Easy Candied Pecans

These candied pecans are equal parts sweet, crunchy, delicious, and addicting. Plus, they’re super easy to make!

Easy Candied Pecans

Warning: these candied pecans are ADDICTING! They’re crunchy, perfectly sweetened and spiced, and really, really delicious. Enjoy them on top of a salad (like this winter salad with goat cheese and pears) or by the handful – they’re great either way!

What are candied pecans?

Candied pecans are, essentially, pecans coated in a mixture of sugar and spices and baked until roasty, toasty, and irresistible. 

Ingredients

This is a pretty simple list! Here’s everything you’ll need: 

• 1 pound of pecan halves
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon of cayenne
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of water

How to Make Candied Pecans

1. Prep – preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (if desired).
2. Combine the ingredients – add the brown sugar, cinnamon, sea salt, cayenne, egg white, vanilla extract, and water in a bowl and stir until combined.
3. Add the pecans – add the pecans to the bowl with the brown sugar mixture and stir until all of the pecans are fully coated. 
4. Bake – transfer the pecans to a sheet pan, spread them out, and bake them at 350°F for 20 minutes. They will start to puff up while baking, then deflate. This is when you’ll know they’re done!
5. Let cool – once the pecans are out of the oven, let them cool completely (this is important!) so that they’ll harden.
6. Enjoy!

Candied Pecan Variations

This recipe is delish as is, but if you want to change things up, go for it! Here are a few ideas that would be really yummy:

• Use a different nut – use this recipe with any nut that you love! Cashews would be amazing here.
• Ditch the cayenne – the cayenne pepper is a really nice subtle contrast to the brown sugar, but if you’re sensitive to spice, feel free to skip it! 
• Level up the spice – if you LOVE spice and want to kick things up a notch, add more cayenne pepper.
• Use a different extract – try swapping the vanilla extract for orange extract!
• Change up the spices – swap the cinnamon and cayenne for apple pie or pumpkin pie spice blends – yum!

Candied Pecan FAQs

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