This sweet and salty candied pecans recipe takes only 20 minutes to make! Crunchy, buttery cinnamon candied nuts are the perfect holiday treat, topping, or garnish.
Why I Love This Easy Candied Pecans Recipe
This candied pecans recipe is SO easy and it makes the best cinnamon candied pecans! The praline is packed with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, coating the crispy pecans with delicious crackle and flavor. Candy pecans are both sweet and salty, and they make the perfect topping, garnish, or snack. Here’s why you’ll always find these candy nuts in my kitchen, especially during the holidays:
- Easy to make. This is such a simple and straightforward recipe. You only need a handful of pantry staples, and the entire recipe takes just 20 minutes to make.
- Better than store-bought. I love candied nuts, and there are tons of good options if you want to buy them at the store. But I’ve found that homemade candy pecans are so much better than anything you can buy. The butter and caramel flavors are stronger, the crispy texture is fresher, and the sugar and salt are much more balanced.
- Cheaper. Not only do homemade candied pecans taste better than what you’d buy at the store, but they’re also less pricey, in my experience. Candied nuts can be expensive, but this recipe is very affordable, made with household ingredients.
- Put them on everything. Candied pecans are the ultimate garnish, add-in, or topping for everything from ice cream and brownies to classic pecan pie. They’re also a perfect sweet and salty snack all on their own.
I love snacking on these by the handful and adding them to my favorite desserts, like these pecan pie bars and this English Toffee pecan pie cheesecake!
What You’ll Need
Here are some notes on the ingredients that you’ll need for this candied pecans recipe. Make sure to check out the recipe card at the end of the post for a printable list with the full amounts and details.
- Salted butter – If you only have unsalted butter, just add a little extra salt to the recipe.
- Pecans – I recommend buying raw, unseasoned pecans.
- Brown sugar – I prefer this recipe with light brown sugar, but you can use regular brown sugar or even granulated sugar.
- Cinnamon – Or another cozy spice, like nutmeg, cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice.
- Kosher salt – You can also use sea salt.
- Vanilla extract – Make sure to use 100% pure extract.
How to Make Candied Pecans
These crunchy and buttery candy pecans couldn’t be easier to make. Follow an overview of the steps here, and scroll down to the recipe card for the printable directions.
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toast the nuts. Before you candy them, lightly toast the pecans in a saucepan with melted butter.
- Make the caramel. Next, stir in the brown sugar and stir while it melts. Add cinnamon, salt, and a splash of water. Keep stirring as the caramel sauce comes together and thickens, then stir in the vanilla.
- Prep for the oven. Pour the caramel pecan mixture out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and spread the nuts into an even layer.
- Bake. Place the candied pecans into a 350ºF oven for 5-7 minutes, until they’re crisp and fragrant. Afterward, let the pecans cool to room temperature, and serve!
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Don’t overcook. A common mistake to make when cooking candied pecans is to cook them for too long. The nuts won’t get super crunchy until they’ve cooled, so don’t wait for them to turn into brittle in the oven. If you do that, they’ll burn and become bitter. Instead, remove the nuts once they’re lightly crispy. By the time they’re done cooling, they’ll be perfectly crispy and crunchy.
- Add other flavors. You can play around with this recipe to add more flavors to the candy pecans if you want. If you’re using the nuts on top of savory foods, you can add a little smoked paprika or chili powder to the caramel. If you’re putting the nuts on top of a fall dessert, you can add some pumpkin pie spice.
- Adjust the salt. Kosher salt is not as dense as table salt, so if you use table salt in this recipe you’ll need to adjust the sodium level. This recipe calls for a teaspoon of kosher salt, but if you’re using table salt you should only use ¾ teaspoon.
- Use other nuts. This recipe works with any kind of nuts, and you can even mix the type of nuts you use. So if you don’t like pecans or you just don’t have any in your pantry, you can use whatever nuts you want.
Ways to Use Candied Pecans
Candied pecans are delicious to eat by the handful, and they make an easy topping or garnish. I love adding them to charcuterie boards and grazing tables, or gifting them during the holidays. Here are some ideas:
- Garnish. Use candied pecans as a garnish for fall desserts like this pumpkin cinnamon roll cake or carrot cake.
- Topping. These spiced candied pecans make a great topping for savory recipes like salads and slaws, like a crunchy autumn chicken salad or this Asian-inspired rainbow crunch salad. Or, you can stick with dessert and sprinkle them over ice cream!
- Mix-in. Substitute plain pecans with candied pecans in just about any dessert! I like chopping these up to add to cookie dough recipes, like my butter pecan cookies and these pecan praline cookies. They’re also delicious in pecan brownies and magic bars.
