Candied Walnuts Recipe (Perfect for gifting) (2024)

Candied walnuts are great addition during holiday season to your salads, or for gifting! These are great snacking option too. So easy to make, you don’t want to miss this.

Candied Walnuts Recipe (Perfect for gifting) (1)

What I Love About This Candied Walnuts Recipe?

  • This old-fashioned candied walnuts recipe uses egg white to help bind the sugar to walnuts. The delightful blend of sweet, salty and crunchy makes these super addictive. So hard to stop eating. We bet you can’t eat just one!
  • A dish is only as good as the ingredients. Use best quality nut you can possibly get. You can easily swap it with other nuts like pecans, cashews or macadamias.
  • It’s not like the sticky version of candied nuts. These are sweet, drier than the sticky ones you can imagine. And it’s better than the sticky version.
  • So what’s wrong with the recipes that use just walnuts and sugar to make candied version of nuts, you may ask? Well one – the nuts gets coated in heavy and hard sugar glaze on the nuts. This classic version has light, crunchy sweet coating from sugar. A hint of cinnamon and salt is added to balance out the sweetness from sugar. So these walnuts aren’t super sweet and aren’t heavy as well.
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  • The recipe also doesn’t yield super sweet glazed nuts! We have kept the sugar quantity just about right to give you delicious nuts with enough candy coating that is delightfully sweet!
  • If you are someone who loves your candied nuts to be super sweet, we recommend you to double the sugar. But let me warn you, if you double the sugar you’re gonna have super sweet walnuts that tastes almost like candy. You won’t even taste the nuts, sugar is going to be over powering!
  • Amazing to sprinkle over salads, even better to munch on for snacks in the afternoon. You can crush the walnuts and sprinkle it over ice cream or any desserts.

Ingredients Needed

Readily available ingredients from your pantry is all you need –

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Walnuts– make sure you pick raw, unsalted walnuts. Whole walnuts are great, butchopped ones can be used too.

Sugar(white and brown) – I like to use a mix of both white granulated sugarand brown sugar. Do not use powdered sugar. Granulated sugar gives bettertexture on walnuts.

EggWhite – Egg white beaten to stiff peaks is used in the recipe to helpbind the sugar mix to the walnuts.

Water– a teaspoon is all you need to add to egg white to help it beat.

CinnamonPowder – Spices like cinnamon adds a nice flavor and taste to nuts. Youcan also add a hint of cayenne pepper to add a kick if you like.

SeaSalt – A pinch of sea salt in any sweet dish always enhances its taste.Make sure you use fine sea salt and not table salt.

Vanilla Extract – don’t miss out on pure vanilla extract.

How to Make Candied Walnuts?

Prep candy coating – in a bowl mix granulated white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon powder and salt. Mix and keep aside until use.

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Whisk egg whites – to another dry bowl pour egg whites. Add a teaspoon of water. Whisk egg whites until its frothy, fluffy cloud like consistency.

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Prep the walnuts – to fluffy egg whites bowl add raw walnuts. Pour in vanilla extract. Gently fold in to coat walnuts in egg whites evenly.

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Add in all the sugar mix and fold until all walnuts are evenly coated.

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Bake walnuts – spread sugar coated walnuts onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper (or silicon baking mat). Bake in pre heated oven at 300 F for about 30 -35 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes interval. You’ll have to bake these until the coating on the nuts is hardened.

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Store& Serve – remove baked nuts from the oven. Let it cool completely.Serve these candied walnuts immediately as salad topping or as snack.

Or store itin air tight containers for later use or for gifting purpose.

How Long Can Candied Walnuts Be Stored?

The bestpart of candy walnuts is you can make these ahead as it stores well. You canstore completely cooled candy walnuts in air tight container for up to 2 weeksand pack these up in freezer air tight boxes and freeze for about 2 months.

Can I Use Other Nuts?

Yes, absolutely. This recipe works great with pecans, macadamia nuts or even almonds just like walnuts.

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Ways to Serve Candies Walnuts

Snack on it – these candy walnuts aregreat to snack on. It’s ‘kinda’ healthy snack, I mean its nut right!

Salad topper – great option for saladtopper. Any kind of salad can be topped with these candies nuts. It adds anextra crunch and sweetness to your salad!

Gifting option – these are great forunique holiday gifts. Pack these in little treat bags, tie cute ribbons aroundsand gift to your family and friends.

Sprinkle on desserts – crush candied walnuts in a food processor (not too fine) and use the crushed candy nuts to sprinkle over ice cream or any other desserts.

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MORE GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTING RECIPES –

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Christmas Popcorn

S’mores Puppy Chow

All Purpose Seasoning Salt

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Pretzel Hershey Kisses

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

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5 from 7 votes

Candied Walnuts

Jyothi Rajesh

Candied walnuts are great addition during holiday season to your salads, or for gifting! These are great snacking option too. So easy to make, you don’t want to miss this.

Print Recipe Pin RecipeRate this Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Course Snacks

Cuisine American

Servings 4 cups

Calories 873

Ingredients

  • 4 cups 12 ounces raw walnuts
  • ¼ cup granulated white sugar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 teaspoon water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

  • Prep candy coating – in a bowl mix granulated white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon powder and salt. Mix and keep aside until use.

  • Whisk egg whites – to another dry bowl pour egg whites. Add a teaspoon of water. Whisk egg whites until its frothy, fluffy cloud like consistency.

