Cashew Brittle Recipe with Baking Soda

The pan gets hot enough that you can’t touch it. Really hot. That’s when you know you’re close—when the mix stops looking like caramel and starts looking like something darker, something harder. You’re chasing 300°F, but honestly, the color matters more than the number.

Why You’ll Love This Cashew Brittle

Makes actual homemade candy in 21 minutes total—most of that is just waiting for the pan to do its thing. No special equipment except what you have. Tastes like the expensive stuff from the store except it cost maybe four dollars. Stays crispy for days if you don’t eat it all first. Works as a gift, works as a snack, works broken up over ice cream. The baking soda makes it lighter than regular caramel—less of that dense chewy thing, more snap. And it’s vegetarian, which sometimes matters.

What You Need for Cashew Brittle

Water. Half a cup. Sugar—two cups of the regular kind. Corn syrup, the light stuff, two-thirds cup. Butter, six tablespoons, unsalted. You want control over salt. Raw cashews. Not roasted. Raw works better here. One and a half cups. Baking soda—one teaspoon. Vanilla extract, one teaspoon. That’s it. Sounds like nothing until you put it together.

How to Make Cashew Brittle

Line your sheet first. Silicone mat is best. Parchment works too. Set it somewhere you can reach fast because you’re going to need it.

Pour the water, sugar, corn syrup, and butter into a heavy pot. Candy thermometer clipped to the side. Don’t stir. This is important. Let it boil on its own. The mix goes from clear to a faint amber color around 12 minutes in—that’s when you stop looking away. Watch it now. The color keeps getting darker. You’re waiting for 300°F. Hard crack stage. That’s the number.

The moment it hits 300, pull it off heat. Electric stove? Move the pot completely away from the burner. The heat keeps going otherwise and you’ll overshoot.

How to Get Cashew Brittle Crispy and Right

Stir in the baking soda, vanilla, and cashews all at once. It foams. A lot. Aggressively. This is normal. Don’t panic. Stir just enough to get everything mixed in. The foam settles after a few seconds. You’re not going for smooth here—rough is actually what you want.

Pour it immediately onto the sheet. Fast but careful. The toffee sets up in seconds. Use a heatproof spatula or an offset knife to spread it into something like a 9-by-12 rectangle. Thin but not fragile. You want crunch, not shattering. If it gets too thick in spots, spread it before it hardens completely.

Let it sit at room temperature. Don’t refrigerate. Don’t freeze it. Cold makes it crack weird and you’ll end up with shards instead of pieces. Just let it cool completely on its own.

Once it’s hard—maybe 20 minutes—break it with your hands into irregular chunks. Or put it inside a towel and smash it with a rolling pin if that sounds more fun. It’s already done at this point. Nothing’s going to break.

Cashew Brittle Tips and Common Mistakes

Don’t skip the thermometer. Eyeballing it doesn’t work here. Off by 10 degrees and the texture changes completely. Too low and it’s chewy. Too high and it tastes burnt. Get a thermometer that clips on.

The baking soda is what makes it light and crispy instead of dense like taffy. Don’t leave it out thinking you’ll skip a step. You won’t get the same thing.

Raw cashews, not roasted. Roasted ones are already slightly cooked and the heat can push them over. Raw stays fresher tasting in the brittle.

The butter has to be unsalted. You’re controlling the salt level this way. Salted butter ruins the balance.

Stir only once, after the baking soda goes in. More stirring incorporates too much air in the wrong way and it gets weird and spongy. Just enough to combine. That’s all.

If you mess up and the mix hardens in the pot, don’t throw it away. Heat it again. Brittle rehabs pretty well. Takes 5 minutes to get it soft enough to pour again.

Cashew Brittle Recipe with Baking Soda

By Emma

Prep:

3 min

Cook:

18 min

Total:

21 min

Servings:

6 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups raw cashews

Method

1. 1 Line a large rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Set aside.
2. 2 Pour water, sugar, corn syrup, and butter into a large heavy-bottomed pot fitted with candy thermometer. Let come to boil without stirring. No peeking until mix shifts from clear to faint amber sheen—watch closely after 12 minutes. Heat until thermometer reads about 300°F, the hard crack stage. Remove from burner immediately. On electric stoves, move pot off heat to prevent residual cooking.
3. 3 Quickly but carefully stir in baking soda, vanilla, and raw cashews. Mixture foams aggressively due to baking soda reaction. Stir just enough to combine before foam starts to settle.
4. 4 Immediately pour the bubbling toffee onto the prepared sheet. Use a heatproof spatula or offset knife to spread the mixture into an even 9×12-inch rectangle. Move fast; it begins to solidify within seconds. Aim for thin but substantial layer for crunch without breaking too easy.
5. 5 Let cool completely at room temperature. No fridge or freeze—cold snaps brittle too fast causing potential cracking mess. Once hardened, break into irregular pieces with your hands or a rolling pin inside a towel.

Nutritional information

Calories

703

Protein

7g

Carbs

103g

Fat

33g

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Frequently Asked Questions About Homemade Cashew Brittle

Can I use roasted cashews instead of raw? Not really the same thing. Roasted ones cook further in the hot sugar and the flavor gets muddy. Raw stays bright. Tried both.

What if my brittle turned out chewy instead of crispy? Didn’t hit 300°F. Temperature matters here way more than with most candy. Get a thermometer. Next time you’ll see the difference.

How long does it stay good? Days. Maybe a week if you keep it in an airtight container. After that it starts absorbing moisture from the air and gets soft. Doesn’t really stay around long enough to be a problem.

Can I skip the baking soda? You get something different. Denser. More like toffee. Some people like that better. The recipe doesn’t work the same way though. The foam is what makes it light.

Does the type of corn syrup matter? Light corn syrup works. Dark corn syrup is okay too but it changes the color and flavor slightly. Light stays truer to what brittle should taste like. Haven’t tested the clear stuff.

Why can’t I refrigerate it? Cold makes the sugar contract at different rates and you get cracking. Just cools faster at room temperature and stays intact better. Don’t ask me the chemistry. It just works.