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These spiced nuts with cinnamon and chili are a great fall or holiday snack, appetizer or gift. The maple and spice coating is made with egg whites which gives them the best crispy texture!

a white table with spiced pecans spilled out over it

Add making these candied pecans to your to-do list this season. You’ll be so glad you did. First of all, the smell of the cinnamon and maple and the toasted nuts is like wrapping yourself up in a cozy fluffy sweater. But also because you can package them up to give as a gift, nibble on them for a snack or you can add them to a salad like my Holiday Kale Salad with Roasted Delicata Squash for crunch and sweet and spicy flavor. Just beware they are addictively good!

a jar from a low angle filled with spiced nuts. Grapes and apricots are in the background

What Are Spiced Nuts

  • Spiced Nuts is a catchall phrase for nuts that have been seasoned and roasted. They vary from unsweetened to coating in a crisp sugary coating.
  • Unsweetened spiced nuts have oil on them to coat the nuts so the herbs and spices and salt can stick to the nuts as they roast.
  • Typically Spiced nuts are sweet and have warm spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.
  • There are also candied nuts that have sweet and shiny coating like my Chili Chocolate Spiced Pecans.
  • And then there are Sugared Nuts that have a crispy coating made with egg whites.

This recipe is like a combination of sweet and hot candied nuts and sugared nuts. They have the crispy coating of sugared nuts, but they have sweet and hot spices too!

How To Make This Recipe

Before you Begin

  • Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
  • You’ll need to line your baking sheet with a silpat or silicone baking mat. If you don’t have one, generously grease your sheet pan.

Using Egg Whites in Spiced Nuts

The very special part of this recipe is the crispy coating which is created from beaten egg whites. I know it sounds really strange, but they work with the sugar to create a thin, hard and crispy sugary coating around the nut and in every nook and cranny.

Tips For Beating Egg Whites

  • Use a clean bowl and a clean whisk or egg beaters. Any trace of yolk or fat will prevent the whites from whipping.
  • Room temperature egg whites whip better and faster than cold egg whites. To quickly warm up your whites you can set the unbroken egg into a mug of warm tap water for a couple minutes. {While the oven preheats and you’re gathering your ingredients, try it!}
  • You only need to whip them until they are foamy. It is not necessary to beat them to soft peaks.

Add Pecans To Whites

Next take your nuts (I used Pecans, but any kind of nut works in this recipe) and stir them with the whites.

Allow the whites to soak into all the nooks and crannies, because they will make the spices and sugar stick to it, and that’s what will make the delicious sugar and spiced coating!

Add Sugar and Spices

Next you’ll sprinkle on the sugar and spices. Then stir it to coat the nuts in the spices and sugar. It will cling to the egg whites. Here is the combo I used:

  • granulated maple sugar, coconut sugar or white sugar
  • coarse kosher salt
  • ground cinnamon
  • ground chipotle chili or cayenne (or to taste)
  • ground allspice

Seasoning Variations

You can also come up with your own variation of spices.

  • If you cannot find maple sugar, which is what I recommend you can use white sugar or coconut sugar.
  • Also, if you’re not a fan of hot and spicy food then you can most certainly skip the chili.
  • You can use 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, chipotle and allspice.

How to Roast Spiced Nuts with Egg Whites

Spread the coated nuts out onto the silpat or prepared baking sheet and use a spatula to separate them. You want the hot air in the oven to circulate all around them to dry them out.

Roast them for 7 to 8 minutes. Note that smaller or larger nuts will need timing adjustment, so to know if yours are ready to be stirred, take a look at them. They should look dry at this point.

Stir them well and then return them to the oven to roast for 3 to 6 minutes longer. In addition to the spices, you will be able to smell the toasted nuts too. They will darken slightly, but don’t let them darken too much as the coating makes it hard to tell just how toasted they are.

Let them cool completely on the baking sheet.

How To Store Spiced Nuts

Once they are completely cool, you can transfer them to jars or resealable containers. Keep them at room temperature for a week. Freeze them for 1 month.

Why Spiced Nuts Get Sticky

If you try to seal them into jars before they are completely cool, they will become sticky and loose their crispy texture.

Occasionally, when the air has a lot of moisture, they will become sticky. This is due to the sugars in the coating pulling the moisture into them. Typically in cold winter weather this isn’t a problem.

Step By Step Photos

spiced nuts on a black slate with grapes, crostini and apricots

What To Serve With Them

Close-up from overhead: a white bowl with spiced pecans

Thank you for reading. If you make this recipe, please come back and let me know by leaving a star rating and review. Thank you! Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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Spiced nuts in a white bowl with red grapes

Spiced Nuts

  • Author: Katie
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 1/2 cups 1x
  • Category: snack
  • Method: oven
  • Cuisine: American

★★★★★

5 from 10 reviews
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Description

These spiced nuts with cinnamon and chili are a great fall or holiday snack, appetizer or gift. The maple and spice coating is made with egg whites which gives them the best crispy texture!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • 2 cup pecans or other nuts
  • 4 teaspoons granulated maple sugar, coconut sugar or white sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground chipotle chili or cayenne (or to taste)
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Instructions

  1. Preheat Oven and Prep Pan: mat or coat generously with cooking spray.
  2. Make Egg white and Spice Coating: Beat egg white in a medium bowl until foamy. Add nuts and stir to coat. Add sugar, cinnamon, salt, chili and allspice and toss to coat. Spread out on the prepared baking sheet and transfer to the oven.
  3. Roasting Instructions: Roast, until the mixture starts to look dry, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir and continue roasting until the nuts are browned and fragrant, 3 to 6 minutes longer. Cool completely and store in a jar at room temperature up to 1 week.

Notes

Granulated maple sugar is made from maple syrup that has been boiled to a hot temperature and then stirred continuously as it is cooled. Once it is cooled, the mixture turns to granulated sugar that tastes like the essence of maple. You can purchase it online or find it in health food stores near the other natural sweeteners. 

You can use any type of nut to make this recipe but the cooking times will vary depending on the size of the nuts. In step 3, make sure they look dry before stirring them. Then roast them until you can smell the toasted nuts but before they darken too much. This will only take 3 or so minutes for nuts the same size of pecans, and less for smaller nuts, more for larger. 

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/4 cup
  • Calories: 168
  • Sugar: 2 g
  • Fat: 16 g
  • Saturated Fat: 2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 5 g
  • Fiber: 2 g
  • Protein: 4 g
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