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In recent weeks, I have become reobsessed with Nutella which prompted me purchase a bag of hazelnuts (aka filberts) which had their skins intact. One of the recipes that I was playing around with called for peeled hazelnuts, but I figured they would be a cinch to remove – however, I quickly realized that was not the case. Hazelnut skins are stubborn – mighty stubborn.
Since picking papery peels off of 1 cup of hazelnuts sounded less than awesome, I did a little research and decided to use the roast and rub method. Essentially you roast the hazelnuts at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the nuts have darkened a bit and you can smell the nutty goodness wafting through your kitchen. Next, you place the hot nuts into a slightly dampened kitchen towel and rub the skins off using the towel. Apparently the combination of moisture and heat helps to loosen the skins. Well, this worked – sort of.
After rubbing and rubbing and rubbing, many of the hazelnuts were still flecked with pieces of brown skin which pretty much annoyed the heck out of me. I knew there had to be a better way. Again, I turned to Google and happened to stumble upon a method from Alice Medrich.
Basically you boil the hazelnuts in baking soda and water for a few minutes then immerse them in cold water before you peel the skins away. This technique enabled my perfectionist self to easily remove every single piece of hazelnut skin with ease! Now don’t get me wrong, this is still a bit of process, so don’t expect the skins to magically disappear, but I will tell you it works like a charm and is actually kind of fun!
Alice Medrich demonstrated this method to Julia Child while making Hazelnut Biscotti – you catch the entire process and Julia’s reaction to this method by watching the YouTube video below.
How To Peel Hazelnuts
Ingredients:
- 2 cups boiling water
- 3 tablespoons baking soda
- 1 cup hazelnuts
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan with high sides, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add 3 tablespoons of baking soda to the water – the water will foam up.
- Add the nuts to the boiling water and boil for about 3 minutes. The water will turn black – don’t be alarmed. While the hazelnuts are boiling, prepare a medium bowl of ice cold water. After three minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove one test nut, placing the nut into the prepared bowl of ice water. Use your fingers to remove the skin, if the skin doesn’t come off easily, boil the nuts 1-2 minutes longer and try another test nut.
- When a test skin rubs right off, add the rest of the nuts to the ice water and peel them with ease.
- Place peeled nuts into a kitchen towel or paper towels and dry them thoroughly.
- If desired, toast the peeled and dried hazelnuts at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes - trust me it's so worth it!
- Method from Alice Medrich
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Thank you! I grew two hazelnut trees so we could make our own Nutella, and this year I finally got a good crop. Last night we cracked them and I just wasn’t sure about how to get those stubborn skins off. This is great!
Thank you so much, Cynthia! I bet your homemade Nutella will be amazing!
Thank you, thank you! Now I don’t have to look at hazelnuts with fear and loathing.
I’m so glad, Adrian! You’re very welcome!
Will this work for walnuts and pecans? I seem to get migraines from the tannin in the skin and I would like to remove the or skins. I might eat them raw or grind them for flour.
Thank and you.
Hi, Jane! I think this method would definitely work for walnuts and pecans. Let me know how it goes!
THANK YOU!!! So right on and so easy. What a wonderful trick!
You’re welcome, Jennifer! My pleasure.
THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peeling hazelnuts was the MOST annoying kitchen task I can think of, mostly because it never worked! I don’t like hazelnuts much anyways, but they were in a few dessert recipes I wanted to try, and a truffle recipe from Cook’s Illustrated that my husband loves. I tried this method for the first time a few days ago, and for the first time ever, I was actually able to get the skins off :) YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have brought me much happiness :) Thank-you!
Awesome! So glad it worked for you! Have a great day!
-Jamie
I’ve made nutella many times before and the most annoying part of the process for me is always to peel the hazelnuts after roasting. So of course, I thought this would be a good thing to try. It worked beautifully at first, I was able to get every piece of skin off of the hazelnuts with ease. But then when I went to blend them into a paste after roasting them, it ended up as a crumby mess rather than the smooth paste that I’m used to. I’m not sure what boiling them in water and baking soda did, but this is something that has never happened to me when I’ve made it without this extra step. I ended up tossing the entire pound of hazelnuts. What a waste… I was hugely disappointed with this.
Shannon-
I am sorry that you had trouble with the nut butter. I appreciate you stopping by.
-Jamie
I love hazel nuts! I think that if I can I will eat them every single day! Once I tried to make a hazel nut butter but I had no idea how to peel them and my butter didn’t look so creamy. Thanks a lot for sharing the trick with the baking soda! I will definitely try it! Creekmouth Carpet Cleaners Ltd.
Sheryl-
I’m glad this was helpful. Thanks for visiting.
-Jamie
Thank you!!!!! After trying the towel method, I tried this as I need them for 2 different recipes. Roasted the first batch and drying the second for tomorrow’s nut mix! Hope they dry out overnight. If not I’ll do another cup in the morning. Whole”paycheck ” foods charges 17 bucks for a pound of shelled hazelnuts!!!!
Gordon-
I’m so glad it worked out well for you. Thanks for visiting!
-Jamie
This worked great thanks!!!
This is awesome. The only thing that I could think of while I watched this was what a perfectly brilliant job Marylyn Streep did playing the part of Julia Child in Julie and Julia. She was absolutely flawless!
Shelley-
Thanks for stopping by!
-Jamie