Boiled Peanuts Recipe

The World's Soul Food

boiling peanuts in pot

Boiled peanuts recipes are common where peanuts are grown. Boiling peanuts requires water, peanuts, salt, heat, and time.

Additional flavorings are used around the world, but the passion for boiled peanuts is the same regardless of country, continent, or island.

The details make all the difference in the world. The raw ingredients, along with boiling and soaking times, determines the texture, wetness, and flavor of boiled peanuts.

Ingredients

  • Raw Peanuts - Enough to fill your pot

  • Water - Enough to float the peanuts (measure how much used)

  • Salt - About 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) of salt per gallon of water

    Directions

    Rinse the raw peanuts several times in water to remove debris. Put the peanuts into a pot. You can also use a crockpot. Add water (measure as you fill) until it reaches no more than 1" from the top of the pot. The peanuts will float. Stir the pot, and bring it to a rolling boil (turn crockpot on high).

    Fresh green peanuts should boil at least 1 hour, and up to 4 hours. Dried raw peanuts usually need to boil more than 8 hours, and up to 24 hours. Add fresh water as required, because the water boils away over time.

    Taste the peanuts as they boil. Raw peanuts first soften as they boil. The salt flavor only infuses the peanuts after they soften, and the brine permeates the shells. When they are as soft as you like turn off the burner, and let the boiled peanuts soak in the brine for several hours to saturate the peanuts with the salty flavor.

    Green raw peanuts take at least 1 hour to boil, and raw dried peanuts may require up to 24 hours to boil. The raw peanuts' maturity, size, internal moisture content, and your taste preference determines their required boiling time.

    When using this boiled peanuts recipe in a pressure cooker with dried peanuts, cook them for about 45 to 55 minutes at 15 pounds pressure, depending on how soft you prefer them. Let the pressure cooker reduce pressure naturally, don't force cool it. After pressure cooking the peanuts you can continue to boil them in the open pot to further soften them.

    Regardless how you boil them, we suggest soaking the boiled peanuts in the brine for several hours after they reach the texture you like. Soaking infuses the peanuts with salty goodness, and makes them juicy. You can soak them overnight in the refrigerator for maximum flavor. Eat them cold, or reheat them in the juice to enjoy fresh hot boiled peanuts.

    While no boiled peanut recipe can tell you exactly how long to boil your peanuts, by sampling them as they boil you'll decide when they're done to your liking.




    This Georgia expert tells his boiled peanut recipe for green peanuts. Notice JR uses "about 25 pounds of peanuts, 3 cups of salt for the first cooking". He doesn't say how much water that is. The ratio of salt to water is the important factor not pounds of peanuts.

    Many online boiled peanuts recipes advise using more salt than you need. The concentration of salt in the water is the important factor rather than the pounds of peanuts in the water.

    Our boiled peanuts recipe suggests 1/2 cup of salt per Gallon of water. Some like more, some less. We recommend about 8 Tablespoons (+/-2) of salt per Gallon of water when boiling peanuts.

    Proper boiling and soaking time allows the saline solution to flow through the shell into the pods, and saturate them with flavor. Green peanuts will take at least 1 hour to boil, up to 4 hours. Dried raw peanuts will take up to 24 hours to boil. Dried peanuts (and dried beans) soften faster when boiling without any salt. Add salt to the water as they cool and soak. Do not try to rush good boiled peanut flavor by using extra salt. Let the magic happen naturally, over time as it does around the world for boiled peanut vendors.

    The perfect boiled peanut recipe creates the best texture, flavor, and wetness from that particular batch of peanuts. Flavor perfection requires proper cooking, and soaking time using the freshest ingredients.


    Regional boiled peanut recipes add chili peppers, jalapenos, old bay seasoning, shrimp boil seasoning, sugar, jaggery, star anise, turmeric, Chinese 5 spice, cilantro, onion, garlic, Szechuan peppercorn, chicken stock, liquid smoke, etc.


    Smokey Georgia Green Boiled Peanuts Recipe

    George shows his South Georgia boiled peanuts recipe. He adds liquid smoke for the taste of old time peanut boiling over hardwood fires. His recipe is 10 pounds of Green peanuts, 2 Gallons of water, 1.5 Cups of Kosher Salt (24 tbsp non iodized salt), and 1/4 Cup of Liquid Smoke. Cooking the green peanuts up to 4 hours he tastes them periodically to decide when they are done.

    They soak in the salty water as they cool for several hours prior to freezing them in containers for year round enjoyment.


    Have a suggestion or recipe? Have a question about boiling peanuts?

    Post here without hesitation. We learn from each other.

