Peanut Brittle Recipe (2024)

Family recipe: Preheat buttered rimmed cookie sheet at 225. In 10-inch cast iron skillet heat 1.5 c sugar, 1 cup light corn syrup medium-high. As soon as sugar dissolves add 1 lb RAW Spanish peanuts and 0.5 tsp salt. Cook, stirring until amber. Off heat, then add 2 Tbsp butter. Take cookie sheet out of oven. Thoroughly mix one heaping tsp baking soda into syrup. Pour onto cookie sheet.
Peanuts roast in the sugar, baking soda makes it non-stick-in-your-teeth crunchy.

I agree! How is 2 tablespoons even close to being enough? I compared it to other recipes that called for 1 1/2 CUPS of water...

Use Max’s recipeFamily recipe: Preheat buttered rimmed cookie sheet at 225. In 10-inch cast iron skillet heat 1.5 c sugar, 1 cup light corn syrup medium-high. As soon as sugar dissolves add 1 lb RAW Spanish peanuts and 0.5 tsp salt. Cook, stirring until amber. Off heat, then add 2 Tbsp butter. Take cookie sheet out of oven. Thoroughly mix one heaping tsp baking soda into syrup. Pour onto cookie sheet.Peanuts roast in the sugar, baking soda makes it non-stick-in-your-teeth crunchy.

I made this once using Trader Joe's spicy Thai peanut mix with lime leaves. Yummy! Beautiful, too.

Okay... so 4 cups to 1.5 cups nuts is perfect for 10x15 pan.

I have made this and it's FABULOUSLY easy and quite good...I mean, it's peanut brittle!

Never mind! I just learned how to carmelize sugar. Can you tell I'm a novice? : - )

It needed more water. 2 tablespoons is very little and it was hard to mix everything together. The brittle came out like very think shards of glass. It was tasty but didn't look like traditional brittle. After consulting other recipes, I modified Mr. Bittman's to include 1/4 cup water (worked much faster to mix and melt the sugar) and also added (off the heat) 3/4 stick butter, cold, cubed, and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Not sure what the baking soda does but every recipe seems to use it.

Made this today, very tasty but the mixture started to cool as soon as I poured it on the cookie sheet, was too sticky to spread thinly so I left it lumpy.... now it’s stuck to the sheet! Popped it in the fridge to see if that’ll make it easier to pry up. Parchment paper next time.

A recipe totally ungrounded in reality! Really frustrating. I had to add a lot more water and two tbsp butter to make this workable - butter isn’t mentioned at all.

Excellent with a few additions taken from other commenters - yes to warming both the pan and the nuts in a 225 degree oven while the sugar is on the stove. I poured the sugar over the warm nuts and used a buttered spatula to press flat and even for a good 45 seconds or so before it solidified. Yes to a pinch of baking soda mixed into the sugar just before pouring.No to more water. The sugar gets there beautifully, it just takes love, patience and close attention to spot that melty moment.

Max, this was great, came out delicious! Thank you.

Better detail on how to caramelize the sugar would be helpful. This was a huge mess and waste - the sugar remained sandy and unpalatable.

I take it all back... 2 cups nuts to 3 cups sugar.

I started following the recipe (for 3/4 cup of peanuts and 3/4 cup of sugar) and realized quickly the caramel would not work out right. I immediately went on the comments and followed the advice : I added 1/2 cup water and once the caramel was perfect added 1/4 cup of butter. It was perfect. I also greased the paper sheet to make it extra easy to detach. Thanks !

First time peanut brittle maker. Followed Max’s family recipe exactly. The brittle came out perfect. The baking soda is essential. Thanks Max!

Awful recipe - uneven heating, chunks of undissolved sugar sitting in a puddle of too caramelized liquid sugar led to rock hard brittle

Ridiculously bad recipe. Had to throw out the first crystallized batch and start over with more water, a metal spoon and brush to wipe down sides. Medium heat was too high, needs to melt first. Second batch ok til peanuts added, now it’s a gloopy messy that doesn’t spread at all. Add more specific instructions including indication of apx times. Am I stirring for about 5 min? 25? An hour? I get watching for golden brown sugar but sugar is notoriously tricky and this recipe lacks basic guidelines

Really enjoyed this but I made some changes based on comments:Preheated pan in 225F ovenAdded 1/4 tsp cream of tartar to sugar before boilingBoiled sugar to 300 degrees for hard crack stageAdded 1/2 tsp baking soda and 2 tbsp of cold butter before adding peanuts Final product was rich. The butter did make it a little greasy but the taste was great

Use a candy thermometer: cook to 300F (hard crack) to eliminate guesswork and (more importantly) to keep the candy from pulling the fillings out of everyone's teeth!

Thanks for all the helpful notes. My thoughts:Agreed the parchment and baking soda are critical.You really do only need two tbsp of water, but if you’re not comfortable making caramel this could be intimidating. Would add butter next time, as the brittle lacked richness without it.

If you're feeling fancy, try pulling the brittle apart as it cools to create delicate, satiny ribbons of peanut-studded crack! (These also lend themselves to use as garnish for desserts, etc.)Definitely use Max's recipe!

I needed a lot more direction on how to caramelize sugar, despite the claim that this was an easy recipe. This turned out a crystalized mess. I think my mistake was stirring the sugar. I can see from further research I shouldn't have done that. :(

Nightmare recipe as written. Too little water and it cooled too much adding the nuts. I wish I had read the comments before attempting and used their modifications. Do not recommend .

I used Max’s Family Recipe. Well, I didn’t make brittle, I made some sort of peanut nougat!! I’ll never be able to repeat this mistake and that is unfortunate because it’s the best sweet I’ve ever made accidentally or on purpose. People can’t get enough of it.

Absolutely not possible with that little water. Was a complete mess.

*sigh* I did an amateur mistake. We only had shelled peanuts so after cracking open a cup of peanuts, I decided to be lazy and use peanut butter for the rest. I also burned my sugar so it tastes a bit weird. Welp, I’m only 11 so what can I say. Other than that though, tastes great. It’s nice to eat with a cup of milk.

First time peanut brittle maker! 2 tablespoons was enough water. Just had to keep working it. Turned out exactly like the picture and delicious too!

I've made this recipe a few times now without success, I kept getting very chewy brittle. After some research online, the ideal temperature for the taffy is 295–309˚F. For future attempts, I will use a candy thermometer, but I figured I would share here in case anyone else was having the same problem.