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Five Spice Oven Roasted Nuts

by:
November  3, 2016
4
5 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Prep time 5 minutes
  • Cook time 30 minutes
  • Makes 4 cups
Author Notes

These crunchy nuts are seasoned with warming five spice powder, a mix of cinnamon, fennel, cloves, star anise, and white pepper that’s essential to Chinese cooking. Salty, pungent, and sweet, these nuts are a perfect foil for holiday cocktails. —Louisa Shafia

Test Kitchen Notes

Golden Hour cocktail from Basil Hayden®—this tasty pairing's featured in our video series One Host, Two Ways, brought to you by our friends at Basil Hayden®. —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 4 cups nuts of your choice (nuts can be raw, or roasted and unsalted)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons five spice powder
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Place the nuts in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, five spice powder, chili powder, salt, and orange juice to form a thick paste. Use a rubber spatula to scrape every last bit of the spice paste into the nuts, and toss to coat.
  3. Transfer the nuts to a baking sheet, and spread evenly.
  4. Bake the nuts for 10 minutes, then stir well to make sure they’re not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Rotate the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, and stir again. Reduce the heat to 300°F and bake for 10 minutes, until the nuts are dry and crunchy.
  5. Remove from the heat and allow the nuts to cool to room temperature. They will become crunchier as they cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. If the nuts start to soften, crisp them up on a baking sheet in a 300°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
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My cookbook The New Persian Kitchen is a winner of Food52's Piglet award. I love cooking Iranian rice and hearing people crunch on the crispy tahdig from the bottom of the pot. I'm passionate about sharing the ingredients and techniques for making Persian food in my writing, cooking classes, and online store, Feast By Louisa where you can find my Persian Spice Set, Tahdig Kit, and other goodies.

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7 Reviews

Write a Review
Susan October 7, 2024
These are by far the best spiced nuts I've ever eaten - let alone made! So good. So much flavor. I make them several times a year for parties and gatherings and people go, well, nuts over them ;) They aren't super hot, they're a complete flavor bomb. Be sure to trust the process. When I was first making them, I was overcooking them because they weren't crisp in the oven when done. Now I pull a couple of nuts out and let them cool to see where they are at. They do crisp when they cool. I've used pretty much every nut imaginable at some point or another and they are all great. I'm personally fond of pecans - probably because they hold a lot of the seasoning. I could not recommend this recipe more highly!
Carolyn V. November 22, 2016
I just made this for the first time with equal parts almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts (all raw). My sister can't eat anything citrus, so I used a ginger juice in place of the orange juice. I misread the salt, so under-salted a bit. But they are really very flavorful. They will make a great cocktail companion for Thanksgiving. Thanks! Louisa!
Carolyn V. November 22, 2016
One other comment: there was a lot of extra spice paste, which I poured along with the nuts right onto the baking sheet. That caused some sticking. I think I would scoop the nuts out of the bowl next time rather than baking all of the paste. Or I could have added more nuts to use up all of the paste.
tastysweet July 26, 2019
Try nonstick aluminum foil.
Carolyn V. November 21, 2016
Louisa, there is a typo on the salt. I assume it's 2 teaspoons, not 1T + 2tsp?
Louisa S. November 21, 2016
Nope, it's really 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons. Not all of the salt sticks to the nuts so it needs a little extra.
Carolyn V. November 22, 2016
Wow! That sounded like so much! I used 2 heaping teaspoons and then crumbled a little more on top while they were still warm. They taste fantastic! You might want to add "plus" between "tablespoon" and "2" for a little more clarity. Thanks for the great recipe!