Hey Grill Hey’s Smoked Cinnamon Almonds, Step by Step

Freshly baked cinnamon rolls on parchment paper with a side of almonds and cinnamon powder.

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This recipe comes straight from Hey Grill Hey — Susie Bulloch’s Smoked Cinnamon Almonds. It’s a smoker take on the cinnamon-roasted almonds sold at fairs and malls, cooked low and slow at a genuine smoking temperature rather than roasted hot, so the almonds and their sugar coating both pick up real wood smoke as they cook through.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound raw, unsalted almonds
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Method

  1. Preheat your smoker to 225°F (107°C) using a mild wood such as maple, pecan, or alder.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy, then mix in the vanilla extract.
  3. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and ginger, and stir until evenly mixed.
  4. Pour the almonds into the egg white mixture and stir gently until they’re all evenly coated.
  5. Pour the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the almonds and stir again to coat.
  6. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet that’s been lightly coated in cooking spray.
  7. Place the almonds in the smoker and cook for 1 hour, or until they’re no longer sticky to the touch — this can take an extra 15-20 minutes depending on the smoker.
  8. Remove from the smoker and let the almonds cool slightly before breaking them apart. Let them cool completely before transferring to a lidded container, or trapped steam will make them go soft.

Where This Recipe Comes From

Bulloch’s starting point wasn’t a smoker recipe at all — it was the cinnamon-roasted almonds sold at fairs, sporting events, and shopping malls, which she describes as normally “slow-roasted on the spot and served in paper cones.” Her adaptation keeps that same coating and roasting logic but swaps the kettle or roaster for a smoker running at an actual smoking temperature, so the almonds spend the same hour taking on wood smoke that they’d otherwise spend simply drying out and caramelizing over direct heat.

Why 225°F and a Mild Wood

Bulloch’s recipe runs at 225°F specifically because, as she puts it, that’s “an ideal smoking temperature,” low enough that it can share smoker space with something else already cooking low and slow, like a pork shoulder, rather than needing the smoker to itself. The wood choice matters more here than in most savory smoking, since the almonds and sugar coating are taking on smoke for a full hour with nothing to mask an overly aggressive flavor. Bulloch recommends “pretty much any wood… except for Mesquite,” and specifically points to maple, pecan, or alder as the milder options that won’t fight with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger already in the coating.

What the Egg White Is Doing

The egg white whisked with vanilla isn’t there for flavor on its own — it’s the binder that makes the cinnamon-sugar mixture stick to the almonds’ smooth shells rather than falling off into a pile of loose sugar on the tray. Coating the almonds in the frothy egg white first, then adding the dry cinnamon-sugar mix on top, is what leaves each almond with an even, all-over shell once it dries out during the hour on the smoker.

Judging Doneness Without a Thermometer

Unlike most smoked recipes on this site, there’s no internal temperature target here — Bulloch’s method for knowing the almonds are done is entirely textural: pull one out and check whether the sugar coating is “no longer sticky.” A batch that’s still tacky after an hour just needs more time, checked in 15-20 minute increments, rather than pulled early and left to finish hardening off the heat, since the coating only fully sets once the moisture has cooked out of it on the smoker.

Storage

Hey Grill Hey is specific that these are “best enjoyed within a few days,” after which the sugar coating loses its crispness and can turn soggy. The recipe’s storage advice is to keep them in an airtight container, such as a glass jar, and to make sure they’re completely cool first — sealing warm almonds traps steam inside the container, which is exactly the moisture that softens the coating faster.

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