I know nuts are a good snack. (No, not those kind of nuts you pervert). Nuts are healthy, though pretty fattening, but with some decent protein. And it's good to eat good fats. And obviously, they are vegan.

But the truth is, I don't really like them. The raw varieties I really don't like, and I think they make me a little nauseas. The roasted varieties I like a LOT better, but still I don't like them enough to eat regularly.

I do like it when they are salted, but I never get them salted because I try and avoid/limit my salt intake.

So I thought I'd ask...what is a salt-free way to make nuts taste better? Surely there are flavors and spices that don't require salt and can make this a snack that I crave for.

Buy chocolate coated ones

Not sure... here you can buy chilli lime ones? If you go to the markets and go to a deluxe vendour they normally have a variety of flavoured nuts as well... cinnamon, sugar, chai (I highly recomment chai!). But I don't know how you could flavour them yourself....
My brother has (tried) to make flavoured chickpeas, but the flavouring doesn't stick very well when you roast them.

How did you know what I was thinking?

Anyways, I am not very good at eating nuts plain, either. The easiest way for me to eat them is caramelized. There are some name brands out there that caramelize them with flavors like vanilla bean, pomegranate, etc.

Another way to eat them is in a Trail Mix. Then there's cashews in Thai food. And finally, there's brownies (and other sweets).

Nuts have a lot of fat but they aren't necessarily "fattening." I don't think one could physically consume nuts in a great enough quantity that they could be blamed for one's obesity.

You could try different varieties of nuts to see if there's a particular kind you DO like -- walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, brazilnuts, cashews, pistachios, macadamias -- they all taste different, and they all taste different raw v. roasted, maple glazed and wasabi coated. You can add them to salads or grind them and sprinkle them on pasta. I wouldn't worry too much about the sodium content of a handful of nuts (which is a serving) if you're an otherwise healthy person who drinks adequate water.

Have you tried nut butters? You can try dipping fruits and veggies into them! Or just mix the raw nuts into yogurt with dried fruits!

Oh, I could. Roasted, raw, unsalted... doesn't matter. Nuts and dried fruit are the only two foods I don't dare buy in large quantities- because they would be rapidly EATEN in large quantities.

Heynowokay, do you want to eat nuts for their fat content or their protein, or both? Pistachios, cashews, black walnuts, and pine nuts (pigolias) are fairly high in protein for how many calories they have. But brazils, hazelnuts (filberts), almonds, macadamias, pecans, and English walnuts have more fat and calories. You didn't mention coconut, which supposedly has saturated fat that does not affect you blood triglycerides in the way that butterfat or hydrogenated oils would.

What about seeds? Sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds are higher in protein, and (I THINK) nutritionally similar to tree nuts. The fatty acid profile might be different. For example, sunflower seeds might not have so much omega-3 content. But tree nuts probably vary about this too- the different nut tree species aren't all closely related botanically. If you're looking to boost your omega-3 intake, some nuts or seeds will be much better than others which would mostly give you more omega-6.

Wednesday had some interesting suggestions- chili/lime flavored nuts sound really good. Most of the low-salt ways I can think of to make nuts taste different would be rather high in calories (sweet), involving chocolate, dried fruit, or both. If you really don't much care for nuts, maybe there other foods that can offer you the nutrients you're looking for, but you find more appealing?

Why are you limiting your salt intake? We all need salt in our diet unless you have a medical condition that advises that you shouldn't eat it. A bag of salted nuts now and then is not going to do you any harm.

This recipe is for pumpkin seeds but you can use nuts too probably. Soak them in water for like 30 min. or so. Drain the water and mix them in xylitol (this is what I use because it is so healthy for you but you can use another sweetener that is pretty healthy) and some ginger. The recipe requires dehydrating (it's a raw recipe) but I'm sure you can put them in the oven. They taste like candy then.
Also you could grind them into a fine powder (flour) and use them in baking recipes.


Because all the salt we need can easily be obtained just by eating whole, fresh foods and processed prepared foods that have salt in them usually have plain table salt in HIGH amounts.

Nuts are lovely food, I think - but if you don't like them, why force yourself to eat them? You can always grind them up and sprinkle over salads, add to yougurt or porridge or put some extra portion in pesto (original pesto uses pine nuts, but I've used a lot of other nuts since I like 'em better - like peanuts, pistacios, walnuts and so on)... But nuts are not the only option here

I put walnuts on my oatmeal every morning.... along with cinnamon, maple syrup and raisins. It tastes like cookies, and there is minimal sodium.

I carmellized some pecans once and that was great. It was just some toasted raw pecans tossed with maple syrup and then baked on a cookie sheet. It was like candy.

You can make granola with unsalted nuts.

Sesame seeds are a great source of calcium. I mill them in a coffee grinder and make halvah. That's really easy too, and you can control the amount of sodium you add.

Nuts are great but they aren't essential to a healthy diet. You can get plenty of protein and healthy fats from other food sources if you really don't like them.

Vienna Almonds have no extra fat and no extra salt yet taste awesome. They are fattening though.

If you don't know, Vienna Almonds are blanched almonds encased in tasty burnt vanilla sugar.

+1, as well as +1 to the person on the previous page that said not to eat them if you don't really like them. I know carrots are an excellent, healthy food, for instance, but I can't stand the things so I don't try to disguise them or trick myself into eating them. I just don't. Same with celery.

You might want to try them mixed in with other foods before giving them up entirely. I love throwing some walnuts, cashews or almonds into a stirfry and then they have the flavors of whatever sauce you have in there.

Make a cashew gravy, use it on baked potatoes, mashed potatoes. Toss some tempeh "Fakin Bakn" crumbles and have your veg vs of biscuits and gravy.

Cashew Gravy sounds good. Do you have a recipe you could recommend?

Ooohh THATS what theyre called! I love those. Im gonna keep an eye out for that name now.

Anyway I have recently discovered seaweed coated peanuts. They are amazing, and all the omnis at my work keep stealing them when I buy a big bag.

OP here. thanks for all of the great ideas everyone.

I was thinking maybe more along the lines of how to make nuts more savory without adding calories or salt. i am only limiting my salt intake because one tofurky sandwich with mustard on whole wheat bread = a lot of salt. and lots of snacks are salty. i want to limit my salt in take in other areas.

ultimately, the nutrients I am looking for are just good whole plant-based foods that offer protein, and the fat I don't mind too too much, though the less fat the better. it's easy to be a vegetarian and go without eating any real veggies and plant-based foods. cereal/oatmeal for breakfast....tofurky sandwich for lunch....and maybe only get real veggies at dinner time.

I don't want to give up on nuts because I don't absolutely hate them. they just aren't tasty enough for me. I am looking for salt and calorie-free ways to make them most tasty. and I don't mind spicyness. for example, most recently I poured a bunch of almonds into a tupperwear and sprinkled cayenne powder in with them and mixed it up. they didn't complement each other well and it tasted like eating normal almonds and then having your mouth be on fire.

is there anything like that people could recommend, but that actually complements each other well? thanks again!

I don't know why you're answering for the poster who I posed that question to because you don't know his electrolyte levels so you'd have no accurate idea of what his salt requirements are.

LOL.....I was thinking the same thing....I agree about the trail mixx...yummerific.....I love to stir fry with certain nuts and I luv, luv, luv brussel sprouts and almonds....yummy!!....I agree baking with nuts is great but anything but brownies.....I am a bit biased brownies make me sooo nauseous and I dont eat them....but I do like them in cookies and cakes ect....the possibilities are endless.

peace