Easy Cinnamon Candied Almonds are sweet, crunchy and make your house smell amazing! They can be made in less than 10 minutes and make a great snack for your next holiday party.
These candied almonds with cinnamon and vanilla are one of my favorite holiday treats! I always get some when we visit winter festivals and Christmas markets but it’s so easy to make this popular winter snack at home.
You just need a few simple ingredients and a large nonstick pan to transform simple almonds into something super delicious. These roasted almonds also make a great holiday gift that everyone will enjoy. Just put them in a cute glass jar and tie a ribbon around it.
Making candied nuts is really easy! All you need to do is stir until the sugar crystalizes. Do yourself a favor and make a batch! I promise you’ll love these cinnamon almonds!
How to make Candied Almonds Easy
The easy and fast way to make candied almonds is using a pan and cooking them in a cinnamon-sugar-water-mixture until all the water has evaporated and the sugar crystalizes and coats the almonds. As long as you stir constantly the almonds won’t burn and you have crunchy, sweet roasted almonds in less than 15 minutes.
Are sugared almonds healthy?
These candied almonds are definitely not healthy if you eat large amounts. But my recipe uses less sugar than others and gets you the same sweet flavor. So these almonds are healthier than other candied nuts and are less bad for you than the ones you can buy at winter festivals.
How long do candied almonds last
These cinnamon roasted almonds keep fresh at room temperature for one to two weeks, covered. I find they lose a little bit of their crunch if they are not stored in an airtight container so I like to store mine in a Tupperware container in the fridge. If you make a batch for a party I would make them the day before or on the same day for the best flavor.
Looking for more holiday recipes?
- Easy Mulled Wine Liqueur
- Orange Cranberry Moscow Mule
- German Christmas Punch (Kinderpunsch)
- Vanillekipferl (German Vanilla Crescent Cookies)
Tools used to make these Candied Almonds
Baking Mat: I love these mats! They are super affordable and easy to clean.
Cinnamon: I go through so much cinnamon this time of the year so I bought this one to always have it on hand!
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Easy Cinnamon Candied Almonds
Ingredients
- 2 tsp butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups whole almonds
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Grease the baking mat/parchment paper with butter.
- In a nonstick pan, combine sugar, water, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add almonds. Cook and stir the mixture until the water has evaporated. It will change from liquid to syrup to a stringy consistency and then crystalize onto the almonds. Be sure to stir consistently throughout.
- Pour the almonds onto the prepared baking sheet and separate them with forks or a spatula. Let cool for about 15 minutes.
- Store almonds in an airtight container.
Nutrition Information
Maxine B says
Fantastic for a night snack and so easy to make. A sprinkling of maldon sea salt at the end finished them off perfectly. Thank You.
Tiffany Kennington says
Roasted nuts, raw nuts, or either or? Thank you
Recipe Tester says
Just a few thoughts for what it’s worth–
* I have tried the recipe as-is, works fantastic!
Brown sugar, I tried it with this as well. I ran out of enough regular granulated sugar one day when making these. ended up doing half brown sugar/half regular granulated.
For me, this is my favorite variation, as it gave it a bit more depth of flavor. I also adjusted the cinnamon to 1 TBS as well…just because I prefer more myself.
These are just little adjustments that suit my personal preferences, but overall, the main recipe as is, still fantastic. I just wanted to share those thoughts with anyone who may have questions about brown sugar and come across this later on.
Jade M says
Easy and yummy
Mary Lou says
What temperature do you require
shadowlesss says
I bought some smoked and salted whole almonds. I followed this recipe and it did not disappoint. The mixture crystalized perfectly to the almonds and everyone loved them. Medium heat, nonstick pan, electric range.
