How To Roast Almonds

Almonds are a huge source of nutrients and are incredibly versatile. They can be used in smoothies, as a snack on their own or crushed into smooth particles that are great for crusting fish or poultry. Sometimes, all you can find in the grocery stores are either an abundance of salted and seasoned almonds or completely raw almonds. Other times, the pre-roasted almonds are quite a bit more expensive than the raw almonds for the exact same amount.

Obviously, you don’t want to consume raw almonds. So buy the lower priced raw almonds and roast them yourself at home- it’s super easy.

  1. Take a bottom-heavy pan or skillet and heat it at medium to medium high depending on the strength of your stove or if you’re using gas versus electric. With electric you almost always want to go on the higher setting whereas with gas, you’ll go with the medium heat.
  2. Place almonds in the skillet. Don’t overcrowd; you can add enough almonds to cover the bottom of the skillet. If you overcrowd, they won’t roast evenly and you’ll get some that are overcooked and some will still be raw.
  3. Dry roast the almonds for about 10 to 15 minutes or so, moving the almonds around every so often, until you see them darkening on both sides. Be careful not to char the almonds (you’ll see them begin to blacken instead of brown); the charring results in a bitter taste which you can cover up if you’re doing an herb and salted snack recipe but not if you’re using the almonds in a smoothie.

Let the almonds cool before using or you can store them in an air-tight container to keep for several weeks.