Cinnamon-Sugar Candied Pecans
These easy, oven-baked candied pecans are the salty, sweet snack you need in your life right now. Perfect for snacking, tossing into salads, or gifting to others, these baked nuts can do it all! With just a few simple ingredients you can quickly whip up a batch of these pecans in no time.
What could be better than a salty and sweet snack? How about one with minimal prep time, pantry staple ingredients, and endless uses?
These candied pecans are extremely worthy of sharing, in fact, I urge you to make these immediately. Put them on the appetizer and desserts tables for Thanksgiving, throw them in your salad, put them in jars for Christmas gifts, eat them by the handful… just make sure you have a good hiding place for them because once you start eating them, you won’t be able to stop!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pecans: I like to use fresh, raw pecan halves to make these addictive candied pecans (see notes below on selecting pecans).
- Cinnamon sugar mixture: A blend of cinnamon, sugar, and salt coats the pecan halves to make a sweet brittle candy coating when they bake.
- Egg whites + Water: Binds the cinnamon sugar to the pecans while also hardening out the candied pecans during the baking.
- Vanilla: Added for a splash of flavor!
Notes on Pecans
When it comes to picking pecans the choices are numerous. You can buy whole, halved, chopped, roasted, sweetened, salted, the list goes on and on. For candied pecans, here is what I recommend when you are shopping for the pecans:
- Buy unsweetened and unsalted pecan halves. They will typically be labeled raw.
- Check the freshness date to ensure they have not been sitting on the shelf beyond their expiration.
- Look for plump, golden brown, uniform-looking pecan halves.
- If you are buying them in advance and plan to make the candied pecans later, store your pecans in an airtight container.
- Keep shelled pecans in the refrigerator for up to 9 months or in the freezer for up to 2 years.
Ingredient Swaps
- Nuts: This recipe can be made with a variety of nuts, not just pecans. Feel free to change it up and use walnuts, almonds, cashews, or a mix of your favorites.
- Spices: Other spices like nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, clove, a pinch of cayenne, apple pie spice, or even pumpkin spice would be delicious on these candied nuts!
Step-by-Step Directions
While I’ve seen candied nut recipes that require actual candy-making, i.e. using a candy thermometer and being very precise, these cinnamon-sugar pecans couldn’t have been easier.
- Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 250°F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make the cinnamon sugar: In a large zip-top bag, combine the sugar, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
- Mix liquid ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water, and vanilla extract.
- Coat pecans in egg white mixture: Add the pecans to the bowl and stir them into the egg white mixture with a rubber spatula, making sure they are all moistened.
- Transfer to cinnamon-sugar: Using a slotted spoon, remove the pecans from the egg white mixture and drop them into the bag with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Once all of the pecans are added, seal the bag, and shake it to coat all of the pecans.
- Spread out on baking sheet: Using a clean slotted spoon, remove the pecans from the bag and place them onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake + stir: Bake for 1 hour, stirring them every 15 minutes.
- Cool + store candied pecans: Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
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Storing + Shelf-Life
- Counter: Your candied pecans will last up to 2 weeks at room temperature in an airtight container.
- Gifting: Place some of the pecans in a cellophane treat bag or glass jar, label it and share with loved ones.
- Fridge: To keep the pecans longer, store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks in an airtight container.
- Freezer: In a freezer-safe container, these will stay fresh for 2 months in the freezer.
How to Use Candied Pecans
I love going after a bowl of these pecans for a sweet snack as well as gifting them at the holidays for others. Some other ways you can use these candied pecans are:
- Use them to top my signature salad.
- Swap these in for the plain pecans in this shaved Brussels sprout salad.
- Garnish a delicious carrot cake with sweet candied pecans.
- Chop them up and mix them into your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Fast FAQs About Candied Pecans
Are pecan pralines the same as candied pecans?
While both are made with pecans and are sinfully delicious, pecan pralines and candied pecans are slightly different. Pralines are coated in a melt-in-your-mouth caramel mixture while candied pecans are baked into a brittle cinnamon-sugar coating.
