Pan Roasted Chestnuts (with Butter and Sugar)

Roasted chestnuts are one of the signature flavors of autumn in so many countries around the world.

Chinese style street-food chestnuts are warm and soft roasted chestnuts covered in a sweet and shiny sugar-butter coating.

I really love the fact that roasted chestnuts are always served in a brown paper bag. On so many cold winter evenings, I’d hold a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts on my way home from school.

They could always warm up my frozen hands and fill up my empty belly before I got home.

Traditional stone roasted chestnuts

Traditionally, Chinese sugar roasted chestnuts are roasted with hot stones.

Why not just roast chestnuts on the open fire?

With these small stones, we can make sure that the chestnut kernels are fully cooked without the chestnut shells being burnt.

Specifically, frying chestnuts is a process of heat conduction, and the high temperature flame transfers heat to the wok, and then to the chestnuts.

However, the heat capacity of chestnut shell is large, which makes it easy for the shell to absorb heat from the wok. But at the same time, thermal conductivity of chestnut shell is small. Therefore, the heat cannot be transferred to the chestnut kernel effectively.

If we roast chestnuts “on the open fire” directly, it is very likely that the chestnut shells have been burnt, while the chestnut kernels are still raw.

In order to avoid this situation from happening, people add stones to fry with chestnuts.

The stones have a strong ability to absorb heat, but their temperature won’t rise too fast, so that the chestnut kernels have enough time to be cooked through.

That’s why stone roasted chestnuts are always soft and creamy like sweet potatoes!

Pan Roasted Chestnuts

It’s unrealistic for us to roast chestnuts at home with hot stones. It will defiantly ruin your favorite wok!

Luckily, with this recipe we can simply roast chestnuts with butter, sugar and water!

Yes, water! An easy trick to avoid dry and hard chestnuts is “roasting” them in water!

Boiled chestnuts naturally have a nutty aroma and a creamy texture. While the process of roasting will generate more flavor into the chestnuts. So why don’t we combine these two methods together?

To water-roast our chestnuts, we just place the chestnuts in a single layer, add enough water to immerse them, then cook them with butter and sugar until all the water has evaporated.

This method allows us to make extra sweet, creamy, and buttery chestnuts with a pan on stovetop.

Why cutting chestnuts before roasting?

When heated, the chestnut kernels will expand larger than the shells. If we don’t cut a slit on the shell, the chestnut will explode like a popcorn if pressure difference is too high.

Even if it doesn’t explode, the expanded kernel will stick to the shell tightly, which makes it very hard to peel.

How to Cut Chestnuts

Cutting chestnuts could be one of the most dangerous activity you can conduct in your kitchen.

Chestnut shells are round and slippery. They can escape from your knife so easily no matter how firmly you are trying to hold them.

Therefore, the easiest and safest method to cut chestnuts is using a chestnut clip.

How to cut chestnuts with a chestnut clip?

1. Open the chestnut clamp, with the flatten tray on the bottom, the serrated “x” shape knife edge on the top.

2. Place a chestnut on the flatten tray with its flatten side facing down.

3. Close the clip and press firmly.

4. Open the clip and take out the chestnut.

What if you don’t want to buy a chestnut clip?

I actually prefer cutting chestnuts with a knife. Because I found it’s faster than using a chestnut clip.

Some recipes might telling you to hold the chestnut firmly and cut it with a small knife. However, I personally don’t trust my knife skill. So I would never hold a round and slippery thing with my own hands.

My method is to hold the chestnut with a plastic bottle cap, place a damp kitchen towel underneath the cap to prevent it from moving, then cut the chestnut with a kitchen cleaver knife.

Do not hold the chestnut with your fingers. Just give it a hard cut using the heaviest knife in your kitchen. Stop cutting when the knife blade reaches the bottle cap. Then you should have cut the chestnut 1/3 way through.

You should try not to cut the chestnut more than halfway through, or it will break into halves.

When cutting chestnuts with a knife, one cut is enough for the chestnut . There is no need to make an “x” shape cut.

Equipment for making pan roasted chestnuts

INGREDIENTS

• 500 g chestnuts (About 3 cups)
• 500 g water (About 2 cups)
• 25 g sugar (About 2 tbsps)
• 25 g unsalted butter (About 2 tbsps. Can be substituted with vegetable oil or corn oil.)

INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Wash and drain 3 cups of chestnuts. Use a kitchen cleaver knife or a chestnut clipper to cut a slit or an “x” on the round side of each chestnut. Only cut through the shell, or for the most it’s okay to cut ⅓ into the chestnut. Do not cut the whole chestnut through.

2. Place the chestnuts in a single layer on a frying pan, with the scored side facing up.

3. Add 2 cups of cold water to the pan. Sprinkle 2 tbsps of sugar over the chestnuts. Place 2 tbsps of unsalted butter in the middle of the pan. (Drizzle cooking oil over the chestnuts if you are going to use vegetarian oil to substitute butter.)

4. Put the lid on, cook the chestnuts, undisturbed, over medium high heat for about 20 to 25 minutes until there is almost no liquid in the pan.

5. Open the lid, use a spatula to stir fry the chestnuts for about 1 minute until there is no liquid in the pan. Turn off the heat.

6. Serve hot immediately.

NOTES

1. Peel chestnut shells

Chestnut shells will be hard to peel once they get cold. Therefore you should either peel the shells quickly when they are still warm, or reheat the chestnuts before serving.

2. Reheat Chestnuts

To reheat pan roasted chestnuts, simply place your leftover chestnuts in a single layer in a frying pan with the scored side facing up. Add ½ cup of cold water to the pan, cover the lid, and cook the chestnuts over medium high heat until there’s no water left in the pan. 

You can also air fry the leftover chestnuts at 375 °F for 3 minutes, or bake them at 400 °F for 5 minutes to reheat them. 

I don’t suggest cooking chestnuts in microwave, since the microwave might dry out the chestnuts and make them so hard to chew. 

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