Ms.D says
I am currently making this now and it’s coming along well ☺️
Jessica says
I experienced a result similar to other reviews. My syrup crystallized into a powder which didn’t stick to the almonds well. I now have boiled almonds – lightly dusted with sugars dust and a cup of sugar dust in the bottom of the pan. Followed directions exactly. Maybe you’re supposed to pull from heat before the crystallized / fully evaporated state? I certainly didn’t need to separate them with forks. They aren’t stuck together at all.
Julia Foerster says
So weird! I’ve made this recipe often and never had this happen so I’m not sure what went wrong, Jessica. Did the syrup never stick to the almonds? Perhaps you cooked them too long.
Texanna Wehrung says
We were recently gifted with Whitley’s sugar coated almonds. Love them so I’m looking for a recipe to make them myself. I just wanted to add to the comments that my mother made delicious candies of all sorts. She would not make her candy on rainy or very humid days, just on sunny days. She always said that the weather affected how the candy would setup. Perhaps this would affect this recipe.
Wendy says
Same thing happed to mine – dry dusted nuts – but they taste great regardless. Also I did half walnuts. I’ll try it again.
Julia Foerster says
I’m not sure why some people have this problem. It might be the type of stove, I have an induction stove. So perhaps use a lower heat setting.
Jane says
Can I use brown sugar as opposed to regular sugar?
Julia Foerster says
I haven’t tested the recipe with brown sugar so I’m not sure.
Barba Peterson says
Electric stove 15 plus minutes stirring no crystals. Plated & sprinkled with sugar… Fingers crossed.
Nikki says
My sugar topping crystallized but did not still well to the almonds. It went through the stages and dried but didn’t stick. Any ideas? The topping tastes good, but at least half of it is not on the almonds…just on the cookie sheet.
I have an electric stove, medium heat, and stirred constantly.
Cmw says
I had made these 3 x and they came out perfect and i loved them. Time 4,5, and 6 the mixture decides to burn before crystilizing and I’m super bummed about it. I used the same pan, same burner. Any ideas what I could be doing?
Kay says
My almonds didn’t crystallize ..what did I do wrong?
Julia Foerster says
Either you cooked it at a too low temperature or not long enough.
Dmb says
These are Fantastic! Fast, easy & so delicious! Equally good when made with pecans. I saw the comment about not crystalizing when using a gas stove— my stove is gas so I was concerned about that remark, but it worked fine for me.
Marcia says
I have made this many times on an electric stove. Today I used a gas stove and the sugar mixture wouldn’t crystallize. What did I do wrong?
Ms.D says
Mine did crystallized and I used a gas stove
Tina Matson says
Love!! I doubled the batch and used 2 cups almonds and 2 cups pecans… so delicious!! Peter for a holiday treat!! THANKS 😊🎄
Elisabeth says
I made these last week they were wonderful although the almond was not as crunchy as I would have liked. Can I lightly toast the almonds first? Also when do you use the butter in the recipe?
Julia Foerster says
Yes, you can lightly toast them. Also, make sure that the raw almonds are fresh, if they have been sitting around for too long they tend to lose their crunch. The butter is used in step 1 to grease the baking mat/parchment paper.
Jeff says
Can you use pecans instead?
Julia Foerster says
Pecans sound delicious! I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure.
E says
Pretty good. Easy…needs a little salt.
Sondra says
Can you make these almonds with diet sugar? Will it crystallize like sugar?
Julia Foerster says
Sorry, I have never tried using diet sugar in this recipe, so I can’t help. But I don’t think it will crystallize.
Erin says
Ok, there has been a lot of comments on when the almonds are crystallized. First time trying these. Took a little trial and error. I have an electric stove. Set my stove to medium-high. Once you add the almonds. The syrup will get very stringy. What you want to happen is to have all the syrup melt onto your almonds. When they are done there will be no syrup left in your pan and it will all be stuck to your almonds. Don’t stop stirring until this happens. Your pan should be dry with no liquid left. Once you get to this stage..dump your almond on your buttered cookie try. I just used parchment paper and spray it with pam cooking spray. Hope this helps.