Toss these caramelized walnuts into your salad, over popcorn, or straight into your mouth. Crunch. Crunch. I love this easy method of making the candied nuts where everything goes into the pan at once. Other methods I've tried left me with globs of candy on the nuts rather than a more even coating. It also roasts the nuts at the same time so you don't have to pre-toast them, then add them back to the pan to be coated, blah, blah. Who needs extra steps? It seriously takes about 5 minutes on the stove and 5 minutes to cool. P.S. This recipe can easily be doubled.
Prep time: PT5M
Cook time: PT5M
Total time: PT10M
Rating
4.88 stars (688 reviews)
Keywords
Candied Walnuts
Ingredients
1 cup walnut halves (you can also use this recipe for candied pecans)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar ((not coarse sugar))
1 Tbsp water (*optiona)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of salt
Categories
Appetizer
snack
Cuisine
American
Steps
Heat a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat, add 1 cup walnuts, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp butter and a pinch of salt.
Heat over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently so your mixture doesn't burn (especially towards the end). When the sugar mixture starts melting, stir constantly until all sugar is melted and nuts are coated. The caramelized sugar will be amber in color.
Transfer immediately onto a sheet of parchment paper and separate the nuts right away. Using two spatulas will make this task go faster. You don't want to give the nuts a chance to turn into a wad of inseparable delicious goodness unless you are the only person who will be enjoying the wad ;). Seriously, move quickly from the time the nuts are coated until they are separated out on the parchment paper.
Once the coating hardens (5-7 minutes), you can transfer them to a bowl and enjoy!
Reviews
Lea Gilligan on 2026-09-22 (5 stars): Brilliant recipe, so simple and so delicious. I usually add 1/2 to 1 tsp salt. I like the sugar/salt contrast.
Lauren on 2026-09-22 (5 stars): Turned out GREAT. 5 stars!
The first batch was so delicious, I cleaned out the pan and promptly made another. Thanks, Natasha...you're the BEST!!!!
Marcelo Miguel on 2026-09-21 (5 stars): This was so easy and so wonderful. I made them, then coated them lightly in corn starch and added to a black chocolate banana bread. It came out absolutely delicious. Thank you soo much!!
Jill on 2026-09-18 (4 stars): I added a bit of maple syrup because I ran out of sugar. It gave them more of a caramel/ turtle kind of texture and taste minus the chocolate. And I ate them slightly warm. Something to try.
Nick on 2026-09-13 (5 stars): So easy to make and delicious. I’ve used these on an antipasto salad 😀
Michelle Loetsch on 2026-06-23 (5 stars): I made these with the intent to use them as a topping on cream cheese and prosciutto breadstick bites. Then my daughter found thema bsolutely delicious and utterly devine.
Cindy Stonestreet on 2026-06-04 (5 stars): This recipe was perfect, until you said add water. Water and butter don’t mix and that’s why the end result is greasy. New recipe - 1 star, original recipe - 5 stars.
Sangxero on 2026-05-19 (5 stars): I've made this one before and it worked perfect, but this time I replaced the water with orange juice and it was amazing. Definitely gonna be the way in the future.
