Nigella's Bar Nuts

5 from 3 votes

Recipe video above. Mixed nuts lightly coated in a rosemary butter with a hint of sweet, spiciness and just the right amount of salt! These nuts are from Union Square Cafe in New York via Nigella Lawson. So simple I might've overlooked it, but I adore Nigella, and if she says it's worth making, I'm in! And of course she's right - these are a hit every time, fabulous with wine or for anytime snacking.

Nigella uses just nuts, but I added pretzels then I couldn't look back. :) I also prefer to finely chop the rosemary rather than coarsely chop, as I like how it gets into every nook and cranny!

Prep Time7

Cook Time10

Total Time17

Course: Snacks

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: bar nuts, cocktail nuts, flavoured nuts, spiced nuts

Servings:

Calories: 351cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

500g/ 16 oz (4 slightly heaped cups) unsalted mixed nuts , roasted (Note 1)
1 1/2 cups mini pretzels , or another 100g/3.5oz nuts (scant 1 cup)

Rosemary butter seasoning

2 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves (20cm/8" sprig) (Note 2)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (faint background warmth, can omit)
1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar , or regular brown usgar
2 1/2 tsp salt flakes , halve the amount for cooking salt, kosher salt, Fleur de sel, fine sea salt (Note 3)
2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter , melted

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°F fan-forced).
Toast 10 minutes - Spread the nuts and pretzels on a tray and toast for 10 minutes, tossing at the 5 minute mark.
Rosemary butter - Mix the butter ingredients together in a large bowl using a rubber spatula.
Coat - Pour the hot nuts in, then toss well until you see no dry patches on any nut. Serve warm!

Notes

1. Mixed nuts - peanuts, cashews, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, almonds. Anything, really!

2. Fresh rosemary is best here for its fragrant flavour, it is what makes these simple nuts so good! But if you only have dried, use 2 1/2 tsp and finely chop it. Then after tossing the nuts in the butter, I would pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes to bring out the flavour of the dried rosemary.

3. Salt flakes - I rarely share recipes solely dependent on salt flakes but here, the light flakes distribute and coat the nuts evenly so you don't get concentrated salty pops. They also stick better to the nuts than salt grains because they're lighter.

For the other types of salt listed, use half the amount, taste, then add more if needed.

Recipe source: Adapted from this Bar Nuts recipe by Nigella Lawson. I added mini pretzels, so scaled up the seasoning (so I could stick with using a 500g/1lb packet of nuts). I also increased the butter from 1 to 2 tablespoons so the mixture was more fluid to coat everything easily. I also finely chop rather than coarsely chop the rosemary as I like how you get a more subtle rosemary flavour that disperses all through the nuts and sticks a bit better too.

Leftovers will keep for weeks, as long as the nuts were fresh. They really are extra good warm though I've probably snacked on more of them at room temperature. :)

Nutrition per serving assuming 10 servings.

Nutrition