freeze candied walnuts for up to 2 months. Always label and date before going into the freezer!
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Candied Walnuts
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted walnut halves or pieces
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- Pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
Instructions
- Place a sheet of parchment paper or Silpat on a baking sheet. Set aside.
- In a medium non-stick skillet, add the butter and sugar and heat over medium heat until the butter is melted, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
- Add the walnuts, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, if using. Stir so the walnuts are coated in the sugar mixture.
- Continue to cook and stir frequently over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sugar is fully melted and coating the walnuts.
- Immediately remove the skillet from the heat to prevent the sugar from burning.
- Spread the candied walnuts onto the prepared pan in a single layer, making sure they are not in clumps.
- Cool for 10 minutes or until the candy hardens.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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I love, love, love that you share the nutrition information. Thank you!
You are welcome:)
Easy and excellent and delicious, used for apple crostini recipe everyone LOVED them. thank you
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review
Great tasting simple recipe! We followed the recipe and then we sprinkled cinnamon on top to add extra flavor. It was gone in minutes.
Please know that this is not vegan if using butter. I will use a plant-based butter and see how it works.
Very nice recipe. We have to try. So easy, flavorful and delicious.
Just whipped up a batch to use with honey walnut shrimp. Super easy and super delicious! They turned out so crunchy!
Glad you liked the walnuts!
What oven temp?
Made today and it turned out perfect for my taste.
Thanks so much for recipe.
My mixture wouldn’t stick to the nuts!
Followed exactly. Mine didn’t stick either – disappointed. Trying to cook them like the candied pecan recipe which was awesome!
Mine didn’t stick either. Wondered if I did something wrong.
Made candied walnuts for a summer salad today they came out perfect !!!
Just made these. I made them for a Arugula blue cheese salad. I used pecans instead of walnuts because its what I had on hand. Yummo!!!
Will definitely make this again
Glad you loved them!
Flavor is great, candy part gets too hard and hard to separate…followed recipe to a T.
It’s alright, I followed the recipe and for some reason the sugar did not melt. And barely covered the nuts I had. Was sure hoping for a delicious candied walnut.
OMG! These candied walnuts are DELICIOUS! I’ve always loved them in salads but I never thought about making them myself. They were so easy to make. I am going to try this recipe with pecans. This is going to be one of my go to recipes when I want a delicious snack for myself or when I have guest.
Glad you loved them!
I couldn’t get the sugar to dissolve, I cooked almost 10 minutes, was my heat not high enough? Really tasty but not how I wanted them
Can I use honey instead of granulated sugar?
I haven’t tried it, it might make them a little stickier, but probably good??
Oven temp???
Read directions carefully and you’ll discover these don’t go in oven
Tasty but the sugar never melted?
Recipe does not come out right. Review your measurements and instructions
Didn’t have oven temp to cook walnuts. Mine burned. )o:
350 too high! Oops
First time making. They turned out fabulous! Nice and crunchy but not too crunchy where I feel like I’m going to break my teeth. I did use a whole teaspoon of the cinnamon only because I really really love cinnamon. So glad I did it it’s excellent.