Cinnamon Sugar Candied Cashews — Make the fancy store-bought kind at home! Salty-and-sweet, ready in 30 minutes, and so good!
Easiest Candied Cashews Recipe
You’ll never need to buy those extremely over-priced fancy candied cashews again. The kind that are so good you can’t stop eating them. Like, $20 dollars worth in 20 minutes.
Never again. You can make your own. This is best and easiest recipe for homemade candied nuts I’ve tried.
The recipe is adapted from my Classic Candied Nuts recipe and I made it even easier.
Everything is mixed in one bowl and they’re ready in 30 minutes. Can’t beat it.
They’re salty-and-sweet with just the right amount of cinnamon to add great depth of flavor. Add a pinch of cayenne for extra shazaam.
Although almonds seem to be a cult favorite, I’ve never been as big of an almond fan as either cashews or peanuts. I could eat honey-roasted peanuts all day long, and the same goes for these candied cashews.
Cashews are softer and more buttery than almonds, which I prefer. I use them in vegan desserts as a butter replacer.
The cashews have the perfect amount of satisfying crunch, thanks to the cinnamon sugar coating. It’s crunchy and really bakes in rather than just falling off, which is all too common with homemade candied nuts.
The secret? An egg white. It serves to coat the nuts before they’re tossed with cinnamon and sugar so it adheres. And while baking, the egg white binds and solidifies the coating onto the nuts.
Between the salty-and-sweet factor along with the crunch factor, I went to town on the cashews immediately as they came out of the oven. The scent in your house while they bake is just heavenly.
They make excellent easy, inexpensive, and impromptu gifts, but because they’re so addictively good you may not have any left over to give.
What’s in the Candied Cashews?
For this easy candied cashews recipe, you’ll need:
- Egg white
- Water
- Cashews
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Kosher salt
- Cayenne pepper (optional)
How to Candy Nuts
First, you’ll want to whisk the egg white and water until frothy. This will take about 2 minutes.
Then, stir in the nuts and the remaining ingredients. Transfer the nuts to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, making sure they’re in an even layer.
Bake the cashews for about 30 minutes. The coating will appear bubbly and soupy and wet in the center of tray even when nuts are ready to be pulled from oven.
It will seem like nuts should bake longer so the coating dries out more, but it firms up dramatically as nuts cool.
Can I Use Another Type of Nut?
Yes! The recipe works with almonds, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts, and peanuts, although you may need to adjust the baking time slightly.
Can the Egg White Be Substituted?
No, not to my knowledge. The egg white helps bind the sugars and spices to the cashews.
How Long Do Candied Nuts Last?
If stored in an airtight container (like a jar) at room temperature, the candied cashews will last up to 1 month.
Tips for Making Candied Nuts
I used whole roasted, lightly salted cashews from Trader Joe’s. Their nuts are the best value for me. I don’t have room to store Costco-sized quantities of things. I prefer using already roasted rather than raw nuts because they have more flavor.
The cashews firm up and get crunchier as they cool so waiting an hour — or even overnight — is best. But I couldn’t.
I highly recommend adding a pinch of cayenne to the spice mixture for a salty-sweet treat with a kick of spice at the end. Delicious!
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Cinnamon Sugar Candied Cashews
Ingredients
- 1 egg white, whisked to very frothy
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3 cups cashews, I used 1 pound bag of roasted, lightly salted; substitute with almonds, pecans, walnuts, peanuts or a combo
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon, or to taste (I used 2 heaping teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, or to taste (salt will vary based on preference and if you’re using salted or unsalted cashews)
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional and to taste (reduce to 1/4 teaspoon for milder heat)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Don’t skip lining your baking sheet; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the egg white, water and whisk vigorously until very frothy, foamy, and bubbly, about 2 minutes by hand.
- Add the nuts and stir to coat.
- Add the sugars, cinnamon, salt, and optional cayenne, and stir to coat evenly.
- Turn nuts out onto to prepared baking sheet, spreading them in an even flat layer.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (I baked 28 minutes); don’t overbake or nuts can burn. Coating will appear bubbly, quite soupy and wet in the center of tray even when nuts are ready to be pulled from oven. It will seem like nuts should bake longer so the coating dries out more, but it firms up dramatically as nuts cool. As always, use your judgment and let your nose and eyes be your guide to doneness.
