Baked Candied Maple Walnuts

After making this recipe, you’ll never make stovetop Candied Maple Walnuts again! Consistent oven heat and just the right amount of time means the maple syrup is caramelized without crystalizing, creating a shiny, snappy candy coating on the walnuts.

These come together quick with just a few minutes of hands on time, a 12 minute bake, and 15 minutes of cooling. We’re using walnut halves (no chopping), and making them without brown sugar for a flawless maple syrup sweetened finish! 

Maple Walnuts for Salads and More

For a crunchy pop of flavor and texture, they’re tasty on salads like this roasted Beet and Apple Salad or Juicy Orange and Roasted Beet Salad, pies or a sweet pop-in-you-mouth morsel on snack boards! These snappy candied maple walnuts don’t last long. You can whip them up in minutes, or make them ahead for ultimate easy. 

They’re just like my reader favorite oven baked Candied Maple Pecans, but with a different nut you may keep on hand; walnuts! 

To ensure your walnuts turn out perfectly, I recommend an external oven thermometer. Ovens can run hot or cool. An oven thermometer will show the true temperature of your oven, so you can adjust as needed. This is especially important for baked recipes like this one when proper oven temperature is essential for the best outcome.

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How to Make Maple Candied Walnuts
step by step

Be sure you’re using a flat sheet pan so that the maple syrup puddles evenly across the pan. When testing this recipe I used one of my old, warped sheet pans and found some walnut pieces were not coated completely in the caramelized maple syrup after baking because the maple syrup had puddled mostly on only one side of the pan.   

Traci’s Tips

• Choosing Walnuts: sort the walnut halves and choose pieces that are mostly whole.
• Keep an Eye on Your Walnuts during the last few minutes of baking. They can go from done, to too dark fast.
• Store with White Rice: rice acts like a desiccate and absorbs surrounding moisture in the container, keeping the walnuts fresh and snappy. When stored without rice, the walnuts can become sticky and loose their crunch. 

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15 Minute Baked Candied Maple Walnuts

5 stars from 1 rating

By Traci York

Prep: 3 minutes mins

Cook: 12 minutes mins

Cooling: 15 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

Servings: 2 cups

After making this recipe, you'll never make stovetop Candied Maple Walnuts again! Consistent oven heat and just the right amount of time means the maple syrup is caramelized without crystalizing, creating a shiny, snappy candy coating on the walnuts. We're using walnut halves (no chopping), and making them without brown sugar for a flawless maple syrup sweetened finish! 

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Ingredients

Small Batch

• ▢ 1 cup (100 grams) Raw Walnut Halves
• ▢ 1/4 cup (75 grams) Pure Maple Syrup
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
• ▢ Pinch Ground Black Pepper

Larger Batch

• ▢ 2 cups (200 grams) Raw Walnut Halves
• ▢ 1/2 cup (150 grams) Pure Maple Syrup
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

Instructions 

• Arrange an oven rack to the center of your oven and preheat to 375 Fahrenheit (190 Celsius). Have ready a sheet of parchment paper on the counter for the nuts once they come out of the oven.
• In a medium mixing bowl, add the walnuts, maple syrup, and salt and pepper. Stir throughly to coat the walnuts. Scrape the mixture onto a large, unlined, and ungreased sheet pan (use a small sheet pan for a small batch). Spread into an even layer.
• Once your oven is preheated, bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not stir. While baking, the maple syrup will bubble up at first, then subside to smaller bubbles, turning a darker amber color towards the end of baking. The walnuts will be darker, and take on the color of the caramelized maple syrup. *Tip: watch closely. You want the pecans in the oven as long as possible but without burning.
• Remove from the oven and working quickly, use a silicone spatula to scrape the walnuts and all the sticky maple syrup onto the parchment paper, spreading into one layer as best you can. The walnuts will be hot and sticky. Cool at room temperature for 15 minutes. They should develop a thin candy shell as they cool.
• Once cool, gently snap the walnuts apart. Store in a lidded storage container at room temperature with a small bowl of white rice to help keep moisture at bay (moisture will make them sticky). They'll store for about a week.

Notes

Oven Temperature: I use and recommend an external oven thermometer. It reflects the true temperature of your oven, which is especially helpful for baked goods but also for recipes like this (nuts) that are sensitive to temperature variations. 

Pan Cleaning Tip: once cool, allow the pan to soak in water for about 10 minutes. The hard maple syrup dissolves right off. 

Estimated Nutrition Below is for the Large Batch. 

Nutrition

Serving: 2cups | Calories: 857kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 65g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 47g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 590mg | Potassium: 612mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 21IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 181mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.

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