29 Incredible Ways to Use Walnuts in Paleo Cooking
Walnuts are an especially versatile nut because their meat is rather soft and buttery (all those Omega 3-rich oils!), and they have a flavor that’s quite pronounced while also being suitable for both sweet and savory recipes. These walnut recipes vary quite a bit, and you’re sure to find one you can enjoy!
1. Spiced Cinnamon Walnut Crumb Cake
Crumb Cake is just the best—especially on a weekend morning when you find yourself in need of a special breakfast. try this walnut crumb cake made with crushed walnuts and almond meal, coconut flour, apple puree, maple syrup, and plenty of cinnamon.
Photo: Every Last Bite
2. Spiced Apple Walnut Loaf With Apple Butter
Walnuts are fantastic in bread, and they seem to have an affinity with apples that’s just impossible to beat. This loaf is sweetened with honey and apple juice, and totally loaded with apples and walnuts. Laced with nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon, and almond flour base is perfect here.
3. Georgian Chicken With Walnut Sauce
This unique recipe involves intensely seasoned chicken with coriander and cinnamon, and a savory walnut sauce using saffron, white wine vinegar, turmeric, and more. Instead of serving over brown rice, try it over cauliflower rice or just on its own.
4. Grain Free Chocolate Walnut Truffles
I’ve been making a variation on these truffles ever since I transitioned fully to real, whole foods. You can make these date-cocoa-and-walnut balls with peppermint extract, or try another extract like almond (amaretto, anyone?), orange, or classic vanilla.
5. Baked Squash With Apples and Cranberries
This dish is both sweet and savory, so it’s a healthy dish that you shouldn’t have any trouble getting the kids to at least taste! The cranberry-apple filling is gooey and delicious, while crunchy walnuts add a nutty flavor, additional nutrients, and a boost of protein and texture.
Photo: Dish By Dish
6. Easy Chocolate Truffles
It’s interesting how things like truffles seem so difficult to make before you go paleo, and then once you do, you realize all your need is chocolate, coconut milk (instead of heavy cream), butter, and chopped walnuts. It’s that easy to make these 25 minute truffles!
7. Fennel Apple Salad
This easy side dish is perfect in winter or any time of year, really. Fennel and apples have savory and sweet, spicy flavors with lemon juice, walnuts, barberries, dill, salt, and pepper. It takes just ten minutes to throw together, so you’re only ten minutes away from a beautiful salad.
8. Cranberry Walnut Crumb Bars
These yummy crumby bars are gooey and perfect with walnuts and dark chocolate chips. You won’t be sorry you made them. They have an almond flour shortbread crust, fresh cranberries in the filling, a granulated sweetener of your choice (I’d use coconut sugar), butter, and walnuts.
9. Roasted Grape and Radicchio Salad
This fancy-looking salad is full of flavors and textures along with pickled fennel and walnuts. You can leave out the gorgonzola cheese if diary isn’t a part of your diet. For the pickled fennel, use coconut sugar. Don’t forget those crunchy toasted walnuts!
Photo: Healthy Seasonal Recipes
10. Walnut Balsamic Vinaigrette
Because walnuts have a flavor that’s both versatile and pronounced, they’re a great ingredient for salads. But what about salad dressings? You can use walnut oil in this yummy dressing with maple syrup, Dijon mustard, fresh thyme, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.
11. Cinnamon Apple Streusel Muffins
This recipe is one of my favorite muffin recipes because everything about it is just perfect from flavor to texture to ingredient list. You’ll use mostly almond flour with applesauce, date pasted, and chopped apples with a crumbly, crunchy walnut streusel topping.
12. Brussels Sprouts Slaw With Cabbage and Apples
This easy salad features shredded cabbage and Brussels sprouts for a crunchy base with tart Granny Smith apples and crispy walnuts. Cover the whole thing in a delicious lemon-Dijon vinaigrette with honey, sea salt, ground ginger, and black pepper.
13. Maple Walnut Crusted Salmon
This salmon is deliciously coated in a crispy crust of walnut pieces, fresh Italian parsley, almond flour (in place of the breadcrumbs), garlic, paprika, and black pepper. As if that isn’t enough, you also get a sweet and savory maple-ghee-ginger glaze with coconut aminos and lemon juice!
Photo: Pork and Greens
14. Spiced Apple Porridge
Made with rich and creamy coconut milk, sweet apples, spicy cinnamon, and crunchy walnuts, this grain-free porridge is the perfect way to start your morning with something warm in your belly. It doesn’t even need sweetener, but if you’d like to add some, a swirl of maple syrup will do the trick.
