These Honey Roasted Peanuts are sweet, salty and super crunchy: lightly roasted peanuts tossed in a spiced-honey glaze, roasted again to caramelise then tossed in salty-brown sugar mixture to finish.
Honey Roasted Peanuts at A Glance
- Taste:
- Sweet, salty and just a tiny bit spicy. This recipe uses a combo of honey and brown sugar to sweeten the nuts, salt to balance out the sweet and add a pinch of cayenne pepper to bring a little bit of heat.
- Texture:
- Don’t forget to add the starch! Starch helps ensure the honey-glaze sticks to the peanuts which is important for create an extra crunchy texture.
- Overview of the process:
- Start out by lightly roasting your peanuts before tossing them in a quick and easy honey-glaze then roasted again until golden and crisp. After cooling, toss the peanuts in a salted, brown sugar mixture and enjoy!
How to Make these Honey Roasted Peanuts: Step-By-Step
Lightly roast the peanuts: Spread raw peanuts across a large baking sheet and partially roast until lightly golden.
Melt & whisk glaze: In a medium pot, warm & whisk the glaze ingredients until smooth.
Why Use Starch?
The starch acts as a binder helping the glaze stick to the peanuts which will caramelize and harden as the peanuts roast which ultimately makes for a super crunchy texture.
Coat peanuts in the sticky glaze: Toss the lightly roasted peanuts in the glaze until evenly combined.
Spread over a lined baking sheet: Transfer the coated nuts to a lined baking sheet and spread in an even layer.
Bake: Bake again until the sugar-glaze it bubbly, the nuts a rich golden brown and the edges look a bit crisp.
Transfer to a large bowl to cool: Tip the nuts into a large, metal mixing bowl to break up the clusters and cool.
Tip! Make sure to Stir the Peanuts As They Cool
As the peanut mixture cools, it’s important to stir the bowl every so often. This will help speed up the cooling process, but more importantly, keep the nuts from sticking to the bowl.
Add sugar & salt: Once cooled, add light brown sugar and a pinch of salt to the bowl.
Toss once more to coat: Toss until fully dusted with the sugar mixture.
Honey Roasted Peanuts Tips & Variations
Swap:
- butter >> vegan butter or oil to make it dairy free
- brown sugar >> regular cane sugar or coconut sugar
- honey >> maple syrup to make it vegan (switch out the butter too)
- tapioca starch >> potato starch, cornstarch or arrowroot starch
Add:
- increase the spice by adding more cayenne pepper or using a hot chili powder.
- FYI: ancho chili powder is a great option if you want a bit of spice without much intensity.
More Crunchy Snacks to Check Out
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Honey Roasted Peanuts recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Honey Roasted Peanuts Recipe
Lightly roasted peanuts tossed in a spiced-honey glaze, roasted again to caramelise then tossed in salty-brown sugar mixture to finish.
Ingredients
- 3 cups unsalted + unroasted peanuts (450g | 1 lb)
- 2 tbsp tapioca starch, potato starch or cornstarch
- ¼ cup honey (80g)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter or coconut oil (28g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cayenne (or more to your taste)
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar (25g)
- extra pinch of salt for finishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Spread unroasted peanuts across a large baking sheet in a single layer. Roast peanuts for about 12 minutes, stir the nuts about halfway through. After roasting, reduce the oven temp down to 300°F (150°C).
- In a medium or large sauce pan: add potato starch, honey, butter or oil, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and cayenne. Whisk together over a medium heat until fully melted and combined. Remove the pot from the heat.
- Stir the peanuts into the honey-glaze until the nuts are fully coated.
- Line the baking sheet with parchment paper then spread the peanuts and glaze over the top in an evenly layer.
- Return to the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes until the nuts are golden brown and the glaze is bubbly.
- Let the peanuts cool on the pan for a few minutes, then tip them into a large metal bowl to finish cooling. Use a metal spoon to mix and break up the nut-clusters and every so often. Frequent stirring also helps then nuts from getting to stuck on the bowl.
- Once cooled to room temperature, add brown sugar and a pinch of salt to the bowl and toss the nuts once more to coat.
- Enjoy as a crunchy snack or tossed into an ordinary salad for extra crunch.
Notes
- Store: Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container at room temp and eat within 1-2 weeks.
- Make it Vegan: Use pure maple syrup instead of honey and vegan block butter or coconut oil in place of the regular dairy butter:
- Make it LOW FODMAP: Use pure maple syrup in place of honey. Cayenne in this amount is considered low FODMAP, but if you are senstive to spice you may want to leave it out.
Leave a Review!