These chili spiced mixed nuts are a perfect blend of spicy, smoky, and sweet.
These chili spiced mixed nuts are addictive. Once you start snacking on them you keep going back to the jar. The comment from my taster was “you didn't make enough.” This recipe highlights one of my favorite spices — smoked paprika. Blended with cumin and cayenne pepper, the smoked paprika gives the rich and spicy traditional chili flavor to these crispy, crunchy nuts. They are hard to resist.
The recipe is for three cups of nuts. I used equal parts of walnuts, pecans and almonds (mostly because that's what I had in the pantry). The walnuts and pecans work really well because they have lots of nooks and crannies to hold the honey and spices. I think cashews could easily substitute for the almonds and would be great with the chili spices. And I would recommend doubling the recipe. These chili spiced mixed nuts disappear quickly.
Chili Spiced Mixed Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper depending on how hot you like it
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups mixed nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Combine all ingredients except nuts in a large bowl and stir until well mixed. Add nuts and toss until well combined.
- Pour onto rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake 15 - 20 minutes until fragrant and just lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.
Great idea to use coconut oil here – I have two large jars of the Ziggy Marley Organic brand and need to do something with those. this would be perfect!
Is there an ingredient missing ? on the line that starts with “, melted”?
Would love to make these.
Thanks for the comment. Melted refers to the coconut oil on the first line. (I’m not sure why this is showing up on a different line on some browsers – I am working on fixing this.) Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Have you made this without the honey? Does it serve a purpose in make the seasoning stick or just give it a little sweetness?
The honey adds a little sweetness to balance the spice. Although I haven’t tried this recipe without honey, I think it would probably work without it if you’re trying to avoid sweeteners.
Hi, if I were to make these nuts as a xmas gift and placed in jars, how long would you suggest they would last for?
thanks
The best thing to do once those nuts are in the jars is to seal them. We own a commercial vacuum sealer because when I buy bags of nuts, they are immediately put into glass jars and vacuum sealed because in the past, I “forgot” about them and they do go rancid. I have successfully done this for a long time and they keep much much longer and retain their quality. If you have something like a food saver that could possibly work. I used to own several but after seeing how bags and/or jar lose their seal after a time I looked at commercial machines. Remember, you really should be making these close to the time you are giving them as presents.
Could these be made in large batches in a roasting pan, like nuts and bolts? Turning the heat down and stirring every so often?
Tracy, I haven’t tested it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!