Crunchy, sweet, earthy, sometimes a little bitter, nuts show up everywhere in American cookery. But pairing the right nut with the right dish is a skill, and knowing the differences between the many types of nuts can change the way you cook.
Sure, you can toss toasted nuts over a salad or fold a handful into trail mix. But once you understand the flavor profiles and cooking potential of different nut varieties, your options blow wide open: Think Persian-style lamb shanks with pomegranate and walnuts, or orange-pecan baklava that leans into the nuts’ natural richness.
- Are nuts and seeds the same thing?
Not quite. Nuts are dry fruits with a single seed inside a leathery or hard shell and protective husk, according to the USDA. (Cracking nut shells can be a fun friend activity, if you’ve got a fire going and some chilled beer.) Seeds are a broader category that includes pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame, and more. Some “nuts,” like pine nuts and peanuts, are actually seeds or legumes. Need a bit of trivia you can entertain with? Tiger nuts are neither nut nor seed. They’re root vegetables. Prepare to blow minds. - Can you substitute one nut for another in cooking?
Often yes—but match by texture and richness. For instance, pecans are an easy swap for walnuts and hazelnuts for macadamias. The intended flavor of the dish will be altered, but doing so shouldn’t affect the recipe’s performance. If you’re interested in swapping out an expensive nut for something a little more cost-effective—think pine nuts in pesto—seek out recipes that use your desired nut instead (such as almond pesto or walnut pesto), as the fat can have a big impact on the final texture. - Why do some nuts taste bitter?
Tannins. Walnuts, acorns, and some hazelnuts have skins or compounds that bring a little bitterness. Toasting usually mellows these out. - Do nuts trigger allergies if they’re “not real nuts”?
Unfortunately, yes. Even botanical “not-nuts” can cause intense allergic reactions. Always check labels for cross-contamination warnings.
Nuts also have numerous health benefits, including a balance of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, which both support heart health. Finally, while considered a pantry item, nuts can go rancid, so store them in the freezer if you don’t plan on using them all up within a couple of months.
Now, let’s explore 13 varieties of edible nuts and the many ways you can enjoy them.
1. Acorns
The fruit of the oak tree—so, yes, they’re tree nuts—acorns are oval in shape with pointy ends and smooth, dark brown exteriors. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, “acorns have been eaten since prehistory times, and still are, but their use has greatly diminished.” Several species are indigenous to North America and were eaten by both Native communities and early settlers.
In parts of Europe—especially Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France—it’s traditional to feed pigs acorns. The high fat content of acorns, particularly oleic acid, is deposited in the pigs’ muscles, creating marbling that makes the meat tender, juicy, and richly nutty—a hallmark of specialties like jamón ibérico.
Because their raw meat is high in tannins and quite bitter, most acorns are processed before being distributed for human consumption. You can find acorn flour on sites like Etsy and Foraged and use it to make pancakes and baked goods, for example. (Note that acorn flour is rather dense, so many recipes may cut it with other flours.) In Korean cooking, acorn starch is used to make a savory jelly called dotorimuk.
2. Almonds
Slim, oval-shaped almonds have one pointed end and one rounded end and a thin brown skin marked with ridges. It’s relatively rare to find them with their shells on, but if you do, you’ll know they’re almonds if those exteriors are tan and marked with holes. At larger Middle Eastern stores and some farmers markets, look out for green almonds with soft, fuzzy exteriors in the springtime.
When sold as slivers instead of whole, they’ve often been blanched, a process that removes their skins, exposing cream-colored flesh. No matter how they’re sold, though, these good-for-you nuts contain calcium, magnesium, and healthy fats.
Flavor-wise, almonds are mild and sweet, lending themselves to everything from nut mix to kale and brussel sprout salads to herby rice dishes to morning granola. Perhaps you’ve tried the rounder, flatter, and sweeter variety called Marcona almonds, from Spain? They’re usually sold precooked—fried or roasted and then salted—and make for great snacks like these cumin-and-paprika-coated nuts.
You’ll also find almonds processed into a paste called marzipan, powerfully scented almond extract, and a flour, which brings a nutty quality and pleasant crumb-like texture to baked goods like this French almond cake. Almond flour is also key to many gluten-free and kosher-for-Passover recipes like abambar cookies.
