Buffalo-Spiced Cashews

Spicy, complex, and completely craveable, these buffalo-spiced cashews are perfect for the big game!

Click here to skip to the printable recipe.

We are Five Monsters Paleo, and we are addicted to buffalo. Not the animal--though, I mean, they're cool, too. We are talking buffalo wings and buffalo-wing-flavored things.

There are all kinds of “healthy” alternatives to wings these days, and many of them are delicious. Even wings themselves can be perfectly within the paleo and even Whole30 frameworks. However. . .what about when you just want a snack without a whole lot of fuss?

These Buffalo-Spiced Cashews are possibly the perfect snack: no sugar, plenty of savory, spicy flavor, easy to make, and totally make-ahead friendly. The bulk of their “buffalo” flavor comes from hot sauce (we greatly prefer Frank’s Red Hot), rounded out with a few of the usual suspects (granulated garlic, onion powder, salt), plus a couple of secret ingredients to punch things up.

While unexpected, celery seed and nutritional yeast nod to the celery and blue cheese accoutrements so common to the buffalo wing experience.

These cashews are pretty tame on the hot-wing spectrum--totally friendly for delicate monsters. Just add an extra tablespoon of hot sauce and/or a teaspoon of ground cayenne to ramp up the scovilles.

My monsters want to eat these by the handful--ok, jarful. I hope you’ll love them, too!

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 large egg whites

• 3-4 T hot sauce (preferably Frank’s Red Hot)

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp granulated garlic

• 1 ½ tsp Kosher salt

• ½ tsp celery seed

• 2 tsp nutritional yeast

• 3 cups cashews

Here's what you'll do:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper so that the parchment extends over the sides a few inches.

2. In a medium-sized bowl vigorously whisk together the egg whites, hot sauce, and all seasonings till frothy.

3. Add the cashews to the bowl and stir to coat thoroughly.

4. Transfer the cashews to the prepared pan and spread out in an even layer. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes; use a spatula to flip, toss and redistribute the nuts; and bake 10 minutes more.

5. Carefully transfer the parchment with the nuts to the counter, use the spatula to spread them out a little more on the paper, and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container (like a mason jar) at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Click here for the printable recipe.