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Close-up of a Salted Pecan Crunch Cold Brew in a Starbucks cup.

Salted Pecan Crunch Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}

A cold brew with all the flavors of candied pecans is the perfect holiday drink. And this Starbucks Salted Pecan Crunch Cold Brew copycat recipe shows you how to make the festive sweet and salty drink at home!
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Course: Drink
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Iced Coffee, Pecan Recipes, Starbucks Copycat, Starbucks Drinks
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 1 drink
Author: Sues

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Ingredients

  • 10 oz cold brew
  • Ice
  • 1 oz vanilla syrup (store-bought or homemade with recipe linked)
  • cup salted pecan cold foam (recipe below)
  • 1 teaspoon pecan crunch topping (recipe below)

Salted Pecan Cold Foam

  • ¾ cup 2% milk
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoon pecan syrup (homemade with recipe below or store-bought*)

Pecan Syrup

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup chopped pecans (can be salted or unsalted)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (if using unsalted pecans)

Pecan Crunch Topping

  • ¼ cup chopped pecans (can be salted or unsalted)
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • Pinch salt (if using unsalted pecans)

Instructions

  • Pour cold brew into an ice-filled glass. Stir in vanilla syrup.
  • Top drink with salted pecan cream cold foam and sprinkle pecan crunch topping over the cold foam.

Salted Pecan Cold Foam

  • Place milk, cream, and pecan syrup in a mason jar and shake well to combine. If you don't have a jar, mix all ingredients in a bowl. Keep in fridge until ready to use (this is the salted pecan cold cream).
  • To turn into foam, you can either use an electric frother, hand mixer, or blender. Alternatively, you can shake the mixture in a mason jar until it's frothy.

Pecan Syrup

  • In a saucepan over medium heat, add chopped pecans in a single layer to ensure even heating (note: you can toast nuts for pecan crunch topping here, too). Let nuts toast, while you stir or shake saucepan frequently to toast nuts without letting them burn. Toast for about 3-5 minutes, until nuts are darkening and are fragrant. If you're toasting pecan crunch topping nuts, too, be sure to remove ¼ cup of nuts and set aside to cool before next step.
  • Add water and sugar to saucepan with nuts and bring mixture to a boil.
  • Once boiling, lower heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until mixture has thickened a bit.
  • Remove from heat and stir in salt if you used unsalted pecans. I recommend letting the syrup rest for about 30 minutes to let the pecan flavor continue to steep into the syrup. Then, strain the mixture into a bowl, leaving the nuts behind (I recommend saving them for snacking or topping ice cream with!).
  • Keep mixture in bowl or transfer into a mason jar and place in fridge to cool completely. Syrup will continue to thicken as it cools.

Pecan Crunch Topping

  • Toast pecans (you can either do this in saucepan with syrup nuts or in toaster oven or conventional oven at 350 degrees) until they're beginning to darken and get fragrant. Keep your eye on them as they can burn quickly. They'll likely take between 3-5 minutes in saucepan or toaster and 5-7 minutes in conventional oven at 350. Let cool.
  • Add cooled pecans to a food processor or blender and blend and crush into coarse pieces (you can also put the pecans in a small bag and use a mallet or rolling pin to to crush them).
  • Put crushed pecans in a bowl and mix together with granulated sugar. Mix in salt if pecans are unsalted. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

*If using store-bought pecan syrup, you may need to add a little salt to it.
  • You should be able to make about 3 cold brews with one batch of pecan cold foam.
  • For homemade vanilla syrup recipe, click here.
  • When toasting pecans for syrup, you can also toast nuts for pecan crunch topping. Just remove ¼ cup of nuts before adding sugar and water.
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