Oil Free Spiced Nuts! Looking for a fun and flavorful homemade Christmas food gift that will impress your friends and family? These easy and healthy spiced nuts are sure to do the trick!

Boasting sweet and spicy flavors with a hint of Southwestern flair, these Oil Free Spiced Nuts are crunchy, delicious goodness. You won’t believe how fast they disappear. These perfectly seasoned spiced nuts are easy and healthy. A perfect appetizer for your next holiday appetizer or charcuterie board.

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

Spiced nuts are our family’s jam! We absolutely LOVE spiced nuts. We gave away jars of spiced nuts at our couple’s bridal shower. That is how much we love them.

A lot of spiced nuts are made with oil and butter, we’re happy to present to you spiced nuts made without oil and are completely dairy free. You’ll love this Whole Food Plant Based version!

We give you step-by-step instructions on how to get perfectly spiced nuts! You gotta give this one a try!

Tips for Success:

• Flavor Profile:  These spiced nuts are deliciously crunchy with a sweet and spicy Southwestern flair.
• Nuts and Seeds:  You can use whatever type of nuts you wish for this recipe.  Just make sure you use 5 ¼ cups total. If you wish to use all of one type of nut that is your favorite that works well too.
• Important – Examining the Nuts/Seeds:  It is important to understand if the nuts (or seeds) you are using have already been roasted or not.  If you roast nuts that have already been roasted, you could potentially end up with bitter nuts.  For example, in our mix, we had an assortment.  The cashews, walnuts, pecans, and pumpkin seeds were raw, but the pistachios and almonds were already roasted.  We did not roast the pistachios or almonds; those went straight to a bowl.  The others were identified as unroasted, so they all went onto the large baking sheet (except the pumpkin seeds which went on half-way through to prevent overbrowning).
• Spiciness:  The heat comes from the chipotle spice (powder).  Even though we only use a pinch of chili powder, it’s key to use a regular chili powder and not a hot one.  If  you are concerned about heat, start on the lower end of chipotle spice, you can always add a little more at the end.  We loved the full amount of chipotle spice (both in the maple syrup mix) and the dry topping.  It added tons of flavor. It plays so well with the maple syrup. We do not suggest leaving it out.  If you are really concerned about the end product, consider making 1/4 to 1/2 of the recipe as a test run before committing to using 5 1/4 cups of nuts, which can be expensive.
• Dry Topping:  We use a dry topping mixture to create dimension and to avoid sticky nuts and seeds.  This dry topping adds a lot of flavors.  This is an important step, do not forget to do this.  Leaving the skillet on the stove when adding the Dry Topping Mix allows the residual heat from the skillet to heat up the Dry Topping Ingredients to release their fragrance and unlocks additional flavor.  Continue to stir the nuts during this process to prevent the nuts from burning from the residual heat.
• Make Ahead: These nuts are a delicious addition to any party or charcuterie board.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Store in a tightly covered container for up to 3 weeks.

This nuts can be frozen, they will lose a tiny bit of crunch after being frozen.

Pantry Products Used:

• Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

Kitchen Products Used:

• 14 x 20 baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Large skillet

If you try sweet and spicy nuts, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

Oil Free Spiced Nuts

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 10 Minutes
• Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes
• Total Time: 30 Minutes
• Yield: 5.25 Cups 1x
• Category: Appetizers
• Method: Oven, Stovetop
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Boasting sweet and spicy flavors with a hint of Southwestern flair, these Oil Free Spiced Nuts are crunchy, delicious goodness.

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Ingredients

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Nut/Seed Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole cashews *
• 1 cup pecan halves *
• 1 cup walnuts halves *
• 1 cup whole almonds *
• ¾ cup shelled pistachios *
• ½ cup shelled pumpkin seeds (raw pepitas) *

Coating Ingredients:

• ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• Pinch chili powder
• Pinch cumin
• Pinch cayenne pepper

Dry Topping Ingredients:

• ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (+/-) *
• ½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
3. Review the type of nuts you have for this recipe. If the nut indicates “roasted”, then measure out the amount indicated in the recipe and place in a bowl, set aside, (these nuts will not go into the oven).  If the nut indicates raw or unroasted, then measure out the amount indicated in the recipe and dump onto the parchment lined baking sheet.  Do not place the pumpkin seeds (raw pepitas) on the parchment paper.
4. Place the nuts in the oven to roast for 9 minutes.
5. While the nuts are roasting, place all the Coating Ingredients into a small bowl, whisk well, set aside.
6. While the nuts are roasting, place all the Dry Topping Ingredients into a small bowl, whisk well, set aside.
7. After 9 minutes, remove the nuts from the oven, flip them around and place the pumpkin seeds onto the baking sheet at this time. Return to the oven to roast for another 9 to 10 minutes.  Watch them very carefully near the end to prevent burning.
8. In the meantime, while the nuts in the oven (after flipping) with only have a few minutes left, place a large skillet on the stove, place any nuts/seeds from the bowl that were previously identified as already roasted in Step 3 into the large skillet with the heat on low. Stir continuously to prevent burning.
9. After the 2^nd roasting, when the nuts/seeds come out of the oven, carefully dump the hot nuts/seeds into the skillet with the other nuts, stir. Increase the heat.  Add the Coating Mixture to the skillet and stir constantly to coat all the nuts with the maple syrup mixture. Stir continuously until the coating has gotten very sticky and sticks to the nuts, about 3 to 4 minutes.  You will note that the syrup (liquid) is no longer on the bottom of the skillet (only slight remnants coating the bottom).
10. Turn off the heat from the stove but leave the skillet on the burner. Then sprinkle the Dry Topping Mix all over the nuts and stir constantly for 2 minutes.
11. Then remove the skillet from the burner and dump the nuts onto the large baking sheet to cool (parchment paper removed).
12. Allow to cool completely, then store in an air-tight container.

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Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used. 

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Servings:  Makes 5 ¼ cups

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