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.
These are so yummy and easy. Fantastic on spinach/strawberry/feta salad. Thanks, I will definitely share this with others.
Excellent! This will definitely be my go to recipe for candied pecans. I made it to go on top of a summer salad. Next time I will be doubling the recipe as they will make an excellent snack or gift for someone special. Thank you.
Outstanding! My husband wants the strawberry, spinach with the candied pecans once a week now, It was a real hit!
Oh my, these are sooo good and best of all so so easy!! I wanted to make a quick munchie to take with me to a friend’s house, so I started my search here. You did not disappoint…these candied pecans were a hit! Thank You!
Best recipe ever! Love candied pecans on my salad!
Yes! They make such an amazing salad topping!
Excellent and best of all so simple, quick and easy to come together. I love these in my salad and for snacking
Omg!! I just made a batch of these, once I tasted them, I turned around and made a second batch, to take to my fellow nurses at work tomorrow! Delicious!
This is so easy to do and just a great snack for me. It is flawless.
OMG these nuts are fantastic! I’ve made about 5 times now both my husband and I can’t get enough of them . We especially like them in a salad with strawberry’s and balsamic dressing
We are the same way. When we make these we can’t stop snacking on them. We LOVE putting them on our strawberry balsamic salad!
These are great! I love the subtle orange flavor and that they aren’t too sweet. They weren’t quite the right texture from stovetop, but 10 minutes in the oven made them just right. Great addition to my charcuterie board.
Made these with 2 T. Splenda brown sugar & 4 T. brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, pink salt & water. Oh wow! Amazing!!!