Candied Pecans – A Delicious Snack or Topping
These candied pecans are the best! Make them in the oven for even, consistent results and a hard candy coating.
Read More: How to Toast Almonds, How to Toast Pepitas, Citrus Salad with Pecans
Candied nuts make a delicious snack or topping for various recipes. Crunchy and flavorful, they’re also a great source of protein and full of vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants.
While nuts are a healthy snack as is, we’re sweeteners with this recipe. That’s not a bad thing, it just means you probably don’t want to eat the whole bowl of candied nuts yourself!
Give them away as gifts, or add them as ingredients in other recipes. Try the orange honey glazed pecans on top of a citrus salad.
Candied Pecans
The candy coating undergoes a transformation when in the oven, it turns from a dull, buttery coating to a shiny glass like coating when given enough time. It does get a little tricky towards the end when you want to ensure the coating sets and the nuts don’t burn. Here are a few photos of the process so you can see the stages the candied pecans will go through.
Stage 1
The pecans are coated in a opaque, buttery mixture.
Stage 2
Half way through the baking process the coating bubbles and becomes frothy, but is not yet clear.
Stage 3
During the final stage, the coating turns glassy. At this stage, I pull the tray out of the oven and see how the coating acts. I let a bit of it cool off the tray. If it becomes stringy and hardens, the nuts are finished. If it stays soft and gooey, it needs more time.
Finished
Let them cool. Trust me, you’ll burn your tongue if you try them right out of the oven. Once they’re cooled, the pecans will harden and can be handled without being overly sticky. Store candied nuts in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.
Recipe for Candied Pecans
Orange Honey Glazed Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- ½ Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate undiluted
- 1 Tbsp grated orange peel
- 2 cups pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C).
- In small saucepan over low heat stir together butter, honey, orange concentrate and orange peel. Boil on low heat for 1 minute.
- Add pecans, tossing to coat well.
- Spread pecans in single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure all sides are equally toasted. Watch closely, especially towards end of baking time to ensure pieces do not burn. When done, the coating should be glassy. Once cooled, the coating should be hard and pieces should not stick to each other. If still sticky, return to oven.
- Cool in pan. CAUTION, honey will be extremely hot!
- Cool completely and store in airtight container for 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
How to Use Candied Pecans
Use candied nuts for special treats just as is. My son goes crazy for these!
Or use them to add special touches to salads, power bowls or other recipes where a sweet crunch is needed.
I also like to add toasted almond slices, sunflower seeds or pepitas to salads. Here are tips for toasting sliced almonds and pepitas.
Let me know if you try these candied pecans. Will you snack on them straight up or use them in a tasty recipe?
Sign up to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You’ll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this. Getty is a Professional Home Economist, speaker and writer putting good food on tables and agendas. She is the author of Manitoba’s best-selling Prairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener.
