If peanuts have turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use them with confidence and how to choose them, cook them, store them, what to substitute, and 437 recipes to try them in.
What are peanuts?
Peanuts are known by many other local names, like earthnuts , ground nuts , goober peas , monkey nuts , pygmy nuts and pig nuts.
Popular confections include salted peanuts, peanut butter sandwiches, candy bars, and cups), peanut brittle, and shelled nuts (plain/roasted). Salted peanuts are usually roasted in oil and packed in retail size, plastic bags or hermetically sealed cans.
Dry roasted, salted peanuts are also marketed in significant quantities. Peanuts are often a major ingredient in mixed nuts because of their inexpensiveness compared to Brazil nuts, cashews, walnuts, and so on.
The primary use of peanut butter is in the home, but large quantities are also used in the commercial manufacture of sandwiches, candy, and bakery products.
Boiled peanuts are a preparation of raw, unshelled green peanuts boiled in brine and typically eaten as a snack in the southern United States where most peanuts are grown.
Peanut flour is lower in fat than peanut butter, and is popular with chefs because its high protein content makes it suitable as a flavor enhancer. Peanut flour is used as a gluten-free solution.
Types of peanuts
Specific kinds of peanuts and the recipes that use them.
Salted peanuts are roasted peanuts tossed with salt, the everyday snack-bowl and trail-mix version of the legume. Despite the name, peanuts are not true nuts; they grow underground as the seeds of a plant in the pea and bean family.
Roasting is what makes them taste the way they do. Raw peanuts are bland and beany, but dry-roasting at around 350°F (175°C) drives the Maillard browning that builds their deep, toasty flavor.
The salt goes on during or right after roasting, often with a light coat of oil so it clings. That seasoning is the whole reason this version exists as its own pantry item, separate from plain or raw peanuts.
Unsalted peanuts are peanuts with no salt added, whether raw or dry-roasted. They are the cook's default, the version you reach for whenever you want to control the seasoning yourself rather than have it decided at the factory.
That control is the whole point. In baking and in sauces, salt is part of the recipe itself, so starting from a plain peanut lets you season to taste instead of fighting a salt level you did not choose.
Raw unsalted peanuts still need cooking to taste good. Dry-roasted unsalted peanuts are toasted and ready to eat or chop straight in.
Peanut butter chocolate cookies blend melted chocolate into the dough for double chocolate-peanut flavor in every bite. Cross-hatched and baked into thick, chewy 3-inch rounds.
Homemade peanut cookies bake crisp butter dough laced with a shot of coffee and crowned with roasted peanuts. A simple cut-out cookie with a subtle mocha edge and a salty-sweet crunch on top.
Old-school peanut cookies packed with chopped peanuts, brown sugar, and vanilla. Crisp-edged, chewy-centered cookies that taste like a peanut butter cookie's nuttier cousin.
Flourless peanut butter cookies made with just peanut butter, sugar, egg whites, and chopped peanuts. Naturally gluten-free with no butter or flour. Crisp edges, chewy peanut centers.
Peanut butter cookies loaded with chopped honey-roasted peanuts and built on honey-nut peanut butter for a sweet-salty double hit. Crisp edges, soft middle, ready in half an hour.
These Special Peanut Butter Cookies combine creamy peanut butter, rich chocolate chips, crunchy peanuts, and miniature peanut butter cups for a delightful treat. Perfectly soft with a slight crisp edge, they’re a peanut butter lover’s dream!
Lighter peanut butter cookies that bake in 7 minutes flat. Reduced-fat peanut butter, a tablespoon of oil instead of a stick of butter, and a sugar-rolled crackle top. Tender, chewy, lower in fat than the classic.
Just good cookies live up to their name with peanut butter, oats, and chocolate chips in one chewy package. The kind of pantry-clean-out cookie that takes optional add-ins (coconut, raisins, peanuts) without missing a beat.
Peanut butter, peanuts, honey and sesame seeds, hard to be not delicious with these ingredients together. The popcorn balls are nutty, sweet, and crunchy. They are great snacks at any occasion especially at Christmas.
Creamy peanut butter cookies with extra brown sugar for chewy centers and a thumbprint pressed into each top, optionally crowned with a peanut. Makes 5 dozen cookies.
Traditional Chinese Recipe. You can cook this kung pao chicken in many ways, it depends on your own flavour, this sweet juistice should be loved by kids and women!
