Roasted Cashews Recipe
Updated: June 12, 2025, By Swasthi
Roasted Cashews are a great protein-rich and nutritious snack enjoyed across the world. In this post I share how to roast cashews in an oven and on the stovetop in a pan. They are delicious, crunchy and naturally sweet but you can also spice and flavor them, the way you want. For the old readers, I still have the earlier version as recipe card 2, at the end of this post
I often stock up home roasted cashews in a jar. They come handy when I want to use as a topping or enjoy as a healthy snack. This recipe is quick and easily adaptable to your preference.
You need only one ingredient i.e. cashews to roast. But if you want to enjoy them as a flavored or spicy snack, spice up with chili powder, black pepper or any spice blends of choice. For an herby flavor you may use dried herbs.
Table of contents
I have shared my best spice blend in the recipe. I make this every few months and they get over very fast. If you are keeping them plain, you don’t need oil. But if you want to spice up or salt them use a small amount of cold pressed healthy oil like extra virgin olive oil, avocado or coconut oil.
Using a small quantity of oil helps the spices and salt to adhere to the cashews. Here are some faqs that may be helpful if you are a newbie.
Frequently Asked Questions
Always store raw cashews in an air tight glass jar, in the refrigerator, up to 3 months. Or freeze them packed in a zip lock bag, for a year.
Roasted cashews are best stored in an air tight jar, at room temperature in a low humid place. They keep good for 2 months if not seasoned with oil.
High quality cashew nuts are uniformly large & are labelled as king, jumbo, extra class or graded uniquely, depending on the country they were grown or sold.
Jumbo or large nuts that are uniform in size and ivory in color, without any dark spots are usually the best. They should be crisp, smell fresh and milky but not rancid.
Cashews can be used to make cashew butter, cashew milk, fruit & nut smoothie, kaju katli (fudge) and energy balls. You can also make cashew cream to use as a replacement to dairy/ heavy cream.
Cashews in any form like split, whole or broken can be toasted. But using uniform sized nuts helps in even toasting.
Photo Guide
How to roast Cashews (Stepwise photos)
1. Here is how to roast 1 kg cashew nuts. I have also given the recipe for a small batch for 1 cup in the recipe card below. Spread 1 kg whole cashews nuts on 2 prepared baking trays. If you are using half kg, use only one tray.
2. Place one tray in the center and the other below it. You don’t need to preheat the oven. Roast at 340 f or 170 c, for 13 mins, stirring after 8 minutes. Wear a mitten when you stir the cashews. If you find the cashews in one tray are getting baked faster, swap the trays or remove the one sooner than the other. If you are using a smaller oven or a OTG, cut down the temp to 150 C/ 300 F.
3. Add the spices
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder (omit if you don’t like)
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala or garam masala (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (adjust to taste)
4. Pour 1½ tablespoon organic extra olive oil or coconut oil.
5. Mix well.
6. If you baked in 2 trays, transfer everything to one tray. Pour the seasoning all over the hot nuts.
7. Mix with a spatula to coat the nuts well with the spices. I usually put back the trays in the oven (turned off) to make them extra crunchy. Cool down completely.
Store roasted cashews in a air tight jar and use up within a month.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card 1 – New recipe
Roasted Cashews Recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup (140 grams) whole raw cashews
Optional ingredients – to spice / season
- ¾ teaspoon organic extra virgin olive oil or avocado or any other of choice
- â…› teaspoon sea salt
- â…› teaspoon red chili powder (double if you want)
- â…› teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch ground dried ginger
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 pinch chaat masala (or garam masala, adjust to taste)
Instructions
Roast Cashew nuts in a pan on the stovetop
- Add the cashews to a heavy bottom pan and roast on a medium heat, stirring constantly until crunchy, for 5 to 6 mins. Turn off the heat.
- Optional – Add the oil. Coat the nuts with oil well. Mix all the spices and sprinkle.
Roasting Cashews in Oven
- Spread the cashews in a prepared baking tray and place in the center rack. Turn on the oven and roast/bake at 340 F (170 C) for 13 mins, stirring well after 8 mins.
- Optional – Spicing: Add all the spices to a small bowl and mix well with oil. Add it over the toasted cashew nuts and mix with a spatula to spread the spices well.
Bake 1 kg cashew nuts in 2 trays
- Spread the cashews in 2 prepared trays. Place the first one in the center and the other below it. Turn on the oven and roast/bake them at 340 F (170 C) for 13 mins, stirring well after 8 mins.
