Crispy Candied Walnuts

5 from 21 votes

A simple and easy recipe for crispy candied Chinese walnuts with a special method to remove the bitterness from it! Made with just 3 ingredients and ready from start to finish in 25 minutes!

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time25

Course: Appetizer, Snacks

Cuisine: American, Chinese

Servings: cups

Calories: 484kcal

Author: Joyce Lee

Ingredients

2 cups walnuts
3 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons oil (or butter)
¼ teaspoon salt (optional, if you like sweet and savory flavors)

Instructions

Put a pot of water over the stove on medium high heat
When the water starts to boil, add in 2 cups walnuts and boil them for 4-5 minutes
Drain the water from the pot into a strainer and transfer the walnuts to a small bowl
While the walnuts are still hot, sprinkle 3 ½ tablespoons sugar over the walnuts and mix well.
The residual heat from the walnuts will melt the sugar. If you are using a bit of salt, add ¼ teaspoon salt during this step.
Once the sugar has dissolved and everything is well mixed, add in 1 ½ tablespoons oil and mix well.

Oven Roasting Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C)
Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet or pan and pour the walnuts onto it and spread it out into a single layer.
Once the oven has reached 350F, put the tray in the oven and roast it for 10 minutes
Once 10 minutes is up, remove the cookie sheet from the oven and gently flip the walnuts and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Make sure it is still in a single layer so the walnuts don't stick together
Remove the tray from the oven.
If the nuts don't look brown and roasted enough, add it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
If it still isn't brown enough, bake it for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Let the walnuts cool for at least 30-40 minutes before storing or eating it.

Stove Top Instructions

Using a frying pan, set the stove to low heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of oil into it.
Add in the walnuts and toast it for 10-15 minutes.
Make sure you keep moving the walnuts by mixing it so they don't burn. Keep them on a single layer.
If the walnuts don't look toasted enough, continue to toast it for another 2-3 minutes.
Once the walnuts are done, pour them out onto a plate or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Spread them out into a single layer and let it cool for at least 30-40 before storing them or eating it.

Notes

Pros and Cons of Oven-Roasting: You can make bigger batches, you do not need to watch the stovetop, easier to clean up (throw out parchment paper), and the heat and dry air roast the walnuts more evenly. No major con, except it takes a bit longer.
Pros and Cons of Stovetop: Slightly quicker cooking time by about 10 minutes, but you have to make it smaller batches and it cooks more un-evenly.
I have tested this with coarse raw sugar, demerara sugar, granulated white sugar, and powdered sugar and they all work well for this recipe.
I personally like to use oil for this recipe over butter but I do occasionally use butter for this and it works just as well. For the oils, I like to stick to the more common oils like canola and corn oils, but avocado oil is my favorite oil to use because of it's high smoking point, and it's the healthiest oil of the other 2.
Salt is completely optional for the recipe and I only recommend adding it if you like sweet and savory flavored nuts.
Store them in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 2 weeks.
Alternatively, if you want to make it exactly like how they do at the restaurants, you can deep fry it in oil for 3-5 minutes on low heat, just make sure the sugar gets fully dissolved with the hot walnuts right after you strained them from the boiling water, you want to create a light syrupy coating on all the walnuts. You can also skip adding the oil with the sugar since you will be deep frying it in oil.

Nutrition