Crispy roasted cashews - Learn how to roast cashews in the oven, air fryer, or skillet! They are crisp, crunchy, buttery, and perfect to use in your favorite recipes.
Although raw cashew nuts are delicious additions in Indian butter shrimp, baked mangoes or snowball cookies with cashews, roasting them brings out richer flavors and aromas by releasing volatile compounds, resulting in a nuttier, crunchier texture with a buttery and sweeter flavor compared to raw cashews.
Roasting develops the maillard reaction and makes the nuts crisper and crunchier with a delicious nutty flavor. It is delicious used in cashew chicken or tandoori chicken salad.
When selecting cashew nuts for roasting, opt for raw whole cashews to ensure uniformity in size, as varying sizes may result in smaller pieces burning or becoming overly dark before larger ones are fully cooked.
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Why you'll love this?
- Satisfying, healthy snack
- Perfect to use in all your favorite recipes
- Crispy, crunchy and buttery
- Has a longer shelf life compared to raw cashews
How to roast cashews in air fryer?
- Spread the cashews in an even layer in a preheated 300 degree air fryer basket.
- Air fry for 5 to 6 minutes, until deep brown in color, shaking your basket once halfway through cooking.
- Let the cashews cool completely, before storing or using in your favorite recipes, like Asian roasted cauliflower.
How to toast cashews in skillet?
- Place a medium skillet on the stove over medium heat.
- When the skillet is hot, add the cashews, and cook stirring occasionally for 5 to 7 minutes or the nuts are fragrant and deep brown in color.
- Transfer the roasted nuts onto a large plate, spread to a single layer and let cool completely and use in Thai spicy noodles.
Tip: Do not leave the stove unattended, as the nuts can burn quickly.
How to roast cashews in oven?
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Spread the cashew nuts on a large baking sheet.
- Bake until the nuts are darker or golden brown in color and fragrant, 9 to 14 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
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While roasted cashews are a favorite, certain recipes, such as vegan tomato soup or cashew mint chutney, opt for raw cashews for their subtle buttery flavor.
How to roast cashews in microwave?
- To roast them in the microwave, spread the raw cashew nuts in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate.
- Microwave in short intervals, 30 seconds to 1 minute each, in the lowest setting, ideally around 10 to 20 percent power.
- Cook until they look golden and fragrant.
- Transfer them immediately to another plate or baking sheet and let cool completely. This will help prevent them from continuing to cook from residual heat.
How to store?
For optimal freshness and preservation of flavor and texture, it's crucial to store roasted cashews properly, which involves allowing them to cool completely before storing them.
- Room temperature - Transfer the roasted cashews into a dry airtight container or resealable bag, seal well, and store in a cool, dark place.
- Freezer - Freezing roasted cashews extends their shelf life for months. Store them in an airtight container or vacuum-sealed bag, removing excess air, and freeze for up to a year. They can be used straight from the freezer in recipes or brought to room temperature for optimal flavor and texture.
How to use?
Roasted cashews add a delightful crunch and nutty flavor to a wide variety of sweet and savory dishes. Here are some ways to use:
- Snacking: Nibble on their own as a tasty and nutritious snack.
- Salads: Sprinkle on your favorite salads for crunchy texture and flavor. They are especially delicious in broccoli cranberry salad.
- Curry - Use ground cashews to both thicken curries and enhance their flavor, as seen in dishes like chicken kofta curry.
- Trail mix: Make your trail mix by mixing with dried fruits, other roasted nuts, and dark chocolate chunks.
- Cereals: Sprinkle them in your morning cereal or oatmeal for extra crunch and flavor. Swap the sliced almonds for cashew nut in mango overnight oats.
- Yogurt: Top your Greek yogurt with sliced bananas, pineapple or mango, roasted cashews and honey for a mid-morning snack.
- Baking: Add them to various baked goods, such as brownies, muffins and coffee cakes.
- Stuffing: Roasted pecans add flavor and texture to your Holiday stuffing or dressing.
- Ice cream toppings: They are perfect for sprinkling on your ice cream, especially with tropical flavors.
Helpful tips?
- Reduce the cooking time if using chopped pecans.
- Always cook over low to medium heat to ensure even roasting.
- Remove them promptly and avoid over cooking. They are done when they are deep brown and fragrant.
- If you like to roast a larger batch, then cook them in batches to guarantee evenly roasted nuts.
More recipes using cashews
Roasted cashews
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups Raw whole cashews
Instructions
Oven
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread the cashews on a large baking sheet.
- Bake until the nuts are darker or golden in color and fragrant, 10 to 14 minutes. Rotate your pan halfway through baking for even coloring.
- Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and let it cool completely.
Air fryer
- Preheat your air fryer to 300°F.
- When hot, spread the cashews in an even layer in the air fryer basket.
- Air fry for 5 to 8 minutes or until golden in color, shaking your basket once halfway through cooking.
Skillet
- Place a large skillet on the stove over medium heat.
- When the skillet is hot, add the cashews, and cook stirring occasionally for 7 to 10 minutes or the nuts are fragrant and golden in color.
- Transfer the toasted cashews onto a large plate and let cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information, based on third-party calculations, should be seen as estimates, not guarantees, as various factors like product types, brands, processing methods, and more can alter the nutritional content in recipes.
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Kelly Lynns Sweets and Treats
These are definitely the perfect snack! I looooove anything coated in salt and pepper! And roasting the cashews brings out an amazing flavor I am sure!
heather (delicious not gorgeous)
it's easy to forget how good just salt and pepper can be, but dang i shouldn't! these look so snackable.
Katherine | Love In My Oven
These would be DANGEROUS, Maria! I wouldn't be able to stop eating them!!
rivka orlin
I would half the amount of oil-way too much
Maria Doss
I agree, but the spices have a hard time sticking to the roasted cashews otherwise:)
PREM PRAKASH
Inspite of roasting the cashews for 20 minutes in a small quantities of olive oil and finally then mixing it with salt and pepper they didn't become crispy, why? Please inform
Maria Doss
Hi Prem, Did you check the expiry date on the cashews? It will never take that long to crisp up. Even harder nuts like almonds will crisp up in a shorter time. Here are a few reasons for cashews not crispy after being toasted -
1. Nuts did not cool down completely - Nuts have a tendency to crisp as it cools, so even they are softer when hot, give them sufficient time to cool down completely at room temperature.
2. Nuts were toasted in a shorter time - If the nuts brown quickly, then the pan is hot and that does not allow the nuts to be completely toasted.
However, 20 minutes is way to long. I would check if they are still fresh.
Hope it helps, Maria
Anita
My husband absolutely loves this recipe!! I accidentally bought raw cashews. So I decided to look up recipes for roasted cashews and I found this salt and pepper recipe. The first time I made them they ended up quite toasted! But he absolutely loved him! So now I have to over toast my roasted nuts 😂
thank you for the recipe 💗
Just fyi:
I used vegetable oil and maxed out the pepper amount 4 tsp my husband loves a lot of pepper.
Brenda
I actually added the oil and pepper, salt then baked. They came out ground pepper stayed on brought out the favor more.
Maggie
I tried them in air fryer and loved them!