22 Ways to Cook with Walnuts
Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
Thanks to their subtle yet complex flavor, earthy, fruity walnuts shine in a variety of dishes both sweet and savory, either raw or toasted. They're a great substitute for pine nuts in pesto, can be turned into a sensational vinaigrette, and add wonderful texture to cookies and brownies. Make your way through all 22 of our best recipes showcasing walnuts.
Auntie Roberta's Bourma (Armenian Phyllo Pastry with Walnuts)
A wooden skewer, dowel, or chopstick is the only special tool needed to make this crispy scrunched phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and drizzled with sugary syrup. A splash of fresh lemon juice adds bright, zesty flavor to the syrup that balances both the sweetness of the pastry and the rich, buttery walnuts.
Charred Eggplant with Burrata and Pomegranate-Walnut Relish
This elegant salad is an emphatic nod to the celebratory eggplant dishes of Turkey. Velvety eggplant is paired with a tart yet earthy relish of toasted walnuts, cilantro, and pomegranate arils.
Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)
Smooth, thick, and layered with flavor, this mildly spicy dip of roasted red bell peppers and toasted walnuts is thickened with finely ground crispy breadsticks. Pomegranate molasses adds a piquancy that plays off the sweetness of the juicy roasted bell peppers, and spicy pepper paste brings just a touch of heat.
Date and Walnut Rugelach with Tahini Glaze
Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
These pretty rugelach feature a cinnamon and cardamom-spiced date-walnut filling wrapped in buttery cream cheese dough. To finish, the cookies are drizzled with a sweetened tahini glaze.
Slow-Roasted Salmon with Walnut-Olive Vinaigrette
A vinaigrette bolstered with chopped olives, toasted walnuts, and fresh parsley is a bold finishing touch for roasted salmon basted with smoked paprika and lemon. The combination of basting and slow roasting yields incredibly tender salmon; the walnut-olive vinaigrette adds a briny, buttery crunch.
Jumbo Brownies
"Like all great desserts," says 1995 F&W Best New Chef Anne Quatrano, "these brownies have only three pertinent flavors: chocolate, butter, and walnuts." Indeed, there's no denying the appeal of this classic brownie combo.
Grilled Swordfish with Carrot-and-Walnut Salsa
Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely
Steeped in a savory kombu marinade, these swordfish steaks are paired with a nutty, slightly piquant gremolata-like salsa with roasted walnuts and Calabrian chiles.
Raisin-Walnut Babka
Pastry chef Melissa Weller swirls this light and buttery babka with a golden raisin puree, studs it with dark raisins and walnuts, and tops it with a luscious cinnamon glaze.
Cranberry-Walnut Stuffing
Cranberries and toasted walnuts add flavor and crunch to this crowd-pleasing side dish. Rustic hunks of toasted bread form the backbone of this stuffing; a buttery sautéed mixture of onion, celery, herbs, and cooked sausage fills it out with rich flavor. Simmering the cranberries first in vinegar and sugar both intensifies and rounds out their distinctive tartness.
Karithopita (Greek Walnut and Olive Oil Cake with Orange Syrup)
In Greece, this type of nut cake is often soaked in syrup, resulting in a very sweet, moist dessert. Here, a citrus syrup filled with lots of fresh, juicy oranges is served on the side, so everyone can add as little or as much as they like.
Rosé-Marinated Grilled Leg of Lamb with Walnut Salsa Fresca
Studding a leg of lamb with anchovies adds savory depth to this beautiful cut of meat flavored with a garlicky, herbal rosé-based marinade. The flavors in the walnut salsa fresca served alongside mirror those of the marinade, bringing a final dose of richness and flavor to this standout dish.
Walnut Crescents
These crumbly and buttery walnut crescents from cook Nadine Redzepi are super simple and total crowd-pleasers. If you’d like to mix things up, you can use pecans or hazelnuts instead.
Cheese Tortellini with Walnut Pesto
Here's one of the quickest pesto sauces you'll come across. It's a perfect match for cheese tortellini, but you can use other tortellini such as mushroom or meat instead. The pesto is also great with just about any plain pasta.
Honey-Walnut Bars
Buttery and crisp on the bottom and gooey and nutty on the top, these bar cookies from pastry chef and cookbook author Mindy Segal combine honey and two types of salt in the rich caramel topping.
Nigvziani Badrijani (Eggplant Rolls with Walnut Filling)
This classic recipe of eggplant rolls with walnut filling, called nigvziani badrijani, is found throughout Georgia. The rolls are served as starters for the epic dinner parties known as supras, but they’re great with drinks before dinner, too. To make them, small eggplants are sliced lengthwise, salted, rinsed, and fried before being spread with a garlicky walnut paste and rolled or folded.
Apple and Pear Galette with Walnut Streusel
This free-form galette is so much less fussy to make than a traditional pie. It has great flavor and texture from both apples and pears and the crunchy walnut streusel on top. Using unpeeled apples and pears saves time and cuts down on waste.
Sweet and Spicy Sesame Walnuts
A gentle heat makes these seasoned walnuts an ideal snack to pair with cocktails.
Circassian Chicken
This cool chicken salad in a creamy walnut sauce supposedly got its name because its color resembles the pale complexions of the Circassian beauties in the sultan's harem during the Ottoman Empire. The mild, slightly nutty chicken is traditionally served as part of a Turkish meze assortment and can be drizzled with red pepper oil. In this version, Turkish red pepper replaces the pepper oil.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Walnut Crust
With a toasted walnut crust and tangy sour cream topping, this cool, creamy dessert is sophisticated in its simplicity. Fragrant vanilla shines in this unadorned (and gluten-free!) cheesecake: The recipe includes a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract plus the seeds of a whole vanilla bean.
Walnut Snowball Cookies
These buttery, crumbly, sugar-dusted cookies are irresistible. Jerusalem cooks personalize them with different nuts and aromatic flavorings, like rose water or cardamom.
Mixed Greens and Herb Salad with Figs and Walnuts
Using whole herb leaves adds bursts of flavor to this salad. If you can find good fresh figs, use them here in place of dried ones.
Dark-Chocolate Bark with Walnuts and Dried Cherries
Just a small piece of bittersweet chocolate can be the perfect indulgence. This elegant candy gets an extra flavor boost from walnuts and dried cherries to accentuate the chocolate notes.
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