Low-sugar Chai Walnuts, all the flavors you love in a healthy snack, breakfast add on or easy appetizer. Get the health benefits of walnuts in this easy recipe.
Chai tea, chai latte, chai ice cream, chai yogurt. Chai flavors are filling cups and spoons. That’s because they’re so good! We love a little sugar and spice.
I’ve added the familiar chai spices of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom to walnuts and toasted them for a quick and easy recipe. The fragrance alone make these worth making! But then there’s also the fact that walnuts are nutritious nuggets.
Are walnuts healthy?
In a nutshell, walnuts are nutritious and healthful. Walnut’s benefits are unique because they are the only nut with a significant amount of the health promoting Omega-3 fats. Omega-3s are heart and brain friendly. Flax and canola oil are other good plant sources of these fats.
Of course, walnuts alone don’t keep your brain in tiptop condition – all the foods on your fork impact health, but a handful a day can’t hurt. A serving of nuts is not much more than a handful – just 14 halves or 1/4 cup chopped. In that 1/4 cup is also 4 grams of protein and 2 grams fiber.
Serve walnuts or Chai Walnuts with cocktails, on a cheese board, over ice cream or frozen yogurt, as trail mix, and give as a hostess gift.
How to make Chai Walnuts, a healthy snack
I was tired of humdrum oatmeal, so I developed this recipe as a topping for oatmeal and yogurt. More spicy than sweet, it delivers the healthy phytochemicals from spices and nuts plus flavor and crunch. Just like in a cozy cup of Masala Chai, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and cocoa bring the spice. But don’t just limit these to oatmeal. Think yogurt parfait, cottage cheese, cheeseboard and afternoon snack.
The ingredients
Brown sugar, cocoa, ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon are ready to blend with walnuts
- Mix the nuts, oil, cocoa, sugar and spices together.
- Spread in single layer on baking sheet.
- Bake 15-20 minutes at 350℉ or until they smell toasty. Keep an eye on them toward the end of baking. Nuts have oils in them which can burn.
- Set aside to cool, then store in a sealed container.
Bake 15-20 minutes at 350℉
Since I’m nutty about nuts, I regularly play around with different spices and herbs to flavor walnuts (like these Maple Orange Walnuts and Walnut Mushroom Lasagna Rolls), Salted Honey Sesame Almonds, peanuts, and pumpkin seeds.
- I eat nut and seed butter spread on apple slices several times per week.
- I use peanut butter in a cold peanut noodle dish.
- I add chopped nuts to Orange Ginger Granola, popcorn, breads and cookies, roll them in lasagna rolls, blend them in roasted red pepper dip, toast them to add to salads or eat for a snack, stir them into ice cream, and sprinkle them over oatmeal and yogurt. Just like this photo. 😉
Chai walnuts take oatmeal from humdrum to yum!
The best way to store walnuts
Like all nuts, walnuts are rich in fat. To keep the fat from becoming rancid, cold storage is best. Shelled walnuts will keep up to a year in the refrigerator or up to 2 years in the freezer. I use them so often that I can’t attest to the 2-year shelf life. I’ve never been able to keep them that long! When you do store them, pack in tightly sealed containers because shelled nuts absorb moisture and flavors from other foods.
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PrintLow-sugar Chai Walnuts
Chai Walnuts combine all the flavors you love from the drink into a snack, breakfast or appetizer. What’s not to love about such a versatile recipe?
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- dash salt
- 3 cups walnuts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl stir together oil, brown sugar, and spices. Add walnuts. Stir to coat. Spread in single layer on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, stir. Bake 5-10 minutes more, until nuts are toasted.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 180
Comments
Oh jeez these sound good! I love chai spices; sounds great as a holiday party snack :-).
Thanks, Jenny. They smell as good as they sound!
O the possibilities for these! Yum!
Just had them for breakfast, but thinking about some chai tea with a handful… 😉
I’ll bet these smell amazing when baking.
Indeed they do, Serena. Hard to let them cool off!
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