Finally the secret to perfectly salted DIY roasted almonds (not just salted on top) that are SO much better than anything you can buy! Make sure to head over to the Quick Healthy Recipes page for more great ideas.
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You may remember when I mentioned that I had discovered, by accident (because I’m cheap frugal smart with money), that DIY roasted almonds are WAY better than roasted-salted almonds from the store.
Way. Better.
As in, you may find you have trouble eating only a few. But that’s where your small bowls for portion control will come in to play – we don’t need to suffer through blah food in order to practice portion control, do we? This is just fair warning that you will not want to start eating these straight from the jar!
Now, before you go all “can’t we just buy anything for convenience anymore?” on me, let me explain that I don’t make these DIY roasted almonds because they are any more healthier or more ‘real food’ than basic roasted nuts you can buy (though if you were soaking and sprouting them, they might be, but most raw almonds seem to be already steam-pasturized…). So if you’re needing convenience, buy away.
No, I make these because they save me a couple dollars (and we all eat a lot of nuts around here, so it adds up), but more importantly they taste amazing.
Really, I had no idea there would be such a difference between home-roasted almonds and store-bought! And it’s not just me – everyone I serve them to agrees, too. I’ve had guests be so surprised that they “had” to go back for seconds – and thirds.
Make DIY Roasted Almonds
I’ve made a lot of flavored nuts (this spicy one is great) but I’ve not been happy with basic roasted nuts, mainly because the salt never wanted to stick to the nuts after cooking.
So when confronted with the price difference between roasted and raw almonds, I started researching and I learned from this recipe that the secret to a salted flavor all the way through roasted nuts is to dissolve salt in hot water first, and then coat the raw nuts with this mixture and cook them.
TIP: By the way, I LOVE using a little glass tablespoon measuring cup in recipes like this calling for more than one tablespoon – so easy!
Shop this recipe:
- Almonds
- Fine grain sea salt (or use a pink Himalayan or other pure, non-additive salt)
- Glass tablespoon measuring cup
- Olive oil
- Roasting pan
I adapted the recipe to cook fully in an oven to be easier and to be able to make a large batch. After baking, you coat the warm nuts with a bit of olive oil and a couple shakes of sea salt and let them cool. They soak up all that goodness and then look like the perfectly roasted almonds that they are.
I don’t often add any flavoring because I usually want a basic nut I can then use to top salads and in my favorite granola, as well as for snacking.
Any herb can be added, though, and garlic powder or seasoned salt would probably make them even harder to stop eating as a snack – if that’s possible – so flavor as you’d like.
This basic DIY roasted almonds recipe has changed our nut-eating life, though, so I just had to share with you how easy and amazing it is to roast your own almonds at home.
The one thing you have to be careful of is burning – it’s literally a minute between perfect and slightly burned nuts. And, yes, I’ve experienced it first hand – but you know what? Brian and I agree that even the slightly “too-browned” almonds are better than commercially roasted. Go figure.
I’d love to know what you think of these!
Perfectly Salted DIY Roasted Almonds - seriously the BEST!
Ingredients
- 4½ cups raw, whole almonds
- 1½ tablespoons HOT water
- 1½ teaspoons sea salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees and line a large baking sheet with silicone or parchment.* Place the raw almonds in a large metal or ceramic mixing bowl (we'll be adding the hot nuts back into it, so don't use plastic).
- Stir 1½ teaspoon of salt into the hot water until mostly dissolved (it hardly ever completely dissolves for me - it's okay if it doesn't), pour over the nuts in the bowl and mix until all are coated.
- Transfer to prepared baking sheet, spreading the nuts in a single layer.
- Bake for about 8 minutes, stir well and spread back into a single layer. Bake for 6-8 minutes more, depending on how your oven cooks (Ours are usually perfect at about 15 minutes total, but your oven may vary, so may take 5-10 minutes longer). To test doneness, the nuts should be nicely browned, inside and out (you can cut one open to see if it's browned inside). Keep an eye on them, this is when they can burn quickly - but you don't want them undercooked either or they won't be crisp (once you've made them, the timing is easier).
- When they are done baking, put the hot nuts back into the large bowl and pour the olive oil over them. Toss well until all the nuts are coated, shaking on sea salt as you go. You can taste one, but they're very hot, so be careful (I usually just like to see a bit of salt on the outsides and that seems to be enough with the original salt-water coating).
- Leave the nuts to cool in the bowl, or spread out on the pan again if you need them to cool more quickly. The nuts will soak up the oil as they cool.**
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Other healthy snack recipes you may like:
Healthy Maple Sweetened Chili Pecans
Healthy Homemade Chocolate Covered Pecans
Cashew, Cranberry and White Chocolate Granola Bites
Disclosure: affiliate links in this article will earn commission based on sales, but it doesn’t change your price. Click here to read my full disclaimer and advertising disclosure.
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Kelli says
These are delicious! Followed the recipe after soaking/dehydrating.
Sruthi says
Hi, Can we use the same recipe for cashew nuts, pistachio ? or any kind of nuts?
By the way, tried with almonds and they were perfect .. loved them.
Jami says
Yes, I have roasted pecans and hazelnuts this way – I assume other nuts would work as well!
Sruthi says
Thank You.. Will give them a try
Tom says
Perfect results! Better than store bough, no question about that. I was surprised how little salt was required to get a good result.
Jami says
Glad you liked these, Tom – thanks for the review!
Debra says
Omg I just made these and they are super awesome! Thanks for the instructions =)
Jami says
Glad to hear you like these – they’re almost surprisingly good, aren’t they?
Kika Lyman says
Very pleased. Smoked Salmon pâté and cheese platter as a first coarse. Wanted to jazz the presentation up a bit. The almonds were perfectly scattered around the cheese. After mixing in the olive oil and spreading back onto the sheet, I ground some rosemary (very fine.) Sprinkled the olive oil coated nuts with a light dusting of ground rosemary, onion power and fine sea salt. Perfection. Highly recommend.
Jami says
Oh that does sound amazing – I’ll have to try that Kika, thank you!
ed says
Great, made them twice so far. I don’t have much luck getting the sprinkled salt to stick, so I leave it off and just increase the hot water to 2 T and dissolved salt to 2 teaspoons. BTW, this recipe is also great with pecans! Perhaps too good!
Jami says
Thanks for the tip, Ed!
Nina says
Fantastic! Making all time. Thank you.