Name: 5 Minute Glazed Nuts
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 cup whole raw nuts; 1/4 cup sugar; 1 tablespoon butter

These Candied Nuts take just 5 minutes to make! Use any nuts you’d like — pecans, walnuts, cashews, you name it. Great for holiday gifting!

Photos updated 11/10/22 – same great recipe!

Caramelized nuts in a pan coated in butter and sugar

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Irresistible Candied Nuts Recipe

You may want to double this “recipe” (quotations because I can barely call it a recipe its so easy!) for these 5-Minute Caramelized Nuts because you won’t be able to resist their caramelized crunch as they beg to be eaten sprawled out unprotected on parchment paper as they cool.

But if they make it past the tantalizing cooling phase, then these caramelized nuts are the cherry on top of salads (like my Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts), vegetables (like my Dijon Maple Green Beans), popcorn, desserts, and even stir fries (like my Skinny Caramelized Cashew Chicken Stir Fry). They just make everything better. And better is always better.

I’ve tried many recipes to caramelize nuts and this is by far the easiest and most delicious, which really makes these nuts, well, perfect!

caramelized nuts for salads in a nonstick pan coating in butter and sugar

Candied Nuts Ingredients

This recipe can be used to make caramelized walnuts, caramelized pecans, caramelized cashews — whatever your heart desires! Here’s what you’ll need to make the candied nuts:

Nuts: Use any nuts you like!
Granulated sugar: I prefer using granulated sugar because it caramelizes so easily.
Cinnamon: Totally optional, but highly recommend.
Butter: Salted or unsalted will work. Just be sure to use real butter.

How to make Candied Pecans

Let’s take a closer look at how to make this recipe with step-by-step photos (full recipe in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post):

Step 1: Combine. Add the nuts, butter and sugar to a nonstick pan.

Showing how to make candied Nuts (caramelize nuts) by combining pecans, butter and sugar in a nonstick pan

Step 2: Cook. Stir constantly as the butter and sugar melt (so it doesn’t burn). At first the sugar with clump, and then turn loose and sandy and then start to cling to the nuts. Finally, the white granules will melt into a caramel-like coating. And you have Perfect Caramelized Nuts in 5 minutes. Wasn’t that easy?!

Showing how to make candied Nuts (caramelize nuts) in a pan with butter by mixing the butter, nuts and sugar in a pan.

Showing how to make caramelized (candied Nuts) in a pan with butter with mixing the butter and sugar in a pan.

Step 3: Cool. Lastly, transfer your nuts to parchment paper to cool and try to resist eating them all — or don’t because you can have another batch in just 5 minutes.

showing how to make caramelized nuts by cooling on parchment paper

Tips for making Glazed Nuts

Don’t chop the nuts first because they will burn before the sugar and butter can create the candied coating.
Be patient and keep cooking until all of the sugar has melted.
I’ve only made this recipe using granulated sugar, but I’ve seen other recipes call for brown sugar so you can likely use either.
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!

Caramelized Nuts Variations to Try

Add some heat: Add a pinch of cayenne pepper to add a kick of spicy flavor.
Add some salt: Sprinkle a little sea salt or kosher salt over the caramelized nuts to make them salty-sweet.
Add different spices: This recipe calls for cinnamon, but I’m sure you could add other warming spices (cardamom, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, etc.).

Storing Candied Walnuts

If stored at room temperature in an airtight container, these candied nuts should last up to 2 weeks.

Suggestions for serving Candied Nuts

Whether you made caramelized pecans, caramelized walnuts, or another kind of candied nut, there are so many ways you can enjoy them! Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Salads: Sprinkle these candied nuts atop salads like this Beet Salad, Apple Salad, Berry Fruit Salad, Cobb Salad, Cranberry Apple Brussels Sprouts Salad, or Roasted Butternut Squash Salad.
Vegetables: Enjoy atop sides like these Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes, Dijon Maple Green Beans, Balsamic Asparagus, or Glazed Carrots.
Desserts: These caramelized nuts are delicious atop Caramel Toffee Ice Cream Cake, Caramel Brown Sugar Pound Cake, Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie, Caramel Apple Poke Cake, and Apple Crisp.

More Easy Nut Recipes:

Triple Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Marcia’s Homemade Toffee
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Hummingbird Cake
German Chocolate Cupcakes
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
Turtle Brownies

up close of making caramelized nuts (candied nuts) showing the sugar coating

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Total Time: 5

Cook Time: 5

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Ingredients

1 cup whole raw nuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

Add nuts, sugar, and butter to a large nonstick skillet and heat over medium heat. Stir constantly with a rubber heat-proof spatula until the sugar melts into the butter and completely coats the nuts, turning the heat down as needed, approximately 5-7 minutes. The sugar will look grainy until the melting/liquifying process happens at the very end.
Immediately transfer nuts to parchment paper and separate using 2 forks OR let the nuts harden together and break them apart with your fingers once cooled. Before cooling, I like to sprinkle with cracked sea salt. The nuts and coating will harden in 5-7 minutes. Chop the nuts if desired.

Notes

*If using chopped nuts, don’t chop them too small or they will burn.

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97 Comments

Ann says

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Easy enough to make. Had to play with temp quite a bit. Took a long time for sugar to melt. Kinda blah. Next time Ill use brown sugar.

- Jen says
  
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  Hi Ann! I’m glad that it was easy to make. In addition to using brown sugar, you can add cinnamon or other flavors to the nuts after they are coated with the sugar and before they cool. Hope that helps!
  
Jasmin says

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The sugar did not melt easily. It’s past five minites, I had to remove the nuts to keep them from tasting bitter and tried to melt the sugar individually.

How high should the heat be?

- Jen says
  
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  Hi Jasmin! Thank you so much for your interest in this recipe! Start with medium heat and if it takes longer you can up the heat a bit. Just make sure not to get too hot so the sugar doesn’t burn. I hope that helps!
  
Lisa P says

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Hi. I along with quite a few other reviewers was unable to get the sugar to melt. Once the sugar clumped, it refused to melt and the nuts were burned during the process. Have you considered that some reviewers might have an electric cook top rather than gas? That and/or the coating on the nonstick pan could make a big difference as well.

- Jen says
  
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  Hi Lisa! Sorry to hear that you had trouble with melting the sugar and that the nuts burned. Adding more butter can help with melting the sugar if it seems to have stalled and clumped up. Normally, it will clump up right before it melts all the way. I hope that helps!
  
Heather (Hunicke) Duyck says

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Thank you for the recipe. I tripled the sugar and butter then let them cook for a couple minutes before adding one cup chopped pecans. I didn’t want to burn the nuts, but didn’t have whole nuts. The end result I poured over a large bowl of popcorn and stirred several minutes. While stirring I added salt and sweetened, dried cranberries

- Jen says
  
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  Hi Heather! That sounds delicious!

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Perfect 5 Minute Glazed Nuts