So, my first blog post on how to smoke nuts on the Big Green Egg was redacted heavily by Ginny. I guess she just didn’t appreciate my smoked nuts humor…something about “inappropriate content.” Whatever! 🙂
I love, love, love these recipes. Smoking nuts around the holidays is especially fun! Ginny packages these into nice gift bags and I give them out at work as gifts. Well, at least I tell her that I give them out as gifts. I am always tempted to just stash them in my desk to eat myself!
During our last trip to the grocery store, we picked up raw unsalted nuts and seeds from the bulk food aisle. We had looked at Costco for them, but I didn’t need a 5lb bag of each! So, we mixed up some raw cashews, peanuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds. Any combination will do just fine.
Preparing the Smoked Nuts for the Big Green Egg
I set up the Big Green Egg for a Hot Smoking. Add the plate setter (feet side up) and try to get the temperature stabilized at 250 degrees. I had some hickory wood that I wanted to use for the smoke and soaked them for over an hour.
Just a pet peeve of mine, but adding chunks of wood to the big green egg with the plate setter in place can be a pain! I used the ash tool to carefully lift the edge of the plate setter and the grate to provide enough room to stick another few chunks of wood in after the first ones burned away.
It would have been easier to use the hickory wood chips, but I feel like these can burn away way too quickly.
Preparing the nuts
I included two recipes below. The first was a Dizzy Dust flavoring from Dizzy Pig in Manassas, Virginia. The second was a sweet and salty mix.
Some moisture is required for the flavoring to stick to the nuts. For the Dizzy Dust nuts, I soaked the nuts and seeds in water for about 10 minutes. For the sweet and salty mix, the butter and vanilla extract provided the moisture.
Mix the ingredients together and carefully pour them into a plastic ziplock bag. Add half a pound of the nut mixture to the bag and shake it to evenly coat the nuts.
Now for the fun part! Use a disposable pan and poke holes in the bottom to allow the smoke to penetrate. I used an old pair of scissors and poked several holes in the pan. It was easy to do, but did make a lot of noise.
Add the Nuts to the Big Green Egg
Open the ziplock bag and pour the nuts into the disposable pan. I found that about ½ pound of nuts was enough to have good coverage in the pan, but not too much for the smoke to easily flavor them. You also don’t want too many, as it will make it difficult to stir them around.
Close the lid of the BGE and monitor the temperature and the smoke. I left these on the grill for two hours, stirring once and adding a few extra wood chips.
When are the Smoked Nuts done?
You want the nuts to take on a nice toasty brown coloring. Depending on the temperature of the grill, it will take anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours.
When you remove them from the grill, let them rest for a couple of hours before eating. When they are fresh off the grill, they will still be a bit soft. Letting them rest gives them the opportunity to harden up. Soggy nuts just aren’t fun!
Which recipe did you like better? Do you have your own recipe that is your family favorite?
Ginny mentioned afterwards that these will be great to add to the Christmas baskets she makes for my job as a lot of my younger staff don’t reach for the cookies and sweets as much (I certainly don’t have that problem). Small bags made up will be perfect for those health conscious folks.
Ingredients
Sweet and Salty
- ½ cup butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp table salt
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Dizzy Dust Nuts
- 2 tbsp Dizzy Dust by Dizzy Pig
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
For both recipes:
- If the recipe does not have any liquid in it, soak the nuts and seeds in water for about 10 minutes. This is needed for the seasoning to stick to the nuts.
- Mix ingredients and toss with nuts in a ziplock bag.
- Place nuts in a tin pan that has holes punched in the bottom.
- Smoke for 90 minutes to 3 hours depending upon how quickly they brown at 250 degrees.
Note: I really love hickory wood for smoking nuts on the big green egg. It really adds a lot of flavor to the end product.
Notes
Nutrition
