These chocolate covered cashews are the best no bake treat! Made with 4 simple ingredients and 15 minutes of prep! Perfect for a healthy snack/dessert, adding to holiday charcuterie boards, and gifting.
Satisfy your sweet tooth with these chocolate covered cashews! While these are perfect around the holidays, don't forget they make a delicious treat all year round! Roasted cashews, decadent chocolate, and a little sea salt... these salty-sweet no-bake treats are calling your name.
Looking for more no-bake treats? Be sure to check out my dark chocolate bark, vegan turtles, healthy chocolate peanut butter balls, and healthier scotcheroos.
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below. Here are some specific notes and substitutions.
ROASTED CASHEWS - These are honestly so much better with roasted cashews. Roasting the cashews brings out the flavor of the cashews as well as adding a nice crunch (raw cashews are much softer). That said, if you don't have time to roast your cashews, you can use raw or buy already roasted (unsalted) cashews.
Clean food tip: If you want quality and want to avoid pesticides, organic is the best option. Cashews (as with most nuts) are sprayed with synthetic chemicals (like pesticides), which can be harmful to our health.
CHOCOLATE - Either semi-sweet or dark chocolate can be used... whatever your preference. See below for my advice on the best chocolate.
SEA SALT - I recommend coarse sea salt as it sits better on the chocolate, but you can use fine sea salt as well if that's what you have. But don't use regular table salt.
Choosing the Best Chocolate
If you know me, I'm obviously into using the cleanest ingredients possible. When it comes to what you use for this recipe, you can use any semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate; whatever your preference is. But here are some of my favorites to ensure these chocolate covered cashews are as clean as can be!
Hu Baking Chocolate: Sweetened with coconut sugar (an unrefined sugar). This is also a great choice if wanting to make these Paleo.
Equal Exchange: Made with 3 simple ingredients, certified organic, and allergy friendly.
Pascha Dark Chocolate: If wanting a true dark chocolate, this one is great! Certified organic and made with 3 ingredients.
I don't recommend chocolate with added oils or preservatives as it doesn't melt the same and won't result in the best coating. Using good quality chocolate will give you the best results!
Step-by-Step Directions
Follow along with these easy steps to make your chocolate cashews.
Step 1: Slowly melt chocolate and coconut oil over low heat. Remove from heat and add cashews. Mix until cashews are coated in chocolate.
Step 2: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop clusters of cashews (6-7 cashews per cluster) onto baking sheet.
Step 3: Allow clusters to sit for about 10 minutes and then sprinkle with sea salt. Allowing chocolate to set slightly helps so that the salt doesn't sink into the chocolate.
Step 4: Allow clusters to sit at room temperature so chocolate can set. You can also place in the fridge to speed up this process.
TIP FOR MELTING CHOCOLATE:
Stove top: If melting on the stove, melt over low heat until about ¾ of the chocolate has melted and then remove pan from heat. Stir constantly until remaining pieces have melted.
Microwave: Microwave for 1-minute and then continue microwaving in 30-second internals, stirring in between, until ¾ of the chocolate has melted. Stop microwaving at that point and stir chocolate until remaining pieces have melted.
Dietary Variations
Looking to ensure these align to certain dietary needs? I've got you covered! These are naturally gluten free but follow the below for other dietary needs.
- Vegan - Ensure the chocolate you are using is dairy free/vegan. Remaining ingredients are vegan.
- Paleo - Use chocolate that is sweetened with coconut sugar, like Hu baking chocolate. The remaining ingredients are Paleo.
How to Store
Room temp: These are best kept in an air-tight container at room temperature and will stay fresh for one week.
If you store these in the refrigerator, your chocolate may "bloom" which is when the fat from the chocolate rises to the surface and creates little white bubbles. This is completely harmless and is still safe to eat, but they are much prettier when this doesn't happen 🙂
Freezing: You can also freeze these for up to 3 months, but you run the risk of "blooming" (see note above).
Expert Tips
Swap out the nuts for walnuts, pecans, or almonds! You can follow the same recipe but use a different nut or a combination of nuts.
When melting the chocolate, remove chocolate from heat when some small pieces remain. Stir chocolate continuously until remaining pieces have melted. This ensures the chocolate won't burn and helps with texture when setting.
Allow chocolate to set slightly before sprinkling with sea salt (about 15 minutes). This will help the sea salt to sit nicely on top and not sink into the chocolate.
For easy gifting, or to help form the clusters, make these in cupcake liners (mini or regular size).
For a bit-sized treat, make the clusters small with 2-3 cashews per cluster.
FAQ
Nope! I love a good salty-sweet treat, but if you'd rather just have plain chocolate covered cashews, feel free to skip the sea salt.
Yes, you for sure can. I like how roasting cashews bring out the flavor of the cashews and adds more crunch, but you can definitely use raw cashews as opposed to roasted.
As I always say, "healthy" is a subjective term. I truly believe these to be a clean eating snack/dessert and are a great option when looking for something sweet! And cashews are definitely a good choice when it comes to snacking.
I'm all about ease and slowly melting (as I have written in my directions) seems to work great, but if you'd like to temper your chocolate, follow this tempered chocolate tutorial.
More Chocolate Recipes
If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think! I would so appreciate you leaving a star rating and/or comment below. And don't forget to share a photo on Instagram or Facebook and mention @CleanPlateMama!
Eat Clean.Be Healthy!
-Sara
Chocolate Covered Cashews
Equipment
- 1 Baking sheet
- 1 saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups roasted cashews (see notes)
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar (see notes)
- 1 tsp. coconut oil
- coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small sauce pan over low heat, melt the chocolate and coconut oil. Once chocolate begins to melt, stir until about ¾ of chocolate is melted and then remove from heat. Continue stirring chocolate until remaining pieces have melted.
- Add the cashews to the melted chocolate and mix until combined.
- Using a large spoon, drop clusters of cashews onto prepared baking sheet. I usually use about 6-7 cashews per cluster.
- Top each cluster with a sprinkle of sea salt.
- Allow to set before storing. Cashew clusters can sit at room temperature for a few hours, or can be placed in the fridge for about an hour to set.
- Store in an airtight container at room temp. Enjoy!
Notes
- I highly recommend roasted cashews as they add a nice crunch and roasting them brings out the flavor of the cashews. That said, raw cashews can be used as well.
- The higher quality chocolate, the better these will turn out. I don't recommend milk chocolate. Semi-sweet or dark is best.
- Drizzle any extra melted chocolate left in the pan over the finished clusters.
- Allow chocolate to set slightly before sprinkling with sea salt (about 15 minute). This will help the sea salt to sit nicely on top and not sink into the chocolate.
- Chocolate cashews are best within 1 week.
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