How to Store Them
- At room temperature. Store these cinnamon candied pecans in an airtight container. They’ll last at room temperature for at least a week. You can also stash them in jars for easy, last-minute holiday gifts!
- Freeze. If you need to store candied nuts for more than a week, just put the pecans in an airtight container and store them in the freezer. They’ll last in the freezer for up to 6 months, and you can thaw them in the fridge anytime you need them.
More Pecan Recipes to Try
How to Make Candied Pecans
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy candied pecans recipe is crunchy and buttery, packed with brown sugar and spice. Enjoy these cinnamon candied pecans as a snack, salad topper, or garnish for your favorite desserts!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 3 cups pecan halves
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add in the pecans and stir continuously for 3 minutes, until the pecans are lightly toasted.
- Add in the brown sugar, and stir for an additional 2 minutes, until the sugar is melted.
- Stir in the cinnamon and salt, then add the water.
- Cook, while stirring continuously, until the water is evaporated, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla and stir until combined.
- Remove the nuts from the heat and spread them evenly on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 5-7 minutes, until the candied pecans are fragrant and lightly crisp.
- Remove the nuts from oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Notes
- Store candied pecans in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week, or in the freezer for 6 months.
- You can use other types of nuts if you prefer, or use a mixture of different nuts.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 6.9 g
- Sodium: 17.1 mg
- Fat: 19.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.5 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 5.1 mg
Really tasty but soft and not crisp at all. 🙁
I have made 3 batches of these to use in small Christmas packages for my co-workers. All 3 turned out great just as the recipe read! My husband loved th too! I will be making these again!
Would these be good to make then put in my Pecan pie that I’m making?
Pecan Pie is super sweet as it is, I don’t think you need to take this extra step!
I tried another recipe (which was a disaster) before finding this gem. At first I thought they looked gooey and cooked them longer than the 7 minutes, but those were overdone. Just cook them in a pre-heated oven for 7 minutes and they turn out perfect every time. They were such a hit, that I have been making them twice a week. Need to make a bigger batch next time 🙂
I just finished making the recipe and followed it exactly other than cutting a little back on the salt that someone posted and it really need what the recipe said. I like a hard crunch nut. These came out on the soft side. I had them in the oven for 7 minutes ,but I think even if I left them longer they wouldn’t be the candid crunch I enjoy. Taste was good but no crunch.
I finally found the Candied Pecan recipe I’d been looking for! After making several disappointing batches using other recipes that started with coating your pecans in whipped egg whites I knew there had to be a recipe floating around that would produce the results I was seeking and this one did exactly that. Super easy-to-follow instructions with simple ingredients leading to a buttery, deliciously crisp, lightly coated, perfectly balanced sweet-n-salty pecan that I can actually still taste rather than a hard pecan-shaped ball of sugar. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Way too salty and moist. waste of a lot of pecans
Sorry you found these too salty! 1 teaspoon of salt for 3 cups of nuts isn’t a lot, but certainly you can cut it back if you’re sensitive. Also if you found the nuts not crispy enough, simply bake them a little longer 🙂
Perfect! I had my heat set on the low side of medium, so it took an extra minute or two for the brown sugar to melt. The patience paid off! These are fantastic. Perfectly crunchy. I put them in the oven for five minutes, stirred them around on the pan and popped them back in for the additional two minutes. They are not overly sweet, but I like it that way! This would definitely be fantastic with a pinch of cayenne in the salt/cinnamon mix
I’m sure this recipe would have turned out fine if I had not used already toasted pecans. Because they were already toasted I skipped the toasting in butter stage. I also think I may have burned the brown sugar a little. Not sure because the pan is black. I too used the Truvia Brown Sugar blend. I toasted them for 6 mins but they were very gooey. So I put them back in the oven for another 5 mins. They got better but a little overdone. Not burned but almost. I feel this is a good recipe but the problem was not using raw pecans. I also wonder if just putting all the ingredients together and bringing it to a boil and then adding the pecans would work better. I know someone said a hard crack boil but I think that might be too much. I also have to watch my salt intake so I just used the salted butter but didn’t add any additional salt. Maybe that was a problem as well.
Delicious recipe but I think it could stand a bit more sugar. Increasing it to 2/3 cup instead of the recipe’s 1/2 cup should help. And I used the Splenda Brown sugar blend because my husband is diabetic. I have to use half of the recommended sugar when using the Splenda brown sugar. But I didn’t have any trouble following the recipe and the results were a sheet of beautiful coated pecans. Going to play around with a cinnamon and cayenne combo next time as well. Excited about Christmas gifts this year!