Roasted vs Dry Roasted

By Coach Maria - Salus Nutritionist & Food Expert

Snacking on a handful of roasted nuts is a super-convenient way to get your healthy fats, right? 

 

Yes....and....no.

 

If you are eating roasted nuts, the first thing you might do is look at the ingredients list and find that there are only the nuts, oil and salt.  Only 3 ingredients....good, right?

 

Seems innocent enough. 

 

Then you notice that the oil used is a highly refined, industrial seed oil that contributes to all inflammatory diseases like:

 

• cardiovascular disease
• type 2 diabetes
• obesity
• metabolic syndrome
• IBS & IBD
• autoimmune disease
• rheumatoid arthritis

 

Not so healthy after all.

 

To top that off, you may not have realized that there's a difference between Roasted and Dry-Roasted nuts.  When consuming the commercially prepared roasted nuts, did you know that those nuts are actually deep-fried in those highly refined and highly oxidized oils!?

 

Yep, it's perfectly legal for food manufacturers to take a food that is 60% fat, deep fry it in oil and call it roasted. 

 

Your best choice?

 

Purchasing Dry-Roasted nuts that contain only the nut and salt.

 

Your better-than-best choice?

 

Purchasing raw nuts and oven-roasting them yourself for the freshest tasting roast flavor (who knows how long ago the purchased nuts were actually roasted!).

 

Raw nuts are great, I eat them, but when I roast them myself,  it adds depth to the texture and flavor, and tastes much better than the roasted nuts you get at the store.

I dare you to try it just once - it's easy!

 

Ingredients

 

Raw almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, or even sunflower seeds

Sea salt 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread a single layer of nuts on a baking sheet.
3. Baking times will vary from oven to oven.  Smaller nuts like pine nuts will take around 5-7 minutes, larger nuts like chestnuts will take around 20-25 minutes (see chart below).
4. Remove from oven once they get a golden brown color.
5. Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.

 

 

Variations:

 

• Prior to roasting, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of walnut oil (or any other nut oil) for added flavor - mix well until thoroughly coated and sprinkle with some sea salt.
• As soon as they are done roasting, drizzle with some coconut aminos* to taste, stir well so it is evenly distributed, absorbed and evaporated into the nut.
• For a spicy variety, sprinkle with hot sauce to taste, stir well as directed with coconut aminos.  You can also use hot seasoning of choice, instead, and sprinkle before or after roasting.

*Look for coconut aminos at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, or our local nutrition store.

 

Nut	Time
Almonds (sliced)	7-10 minutes
Almonds (whole)	10 minutes
Cashews Chestnuts	15 minutes 25 minutes
Hazelnuts	12-15 minutes
Macadamia Nuts	12-15 minutes
Pecans	10-15 minutes
Pine Nuts	5 minutes
Walnuts	10-15 minutes