Best Mixed Nuts: 6 Nut Mixes That Drove Us Nuts

One of the joys of being an adult is being able to have the best mixed nuts whenever you want them. You don’t have to ride the Acela to have a nice bowl of warm, deluxe mixed nuts. You can just buy some and zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Magic! But what are the best nut mixes out there? I tried nine different mixed nuts and six stood above the rest.                

Here’s what I looked for in the best nut mix: varied nuts, balanced seasoning, and crunch. There are a lot of just okay nut mixes out there, so I really looked for ones that checked all the boxes. (Also, quick side note, but people really hate peanuts, huh? So many of these nut mixes advertised the fact that they were “less than 50% peanuts!” While I agree that peanuts shouldn’t make up the majority of a nut mix, I can’t help but feel bad for peanuts, just a little bit.) 

Here are the best mixed nuts you can buy.

Best Lower Sodium

Believe these Walmart mixed nuts when they tell you they are lightly salted. They are very lightly salted. The mix of peanuts (less than 50%, of course), almonds, cashews, hazelnuts (I loved this addition), and pecans is great for wholesome snacking or mixing into a trail mix, thanks to the light salting. It’s also cheap—you get a big can for under $6.

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Almonds

Kroger offers a mix of peanuts (less than 50%, gosh darn it!), cashews, big, buttery Brazil nuts, pecans, and the crunchiest almonds. Seriously, if you are the type to dig for the almonds in a nut mix, then these are the best mixed nuts for you. I also liked the skin-on peanuts. While this one doesn’t advertise as being lightly salted, it’s still fairly light on the salt.

Credit: Merc / Kroger

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Pistachios

As a pistachio fan, I loved this nut mix. The inclusion of pistachios made every other nut taste like pistachio. Yum! The almonds are nice and crunchy (and infused with pistachio flavor) and the cashews are buttery (and also infused with pistachio flavor). If you wish all nuts tasted like pistachios, buy this can of deluxe mixed nuts ASAP.

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Flavored

These are a blast. I don’t know if it necessarily qualifies as a nut mix since there’s just almonds and cashews—but it’s definitely a great nut duo. The coating is a mix of black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic, onion, and sea salt. It’s not too intense, so you still get the nutty flavors most of all. I really appreciated how the coating stuck to the nuts, too. We loved TJ’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning on its own and on smoked salmon, so it only makes sense that we’d like it on nuts. Put it on more stuff, TJ’s!  

Credit: Merc

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Fancy

If less than 50% peanuts is still too many peanuts for you, try this nut mix. It’s an ultra-indulgent mix of cashews, pecans, and macadamia nuts (oooh, so fancy!). The nuts themselves are huge. And the salt level is perfectly balanced. It’s salty—but not, like, chug-a-glass-of-water-after-every-bite salty. Put this out for cocktail hour. Your friends will think you are rich. 

Credit: Merc / Kroger

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

This bag of mixed nuts doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it is the platonic ideal of mixed nuts (unless you like peanuts—there are no peanuts). It’s a mix of cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, and pecans. That’s so many kinds of nuts! It has just the right amount of salt and all of the nuts are crunchy. Trader Joe’s mixed nuts is the best nut mix to have in your pantry for on-the-go snacking, putting out for guests, or microwaving with a little sprig of rosemary to recreate that fancy Acela snack.

Credit: Merc

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other nut mixes we tried: Kroger Deluxe Mixed Nuts Salted with Sea Salt, Planters Mixed Nuts, Aldi Southern Grove Mixed Nuts

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