Honey Roasted Nuts (Cashews, Almonds & Walnuts)

This Roasted Nut Mix Makes the Perfect Grab and Go Paleo Snack

The first thing that you’re going to want to do when making this nut mix recipe is to preheat your oven to 300°F.

You can then grab a bowl and combine your walnuts, cashews, and almonds with the smoked paprika, honey, olive oil, and salt. Toss everything to coat and then spread all of the nuts out in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake the nuts for between 20-25 minutes, stirring them occasionally, until they’re toasted. Once you take your nut mix out of the oven, you’re going to want to let the mix cool off completely before you dig in.

The Best Types of Nuts for Trail Mix and Other Add-Ons

One of my favorite things about making trail mixes is definitely the variety of different ways you can make them. I’ve always been a huge proponent of eating nuts for a healthy snack choice, so it’s only natural that I’m such a big fan of recipes like this one.

After all, including nuts in your diet is a great way to make sure you’re getting enough heart healthy fats, dietary fiber, protein, and other vitamins and minerals in. Studies also show that daily consumption of nuts can lower your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. (1)

So with that being said, here are my personal recommendations for the best types of nuts to use for making trail mix (beginning of course with the ones used in this recipe):

• Walnuts
• Cashews
• Almonds
• Pecans
• Pistachios
• Macadamia Nuts
• Brazil Nuts
• Hazelnuts
• Peanuts

Another way you can absolutely change the game with trail mix is to add your own roasted or glazed nuts like this cinnamon and honey roasted walnut recipe for example.

You can also include plant seeds in your trail mix. Plant seeds are a great way to add more quality fats, fiber, and other essential nutrients into the mix – no pun intended. Plant seeds also make a great companion to nuts, as they provide many similar health benefits, such as lowering your risk of stroke and heart disease. (2)

While this particular recipe doesn’t use any, most of the homemade trail mixes that I make include at least one of the following options:

• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Flaxseeds
• Chia seeds
• Hemp seeds
• Sesame seeds

3 Ways to Tell If Your Trail Mix Has Gone Bad

Since there are a lot of things that can influence the shelf life of different types of nuts, it can also be hard to know how long your trail mix will stay good for. In general, there are a few things that you should look out for that will let you know it’s time to throw your trail mix out:

• The most reliable way to tell your trail mix has gone bad is if the nuts are giving off a rancid smell that can be described as similar to the smell of paint
• Sometimes when nuts go bad, they don’t give off a smell – when in doubt, break a small piece of the nut off to try…nuts that have gone bad will have an immediately off-putting taste
• If you see any mold or visible discoloration on your nuts, then throw them out immediately as well

Eating expired nuts can and will make you quite sick, so if you notice any of the above signs, it’s better to play it safe and immediately discard your trail mix.

How Can I Tell If My Nut Mix Is Healthy?

If you’re making your own homemade nut mix and you aren’t quite sure if it’s going to be healthy or not, we’re here to help with some handy guidelines for you. Considering that trail mix can be such a high calorie snack, it’s definitely important to make sure you’re using the right kind of ingredients. The following general tips should be especially helpful if you’re somewhat new to the paleo diet:

• The main ingredients that you should be using when making a nut mix are raw nuts, plant seeds, and fruit
• You want to keep any type of high sugar ingredients like chocolate to a minimum. In fact, when adding the ‘fun’ bits in your trail mix, I would recommend adding stuff like almond butter energy bites or fat bomb types instead
• Instead, look for all natural paleo friendly sweetening ingredients like honey, organic maple syrup, or even something as simple as Stevia
• Making your own homemade nut mix is the best way to ensure that your mix is 100% healthy, as some store-bought varieties can even contain preservatives and other ingredients you don’t want

(You may also like: Cinnamon and Honey Roasted Walnuts)