Spicy Boiled Peanuts

I started eating boiled peanuts as a child. Maybe it's a southern thing. Maybe it's because peanuts are grown locally, they're cheap and easy to find. I buy raw nuts from the farmer's market and only make boiled peanuts with them. I'm sure there are other things, but why mess with perfection. 


I don't care. 


I love them. 


I only started making them on my own since we moved to Atlanta a few years ago. Boiled peanuts are super easy to make but not fast. I like easy. Resist the urge to undercook these. I like to be able to split them with a pinch of the fingers, have minimal fibrous shell and the nuts to have a bean like softness without being mushy. That takes patience. 

Serve them hot or cold. They all have a bit of spicy salt water inside so keep a napkin ready.

Spicy Boiled Peanuts

1-2 lbs of green (That mean raw, green, not roasted) peanuts, well rinsed. 
Pot of water. I use a 6qt soup pot filled 1/2 full.
2 tbsp salt
2-3 tbsp red pepper flakes or to taste


Clean your peanuts by soaking them in cool water and rubbing them together with your hands to remove all bits of sand and dirt. You may need to swap out the water if you get particularly gritty nuts.

• Fill 5 quart soup pot half-full of water
• Add salt and red pepper flakes and bring to boil
• Add in peanuts, close lid, reduce to simmer and walk away
• Really, walk away. Turn on the vent over your stove too. Note: That much pepper steam will make you cough if you hang out too close to the stove. It's a good trick to make this when no one needs to be hanging out in the kitchen. *hack*
• Keep an eye on the water level, add more as needed
• After 2 hours, try a big one. Add more salt and pepper as need and continue cooking until the peanut is easy to break with a good squeeze and the nut has a cooked bean softness, but not mushy

The boiled peanuts in the photo took about 3-3.5 hours. After they're done, remove pot from heat. Let the nuts cool down in the cooking water. Use a slotted spoon to move a serving to a bowl and let them cool down until they're safe to eat. I let the rest hang in the water until I want more. After they're cool I use the slotted spoon to put them in baggies and stick them in the fridge. They're just as good cold out of the fridge as they are still warm from cooking.

These cold boiled peanuts...going with me to the pool on a hot Georgia day.

Serve with napkins (or just eat them over the sink) and a bowl to collect the shells.

Some day I'd like to own a big 5 gallon pot to make bigger batches. I have such fancy housewife dreams.