- Transfer all the roasted cashews to one tray. Mix together all the spices and oil in a small bowl. Pour over the cashews and coat them with a wooden spatula until well coated.
- I usually put back the nuts in the oven (turned off), with the door left azar so they turn extra crisp. Transfer to an air tight container. Store at room temperature in a dry place and use up within a month.
Notes
- The nutrition values are for 1 cup cashews without the optional ingredients.
- You don’t need to preheat the oven.
- If you are using an OTG or a smaller oven, reduce the temperature to 300 F /150 C. The lower tray finishes faster so remove it early.
- Every oven is different. In some ovens the food in the top rack gets done faster than the bottom tray while it may be vice versa in others. If you are roasting in 2 trays at one time, keep this in mind. Either swap the trays, half way or keep an eye to avoid burning.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Recipe Card 2 – Masala Kaju
Masala Kaju (Indian Spicy Roasted Cashews)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup cashews (130 grams)
- â…“ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder (refer notes)
- ¼ teaspoon chaat masala (or amchur, optional)
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (or ½ tsp ginger powder, ½ teaspoon garlic powder)
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain, optional)
- 1 sprig curry leaves (or 8 mint leaves or 1 tsp any herbs)
- ¼ cup gram flour (optional, may omit, 35 grams besan, 1 tbsp more if needed)
- 2 tablespoons rice flour (16 grams, ½ tbsp more if needed) (optional, may omit)
- 2 tablespoons water (more if needed)
- 1 tablespoon oil (skip for air fryer)
Instructions
- Rinse and fine chop curry leaves or any herbs of your choice. Preheat oven at 360 For 180 C for 15 mins. Grease a baking tray or line it with a parchment paper or foil.
- Add cashews to a mixing bowl and rinse them well under running water. Drain the water completely.
- To the cashews, add salt, ginger garlic, chaat masala, curry leaves, ajwain and red chilli powder.
- Mix them well. If you want to omit the flour, just spread them on the baking tray and put them in the oven at this stage.
- Then add gram flour and rice flour. Begin to coat the cashews with the flour. At this stage there will be a lot of dry flour.
- Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons water and mix well adding more only as needed. All of the cashews should be coated well with the dough.
- Avoid adding too much water as the dough comes off the cashews. Check step-by-step picture.
- Taste test the dough and sprinkle some salt if you prefer. Lastly spray or pour oil and gently mix. Do not overmix else the dough will begin to clump & come off the cashews.
- If all of the cashews are not coated well with the masala, then you can sprinkle more flour on top and mix gently.
Baking in oven
- Spread them gently on a baking tray. If any of the cashews aren’t covered with the masala, coat them with the dough. Roast them at 180 C for 7 mins.
- After 7 mins, give a gentle stir and continue to bake for another 8 to 9 mins until crisp and golden. If you are making without flour, check after 14 mins. Adjust the timing as needed depending on your oven. If they are still soft, bake them a little longer. Keep checking after baking for a total of 15 mins.
To deep fry
- Heat ¼ cup oil on a medium heat in a small deep kadai. When the oil turns hot, loosen the cashews from one other and add a few at a time. Fry on a medium heat until golden and crisp. Towards the end, fry on low heat for a golden color. Remove to a colander.
Air fryer
- Place them in the air fryer basket and air fry at 180 C for 5 mins. After that gently separate any large clumps and continue to air fry for 3 mins.
- They are done when they turn deep golden. They will be slightly soft when done but will firm up and become crunchy after cooling. Adjust the timing as needed, mine is done at 8 mins.
- Cool masala cashews completely and store in an air tight jar.
Notes
Using a lot of spices will alter the flavor.
Adjust the baking and air fryer time as needed depending on the oven.
Do not let cashews soak for too long.
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Hi
Thanks for the recipe!
I have tried it last month and was trying to do it again, but looks like the recipe has been changed from rinsing cashews to frying them before adding seasoning… I liked the previous one for sure … I hope the new one tastes just as good 🤞
Hi Divya,
Yes that was a 4 year old recipe. I have been making this newer version more often in the last 2 years, due to my boys’ preference. I think the newer version keeps the cashews crunchy for longer. So I thought of updating it. I will put back the old one for you as recipe 2, at the end. Hope that helps
Thank you, Swathi …
Your original recipe is too good and never lasts in my pantry for more than a few days! So I am good 😊
But, I will still try your new recipe sometime!
That’s nice to know Divya.
I like it so much send me your spicy healthy recipes dishes for me please .
Thank you!