How to Roast Peanuts in 6 Easy Steps
(Okay #6 Doesn't Really Count)

I learned how to roast peanuts in one of my many DIY pursuits. The store where I buy my groceries offers many varieties of peanuts: salted, honey-roasted, spicy, Spanish style, raw unsalted but not ever roasted and unsalted.

Roasted yet unsalted peanuts just happens to be the commodity most demanded in my household so one time I decided to go out on a limb. I bought a huge bag of the raw ones thinking to myself “Well by golly, I can just learn how to roast peanuts at home.” Sure enough, it worked! Problem solved--and without too much effort either. Now many months later this is a normal routine for us on the weekends.

Grab your handy-dandy baking pan (preferably one with a lip so the little peanuts don’t fall into the fiery flames of your oven) and get a big ol’ bag of the raw babes.*

*Tangent: Feel free to try munching on a raw peanut. If you find them enjoyable I respect the heck out of you, you fine individual. I couldn’t believe how different they tasted! They went from a classic American baseball finger-food snack to a slightly soft, earthy tasting bean/nut/legume...thing. Not my favorite.

So now that you know that eating raw peanuts all the time isn’t the greatest (which was my boyfriends lazy hack for not finding the ones we like in the store) you’ll appreciate even more your newly learned skill of roasting these suckers yourself.

Now without further adieu....

How to Roast Peanuts at Home

  1. Get your hands on some raw peanuts. We eat the Spanish kind in our house, so if yours have those little soft flaky capes on them that’s quite alright.
  2. Preheat your oven to 350°.
  3. In a bowl, drizzle just a little bit of peanut oil (or sometimes I even use olive oil) over the peanuts. Maybe just a tablespoon or two for 4-5 cups of shelled peanuts. Really not that much. You can also add any spices you’d like to use at this time. Salt is classic, a bit of cajun seasoning would be good, anyway you can get as fancy as your imagination allows with the flavoring.
  4. Arrange your peanuts in a shallow baking pan, making sure they form a single layer and are evenly distributed.
  5. Bake for 20ish minutes. (Can you tell this is an exact science?) Every oven is different but you’ll start to smell them when they’re nearing done. Shake them up after about 10 minutes so they cook evenly. Remove from oven after 20ish minutes and just set the baking pan on top of your stove so they continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so. If you dare try one when they’re piping hot like this, don’t be alarmed if they’re not totally crispy/crunchy yet. They get crunchier as they cool off.
  6. Enjoy your new home roasted snack!

Hope you have fun and gain satisfaction learning how to do something yourself and saving money as you do it!

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