15. Maple Date and Walnut Oven Roasted Acorn Squash
Roasted winter squashes are the best, and I love acorn squash with its sweet and nutty undertones and soft, yellow flesh. This walnut-filled squash with maple sugar, dates, chili pepper flakes, and ghee is the perfect dish for when you need something that’s both sweet and dinner-healthy.
16. Scallop and Apple Noodle Spinach Salad
Topped with delicious spicy walnuts, this simple salad is all the best things with scallops, Dijon mustard dressing, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, lemon juice, green apple, and baby spinach. It’s healthy and delicious, and you’ll want to eat it every day for lunch.
17. Apple Glazed Brussels Sprouts
Apples and walnuts can seem inseparable sometimes, which explains how a dish like apple-glazed Brussels sprouts with walnuts comes about. This dish uses apple jam or preserves, coconut oil, onion, raisins, walnuts, and sea salt, and it’s a great side dish.
Photo: Forest and Fauna
18. Chocolate Fig Walnut Muffins
Chocolate muffins are my answer to everything from stressful days at work to weekend breakfasts, so I’m pretty excited to share this muffin made with soaked walnuts, tahini, dried figs, honey, cocoa, and a bunch of other deliciously nutritious and wholesome ingredients.
19. Cranberry Waldorf Slaw With Poppyseed Dressing
This delicious waldorf slaw is both creamy and refreshingly light with just a little bit of paleo mayonnaise. The rest is all Dijon mustard, green cabbage, fennel, celery, cranberries, toasted walnuts, apple cider vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, and more goodness.
20. Tahini, Walnut, and Caramelized Onion Chicken Salad
This chicken salad is mayo-free, which is good news for those of us who don’t love the stuff (me included). But it’s also good news for those of you who enjoy regular chicken salad, because you won’t miss the mayonnaise with all the tahini, caramelized onions, walnuts, garlic, and more in this salad.
21. Chocolate Walnut Tart With Raspberries
This tart is perfect for Valentine’s day with sweet, dark, rich chocolate and juicy raspberries popped right in the top. The walnut base is delicious, and it’s covered with a chocolate ganache featuring chocolate chips, coconut cream, and vanilla. Really, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Photo: Great Food Lifestyle
22. Candied Walnut Clusters
These walnut clusters are easy to make and they really just take a handful of minutes out of your afternoon. You’ll need chocolate chunks to melt with homemade candied walnuts using maple syrup, sea salt, coconut oil, and cinnamon. Everyone loves these!
23. Maple Walnut Ice Cream
If you’ve been reading my recipe lists for some time now, you know that I have a sfot spot for ice cream. I also love maple, so this maple-walnut ice cream really gets me excited. And it’s dairy free, with coconut cream and frozen bananas for creaminess! If you want a true maple flavor, you can replace the coconut nectar with maples syrup.
24. Raw Brownies
These raw brownies were my very first introduction to alternative healthier foods, and they left a lasting impression. They taste deliciously fudgy and sweet, but they’re made from nothing by walnuts, dates, cacao powder, and shredded coconut! And they’re no-bake, too.
25. Grain Free Fudgy Brownies
These brownies are baked, so they’re great if you’re having guests who are used to grainy desserts like traditional brownies. But they’re made with maple syrup, coconut sugar, dark chocolate, almond flour, and chopped raw walnuts sprinkled over the top.
Photo: Down Shiftology
26. Roasted Beet and Kale Salad
This simple salad features a blend of flavors, textures, and colors with chopped kale, roasted beets, dried cranberries, walnuts, and a delicious dressing made from olive oil, lemons, ginger, and sea salt. It’s a great throw-it-together lunch when you’ve only got a handful of ingredients.
27. Roasted Potato Salad With Mustard Vinaigrette
Here’s a simple potato salad that’s much lighter (and tastier, if you ask me) than the traditional mayonnaise-based version. This one includes walnuts and fresh basil and is covered in a dressing of garlic, whole-grain mustard, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, roasted walnut oil, and more.
28. Walnut Crunch Cake
I love cake—I really do. And this cake is especially good because it’s full of dates, walnuts, coconut milk, walnut butter (yum!), and a coconut butter drizzly topping that gives the illusion of frosting without the unhealthy sugariness. Sweetened partly with stevia!
29. Sliced Garden Tomatoes With Avocado and Kale Pesto
I’ve made kale pesto before, but the flavor can be overwhelming. The solution here is to add avocado, which tastes amazing with olive oil and garlic! Walnuts replace pricy pine nuts here and give the pesto a unique flavor that you’re going to love.
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