In middle school, my best friend’s mom and grandmother hosted a New Year’s Eve slumber party for a few of us close girlfriends at their house across town. Since I practically lived over there (I even called her grandma “Nana” and little sister “Sissy!”), I arrived early in the afternoon and helped out with the last-minute party preparations.
Her mother loved to entertain, so she always bought plenty of festive decorations and accessories from Party City, like “Happy New Year!” banners, themed paper plates and napkins, sparkly tiaras, gold and silver beaded necklaces… And enough colorful silly string and loud party poppers for nearly twenty people to celebrate at midnight, even though there were only six of us girls!
While we counted down the hours, we usually watched a chick flick or two and played card games while nibbling on the appetizers and snacks my friend’s mom set out on the kitchen counter. She supplied us with plenty of food: cheese cubes, crackers, Chex Mix, Goldfish, chips and salsa, a huge hand-sliced crudités platter with dip, and a batch of her famous slow cooker cocktail “smokies.” She always left many bottles of sparkling apple cider in the fridge, too!
Since we all enjoyed our sweets, she also gave us lots of desserts and candy. Chewy chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, fudgy brownies… The mini-sized Reese’s, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, Twix, Hershey’s kisses… And so many Tootsie Rolls. Those were Nana’s favorite, so my friend’s mom always bought the biggest bag she could find since Nana snuck so many from the bowl!
Although I still have a huge sweet tooth and would happily polish off all of those desserts and candies, I don’t want to tempt fate and earn myself a stomachache this New Year’s Eve… So I’ll be making a batch of these easy 5 Minute Candied Pecans to snack on instead! They’re sweet and crunchy, and according to one of my childhood friends, their cozy cinnamon flavor makes them taste just like pecan pie!
In other words… They’re dangerously addictive.
Many traditional recipes for candied nuts require baking them in the oven for an hour and tossing multiple times partway through to prevent burning. But… I don’t have the time or patience for that, so we’re making this easier recipe on the stove instead. This also means you get to start snacking that much sooner!
To begin, you’ll need pecans. Both halves and chopped pecans work, but I prefer the latter since there’s more surface area showing and therefore a larger cinnamon-sugar-to-nut ratio. (Is “cinnamonaholic” a word? Because I’m definitely one!) Since pecans are fairly soft nuts, I break the larger ones into pieces by hand, but chopping them with a knife works just as well.
The sweetness in the candied coating comes from Truvia, which is made from stevia. Steiva is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly. You can find tubs of Truvia on the baking aisle of nearly every grocery store near the regular sugar, as well as online. This is the exact package that I buy.
To the Truvia, you’ll add cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a tiny bit of water. You just need enough water to moisten the other three ingredients, but not enough to make the mixture runny. This little trick helps the coating process go much faster on the stove!
To start, you’ll toast the pecans for a couple of minutes in a small pan over medium heat. Once they begin to smell fragrant, add in the Truvia mixture. The Truvia will melt almost immediately, so stir constantly with a spatula until all of the nuts have been coated. Then pour the pecans onto a sheet of foil, and let them cool until they’re hard and crunchy.
That’s all there is to it!
Dangerously simple. Dangerously quick. Dangerously addictive!
| 5-Minute Candied Pecans | | Print |
- 3 tbsp (40g) Truvia
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon, or to taste
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tsp water
- 1 cup (112g) pecan halves, left whole or chopped
- Cut a large sheet of foil, and place it on the counter.
- In a small bowl, stir together the Truvia, cinnamon, and salt. Mix in the water until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the pecans to a small pan, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Reduce the heat to medium, and add the cinnamon mixture. Stir constantly with a spatula until the pecans are completely coated. Transfer the mixture to the prepared foil, and let the pecans cool completely to room temperature and the coating has hardened and turned crunchy.
Granulated sugar or brown sugar can be substituted for the Trvuia.
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low carb, sugar-free}
Nice – thank you and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you as well Liz! 🙂
These are fab…and so easy!
Thanks Chris! 🙂
Whenever I’m at professional sporting even it is sooo hard for me to walk by the vendors that sell the candied nuts because they look and smell so delicious! Can’t wait to try a healthier version.
That’s exactly how I feel about churros and jumbo soft pretzels Melissa! 😉 I hope you enjoy these pecans if you try them!
Hi, would xylitol work in this recipe?
I haven’t tried xylitol before, but because it’s a sugar alcohol, I’d be very hesitant to substitute it. The sweetener needs to melt and caramelize just like sugar for these pecans to turn out properly, and I’m not convinced that xylitol does that. I’d love to hear what you think if you try them Danielle!
If you sub real or brown sugar, are the measurements the same? And could you do 1/2 suger & 1/2 brown sugar? Thanks!
Yes to both! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the pecans Marcia!
Could I substitute liquid or powdered stevia or swerve?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Sherri! From my experience, those sweeteners don’t caramelize properly, so I don’t recommend it. If you aren’t comfortable using Truvia, then you can substitute coconut sugar to keep these clean-eating friendly! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these pecans!
Hey! I just made these using Swerve (granulated) and they were great! I actually increased the pecans to 2 cups, and i used maybe 2 tablespoons of water, because i wanted to make sure everyone got coated (the extra water just evaporates when cooking) I poured them onto parchment and popped them right into the fridge so i could eat ASAP! I’m not sure what the texture is when using Trivia, but i can assure you that the texture is great when using Swerve 🙂
Wonderful!! Thank you SO much for sharing that granulated Swerve works, Staci! I’m thrilled to hear that. My tummy actually prefers Swerve to Truvia, so I’m excited to try that myself! 🙂
I just made these for the first time and they are super yummy, but they are really sticky. Did I do something wrong? Or do I just need to have them sit longer? They are cool, but maybe not cool enough? I doubled the recipe to take on a ladies retreat this weekend and am just worried it going to be difficult to snack on with sticky fingers.
I’m so honored that you made these for such a special occasion Corrie! 🙂 I found that they continued to harden the longer I left them. (I actually left mine on the counter overnight!) Would you mind reporting back tomorrow and letting me know if that worked for you?
So after letting them sit out overnight they seemed to not be as sticky. Thanks for the tip!
Yay!! I’m so glad that worked Corrie! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂 Have a fun time on your girls’ weekend!
Do you think that liquid honey would work in this recipe?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Bette! Unfortunately, liquid honey won’t work. It’ll stay sticky and won’t harden like Truvia, brown sugar, or granulated sugar. If you’d like a different clean-eating friendly sweetener, then coconut sugar should work! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these pecans!
I really am excited to try this recipe. I recently found a new very low carb sweetener called LC White. They also offer brown powdered sweeteners. I will try it out and see how it works
I can’t wait to hear how the LC White sweetener works, Karen! 🙂
Just made these for the first time. I am so glad I doubled the recipe
I used unrefined coconut palm sugar instead of Truvia and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. (3/4 t if not doubled…) I also cooled them on parchment paper sprayed with Pam because I was out of foil when the craving hit.
Definitely will make these agsin! Quick, easy and delivioud. What more can you ask for?!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these pecans Tina! Thanks for sharing your recipe modifications — I always love to hear what tweaks work! 🙂
Holy crap these are good! Been on keto for 3 months looking for just the right snack and these are perfect. Better than any keto cookies or other I’ve had. Yummmm. I just used less truvia but otherwise the same. I’m in love with them! Nice call on crunching them up a bit before.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these candied pecans Jason! That means a lot to me that you’d call them better than any keto cookies you’ve had — what a huge compliment! 🙂