- Allow nuts to cool on baking tray for at least 30 minutes. Ideally, leave nuts on baking tray and exposed to air to cool overnight; this helps them get extra crispy and crunchy.
- When nuts are cool enough to handle, break apart large clusters.
- Transfer nuts to airtight containers or jars.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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As if cashews weren’t addictive enough already…these look deadly! Can’t wait to up the ante with these for my next nut binge!
I know they’re so easy to go crazy on :)
20 dollars in 20 minutes – how did you know that was me? Like, I really cannot stop eating good candied nuts. I have to limit how many batches I make lol! I’ve never tried candied cashews (I got them for some dairy subs) but since they are so buttery and rich, I bet they would taste amazing covered in this spice blend!
They are so buttery and rich, exactly! And glad you can understand the $20/20min situation too :)
Thanks so much, these would make great gifts but I don’t think I could part with any of them! :)
Thanks, Amanda, and I’d be happy to rehome some to you so I don’t eat them all!
I would eat these all in like one minute.
On the heels of my nut post – yes to the roasted and not raw, to cashews being FAR superior to almonds, and to not buying in bulk!
The funny thing is that I had this post shot and written for like 4 weeks. I needed something fast before my trip as a just in case post. Never used it there so here it is. So when I read your post the other day, I knew I had this baby lingering all along. Great minds :) This coating would be amazing on pistachios too. Although I need to COOL it :)
Theses candied cashews look delish! I actually just made some cinnamon sugar almonds, but haven’t tried that with cashews yet, so this is next on my list!
Great minds think alike since you just made some cinn sugar nuts!
haha, put DOWN the giant box of expensive nuts at Costco, and make these instead!! I’m on it :)
Girl I know. Not to mention, when you have THAT many in the house, it’s just, well….too dangerous :)
My kids adore cashews. I bet they’d go ‘nuts’over these. :)
Have a beautiful Monday Averie!
LOL and I bet they would!
I looove cashews, and I know I’d love them even more when they’re coated with cinnamon sugar goodness!
I love candied nuts! Perfect for snacking on during ball games in the summer. At least that’s one of my favorite times to take them along! Plus cashews are definitely one of my favorite nuts – so much flavor! Pinning :)
Thanks for pinning and snacking on nuts during games or DVR’ed TV shows is like my fave thing ever :)
Oh I LOVE candied nuts! I never make them as often as I really should—I love that you chose to use cashews for your candied nuts. What a fun twist! I like cashews better than almonds too. ;) I can’t believe how amazing your photos look when you’re working with such a hard subject! You nailed it. :) pinned.
Thank you for saying that about the images. I was telling someone else small brown objects with a weirdly-textured coating, not exactly super camera-friendly so thanks for the compliments & pin!
Those look so good! I love candies nuts, especially the cashew ones!
Ha, no more begging for free samples of roasted candied nuts at the fair this year.
Will totally make these. Why didn’t I think do make something like this before? I don’t know….that’s why I read food blogs I guess =)
You’re so sweet :) And I know what you mean about the free samples..ha! Totally have done that!
I made some honey mustard roasted cashews a couple months ago and they were absolutely addicting! I know these would be too!!!
Honey mustard roasted cashews sound out of this world good! Honey mustard is one of my fave things! I’ve been scared to use honey for fear it would burn but guess I need to experiment!
Here’s the link to my recipe! I know you’d love them! https://www.littlekitchie.com/2014/03/spicy-honey-mustard-cashews.html
I can almost smell these…and festival season is coming so they really pop up everywhere. I totally agree about using the egg white so spices adhere. I’ve made my share of seasoned nuts only to have the seasonings end up in the bottom of the bowl! I’ve thought about trying this for more of a savory spice mix too.
You could totally go more savory with these but you know me, I will always take my sweets, first :) And that frustrating feeling of the coating all falling off, gah. I know it. But not with this method!
Oh man, I am obsessed with candied nuts! Especially those ah-may-zing ones that come on top of restaurant salads! But now I can totally eat them at home by the mouthful! Pinned!
They’re exactly like those kind. That they give you like 5 and you cherish them like gold :) Thanks for pinning!
I love sugar nuts too! Unfortunately I can not make them too often as I always eat half the batch before they are completely cool!
Great pictures, I can almost taste the spice and crunch from Australia.
Thanks for saying you like the pics! It is nearly impossible to take pics of little nuts with coating on them that’s not exactly pretty and have the pics turn out at all as good as what the food TASTES like :) So thank you!