Shelled hazelnuts are one of the most versatile nuts you can have in your kitchen. You can roast them, blend them into butter, grind them into flour for baking, toss them into salads, or use them to finish everything from pasta to roasted vegetables. A one-ounce serving (about 21 kernels) packs 178 calories, 17 grams of mostly heart-healthy fat, and 28% of your daily vitamin E. Here’s how to get the most out of them.
Remove the Skins First
Raw shelled hazelnuts usually still have their papery brown skins, which taste bitter. The fastest way to remove them is to roast the nuts (see below), then rub them vigorously in a clean kitchen towel. Most skins will flake right off.
If you need perfectly clean, pale hazelnuts for a delicate recipe, the baking soda blanching method works better. Bring 3 cups of water and 1/4 cup of baking soda to a boil, add 1 cup of hazelnuts, and boil for four minutes. The alkaline water loosens the skins so completely that they slip off under cold running water. Pat the nuts dry before using them.
Roast Them for Better Flavor
Roasting deepens a hazelnut’s flavor dramatically, turning it from mildly sweet to rich and toasty. Preheat your oven to 300°F and spread the nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until the nuts are golden inside and fragrant. Low temperature matters here: it draws out flavor without forcing the oils to the surface, which can make the nuts taste stale faster.
Let them cool completely before storing or chopping. Roasted hazelnuts are ready to eat on their own, but they’re also the starting point for almost every recipe below.
Make Hazelnut Butter
Homemade hazelnut butter requires exactly one ingredient and a food processor. Add roasted, skinned hazelnuts to the bowl and process continuously. The texture will go from chopped to sandy to a thick paste, and then, after about 5 to 10 minutes, the oils release and it becomes a smooth, pourable butter. A less powerful machine may take closer to 15 minutes. If the motor gets hot, pause for a minute or two and resume.
Wait until the butter is fully smooth before adding any seasonings. A quarter teaspoon of salt and a pinch of cinnamon is a classic combination. Scraped vanilla bean seeds work well too. Avoid adding any liquids like vanilla extract, which can cause the butter to seize. Stored in a jar in the fridge, homemade hazelnut butter keeps for several weeks.
Use Them in Savory Cooking
Toasted hazelnuts add crunch and richness to savory dishes in a way that almonds or walnuts can’t quite match. The combination of toasted hazelnuts and brown butter is one of the simplest and most rewarding pairings in cooking. Spoon it over roasted cauliflower, toss it with pasta, or drizzle it on seared scallops with a squeeze of citrus.
A few ideas that work especially well:
- Salads: Roughly chopped hazelnuts with arugula, sliced pear, feta, and balsamic vinaigrette.
- Fish and poultry: Crush hazelnuts into a coarse crumb and use them to crust salmon fillets or chicken breasts before baking.
- Roasted vegetables: Scatter toasted hazelnuts over sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, green beans, or any root vegetable. The nuttiness rounds out caramelized edges.
Hazelnuts pair naturally with goat cheese, blue cheese, and aged sheep’s milk cheeses. They also complement earthy flavors like beets, mushrooms, and brown rice.
Bake With Hazelnut Flour
Grinding shelled hazelnuts in a food processor or blender produces hazelnut meal, a coarse, flavorful powder that works beautifully in baked goods. For a finer, lighter hazelnut flour, start with blanched (skin-removed) nuts and pulse until powdery, stopping before the oils turn it into butter.
A practical starting point: substitute hazelnut flour for up to 25% of the total wheat flour in a recipe. So if your recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, use 1.5 cups of your regular flour and half a cup of hazelnut flour. Because hazelnut flour is denser and oilier than wheat flour, you may need to reduce the butter or oil slightly and add an extra egg for structure. For fully gluten-free baking, a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum per cup of flour helps everything hold together.
Hazelnut flour shines in financiers, shortbread, tart crusts, and cake layers. It adds moisture and a subtle toasted flavor that plain almond flour doesn’t deliver.
Store Them Properly
Hazelnuts are about 83% monounsaturated fat by their total fat content. That healthy fat profile is great for your heart, but it also means the oils can go rancid if stored carelessly. At room temperature in a sealed container, shelled hazelnuts stay fresh for roughly two to three months. Refrigeration at around 40°F extends quality significantly, keeping them in good condition for up to a year. Research on hazelnut storage found that refrigerated nuts maintained low levels of fat oxidation and acidity even after 12 months, while nuts stored at room temperature crossed the threshold of acceptable quality by around 8 months.
For the longest shelf life, freeze shelled hazelnuts in an airtight bag. They’ll keep for well over a year, and you can toast them straight from the freezer with just a few extra minutes of oven time. Whichever method you choose, keep hazelnuts away from strong-smelling foods, as they absorb odors easily.
Heart Health Benefits Worth Noting
If you’re eating hazelnuts regularly, the cardiovascular payoff is real. In a clinical trial of people with high cholesterol, swapping about 18 to 20% of daily calories with hazelnuts for four weeks lowered LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by about 6%, total cholesterol by nearly 8%, and triglycerides by over 7%. Blood vessel function improved by more than 50%, and markers of inflammation dropped as well. Hazelnuts are also an excellent source of manganese and copper, both important for bone health and energy metabolism, along with magnesium and thiamin.
A one-ounce serving also delivers nearly 3 grams of fiber with only 1.2 grams of sugar, making hazelnuts a satisfying snack that won’t spike your blood sugar.