Homemade Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds Recipe

Date Syrup Roasted Sunflower Seeds

I grew up with Planter's Honey Roasted Peanuts. Oh boy were those good... and also pretty expensive and unhealthy... I bought a huge amount of sunflower seeds in bulk (50 pounds total!) and while I've used them here or there in recipes, when I wanted a high protein, filling snack, I'd go for almonds, because eating those sunflower seeds plain wasn't so yummy- raw seeds have a bitterness to them that doesn't make them a good candidate for the munchies. Only almonds can be expensive, and I already have so many sunflower seeds at home... and even if I didn't buy them in bulk, sunflower seeds are pretty much the cheapest "nut" I can get locally, and even in the US, they're most likely the cheapest "nut". I tried to figure out if I could make these sunflower seeds honey roasted, to get that "Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts" taste in my sunflower seeds, and... Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

There are 3 different "honeys" you can use for this recipe to make it refined sugar free; if you don't care about the refined sugar aspect, I've included a recipe that is cheaper than all the others as it is made with white sugar.
All who've eaten these have loved them... the biggest problem is we're going through them like crazy in my house- in the past few days I must have made at least 6 batches of these honey roasted sunflower seeds... but at least we're making a dent in those 50 pounds of sunflower seeds at last! If you have an Instant Pot, you could also consider cooking sunflower seeds there."

Homemade Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds

Ingredients:

2 cups raw shelled sunflower seeds

3 tablespoons date syrup, honey, or agave nectar (I use date syrup as its cheapest locally)

1 1/2 tablespoons oil (I use sunflower oil) 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Heat honey/syrup/nectar on the stove until it melts/softens a bit. This should only take a minute or less.

2. Remove from fire, and add the oil and salt. Mix well.

3. Add the sunflower seeds, mix very well.

4. Lay the sunflower seeds out as flat as possible on a lined cookie sheet. 

5. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until it starts to change color, but before it starts burning. During that time, mix the sunflower seeds every 5 minutes so it cooks more evenly.

6. Once finished cooking, let them cool all the way down. When they're completely cool, they will stick together a bit like peanut brittle; break them apart. 

7. Store in an airtight jar until you finish eating them.

Note: To make them with sugar instead of honey or other sweeteners, mix 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons water, 1.5 tablespoons oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring them to a boil on the stove top until the syrup becomes golden. Mix with sunflower seeds, then continue from step 3. These will be lighter in color than ones made with honey or date syrup. (See picture at right for sugar roasted sunflower seeds.)
You can make these also with peanuts instead of sunflower seeds. Use raw, shelled peanuts and make exactly the same way. You just need to roast it for a little longer.

Have you ever eaten honey roasted sunflower seeds before? If you'd make them, what would you use as the sweetener?
What costs less locally? Sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, or some other nut? Is the difference in price significant?

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