Who needs an open fire to roast chestnuts? You can do it yourself using your oven! Roasting and peeling chestnuts is a relatively simple process. Homemade roasted chestnuts will fill your home with a wonderful aroma– they smell like the winter holidays!
Did you know that chestnuts are sometimes referred to as the “bread of the mountain”? This is because, unlike other fatty tree nuts, chestnuts are much higher in carbohydrates. In northern Italy, before the arrival of corn, ground chestnuts were a key component in making polenta. In early 19th century America chestnuts were very common; so common, in fact, that farmers would allow their pigs to fatten up by eating the extra chestnuts that had fallen to the forest floor. The high quality lumber produced from chestnut trees was often used in furniture making and construction. During the first half of the 1800s a blight that arrived with Asian-imported trees nearly wiped out the American chestnut. Those trees were eventually replaced with heartier and more resistant chestnut trees, which are the type we see most often today. Chestnuts are now viewed as more of a seasonal holiday luxury. If you’ve ever traveled to New York City, you’ve surely noticed the sweet smell of chestnuts being roasted and sold by street vendors. It’s intoxicating!
If you would rather not go through the work of roasting and peeling your own, you can generally find pre-roasted and shelled chestnuts at major supermarkets and gourmet shops. Keep in mind that roasted chestnuts are best eaten right away, as they mold and spoil fairly quickly. NOTE: edible chestnuts are very different from horse chestnuts (commonly found in back yards), which are terribly bitter and toxic. Only use edible culinary chestnuts for roasting!
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How to Roast and Peel Chestnuts
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw chestnuts, in shell
- sharp knife, pot and strainer, large bowl
NOTES
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. To prepare your chestnuts, grasp them firmly between your thumb and index finger and carefully make a long slice across the rounded top of the chestnut with a sharp serrated bread knife. Careful, the shell is slippery. You should be able to slice it in one motion. If you have trouble cutting through, use gentle sawing motions, don't force the blade down or you run the risk of cutting your hand.
- Be sure to cut all the way through the shell.
- Once all of your chestnuts have been cut, place them into a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer.
- Once the water begins to simmer, remove the chestnuts from the water using a mesh strainer or slotted spoon and transfer them to a baking sheet.
- Roast for 15 minutes, or until the shells begin to peel back where you cut into them.
- Remove the chestnuts from the oven. Place them into a bowl and cover with a towel for 15 minutes. Allowing them to steam a bit will make them easier to peel.
- Once the 15 minutes have passed, simply pull on the shell and slip the chestnut out. Some will be easier to peel than others. Both the outer shell and the tough brown skin around the chestnuts should be peeled off. If you run into any nuts that seem gooey or disintegrated inside, it means that they have spoiled. Chestnuts tend to have a short shelf life, spoiled nuts should be tossed.
- Voila! You now have freshly roasted and peeled chestnuts. They're not the easiest things to peel, but these tender, sweet and fragrant nuts are a welcome treat during the winter months.
BrooklynDogGeek says
This technique worked perfectly! Just did it tonight for a leek and chestnut stuffing recipe and wanted to save the money on buying fresh chestnuts and roasting myself. Out of one pound, only three were bad, but they were organic and local, so that probably helped ensure their freshness. This worked so well–they just popped out–and I’m so pleased.
Elaine says
how do you store them if your not going to cook them right away ?
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Elaine, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Peeled chestnuts can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days or in an airtight container in the freezer for a month. Hope this helps!
Barb DeFreytas says
Alternative:
Cut chestnuts in half. Same boiling. Roast. Not all nut meats are easy to remove. Use needle nose pliers to “”gently”” squeeze shell and pop out the nut.
ashley says
Great tip!
Chris L. says
This is by far the best method of roasting and selling chestnuts that I have found. I was always wondering how to separate the bad ones form the batch before roasting. Now I just roast them all and the bad ones won’t split open and are always the hardest to peel. A friend gave me a bucket of chestnuts and I boiled my first batch and peeling was a nightmare, this method works great, the nut just pops out of the shell. Thank you!!!