    What other visitors have posted

    See questions, and contributions from other visitors to this page.

    Boiling peanuts in a BrewZilla 
    I have started using my BrewZilla for boiling peanuts. Just take out the beer making stuff. It works great, with the raised bottom I never have to worry …

    Help - Searching for a Dill Pickle, Dill Pickle Ranch, or other unique recipe for boiled peanuts! 
    We cook our Valencia boiled peanuts by the 50 lb bag in 55 gallon drums. I am looking for a recipe that would be a good Southern Dill Pickle recipe, …

    Chili Lime Boiled Peanuts 
    I'd been craving boiled peanuts for several days but wanted to try something different as well. I'd just bought Badia brand Chili Lime seasoning to use …

    Cherokee Civil War Boiled Peanuts 
    First off, remember this recipe is from my great-great-granddaddy who fought in the Civil War in the Cherokee division of the Confederate Army. He was …

    Hot Water Bath for Canning Boiled Peanuts 
    Can I can peanuts that are already boiled in a hot water bath instead of having to use a pressure cooker?

    Boiling Peanuts another method 
    I have a 97 qt boiling pot, I empty a 30 to 35 pound sack of washed peanuts into the pot. I then fill the pot with water until the peanuts are about 2 …

    Boiled Peanut Pricing 
    I'd been selling my boiled peanuts at a local amphitheater until this year. I was told that the shells were making a mess. My question is: How should …

    Boiled peanuts with oxtail, boiled peanuts with broccoli and cauliflower 
    I have heard of two different ways to cook boiled peanuts but having problems finding recipes for them. Maybe someone here can help me. One is boiled …

    Boiled Peanut Cheat 
    Buy the ones already in a can. Then pressure cook them for 30 minutes. You'll find them softer and you don't have to add salt. However allow them to cool …

    Electric pressure cooker boiled peanuts 
    I have an electric pressure cooker and I was wondering how can I boil peanuts using it. I have not been able to find any recipes using this method. …

    Peanuts to boil in Colorado 
    I recently moved from South Carolina to Colorado and I'm beginning to need some boiled peanuts. I was about to order some green peanuts from Hardy Farms …

    Boiling shelled peanuts? 
    I ordered raw peanuts thinking they were in the shell but, when they arrived, they were already shelled. Do you have a recipe for boiling shelled, raw …

    Four Stages of Boiled Peanut Addiction 
    I am a boiled peanut Vendor in Glenville, North Carolina, on highway 107 at the Marina. I came up with the four stages of a Boiled Peanut Addiction, look …

    Green peanuts and salt 
    Good Mornin', could you tell me how much salt to add to 15 pounds of green Vidalia jumbos simmerin' in 4.5 gallons of water? I've been puttin' a half …

    Boiling 50 pounds of peanuts 
    Let's get over all the drama and complication about boiling peanuts. I've sold boiled peanuts in the north Georgia mountains for twenty five years. This …

    Hiway guy Mike's advice 
    Add some star anise to your boiled peanuts for that Melbourne, Florida slant.

    Soaking dried peanuts before boiling 
    Would it help to soak the dried peanuts in water overnight before cooking - like dried beans? I appreciate the explanation of what happens when during …

    When do you discard boiled peanut shells? 
    When do you discard the shells from boiled peanuts?

    Canned boiled peanuts 
    I just received a can of boiled peanuts. What do I do with them? No recipe, just a question.

    Canning salt for boiling peanuts? 
    I use the recipe you offer here.

    Hawaiian Boiled Peanuts 
    While many think boiled peanuts are a recipe from the South, my first experience with boiled peanuts was 25 years ago when I was stationed in Pearl Harbor, …

    Click here to write your own.


    How to make Jong (Zongzi) with Boiled Peanuts

    Jong (also called joong, zong or zongzi) is a mixture of sticky rice, and a variety of savory or sweet ingredients boiled inside bamboo leaves.

    Zongzi are an important food during the Dragon Boat Festival on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. The Duānwǔ Jié festival memorializes the Chinese scholar, and poet Qu Yuan (about 340 to 280 BC.). The Cantonese name for the festival is Tuen Ng Jit. In the USA jong are sometimes called 'Chinese Tamales'.

    This video shows how to make a savory zongzi with boiled peanuts, toasted re-hydrated dried shrimp, Chinese sausage, cooked salted duck egg yolks, cooked long grain sweet rice, and pan fried soaked mung beans. The mixture is wrapped in bamboo leaves, and boiled.
    Spicy Cajun Boiled Peanuts are a southern US favorite.

    Search Boiled Peanut World here

    Custom Search
    return to home from boiled peanuts recipe

    Comments