Walnuts

By Food & Wine

Updated March 15, 2018

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Abby Hocking

Walnuts are packed with nutrients, and thanks to a relatively mild flavor, can be used in a variety of dishes. They’re a great substitute for pine nuts in pesto, can be turned into a savory salad dressing, and add great flavor and texture to cookies and brownies. Here, our best recipes showcasing walnuts.

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Honey-Walnut Bars

Buttery and crisp on the bottom and gooey and nutty on the top, these bar cookies from pastry chef and cookbook author Mindy Segal combine honey and two types of salt in the rich caramel topping.

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Celery Root Bisque with Walnut-Parsley Gremolata

Credit: © Con Poulos

Food & Wine's Kay Chun sneaks a small piece of Parmesan cheese into this lovely soup, giving it a flavor boost. To make it extra special, she serves the silky bisque topped with a nutty, crunchy and vibrant walnut-and-parsley gremolata.

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Walnut Snowball Cookies

These buttery, crumbly, sugar-dusted cookies are irresistible. Jerusalem cooks personalize them with different nuts and aromatic flavorings, like rose water or cardamom.

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Mixed-Greens-and-Herb Salad with Figs and Walnuts

Credit: JOHN KERNICK

Using whole herb leaves adds bursts of flavor to this salad. If you can find good fresh figs, use them here in place of dried ones.

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Apple-and-Pear Galette with Walnut Streusel

Credit: Con Poulos

This free-form galette is so much less fussy to make than a traditional pie. It has great flavor and texture from both apples and pears and the crunchy streusel on top. Using unpeeled apples and pears saves time and cuts down on waste.

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Pappardelle with Summer Squash and Arugula-Walnut Pesto

Credit: © Con Poulos

This recipe is a fantastic showcase for superfresh summer squash. F&W's Kay Chun cuts zucchini and yellow squash lengthwise into ribbons on a mandoline, then tosses them with hot pasta so they just barely cook.

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Raisin-Walnut Babka

Credit: © Con Poulos

Pastry chef Melissa Weller of Sadelle's in New York City swirls this light and buttery babka with a golden raisin puree, studs it with dark raisins and walnuts and tops it with a luscious cinnamon glaze.

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Leek Salad with Walnuts and Tomme de Brebis

Credit: Tina Rupp

Leeks turn sweet and luscious simmered in salted water and dressed with a simple red wine vinaigrette. Chef Armand Arnal heightens the flavor with fresh toasted walnuts and shavings of the firm farmstead sheep's-milk cheese Tomme de Brebis.

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Grilled Pizza with Prosciutto, Blue Cheese and Walnuts

Credit: © The Food Gays

Have you ever grilled your pizza before? It's a simple yet effective way of switching up pizza night, and because of the speediness of cooking directly on an open flame, your pie is ready to devour in just a few minutes. Our simple dough recipe comes together in under an hour, and makes enough for four people... or in our case, two hungry Food Gays.

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Banana-Walnut Coffee Cake Muffin Tops

These banana muffin tops taste slightly grown-up, thanks to the hit of espresso powder.

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Crunchy Walnut Toffee

This toffee makes a great topping for sweet potatoes.

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Cheese Tortellini with Walnut Pesto

Credit: Christina Holmes

Here's one of the quickest pesto sauces you'll come across. It's a perfect match for cheese tortellini, but you can use other tortellini such as mushroom or meat instead. The pesto is also great with just about any plain pasta.

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Sweet-and-Spicy Sesame Walnuts

A gentle heat makes these seasoned walnuts ideal with cocktails.

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Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Walnut Crust

Credit: © JAMES BAIGRIE

This creamy dessert is perfect for any holiday.

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Cranberry-Walnut Tart with Buckwheat Crust

Credit: © Kristin Perers

This gorgeous tart has a wheaty, cookie-like crust, a creamy walnut filling and a topping of glistening cranberries. The recipe is from Claire Ptak of London's cult-favorite Violet Bakery.

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Dark-Chocolate Bark with Walnuts and Dried Cherries

Credit: © LAURA RESEN

Beauty Guru Bobbi Brown finds that a small piece of bittersweet chocolate is the perfect indulgence. Not only is dark chocolate full of antioxidants, it is mood enhancing in its own right. This recipe, from F&W's Grace Parisi, gets an extra boost from walnuts (an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids) and dried cherries (high in fiber and minerals).

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Walnut Crescents 

Credit: Abby Hocking

These crumbly and buttery walnut crescents from Nadine Redzepi are supersimple and total crowd-pleasers. If you’re not a walnut fan, you can use pecans or hazelnuts instead.

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