Nola Susan says
I really, really wanted this method to work. I have been baking my chestnuts in the oven with an x on the top at 425 degrees with some degree of success in the peeling part. I had hoped this method would work, but unfortunately it did not. The only thing I can think of is that these chestnuts were imported from Korea and maybe they are just not fresh enough. The peeling of these was so bad that I tried scooping the meat out with a spoon – but even this did not give good results. I had to toss out all the chestnuts.
owlice says
SO much better than what I used to do to peel chestnuts, which took an incredible amount of time and hurt! This is so easy, and a particular joy right now since discovering the chestnut tree in front of my house is not a horse chestnut tree!
Robert Ray says
Chestnuts dehydrate quickly. So it’s desirable to roast while fresh. After roasting if you leave them on the shelf they will get hard quickly. After roasting, I usually freeze them and put a few in a jar in the frig. for immediate consumption. I read somewhere that Germans soak their chestnuts for 2 weeks before roasting.
The only thing that we do differently, is we add a salt to the water before simmering.
You have very good suggestions and a great website!!!
MC says
I followed your full instructions to the letter, but the results certainly did not look anything like the whole golden pieces in your photograph. The 15 minutes in the oven were insufficient to cook them to tenderness, and it wasn’t possible to remove the shells and skin without breaking the chestnuts into crumbly pieces.
Barbara says
I have tried for years to make chestnuts only to toss so many out because we couldn’t peel them…This was THE BEST ever…I tried it myself first. I was so excited I gave the recipe to my family and we had the best, easy to peel, chestnuts ever. Everyone was so excited that they peeled so easy. Thank you so much.
Lily says
Worked wonderfully for the few fresh ones in the batch.
Joe — Many of mine turned out hard as well. Seems, they were dried out to begin with, from not being stored properly.
Delisammich says
We have been roasting chestnuts for several years and always experienced some peeling difficulties. This year, I decided that I would find an alternate method to solve peeling problems. This recipe is by far the best I have ever used! Not only has the peeling been greatly improved, the overall texture and moisture balance is spot on. Thanks for what I consider to be the ultimate and simplest chestnut roasting method I have ever used. I don’t think it can be improved on. I recommend it to all holiday chefs!
Joe says
I followed the directions given and the chestnuts turned out hard. When I tried to peel them the shell came off but the covering wouldn’t come off. I think the nuts must of been too small to cook for 15 minutes.
Mark says
Never had before bet going to try with family this year with family. Thx for the recipe.
Christina says
Wonderful directions!! I just did this with some chestnuts I picked up at the store and they were so EASY to peel!! And I didn’t have any explode like the last time when I tried a different method! Thank you very much!
JJ says
Why do you have to put the chestnuts in water and boil them before roasting?
Frank says
Candied chestnuts are an old fashioned German Christmas specialty. Melt 4 ounces of salted butter in a saucepan with a half cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of water. Add a pound of chestnuts, peeled. We serve as a side dish with a roasted goose, but it’s great with any holiday meal.
Carol H says
Best method ever! Try to cut the shells half way around. It may take a few tries to get the depth just right. Once you get it, this method works like magic! For me 200 degrees was a good temp for the simmer. I had a ton of nuts to go through, so I had time to experiment. 🙂
Pauline Alexiou says
It’s chestnut season here again in Greece and, as happens every year at this time, people we know often give us a bag of these delicious nuts. I did not have a good recipe for cooking them and my husband usually just boils them and there is always the problem of getting the inner skin off. And I do prefer them roasted. So last night I followed your instructions and the result was absolutely great. The instructions were easy to follow and the whole process was quick. The chestnuts were delicious and I have never seen the inner skinn come off so eaily. This is the perfect recipe and I will be using it from now on. Thank you so much.
BOB DIMERLING says
SAFE & SIMPLE WAY TO MAKE CUT IN CHESTNUTS .PIECE OF WOOD ,8″X2″X1/2″ (ANY SIZE YOU WANT) USE FORSTNER BIT 1″, TO DRILL HOLE ABOUR 3/8 ” DEEP. PLACE NUT ROUNDED SIDE DOWN IN HOLE,MAKE SLICE WITH SARATED KNIFE. NUT CANNOT ROLL OR SLIDE. WORKS GREAT !!!!
Glen Hammond says
OMG !!!
Took dog for a walk in our local woods ( Kent England) picked up a bag full of chestnuts , just tried this method worked perfectly
Thanks