Masala Peanuts recipe is a spicy and crunchy snack coated in chickpea flour/besan, rice flour, peanuts, and a few spices made in the microwave or air fryer in a few minutes, which serves as wonderful tea-time snacks. These peanut masala are so much better than store-bought ones.

When I came across this 3-minute microwave spicy masala peanuts recipe on YouTube, I had to try it. This would be the way to go if you are making a small batch and do not want to heat the oil in a Kadai. It also is a low-fat version of making masala peanuts with little oil in the microwave.
This is a haldiram-style spicy masala peanut, which can be easily a favorite snack for kids and adults. It takes hardly a few minutes to prepare and can be stored for weeks in an air-tight container.
Using masala peanuts, you can also make peanut chat which is healthy, and enjoy your tea time.
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How to Make Masala Peanuts in the microwave within 3 minutes.
Take a bowl, and add gram flour, rice flour, red chili powder, turmeric powder, hing, chat masala, and salt as per taste. Mix them well and keep them aside.
In another bowl, take peanuts. Now add lemon juice and mix it well.
Add the prepared gram flour-rice flour mixture and roll them in the flour with the help of a spoon.
Add a teaspoon of oil and mix again.
Sprinkle a little water at a time and mix well until each peanut is coated well with the masala.
Take a microwave-safe bowl and grease the bottom with oil. Now, transfer some peanuts to the bowl. Place the peanuts as a single layer, and do not place them on top of one another.
Add 1-2 teaspoon oil on top of the peanuts and place the bowl in the microwave on high for 1 Minute.
Stir in the peanuts after 1 minute, and place them back in the microwave for 2 mins.
Allow these peanuts to cool down after 2 mins. As they cool down, they become crunchier. Besan masala peanuts are ready and serve with hot chai.
Air Fryer Masala Peanuts
To make Masala Peanuts in an air fryer, line the peanuts coated with masala on the tray of the air fryer in a single layer.
Brush or spray the air fryer basket with some oil. Air fry in a preheated air fryer at 360°F (180°C) for 4 minutes or until they are slightly browned. Shake them halfway through.
Tips
- Do not add more water while mixing flour and peanuts, add little by little. It should be on the thicker side so that it just coats the peanuts and stays.
- Microwave the peanuts in 3-4 batches. Do not overfill the microwave dish.
- The addition of spices is true of your choice. You can add amchur powder, and fennel powder too.
- Timing varies from microwave to microwave.
More Healthy Snack Recipes
- Makhana Chivda
- Spicy Masala Makhana
- Corn Pakoda
- Air Fryer Beetroot Cutlet/Tikki
- Vegetable Rice Cutlet
- Khaman Dhokla
Masala Peanuts - (Microwave, Air fryer)
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted peanuts/groundnuts with skin
- 2 tablespoons chickpea flour/gram flour/besan
- 1 tablespoon rice flour
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon hing/asafetida
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon chat masala
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- oil as required
- salt to taste
Instructions
Microwave Method:
- Take a bowl, and add gram flour, rice flour, red chili powder ,turmeric powder, hing, chat masala and salt as per taste. Mix them well and keep aside.
- In another bowl take peanuts. Now add lemon juice and mix it well.
- Add the prepared gram flour-rice flour mixture and roll them in the flour with help of a spoon.
- Add a teaspoon of oil and mix again.
- Sprinkle little water at a time and mix well until each peanut is coated well with masala.
- Take a microwave safe bowl and grease the bottom with oil.
- Now transfer some peanuts to the bowl. Place the peanuts as a single layer and do not place them on top of one another.
- Add 1-2 teaspoon oil on top of peanuts and place the bowl in microwave on high for 1 Minute.
- Stir in the peanuts after 1 min, and place them back in microwave for 2 mins.
- Allow these peanuts to cool down after 2 mins. As they cool down they become more crunchier.
- Masala peanuts are ready and serve with hot chai.
Air Fryer Masala Peanuts
- To make Masala Peanuts in an air fryer, line the peanuts coated with masala on the tray of the air fryer in a single layer.Brush or spray the air fryer basket with some oil. Air fry in a preheated air fryer at 360°F (180°C) for 4 minutes or until they are slightly browned. Shake them halfway through.
Notes
- Do not add more water while mixing flour and peanuts, add little by little.
- If you do not want to microwave you can use a prepared mixture and deep fry in the oil on medium-low heat so that they get cooked till inside and become crunchy.
- Microwave power settings are different for different brands, hence if the masala peanuts are not cooked or crunchier after 3 min microwaving…you can microwave for more than 60-90 secs.
- The same recipe can be used to make masala cashew or masala almonds.
Nutrition
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Cynthia.T
Too good. Easy and healthy. Thank you
bhavana
thanks cynthia,glad you liked it 🙂
SK
This is great. No need to deep fry?
bhavana
Yes SK,comes out good ,no deep fry...check the video for coating the peanuts most important thing
Sujata
Hi, I came here by chance and see that You have an excellent recipe collection. Congratulations and Thank you for sharing !
bhavana
Thank you sujatha