The first street food I ever tried when I moved to New York City was the candied spiced nuts. My roommate at the time, Matt, was giving me a tour of the city and we passed by one of the nut carts. He said to the guy working there, “She’s never had street food before!” and the guy gave me a few free spiced nuts to try. Ever since, I always love catching a whiff of those fragrant, roasting treats as I’m walking down the street.
Spiced nuts are an awesome holiday party snack, and just great to have around in general. I decided to try and create a vegan version of spiced nuts (not made with butter or egg whites) that also didn’t use refined white sugar. Well, such a thing does exist…and I’m warning you…these little nutties are SERIOUSLY ADDICTING!
Note…Use less or no cayenne/chili powder if you don’t like a spicy kick! You can also add/remove any spices you want, if you want to mix it up!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups raw pecans
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp chipotle or chili powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Pre-heat oven to 350.
Mix all spices together with maple syrup in a bowl.
Add pecans to the bowl and coat well.
Pour pecans on a double layer of tin foil on a baking sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring the pecans every 5 minutes. After 15 mins, try a pecan (let it cool for a minute first!) and see if it’s crunchy and roasted. If not, cook another 5 mins.
As soon as they’re done, remove from oven and spoon nuts into a bowl. If you leave them on the foil too long, they will stick to the foil. Allow the nuts to cool. It’s ok if some of them stick together, you can break them apart once they’re cooled!
Once they are cooled off (I even threw mine in the fridge to cool them quicker) – they aren’t sticky. They’re perfect.
Happy Holiday Snacking!
K-Ray says
Dude, I am so excited to make these!! Yay!!
Rosa Conti says
Am going to try this Jen – sounds yummy! Happy holidays, love! ox
Lisa says
These look delicious! Do they get crunchy when they cool? Or are they slightly soft or sticky?
jenny sansouci says
crunchy!
Kris says
Was looking for a vegan spiced pecan recipe that I could make that my dtr in law could eat. Found this one and tried it. All I can say is these are “to die for”. Unlike other recipes these have a variety of spices that really add to the flavor and doesn’t take away from the pecan itself. I have made three batches so far. I found they needed to bake more on the 20 minute side rather than 15 minutes in order to stay crunchy.