  • Prep the walnuts – to fluffy egg whites bowl add raw walnuts. Pour in vanilla extract. Gently fold in to coat walnuts in egg whites evenly.

  • Add in all the sugar mix and fold until all walnuts are evenly coated.

  • Bake walnuts – spread sugar coated walnuts onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper (or silicon baking mat). Bake in pre heated oven at 300 F for about 30 -35 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes interval. You’ll have to bake these until the coating on the nuts is hardened.

  • Store & Serve – remove baked nuts from the oven. Let it cool completely. Serve these candied walnuts immediately as salad topping or as snack.

  • Or store it in air tight containers for later use or for gifting purpose.

Video

Notes

  1. Use raw walnuts, not roasted salted ones.
  2. Sugar quantity used here does not make super sweet walnuts. If you want to make sweet candy walnuts use more sugar (double the sugar).
  3. To add more flavors, along with cinnamon add ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper if you like extra kick.

Nutritional Info– Please keep in mind that nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Calories: 873kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 19gFat: 76gSaturated Fat: 7gSodium: 310mgPotassium: 546mgFiber: 8gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 23IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 126mgIron: 4mg

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Candied Walnuts Recipe (Perfect for gifting) (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep candied walnuts from sticking together? ›

One trick is to work very fast once the sugar starts melting. Once you mix in the walnuts, the candy syrup cools quickly and the walnuts will stick together. You have 30 seconds or so to separate them before they are forever bonded by glassy, cooked sugar. The other trick is to not burn the walnuts when you toast them.

How long will candied nuts keep? ›

How long will candied pecans keep? They will keep for up to two weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, at least three weeks in the refrigerator, or up to two months in the freezer. No matter where you store them, keep in a tightly sealed, airtight container.

Why are my candied walnuts soft? ›

Candied Walnuts Recipe FAQs

These last for up to 1 week at room temperature, 2 weeks in the refrigerator, and 2 months in the freezer. Why are my candied walnuts soft? If they are soft you likely did not bake them long enough.

How to make candied nuts not sticky? ›

Pecans too sticky: If your nuts are still sticky after cooling, heat your oven to 325° F and bake for 5 to 10 minutes to help harden the candy coating.

Why do you soak walnuts in water? ›

Shruti Bharadwaj, Senior Clinical Dietician, Narayana Hrudayalaya says soaking walnuts helps improve their digestibility and also remove phytic acid and tannin. "Soaking can also help prevent indigestion as it helps reduce gas forming compounds. It also reduces polyphenols and increase nutrient availability.

How long to soak walnuts before baking? ›

As a general guideline, most nuts should be soaked for at least 4-8 hours. Some harder nuts, like almonds and hazelnuts, may benefit from soaking overnight or for up to 12 hours. Softer nuts, like cashews, may only need to be soaked for a few hours.

How to gift candied nuts? ›

Cook on low for 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. When there is 20 minutes left, add water – this will help give the candied nuts a glossy finish. Cool nuts on a parchment lined baking sheet. Package in miniature cellophane bags and gift to your friends!

Do candied walnuts go bad? ›

Yes, candied nuts can go bad. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month for best results.

What is the best way to store candied nuts? ›

To Store: Candied nuts can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for several weeks. To Freeze: They freeze well in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

Why do my walnuts taste funny? ›

Nuts with higher fat content, like walnuts and pecans can also go rancid after a few months if stored at too warm a temperature. If you notice that your nuts have taken on a noticeably bitter, sour flavor, they may have entered this unfortunate phase.

Why are my candied nuts grainy? ›

Recipe Notes

Do not stir the sugar with a spoon before adding the nuts, it will cause the sugar to crystalize and have a gritty unpleasant texture, if needed swirl the pan. Make sure to remove the skillet from the stove as soon as the sugar is golden brown.

Why do my walnuts taste sour? ›

Walnuts can go “off” or taste bitter or sour when the oils in them become rancid. Rancidification is a chemical process (oxidation) that can be triggered by exposure to unfavourable storage conditions.

Why won't my candied nuts dry? ›

If your nuts don't harden fully, that means the sugar wasn't cooked long enough and didn't caramelize. Cook the nuts longer next time!

Why wont my candied fruit harden? ›

If your candied coating isn't hardening, the candying mixture did not reach a high enough temperature. Allow your candying mixture to cook until it bubbles, thickens, and turns a rich golden color, sort of like caramel. Then, quickly turn off the heat so it doesn't burn.

What are candied nuts called? ›

Candied almonds or Praline are nuts (usually almonds) of French origin, that have been cooked in a special way, so they end up coated in browned, crunchy sugar.

Should I soak walnuts before baking? ›

Astringent, mouth-puckering taste…

By soaking and dehydrating them, this will be greatly reduced. This is because when soaking walnuts, the tannins are rinsed away, leaving behind a softer, more buttery nut. The soak water from nuts and seeds should always be discarded and never used as water in a recipe.

How do you store an open bag of walnuts? ›

Once you open the bag, transfer the walnuts to an airtight container to maintain freshness and then place them back in the refrigerator or freezer. If you buy bulk walnuts, either in-shell or shelled, place the walnuts in an airtight container for long-term cold storage.

How to package candied nuts? ›

Cool nuts on a parchment lined baking sheet. Package in miniature cellophane bags and gift to your friends!

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