Oven space is always at a premium around the holidays, and these slow-cooker spiced nuts won’t claim any of it. They’re so good and so easy, though, that you’ll want to use this method all year round.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 4 hr 5 min |
| Prep: | 5 min |
| Inactive: | 2 hr |
| Cook: | 2 hr |
| Yield: | 4 cups |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 4 hr 5 min |
| Prep: | 5 min |
| Inactive: | 2 hr |
| Cook: | 2 hr |
| Yield: | 4 cups |
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups raw pecans
- 2 cups unsalted roasted cashews
Instructions
- Line the insert of a 6-quart slow cooker with heavy-duty foil, and spray with cooking spray.
- Whisk together the maple syrup, butter, cinnamon, orange zest, salt and cayenne in a large bowl. Add the pecans and cashews, and toss to coat. Add the nuts to the slow cooker in an even layer, cover and turn the heat to high. Cook until a light syrup forms at the bottom, 1 hour.
- Turn the heat to low, stir the nuts and continue to cook, stirring every 20 minutes, until the nuts are glazed and the bottom of the cooker is dry, about 1 hour.
- Turn the slow cooker off, uncover and let the nuts harden, stirring occasionally, up to 2 hours. If not serving immediately, the nuts can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 217 calorie |
| Total Fat | 19 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 4 grams |
| Cholesterol | 6 milligrams |
| Sodium | 73 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 11 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 grams |
| Protein | 4 grams |
| Sugar | 4 grams |
| Calories | 217 calorie |
| Total Fat | 19 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 4 grams |
| Cholesterol | 6 milligrams |
| Sodium | 73 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 11 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 grams |
| Protein | 4 grams |
| Sugar | 4 grams |
Reviews
Terrible recipe. Mixture burned less than one hour into the process. I saw the bad reviews and wish I had believed them.
My didn’t turn out well. The nuts never did harden, as it said they would. They also didn’t have much flavor to them. I ended up taking them out of the slow cooker, after the four hours called for, and put them in the oven to see if they would harden up, but still were mushy. Can’t quite figure out what went wrong. Waste of some good nuts!
Third Year of making this recipe for the Holidays. I give these in a Mason Jar adding bows and labels to about eight Family members and friends. They LOVE them! I’m a bit surprised this isn’t 5 Stars all around.
Please note – if you don’t use PURE Maple Syrup (not the typical store bought maple flavored pancake topping) the cooking times and temps will likely be different, as well as the flavor concentration and texture (stickiness)..
I looked at this and said yum. Spent 27 bucks on nuts. THEN i read the reviews. I was to say the least P.O’d cuz i thought what a waste of money! I had a beverage and figured out it was the foil that was burning the nuts. I mean…..if you are spraying already, why the friggin foil?
Forget the foil!
I also added more cayene that it called for and some powderd mustard.
DELISH
I made these last night and going with some of the comments about them being bland, I increased the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon, added some orange extract, and the juice of one quarter orange. The nuts cooked really well. However, after tasting them I thought they could use some sweetness, so after the 2 hour cooking time, I poured the warm nuts onto a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and poured about 3/4 cup sugar on top and tossed the nuts to coat. DELICIOUS! Sweet and spicy! OH, I didn’t have cashews and substituted almonds.
such a great technique!
I think these are great. I handed them out as holiday gifts and even used them in a classic salad with cranberries and bleu cheese. Everyone loved them. I agree that the cook time is too long, I caught mine just before they started to burn.
yucky — burned followed recipe exactly and what an awful result. Threw them away as well as the recipe.
Made recipe as directed, turned my Nesco slow cooker on high and added nut mixture. After about 20 minutes the nuts smelled hot, after 40 minutes I smelled burning. I opened the lid and found a black mess of totally burned nuts, no syrup. Tasted the few nuts that were not burned and they were bland. What a waste of $10+ worth of nuts. Maybe the recipe should state what high temp. should be, mine goes up to 450 degrees.