Finally the secret to perfectly salted DIY roasted almonds (not just salted on top) that are SO much better than anything you can buy!
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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.
I adapted the recipe to cook fully in an oven to be easier and to be able to make a large batch.
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!
Ingredients
- Almonds
- Fine grain sea salt (or use a pink Himalayan or other pure, non-additive salt)
- Olive oil
Equipment Needed:
- Roasting pan
- Glass tablespoon measuring cup
- Silicone baking mat or parchment paper
- Large metal or wooden spoon
Directions
Dissolve salt in water as much as possible and then pour onto raw nuts, stirring thoroughly. Spread onto a lined baking sheet.
Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, stirring at the halfway mark.
After baking, 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.
To flavor or not?
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
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Sue says
Delicious! I will be using this regularly. I can imagine gift boxes for holidays.
Jami says
Yes!
Melody says
Thank you for this! I will try it.
What is the purpose of the oil? Does it make your hands greasy when you eat them?
Jami says
No, the oil dries up almost completely but helps the almonds not have that dry roasted feel. Some people leave it out and like the dry roasted thing – I’d suggest trying both and seeing what you like best!
Sonika Agrawal says
Can we use vegetable oil instead of olive oil
Or can we just skip that step
Jami says
Yes, you can use any oil you want. You can skip it – they will be more like dry roasted nuts. I’d suggest trying it both ways and seeing what you like best!
Charlotte says
Perfectly roasted. Only thing I changed was instead of stirring at the halfway point, I turned the oven onto a low broil for 6 minutes. Stirring will inevitably leave some almonds on the original side and burn it dry out. I think at the adding oil stage I’ll add a touch of honey next time too.
Jami says
Great, Charlotte – thanks for the review!
Justine Light says
OMGOSH. THESE are AMAZING!!!! I usually buy the organic Whole Foods roasted salted almonds, but they use oils that aren’t good for you. I just made these with Himalayan salt and avocado oil – SO SO SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! I can’t stop snacking on them. Perfect snack for 38 week pregnant mommy with gestational diabetes also 🙂 Husband and children are enjoying, too! THANK YOU for sharing such a delicious recipe!
Jami says
Wonderful, Justine – so glad to hear that! Wishing you well 🙂
Sheila says
How long can you store these?.
I have made theses & agree they are delicious but it’s a lot of nuts for 2 people even when I half the recipe
Jami says
They live on the counter in a glass jar with a bail latch for as long as we eat them, which has been up to a month for us.
Martin Whyle says
Thanks for your blow by blow process, Jami,
I have been baking dry first – yes getting the right amount of time is crucial.
I then pour them into a bowl and add a liberal dash of a mixture of good quality Soy Sauce (like Shoyu or Tamari) + toasted Sesame Oil + grated fresh Ginger. Stir well, and put them on bench or in cooling oven to dry. Load in storage jar.
For flavour, I dissolve Wasabi in the liquid first, to give a hot taste.
Jami says
What a fun flavor combo, Martin!
C ser says
Good info.
Suzie says
Back to make more! I wasn’t a fan of the olive oil so I think I’m going to skip it this time. Otherwise perfection!!!
Jami says
Glad you like it – and that’s why it’s good to DIY food, to tailor it to our own tastes. 🙂
Elie Q says
This is really the best we’ve tried. We’ve made it several times already! I had to do some work since I am not making 4.5 cups of almonds at a time. I’m not sure if this is helpful, but it comes up to 1 cup of almonds to 1 teaspoon of hot water, and 3/8 teaspoon of salt. I’ve also adapted it to cook in the air fryer, which takes a lot less time. It’s like an instant snack for us! Thanks again.
Jami says
Thanks for your reduced amounts, Elie – that may be helpful for some. And I love the air fryer tip – I’ll have to try that (though I always do make the larger amount, lol). Appreciate the review!
TerryF says
I have used this recipe many times – almonds always turn out great!
Jami says
Wonderful – thank you so much for the review!
Andrea says
I want to make a healthy snack and roast salt and vinegar almonds at home. I have raw almonds and want to get that nice saltiness and crunch plus the vinegar taste. Any advice on how to do it? My friend tried it by soaking her raw almonds in vinegar and even though the taste was great, the texture was not crunchy and I’m very interested in having delicious, crunchy, roasted S&V almonds. Thanks!
Jami says
Hmm, I haven’t tried it, but wondering if you could dissolve the salt in vinegar instead of water? Then the almonds would bake in the vinegar, giving flavor but still cooking. Just an idea – let me know if you try it!
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.