Easy Perfectly Salted Roasted Almonds Recipe (Seriously the BEST)
Discover how easy it is to roast your own nuts at home with this simple and delicious roasted almonds recipe. In just 20 minutes you can create a batch of perfectly salted, golden brown almonds for a protein-rich appetizer or snack that will have everyone asking for more. When you learn the trick to homemade roasted nuts that don’t lose all their salt, you’ll see why they are SO much better than anything you can buy!
✩ What readers are saying…
“This is my go to recipe for salted almonds. I’ve now become the designated roasted salted almond maker in the family!!! Thank you so much for sharing such an easy foolproof recipe especially for an amateur like me.” -Tasneem
Some links in this article are affiliate links and if you click on them I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.
I discovered, totally by accident because I’m cheap frugal..ahem, smart with money, that DIY roasted almonds are WAY better than roasted-salted almonds from the store.
Like, 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 this roasted almonds recipe because it is any more healthier or more ‘real food’ than the basic roasted nuts you can buy. So if you’re needing convenience, buy away.
No, I make these nuts because they save me a couple dollars, 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 with me – I’ve had guests be so surprised that they “had” to go back for seconds – and thirds.
The Trick to Perfectly Salted 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 stuck to the nuts after cooking and cooling.
But when I saw the the price difference between roasted and raw almonds on a Costco shopping trip, I came home with raw almonds and started researching (the “smart with money” part referred to above). 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 then adapted the recipe to cook fully in an oven to be easier and to be able to make a large batch.
Roasted Almonds Recipe Video
Ingredient Notes
- Almonds: You’ll want raw almonds for this recipe, I like the large bags from Costco.
- Fine grain sea salt: or use a pink Himalayan or other pure, non-additive salt.
- Olive oil: Any olive oil works for the final toss – I’ve even used garlic infused olive oil from Trader Joe’s for a garlic salt flavor.
Equipment Needed
- Roasting pan
- Glass tablespoon measuring cup
- Silicone baking mat or parchment paper
- Large metal or wooden spoon
TIP: I LOVE using a little glass tablespoon measuring cup in recipes like this calling for more than one tablespoon – so easy!
How to Make Salted Roasted Almonds
Step 1: Dissolve salt in water as much as possible and then pour onto raw nuts, stirring thoroughly. Spread onto a lined baking sheet.
Step 2: Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, stirring at the halfway mark.
Step 3: After baking, coat the warm nuts with a bit of olive oil.
Step 4: Add a couple shakes of sea salt, toss, and let them cool. They soak up all that goodness and then look like the perfectly roasted almonds that they are.
Step 5: Spread back on baking sheet to cool completely.
TIP: 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.)
Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature. These last for us for more than a month in our glass storage container (and maybe more, but they’re always gone by then!).
These amazing roasted almonds have changed our nut-eating life, so I just had to share with you how easy it is to roast your own almonds at home – and how much better they taste from store-bought!
Reader Raves
“Simply the best “Perfectly” Roasted Almonds I have had. Thank you for such a simple and delicious recipe.” -Carolyn
“I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about putting water on the almonds, but my goodness! This is the best roasted almond recipe! So many others are too salty or too oily, but these are perfect. Infinitely better than store bought! Thanks for sharing this!” -Paula
“Finally! A recipe for almonds that tastes delicious with perfect amount of salt. Thank you!” -Ct
You may also like to try this flavor variation: Chipotle Spicy Roasted Almonds – Easy, Sugar Free, 20 Minute Recipe
I’d love to know what you think of these – be sure to leave a rating and review so we can all know!
Want to save this?
Enter your email below and you’ll get it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get easy new recipes, gardening tips & more every week!
Perfectly Salted Roasted Almonds Recipe – the BEST!
Equipment
- large baking sheet or roasting pan
- silicone liner or parchment
Ingredients
- 4½ cups raw, whole almonds
- 1½ tablespoons HOT water
- 1½ teaspoons sea salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, to taste*
- 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 teaspoons 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 well until all are coated.
- Transfer the almonds to your prepared baking sheet and spread them 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). TIP: 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 and then shake on some sea salt. 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).
- Spread the nuts out on the pan again to cool completely. The nuts will soak up the oil as they cool.***
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature. These last for us for more than a month in our glass storage container (and may be more, but they're always gone by then!).
Notes
Nutrition
FAQs
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.
Some people prefer to soak their nuts before roasting – feel free to do that before proceeding with this recipe.
As for acrylamide formation in roasted almonds, you can always roast at a lower temperature for longer (though long roasting may also cause formation). But the few almonds we eat are a small source of acrylamide in any case – it’s much more prevalent in fried and toasted foods like potatoes and bread. As stated here, “Estimated dietary exposures of acrylamide from roasted almonds are very low.”
Feel free to adjust the oil coating at the end – you can minimize or leave out all together for more of a dry-roasted almond. It does soak up as the nuts cool.
Yes! Though roasting at 350-360 degrees is better for lighter nuts like pecans and cashews (still at 15 minutes). Blanched almonds work well, too.
Readers have made smokey almonds by adding a little liquid smoke to the brine and a bit more to the olive oil. And one made salt-and-pepper cashews by turning the oven down a smidge and adding pepper with the oil.
More Healthy Snacks
- Healthy Maple Sweetened Chili Pecans
- Easy & Healthy Spiced Nuts Recipe (No Sugar)
- 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.
This is my favorite roasted almond recipe and I’ve shared it with several people already. They make such a great snack, and for hiking and backpacking I add in some dried cranberries after the almonds are done.
Thank you!
I’m so glad, Kraig – thanks for letting me know! And your hiking mix is a great idea!
Delicious! I will be using this regularly. I can imagine gift boxes for holidays.
Yes!
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?
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!
These were perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
Can we use vegetable oil instead of olive oil
Or can we just skip that step
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!
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.
Great, Charlotte – thanks for the review!
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!
Wonderful, Justine – so glad to hear that! Wishing you well 🙂
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
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.
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.
What a fun flavor combo, Martin!
Good info.
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!!!
Glad you like it – and that’s why it’s good to DIY food, to tailor it to our own tastes. 🙂
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.
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!
I have used this recipe many times – almonds always turn out great!
Wonderful – thank you so much for the review!
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!
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!
These are delicious! Followed the recipe after soaking/dehydrating.
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.
Yes, I have roasted pecans and hazelnuts this way – I assume other nuts would work as well!
Thank You.. Will give them a try
Perfect results! Better than store bough, no question about that. I was surprised how little salt was required to get a good result.
Glad you liked these, Tom – thanks for the review!
Omg I just made these and they are super awesome! Thanks for the instructions =)
Glad to hear you like these – they’re almost surprisingly good, aren’t they?
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.
Oh that does sound amazing – I’ll have to try that Kika, thank you!
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!
Thanks for the tip, Ed!
Fantastic! Making all time. Thank you.