They make great cakes. They make tasty bar snacks. They make perfect sense.
3. Brazil Nuts
The heavyweight of the group, crunchy, mild-flavored Brazil nuts often have some brown skin remaining on their pale flesh. And that size? Just two of them will provide your daily doses of the antioxidants selenium and vitamin E. We think they’re best for snacking, but if you have an abundance, try them in a banana parfait or a roasted nut mix.
Note that, perhaps depending on which part of South America they’re from—Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru are all major producers—Brazil nuts are also called para nuts or cream nuts.
4. Cashews
Stocky, crescent-shaped cashew nuts have a pale flesh when raw and, like all nuts, they darken when roasted. Cashews split pleasantly into halves thanks to the seam running down the length of each. They’re rich and creamy, making them the prizes in nut mixes like this chaat-masala-spiced one and these Thai fried cashews with chiles and lime zest. Their richness also helps them stand in for dairy in vegan sauces like cashew crema, which we use to top this squash blossom soup, and the “cheese” part of this easy mac-and-cheese. Want to make cashews the star of your table? Simmer them into a Sri Lankan Cashew Curry, where they take on the texture of white beans.
From a nutty salsa to egg-free Caesar dressing, here are our favorite ways to cook with cashews.
5. Chestnuts
Often sold with their dark and thin brown shells still on, chestnuts have a soft white flesh and are shaped a bit like figs, with one side that’s typically flatter and the other a bit pudgier. They’re higher in starch and lower in oil than many other types of nuts, so they add a nuttiness to recipes without the richness you would get from pecans, almonds, macadamia, and some other varieties.
As for their cooking potential, it’s big: They add a hint of sweetness to savory dishes like Chinese red-cooked chicken with soy sauce and fresh ginger, stuffing with pancetta and fennel, and sweet potato gnocchi with fried sage. Around Christmas, if you’re lucky, you might find them roasting on an open fire or in spaghetti-size strands heaped atop a Mont-Blanc pastry.
6. Hazelnuts
These round, petite nuts, also known as filberts or cobnuts, are high in manganese, an essential mineral prized for bone health. Often sold with their bitter brown skins intact, cooks will usually roast them first, which encourages those skins to start to fall away. Those committed to perfectly white hazelnuts can rub the roasted nuts between two clean kitchen towels (or one towel, folded over) to remove any remaining skin. You can also buy them already blanched.
A key ingredient in Nutella, the woodsy notes in hazelnuts coax out chocolate’s own nuttiness in sweets like hazelnut butter tart and chocolate-hazelnut Napoleons. They are edible raw, but much tastier when roasted, which also intensifies their crunchiness, making them the perfect textural counterpart in a green bean and bulgur salad and a bowtie pasta dish with Swiss chard.
7. Hickory Nuts
Hickory nuts, known colloquially as hicka or scaly bark nuts, come from the same family as walnuts, a genus called Carya. Several species grow across North America, with shellbark and shagbark hickory trees producing the most commonly eaten nuts. And yes, this is the same variety of trees used to smoke bacon, barbecue, and more.
Eaten for centuries across eastern and central North America, hickory nuts get their name from the Algonquin word powcohicora. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, Indigenous peoples used these nuts to make hickory milk, grind into meal, or enrich soups and porridges, while European colonists adopted them for baking, puddings, and roasted snacks. Today, hickory nuts appear in recipes like this rich Southern nut cake and can be used to add crunch as a topping for oatmeal or salads.
In flavor, they are rich and buttery—think pecans with deeper, almost maple-like warmth—making them especially good in cakes, cookies, and old-fashioned confections, like fudge. Because their shells are notoriously tough, hickory nuts never became a mainstream crop, so they’re rarely found in stores. You can, however, buy them from small foragers and sellers online, including Etsy and specialty wild foods sites.
8. Macadamia Nuts
Small and bulbous, macadamia nuts are typically sold shelled, with a thin seam that runs around their circumference. Indigenous to Australia, which is why they’re sometimes called Queensland nuts or Australian nuts, macadamia nuts have only been cultivated since the latter part of the 19th century. They’re often associated with Hawaii, where the trees that grow them flourish.