Chocolate, oatmeal, and peanut cookies with hand-cut chunks of sweet chocolate, chopped peanuts, and a quiet hit of almond extract. A chewy cookie with crunch and three flavor layers.
Peanut butter fudge cookies hack a boxed brownie mix into chewy, fudgy cookies studded with chocolate chips and pressed with chopped peanuts. Ready in 25 minutes with just 6 ingredients.
Flourless peanut butter cookies made with just 4 ingredients: peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. No flour, naturally gluten-free, and pressed with the classic crisscross fork marks. Soft centers, golden bottoms, done in about 20 minutes.
Soft, chewy double peanut butter cookies loaded with creamy peanut butter and topped with chopped peanuts. The chew comes from melted butter, corn syrup, and an extra egg yolk.
An easy homemade pad Thai that skips hard-to-find tamarind, leaning on fish sauce, vinegar, and paprika for that sweet-sour-salty tang. Chewy rice noodles tossed with tofu, shrimp, egg, bean sprouts, and crushed peanuts.
Chunky peanut chocolate chip cookies pack chunky peanut butter, salted peanuts, and semi-sweet chocolate chips into a buttery brown sugar dough. Crisp edges, chewy middles, and a salty-sweet finish in every bite.
Kung Pao beef: velveted flank steak stir-fried with roasted peanuts, fiery dried chilies, and crunchy water chestnuts in a savory-sweet Sichuan sauce. A bold, spicy take on takeout, ready in 40 minutes.
Kung Pao chicken stir-fries marinated chicken with dried red chilies, bamboo shoots, and peanuts in a sweet, savory, slightly tangy sauce. Authentic Sichuan technique in 40 minutes.
No-fail rocky road fudge made by melting chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk, then folding in peanuts and mini marshmallows. No candy thermometer needed, just melt, mix, chill, and cut.
Crispy and crunchy. These snowballs are made with peanut butter, chunks of peanuts, raisins and puffed rice cereal. They are delicious treats for kids or grown-up :)
A delicious blend of crunchy cereal, salty peanuts, and sweet candy-coated chocolate pieces blanketed in a buttery, peanut butter-enriched coating. This snack mix is perfect for any occasion you have guests to entertain; everyone will enjoy it. The recipe can be easily made in the oven or microwave and is perfect for sharing with friends and family.
This simple and quick spread is perfect to serve at any upcoming holiday party! It's chunk chicken, chopped apple, chutney and peanuts are bound with a curry-laced mayonnaise.
Authentic Pad Thai with shrimp, chicken, and rice ribbon noodles in a dry-coat sauce of yellow bean, fish sauce, and tomato paste. Finished with peanuts, bean sprouts, lime, and cilantro the way a Bangkok street stall would.
Peanut butter double chip cookies stir chunky peanut butter, salted peanuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips into a tender brown sugar dough. Three textures in every bite.
Yummy rawa upma is a delectable upma recipe with rawa or semolina as ingredient. The rawa or sooji are roasted and cooked with onion,tomatoes, mustard seeds, curry leaves, lime juice,curd,peanuts and chopped coriander leaves. An excellent breakfast item, yummy rawa upma upma is easy and delicious.
Vegetarian Pad Thai with rice noodles, scrambled eggs, mung bean sprouts, grated carrots, and crushed peanuts in a tangy lime-fish sauce. Ready in 30 minutes.
Make this quick, easy yet tasty popcorn for your superbowl Sunday. It's cheesy, flavorful and very tasty. Make sure to make plenty, people will ask for more.
Spicy Szechuan chicken stir-fries velvety egg-white-coated chicken with peanuts, chilies, ginger and bamboo shoots in a glossy soy-sherry sauce. A fast, fiery weeknight stir-fry, easily made gluten-free.
Billion dollar chocolate bars, a homemade candy bar in four layers: a chocolate-peanut butter base, fluffy peanut nougat, gooey caramel, and a chocolate top. Like a candy-shop Snickers, made at home.
Celery and peanuts not only added some nice crunch, but also gave the salad some delicious tang and nuttiness. Very easy to prepare, for the best result, put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to allow the flavor to combine. Tasty and refreshing!
Microwave peanut brittle: classic golden, glassy peanut brittle made entirely in the microwave in 10 minutes. No candy thermometer, no boiling pot, no fuss. Just sugar, syrup, peanuts, and patience.
