Thanks to a skillet and the stovetop, you can make this easy candied pecans recipe in under 10 minutes. They are egg-free and gluten-free and perfect for snacking, adding to salads, other dishes, and cheeseboards.
We make these easy candied pecans a lot and love how quick they are to make on the stovetop. I love them for salads, snacks, and cheeseboards. They are perfectly sweet and a little bit salty, plus I add a little cinnamon and orange zest, making them extra delicious.
If you love this quick method for making candied pecans, you might also enjoy my method for making candied pecans in the oven. That recipe calls for egg whites, which makes them even more light and crispy.
Key Ingredients
- Pecans: I use pecan halves to make this recipe, but you can easily swap the pecans for other nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, or cashews!
- Brown Sugar: I love the extra rich flavor of brown sugar with these candied pecans.
- Spices: I combine cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract, and a little orange zest for these candied nuts. I also love a pinch of cayenne pepper for some heat, but that is optional.
How to Make Candied Pecans in Under 10 Minutes
My stovetop candied pecans really are so simple to make! I add them to salads, rice dishes, and desserts, plus I love adding them to cheeseboards!
To make our sweet and salty candied pecans, you’ll combine sugar with spices, vanilla extract, and a little water in a skillet. Heat everything until it looks like a glaze, and then stir in the nuts.
Continue to stir the nuts around the glaze for a few minutes, then transfer them to a baking sheet to cool. Once cool, you might need to break apart a few nuts that have stuck together, but other than that, they are ready to enjoy!
Ways to Use Candied Pecans
My stovetop candied pecans are so simple to make! I add them to salads, desserts, and cheeseboards, and they are also amazing as a standalone snack.
A few recipes that would benefit from a handful of these sweet and salty nuts are this creamy apple fennel salad, this easy farro salad, my favorite quinoa salad, and this warm apple cabbage salad. I also love using candied nuts for this balsamic strawberry salad and these coconut oil roasted sweet potatoes.
Easy Candied Pecans
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Thanks to a skillet and the stovetop, you can make these easy candied pecans in under 10 minutes. This recipe can be used with other varieties of nuts, too. We especially love walnuts and cashews.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 cups (6oz or 170g) pecan halves
6 tablespoons (75g) brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ tablespoons water
2 teaspoons orange zest, optional
Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
Directions
1Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, water, orange zest, and cayenne to a medium skillet.
3Place the skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the brown sugar melts into a bubbling sauce, about 1 minute.
4Stir in the pecans so that the brown sugar sauce coats them.
5Cook, stirring the entire time, until the pecans look candied and smell nutty, 2 to 3 minutes. As the nuts heat up in the pan, the sauce will slowly coat them and turn shiny. Watch closely as the nuts cook so that they do not burn.
6Transfer the candied pecans to the prepared baking sheet and spread them out in one layer.
7Allow the pecans to cool down and break them up before serving.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store cooled candied nuts in an airtight container. They will last at room temperature for 1 week, in the refrigerator for a few weeks, and in the freezer for a month, if not longer.
- Salt: 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt makes these taste salty-sweet. If you’d prefer to not taste the salt, reduce to 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
- Pecans too sticky: If your nuts are still sticky after cooling, heat your oven to 325°F (162°C) and bake for 5 to 10 minutes to help harden the candy coating.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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These are amazing! The orange zest is a MUST! It adds just the perfect touch of flavor that hits you on the back of your tongue, but is not overpowering. These candied pecans rarely make it to my salads…they are a prefect snack for the family!
I made these last night to put on a salad and they were delicious! Also, super easy to make. This recipe will be my go to recipe from now on.
they are sooo good! could you use white sugar instead or would it mess with it
Super simple and delicious
Is it 2 cups of Pecans (16oz.) or 6 ounces of pecans? The recipe is delicious but after adding 2 cups of nuts I had to quickly work in more sugar ,water etc.
You will need 2 cups of pecan halves (volume measurement, not weight). By weight, you will need 6 ounces.
They are to die for, me and my dad made them this morning. They were so easy and my whole family loved them.
So happy you gave them a try, Peyton!
Very simply. Very quick. Very delicious. I would recommend that you make 2 batches and hide one to use for it’s intended purpose. People tend to meander into the kitchen when they smell this being made and snap up some samples….Quality control they claim. I opted to make it without the orange zest, but after reading the comments, I think I might have to make another batch. You know. For purely scientific purposes. Also, great in my morning yogurt!
It’s always a good idea to test things out, Giselle! So happy you (and others) enjoy them so much!
Perfect the first time
I fell for McCallister’s Pecan Berry salad. Now I had to learn how to make Candied Pecans. This was such an EASY recipe. I used the same recipe to make Candied walnuts. Thank you!
I am so happy you were able to use walnuts in this recipe, too! Thanks for sharing!
Delicious! These were so easy. And no butter! I did bake mine for about 7 minutes afterwards.
Absolutely wonderful and so easy to make.
Wonderful! That makes me so happy!
Just like a previous commenter, I made these to put on a salad. My husband walked by as they were cooling and started to wolf them down because they are so tasty. Stopped him just in time: I have a few left for the salad!
The orange zest is a must; you can really taste it. I couldn’t taste the cayenne pepper and probably used just a bit too little to give the pecans a kick.
I will be making big batches of these for Christmas gifts this year!
These are fantastic. Made them for a salad for Christmas but everyone just wanted to eat them. The did not make it to the salad!
I’ve made these multiple times now and all I can say is “Wow! So so good…we use em for our salads and it always takes them over the top….