Peanuts

By Food & Wine
Updated May 18, 2017
Credit: © Con Poulos
These crunchy recipes include kung pao turkey drumsticks and no-bake chocolate-peanut butter cookies.
Start Slideshow

1 of 19

Fried Peanuts with Asian Flavors

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
Go to Recipe

To make these addictive peanuts extra-tangy, Chris Yeo soaks them in lime juice before frying them and tossing them with tart shredded lime leaves. He served them at the Atlanta party because Georgia is the peanut capital of the country.

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 19

Maple-Glazed Peanuts & Bacon

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
Go to Recipe

"Because everything's better with bacon," reads the menu description for these addictive nuts. The sweet and salty snack has become so popular that the restaurant now sells it online in packs of three 8-ounce mason jars (theredheadnyc.com).

3 of 19

Red Curry Peanut Noodles

Go to Recipe

Whole-wheat spaghetti is one of Melissa Rubel Jacobson's favorite pastas because it is a good source of fiber and has an appealing chewiness. Here, she updates sesame noodles, a Chinese take-out classic, by giving the peanut sauce a hit of fiery red curry paste.

Advertisement

4 of 19

Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Cups

Go to Recipe

Use a fairly bitter dark chocolate to balance out the sweet, creamy peanut butter ganache filling and the tangy raspberry jam.

5 of 19

Best-Ever Nut Brittle

Credit: © Tina Rupp
Go to Recipe

Tina Ujlaki adapted this crunchy, buttery, slightly salty brittle from a recipe by pastry chef Karen DeMasco. When her children were younger, Tina would make it as a holiday gift for their teachers. As she recalls, "Come November, I'd start getting these looks from teachers who were hoping for the brittle but too shy to ask me about it."

6 of 19

Kung Pao Turkey Drumsticks

Go to Recipe

Turkey legs have become a staple of music festivals. These have a sticky ginger glaze, which helps a crunchy peanut-scallion mix stick.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 19

Garlic Peanut Sauce

Go to Recipe

Unlike most versions of this Asian condiment, which taste like overly sweet peanut butter, Chris Yeo's is spicy, nutty and just slightly fruity thanks to the coconut milk and tamarind he stirs in. The peanut sauce is terrific with the shrimp satay but just as good with almost any grilled or roasted meat or poultry.

8 of 19

Thai-Style Duck-and-Green-Papaya Salad

Credit: © Con Poulos
Go to Recipe

This main-course salad is tossed with a tomato-peanut dressing.

9 of 19

Tequila-Spiked Caramel Corn

Go to Recipe

More suited to a cocktail party than a baseball game, this riff on Cracker Jack by Atlanta pastry chef Taria Camerino is sweetened with agave nectar and spiked with tequila. Slow-baking turns the popcorn-nut mix fabulously crunchy.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 19

No-Bake Chocolate Ā–Peanut Butter Cookies

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
Go to Recipe

Grace Parisi's crumbly, ultra-peanutty cookies require only four ingredients: puffed-corn cereal, peanut butter cups, peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles. The powdery texture of the ground cereal prevents the cookies from feeling sticky.

11 of 19

Lao Mixed Salad with Peanuts and Fried Shallots

Go to Recipe

A specialty of Luang Prabang, chef Sebastien Rubis's refreshing salad is made with an array of delicious ingredients—greens, shallot, hard-cooked egg, salted peanuts, tomatoes and cucumber.

12 of 19

Tiki Snack Mix

Go to Recipe

This irresistible mix of soy-and-honey-glazed peanuts, bacon and chewy glazed pineapple is the perfect complement to tiki cocktails, combining Polynesian-inspired flavors in every bite.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 19

Vietnamese Coffee Sundaes with Crushed Peanut Brittle

Credit: © Kana Okada
Go to Recipe

The Vietnamese love drinking superstrong iced coffee combined with copious amounts of sweetened condensed milk. Joanne Chang created this simple ice cream sundae as a way to enjoy the same flavors. Shards of peanut brittle made with a generous pinch of cinnamon add great flavor and crunch.

14 of 19

Shrimp and Jicama Rolls with Chili-Peanut Sauce

Credit: © Dana Gallagher
Go to Recipe

At school in Vietnam, Charles Phan and his classmates would buy these chewy rice-paper rolls, filled with crunchy jicama and sweet shrimp, from enterprising street vendors who set up their stalls in the playground at dismissal time. Phan loves the neatness of including the sauce in the roll rather than serving it alongside, but he often makes extra for those who insist on dipping.

15 of 19

Linguine with Snow Peas, Cucumber, and Peanut Sauce

Go to Recipe

Pairing Suggestion: Choose a simple Kabinett Riesling from the Rheinhessen. These Rieslings' piquant juxtaposition of fruity acids and balancing sweetness is the perfect foil for the salty and spicy flavors of Asian cuisine.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 19

Chinese Chicken Salad

Go to Recipe

Joanne Chang prepares this salad when she's craving Chinese food but wants something light and easy. She sometimes makes it even crunchier by adding napa cabbage, cucumbers and carrots.

17 of 19

Mom's Nutty Granola

Credit: © Zubin Schroff
Go to Recipe

This granola recipe from Jessamyn Waldman's mother is more nutty than sweet. Says Waldman, "I love it because I'm not a sweet breakfast person myself."

18 of 19

Tiki Snack Mix

Go to Recipe

This irresistible mix of soy-and-honey-glazed peanuts, bacon and chewy glazed pineapple is the perfect complement to tiki cocktails, combining Polynesian-inspired flavors in every bite.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

19 of 19

Silky Chocolate Mousse with Peanut Butter Crunch

Credit: © Con Poulos
Go to Recipe

Any chocolate and peanut butter lover will adore this elegant dessert from pastry chef Rachel Lansang-Hidalgo of Manhattan's Aureole. Lansang-Hidalgo tops a rich milk-chocolate mousse with a roasted-peanut cream and addictively crunchy cornflakes mixed with peanut butter, milk chocolate and peanuts.

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

By Food & Wine