The best soft chestnuts, quickly roasted in the oven. Ready in 30 minutes only! Perfect as a snack or as a topping on soups or salads.
Oven Roasted Chestnuts ready in 25 minutes
Roasting chestnuts in the oven is definitely the easiest way to prepare them. Simply make a cut and roast them for 20 minutes.
Making them in a pan over the electric or wood stove is as quick, but requires more work as you have to continuously keep stiring in the pan.
What to do with chestnuts?
Here are my 4 favorite ways to use chestnuts in recipes:
- Simply oven-roasted as a snack or an appetizer: it doesn't always have to be complicated. Simply roast in the oven and savor them when still slightly hot. Add some sea salt if you would like. I highly recommend "fleur de sel" for this purpose.
- As a savory topping: oven-roasted chestnuts work well on soups, salads or a vegetable stir fry.
- As a sweet topping: chestnuts are also great when combined with sweet recipes. Use them as a topping for your porridge, ice cream or peanut butter & banana smoothie bowl! For even more deliciousness, try my next tip
- Caramelized with maple syrup: roast chestnuts in the oven and peel them. Cut them into small pieces and put them in a pan. Add a splash of maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon and combine. Heat 2 teaspoons of coconut oil in a pan and caramelize the chestnuts over medium heat. Stir constantly.
Which chestnuts are edible?
It's not always easy to distinguish between edible chestnuts and toxic horse chestnuts. There are several ways to recognize edible chestnuts:
- Edible chestnuts always have a tassel or point on the nut. Horse chestnuts are completely round.
- Edible chestnuts are surrounded by a husk with many sharp spines. Toxic horse chestnuts have fewer spines which are less sharp and a more bumpy husk.
The best way to chose the right ones is to buy them at the supermarket or farmer's market. If you harvest them in nature, make sure you do you research or ask an experienced chestnut picker to check them for you.
If you buy them at the supermarket, make a quality check. Fresh chestnuts of high-quality should not be rock-hard, nor too squishy.
The recipe
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Easy Oven Roasted Chestnuts
Ingredients
- 500 g chestnuts
Optional
- 1 pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- With a knife, carefully draw an "X" on the domed side of the chestnuts. The cut should not be too deep, but deep enough to cut through the first 2 layers of skin.
- Place the chestnuts on a grid, flat side down. Bake at 220°C for exactly 20 minutes.
- Remove the chestnuts from the oven and let cool several minutes. Peel the chestnuts. You should be able to easily peel them with your hands. Add a pinch of sea salt if desired. Use as a topping for salads, soups or roasted vegetables; or enjoy as snack.
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