How To Toast Pecans In The Oven Or On The Stove

Whether you're using pecans for a warm pie or sweet pralines, topping them on salads and oatmeal bowls, or even just munching on them raw, toasting these nuts is a crucial step if you want them to have awesome crunch. Pecans have a buttery texture that's even softer than most nuts, so unless you toast them, you won't be able to unlock their potential for a crisp bite. Moreover, toasting will help unlock the oils that are naturally present inside, giving the morsels a richer, stronger, and nuttier flavor than before. It's also a key step to deepening pecans' sweet, floral, and earthy aroma, and giving them an intense golden-brown color.

There are several ways to toast pecans, including popping them in the microwave. But if you really want that deep color and brittle crunch, you'll want to stick to warming them in an oven or on the stove. Additionally, it's best not to confuse toasting with roasting. The former applies dry heat to get a crispier result, whereas the latter involves heating pecans in some sort of fat like an oil, which will yield a slightly chewier batch that's greasier than their lightly toasted counterparts. Besides, toasting is very easy to do, and with a few steps, you'll have warm, crunchy pecans in minutes!

The first step for toasting pecans is to pick the best nuts. Go for any that have a light brown color rather than a deeper hue, and which look more plump rather than dry and shriveled as these are cues they will be the freshest options. You could even give them a taste: Fresh pecans will have a mellow sweetness whereas stale ones will taste rancid and bitter.

For best results, consider opting for whole pecan halves rather than chopped-up pieces to toast. Because they are usually a uniform size, pecan halves will toast more evenly. On the flip side, chopped pieces are uneven, which means you might be left with some nuts that are undercooked whereas others are burned and black. If your recipe specifically calls for chopped pecans, you can always dice them up once they are done toasting. Of course, you can still toast chopped pecans if you must, but make sure to keep a very close eye on the batch so they don't burn.

Toasting pecans using the even heat of an oven is the best way to go if you want them to have the deepest color and a uniform crunch. Plus, it's the ideal method if you're planning to toast a large batch of pecans at once. To do so, begin by preheating your appliance to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Preheating allows the pecans to start toasting as soon as they hit the hot oven, and it also helps give them a more even bake.

While the oven is warming up, take a baking tray and line it with some parchment paper or aluminum foil — this will minimize any mess and leave you with less cleaning to do after. The most important part is to lay the nuts flat on the tray in a single layer so that each one toasts evenly. Ideally, either pick a tray that's large enough to accommodate all your pecans, or consider toasting them in batches. No matter what you do, make sure that you're not overcrowding the nuts together.

Once the oven is nice and hot, slide the tray of pecans inside and bake them at a low 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pecans can go from pale to toasted brown to burned rather quickly, but keeping the oven at a low temperature minimizes the chances of them burning. Additionally, make sure to keep checking on the nuts and flipping them frequently as they toast so that you get an even bake.

Ideally, pecans need only six to 10 minutes to toast in the oven. However, the exact time will depend on whether your nuts are halves or small chopped-up pieces, and how large each batch is. In general though, you'll know that your pecans are perfectly toasty when they have a deep brown color, or when there's an intense nutty aroma in your kitchen and you hear a faint sizzling sound from the oven. You can always bite into a pecan to check its crunch level, too. That said, the nuts will get more crunchy once they cool down, so don't worry if the still-warm morsels have a slight softness to them; they just shouldn't be too tender.

After the pecans have toasted to your liking, remove the tray from the oven and let the nuts cool in the same pan. Transfer them to another plate or container only once they have fully cooled down, as the lingering heat may make them soggy.

Another excellent way to toast pecans is to pop them in a skillet and heat them on the stove. This is an especially great method if you're toasting a small batch of nuts (about a half-cup or so) as it gives you more control over how much they brown or crisp up. To do so, place the nuts in a dry cast iron or a stainless steel pan and warm them over medium heat until there's a delicate fragrance wafting from them — this can take about five minutes.

Like the oven method, it's important to place pecans in a single layer and not overcrowd the pan while toasting the nuts on your stove. Keep a close eye on them and make sure to keep stirring often, too — direct heat from the stove only cooks them more quickly and makes them more susceptible to burning. When your pecans are ready, remove the pan from the heat, and transfer the nuts to another cool utensil immediately. This will halt the cooking process and prevent your pecans from burning.

Just because toasting requires heating dry nuts (AKA without fats and seasonings), it doesn't mean that you can't toss your pecans in oil, butter, and flavorings afterwards to really play up their taste. However, the trick is to do so while the nuts are still warm as this will help the seasonings stick to them better.

You can keep things as simple as drizzling some melted butter or a splash of oil over the nuts and tossing them in salt. Or, you could sprinkle spices like red pepper powder for some heat, and cinnamon for an added warmth. There's also the option of using a medley of spices like cumin, cardamom, cayenne, and cinnamon to give them a savory depth. 

You could even go the sweet route and coat the toasted pecans in crunchy brown sugar or thick maple syrup, and then eat them plain or toss them in this vegan pumpkin pecan rice pudding recipe. Alternatively, turn your toasted nuts into moist cappuccino cinnamon pecan muffins, or add them as a crunchy autumnal topping to spruce up your everyday green beans — the possibilities are truly endless.