A vacuum-assisted nut cracker having a main chamber with a hard target that cracks nuts is described. A motor driven vacuum pump draws a vacuum through the main chamber and through a suction pipe. The air sucked into the suction pipe draws shelled nuts up the suction pipe. The nuts pick up momentum and fly out the suction pipe onto the hard target, causing the nuts to crack. Shell and cracked nuts drop down and are subsequently collected. Various methods can be used to regulate the air flow, and thus the induced nut momentum. Shelled nuts can be fed into the vacuum-assisted nut cracker either by hand or by locating the nozzle adjacent a pile of nuts.
