Fried Walnuts
These walnuts are so wonderfully crunchy with a little sweet, a little salty and kissed with a bit of spice. Irresistible!
Equipment
- Large, shallow stockpot
- Colander
- Large Saucepan
- Two large metal bowls
- Digital candy thermometer
- Spider or slotted spoon
- Large mesh sieve
- Rimmed baking sheet(s)
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 cups water
- 4 cups walnut halves
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
- 4 to 5 cups vegetable or canola oil
- ½ to 1 teaspoon teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Bring the water to boil in a shallow stockpot. Add the walnuts and boil for 1 minute.
- Pour the water and walnuts into a colander. Rinse the nuts with very hot water, shake the water out and rinse with hot water again. If you have an electric teakettle, it works great for getting really hot water to rinse the walnuts. You want the walnuts still warm to help dissolve the sugar. After rinsing, shake off as much water as possible.
- Pour ¼ cup of the sugar into the bottom of a large mixing bowl, toss in the drained walnuts and add the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the walnuts are coated.
- Sprinkle on the five-spice powder and stir to blend into the nuts.
- Before you begin to fry the walnuts, set a large sieve over a metal bowl to drain the walnuts. (Don’t lay them out on a paper towel to drain after frying. With the sugary coating the paper towels will stick to the walnuts.)
- Pour the oil into a deep saucepan until it is about 4” deep. Heat the oil over medium until it reaches 350-degrees.
- Working in batches, add about 1 to 1-1/2 cups of the walnuts to the hot oil. Be careful, the oil has a tendency to foam up and spatter when the nuts are added.
- Fry the walnuts for about 2 to 3 minutes until the walnuts are crisp and golden brown.
- Using a spider or slotted spoon, transfer the fried walnuts to the sieve to drain.
- Let the oil come back to temperature then add another batch of nuts.
- Drain each batch of the walnuts then transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. When you’re finished frying, sprinkle the kosher salt over the fried walnuts.
- Store in a sealed container for up to a week or bag and freeze.
Notes
I seldom fry anything but these are an exception. Yes, it's a bit of a process and yes, there's a bit of a mess to clean up afterwards. But they are so worth it!