Why are my candied nuts sticky?
One of the main reasons your pecans might still be sticky after baking is that the sugar didn’t fully cook. Pop the tray back in the oven until they are more crispy, about 5-10 minutes.
Pecan Recipes You’ll Love:
- Bourbon Pecan Praline Recipe
- Oatmeal Muffins with Dates, Cranberries, and Pecans
- Pecan Tassies
- Butter Pecan Ice Cream
- Chunky Pecan Pie Bars
Watch the Recipe Video:
Sinfully delicious, these candied pecans are the perfect salty and sweet treat! Seven ingredients, minimal prep time, and endless uses, these oven-baked nuts are sure to be a hit!
If you make this recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating - it helps others find the recipe! ❤️️
Candied Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- 1 pound (453.59 g) pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a large zip-top bag, combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water and vanilla extract. Add the pecans to the bowl and stir them into the egg white mixture with a rubber spatula, making sure they are all moistened. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pecans from the egg white mixture and drop them into the bag with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Once all of the pecans are added, seal the bag, and shake it to coat all of the pecans.
- Using a clean slotted spoon, remove the pecans from the bag and place onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 1 hour, stirring them every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. The pecans can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Nuts: This recipe can be made with a variety of nuts; try it with walnuts, almonds, cashews, or a mix of your favorites.
- Spices: Other spices like nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, clove, a pinch of cayenne, apple pie spice, or even pumpkin spice would be delicious on these candied nuts!
- Storage: Candied pecans will last up to two weeks at room temperature in an airtight container and up to 1 month in the refrigerator.
- Gifting: Place some of the pecans in a cellophane treat bag or glass jar, label it and share with loved ones.
- Freezer: You can store the pecans in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Photography by Dee Frances
How long can these be stored for and how do you store them? Is a baggie ok?
A baggie is okay, any airtight container or jar would be fine. You can store them up to a few weeks.
I made these again for a teacher breakfast event, and they were a huge hit. I got lots of compliments on them, and all the nuts were eaten. Such a great recipe! Easy too. I love to chop them up and put them in my oatmeal too.
Wondering if anyone has substituted Splenda instead of granulated sugar???
Looks lovely. Great photography too. Now if you had used some Ceylon Cinnamon it would have been even better. :-) I wonder whether you could dry roast these on a pan. My nut baking goes horrible wrong most of the time.
I made a recipe very similar to this during the holidays but added some ground hot pepper power to the mix. It took the edge off the sweet and added some HEAT. I also mixed pecans and walnuts. SWEET with HEAT was a hit
I have made these many times and have never had a bad batch. I have pecan trees so I dont have any problem keeping pecans on hand. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It is awesome.
Has anyone tried this with macadamia nuts? I had the best cinnamon macadamia nuts in Hawaii and haven’t been able to find any since, even on-line! I’m thinking of giving this a try.
I chopped these up and put them in my oatmeal. Oh, so good!
Just made these for a new years gathering. I am happy with the ease of the recipe. Will be using this for gifts next year.
I made these, and they were a big hit! I gave my copy of this recipe to someone at my party, because she liked them so much. Great recipe. :-)
Hi Michelle, these look amazing and I bought too many pecans for my Thanksgiving baking, so I want to attempt. I currently just have raw sugar in the house. What do you think about substituting raw sugar for granulated?
Hi Renee, I have not tried using raw sugar, so I’m not sure how it would work, but if you find that it’s easily interchangeable in other recipes, it might be worth trying.
Thanks so much, Michelle! I’ll give it a whirl and let you know!
I just made these and put them in jars to give out as home-made Christmas gifts. They. Are. So. Good. Seriously people, try these now!
I made 3 lbs of this recipe today for the first time. They are amazingly great! To make them look like Christmas I sprinkled red and green sugar crystals. They stirred up very well. I didn’t have parchment paper, but heavy tinfoil worked just fine. Also my oven must be a little fast because the pecans were dried out in about 45 minute after 3 stirrings. So the recipe worked even faster for me. Delicious!
I’ll be making these delicious bites today! Thank you.