Thanks in part to their high fat content, macadamia nuts have a buttery flavor that works well in baked goods. Try our tamarind caramel brownies, bar cookies called Hello Dollies, miso white chocolate chip cookies, and meringues with a pineapple filling.
9. Peanuts
While commonly thought of as nuts, peanuts—a.k.a. goobers, goober nuts, groundnuts—are technically legumes (like lentils and peas). They grow underground in pods that typically contain two nuts, each small and oval-shaped, with a splitting seam running around its circumference.
In the South, simple boiled peanuts are the iconic move, but these sweet and earthy protein-rich nuts are exceptionally versatile, whether raw, roasted, ground into peanut butter, or pressed to extract their oil. (Peanut oil has a high smoke point, by the way, making it ideal for frying.)
Outside of the ubiquitous PB&J, you’re just as likely to find them in sweets like peanut butter brownies as you are in savory applications like West-African mafé and refreshing cucumber salad with scallion. Try using peanut butter in a rice noodle dish too.
10. Pecans
Typically sold as halves with their medium-brown skin on, pecans are flatter than most nuts and marked by vertical ridges. They look somewhat like their cousins, walnuts, but have a more delicate, slightly sweeter flavor, a warmer color, and more rounded features than walnuts’ angular ones.
Native to North America, pecans have a distinct place in American culinary history and are widely used in the South. While roasted pecans add a welcome crunch and sweetness to salads with bitter radicchio or green beans, the nuts are most at home in desserts like the classic pecan pie, carrot cake, and hummingbird cake. Toasting pecans amps their flavor, but the nuts can burn easily. (This is true for roasting nuts of any kind, really.) Here’s how to toast pecans the right way (and never burn them again).
Like maple-rich pecan fudge, a peachy ice cream icebox cake, salty granola, and more.
11. Pine Nuts
Small and oval-shaped, pine nuts, also called pignoli or piñon nuts, aren’t true nuts, but instead the edible seeds of pine cones. Italian pine nuts are typically longer and more slender while the Chinese variety is more squat.
One of the most expensive varieties of nuts, pine nuts are typically used sparingly as a finishing touch. Sprinkle them over “antipasto” pasta with artichoke hearts or shredded brussels sprout and ricotta toasts. In Italian cooking, they play a more essential role in two items: pesto and pignoli, small cookies that owe their whole existence to the nuts. They’re even named after them.
A word of caution: Unfortunately, pine nuts can cause a negative reaction in some people called pine mouth. It’s a rare phenomenon, but it does exist. (Don’t shoot the messenger.)
Like brussels sprout ricotta toasts, a lemon and pine nut tart, and so many pestos.
12. Pistachios
Poking out of their oval-shaped, beige-colored shells, pistachios are green from chlorophyll. Depending on the variety, they may also have tan- or rose-colored skins.
Like pine nuts, pistachios can be pricey, so they’re often used sparingly in dishes like tomato and cherry quinoa salad or goat cheese and salami stuffed dates. Originating in parts of Western and Central Asia, particularly the Iranian plateau, the nuts play an important role in Persian and Levantine cooking, making appearances in sweets like baklava and kunafa. California pistachios dominate the American domestic market, but if you can, seek out the Turkish and Persian varieties, which are smaller, have darker shells and skins, and are more flavorful.
Like a pistachio-crusted potato-leek tart and a nut-stuffed cookie inspired by baklava.
13. Walnuts
Around the holidays, you might spot English walnuts in their golf-ball-size shells, but they are most often sold chopped or in halves, which have a ruffled look that resembles a human brain made of wood. Meanwhile, black walnuts are typically picked by hand and enjoyed in the Midwest and other parts of the country.
Be warned: Cracking their hard shells can take quite a bit of effort. You do it, though, to get to that earthy-flavored meat. Walnuts are high in tannins, which make them slightly bitter, too, but that astringency is what makes them a good complement to sweeter flavors in recipes like chocolate chip banana bread, fruit cake, and zucchini bread. Walnuts also play nicely with fall and winter vegetables like roasted squash, brussels sprouts, and kale; and fruits, like in a traditional Jewish apple-walnut charoset. They are a staple ingredient in Georgian cooking: Try making chicken satsivi, which transforms the nuts into a rich, cream-free sauce.