These were awesome! I’m a big fan of salty/sweet snacks, so I used double your amount of flaky sea salt. I put them in a salad with julienned Fuji apple, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and spring mix.
These are outstanding !!! Really I’m not kidding!
Made these for Thanksgiving for the appetizer table and they disappeared instantly! Yes, will be making them again, for Christmas. Watch out -they are addicting! You can’t eat just one. So easy!
Thanks for another great recipe
2nd time making this recipe as my family loves them, thank for a delicious easy nut recipe!
HELP! I doubled this recipe last night to be able to distribute some as thanksgiving goodies and they came out too sticky! (They taste absolutely delicious but the bottoms are very sticky) I even let them cool overnight and still they are sticky. Any suggestions? Thank you !
Hi Katie, It sounds like they didn’t dry out enough in the oven. You could try putting them back in at a low temperature for awhile and seeing if they dry out the rest of the way.
Hi,
I’m dyslexic due to epilepsy and head injuries, and this following line is confusing:
…Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside
does that mean rim has to be large on pan because it will run out into over and burn? Or do you mean: larger size baking sheet with rim? I know it seems dumb, but when your head resembles a topographic map from stitches and staples nothing is too stupid, thanks and blessed Holidays.
It’s not a dumb question! The pan should be large (a half sheet works best – if your pan is smaller, you may need to split the batch between two pans) with a rim. I hope that helps! Have a wonderful holiday!
We bought a 2 lb bag of Pecans already shelled at SAMS. I found your website quite by accident while looking up an easy way to cook Cinnamon Pecans. YOURS was the easiest and so, so very yummy. It’s a shame they only lasted two days, cuz we couldn’t stop eating them! Thank you, thank you!
I made these this week, and have to say, they’re PHENOMENAL!!!!!!!
I made half a batch exactly as written, and half substituting dark brown sugar for the white and adding several shakes of cayenne. Both were incredible, but my crowd liked the ones with the changes the best. The cayenne added a subtle, yet pervasive warmth that’s dangerously addictive, and the brown sugar seems to deepen the flavor of the pecans. I thought that perhaps they would be too sweet, but because of the added salt, they come out darned near perfect. I’ve found that the most inexpensive price for pecan halves (if you can actually call $6.68 a pound “inexpensive”) is at WalMart, Fisher Nuts brand. I grab a couple as a snack a few times a day. Thank you, Michelle, for a boffo, easy recipe!!
I just made this the other day with Walnuts – thank you for the recipe – they were wonderful and well…didn’t last long around here! :-)
It’s such a bummer when recipes don’t turn out like you hope but you made a great comeback with these! I would not be able to stop eating them!
This recipe sounds wonderful. I’m going to make these for sure! http://mymountainkitchen.com
Made these today, and they were fantastic. I made a half batch and they came out perfect with the recipe just as written. Even my pickiest critic (DS) liked them… this is the third recipe for candied nuts I’ve tried in the very recent past, and it’s the keeper since it’s the only one he’ll eat!
Meant to add, I used half sheet pans, not 1/4 sheet pans for anyone else who may be going to make them. Hope my experience helps!
Just finished my first attempt at making these. The recipe didn’t say how much to beat the whites, so I whipped until semi-soft (no liquid in the bottom of the bowl), but not stiff. I’m curious, how much did you beat your egg whites? There wasn’t hardly any egg white left in the bowl, even using a slotted spoon, when I removed them to the sugar-cinnamon bag. I don’t know if my pecans are jumbo sized or what, but I really should have used two sheet pans instead of one to get them into a single layer, as I had to bake mine for 90 minutes to get them to dry out. They’re yummy though!
Hi Deb, I just beat them until frothy with a hand whisk, only about 30 seconds. It was definitely still liquid-y.
Thanks Michelle! You’re the BEST!
yes! i loooooove candied nuts!
wait..
but seriously, so good. i made a whole batch a few months ago and they last quite a while when properly stored. tastes great with a lil cayenne pepper too.
I love candied nuts. I bet your house smelled amazing while these were baking.