A healthy take on Cashew Chicken! Tender garlicky chicken stir-fried with red bell peppers and roasted cashews tossed with a flavorful, savory homemade stir-fry sauce. Video.
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This cashew chicken is brimming with saucy deep flavor, created without any bottled sauces that often contain oils and sweeteners we don’t want to eat, or serve our families.
The sauce ingredients list may be lengthy but it comes together quickly and most items will probably already be in your pantry.
Cashew Chicken | 60-sec video
Table of Contents
Ingredients In Cashew Chicken
Ingredient Notes
- Shiitakes are used here to create some depth of flavor. Diced small these disappear into the stir fry but give nice umami.
- Sherry Vinegar– offers an important balance, rice vinegar can also be used.
- Molasses– gives a nice color and rich flavor.
- 5 Spice– just a hint creates complexity.
- Low Sodium Tamari– you can of course substitute with soy sauce or bragg liquid aminos. Be sure to adjust to taste as some are saltier than others.
- Roasted Cashews– roasting the nuts brings out so much flavor.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Cashew Chicken
STEP ONE- Prepare the Chicken: Add the chopped chicken to a bowl or a bag. Add in the cornstarch and salt. Stir or shake around until fully coated. Set aside while you prep the ingredients.
STEP TWO- Cook the chicken in batches, frying over medium-high heat, with a high-heat oil, for about 1 minute on each side until just light brown. (It will continue to cook in the sauce don’t worry about cooking all the way through.) Set aside on a plate with a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
STEP THREE- Make the stir-fry sauce: In a blender place tamari (or soy sauce) maple syrup, sesame oil, sherry vinegar, molasses, ginger, garlic, chicken broth, cornstarch, 5 spice, white pepper and pepper flakes. Blend until completely smooth.
STEP FOUR- In a pan or wok with oil add onions, garlic, ginger and diced shiitakes sauté about 3 minutes on medium heat.
STEP FIVE- Add bell pepper, the sauce, the chicken, cashews and 1/2 of the green onions. Let the sauce bubble for about 2 minutes. (If you want the sauce to thicken more, mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 1-2 teaspoons water and add, bringing it to bubble again.)
The cashews will soften in the stir fry. Add them on top after cooking if you prefer the crunch. Or half cooked and half as garnish.
To Serve- Add the remaining green onions and serve over rice if desired. Also makes a delicious filling for lettuce cups!
Recipe FAQS
It depends on the ingredients used. This recipe is healthfully made with clean pantry ingredients, avoiding sauces that contain artificial ingredients and sugary syrups.
You can use arrowroot or tapioca starch.
Arrowroot– Clear, glossy and tasteless. Add at the end of cooking time, prolonged heat will break down resulting in a thin sauce.
Tapioca Starch– Clear and tasteless. It is recommended to use twice as much as tapioca as cornstarch.
Yes. You can skip the cornstarch slurry and add the chicken in with the onions and sauté.
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We have been enjoying the leftovers of this Cashew Chicken just as much as freshly made! Let us know what you think.
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
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Cashew Chicken
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 5 cups 1x
- Category: main
- Method: stir-fry
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
A healthy take on Cashew Chicken, tender garlicky chicken stir-fried with red bell peppers and roasted cashews tossed with a flavorful savory homemade stir-fry sauce.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 pound chicken thighs or breast, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Stir-fry Sauce
- 3 tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce (or gluten-free Braggs Liquid Aminos)
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey) adjust to taste
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (or Chinese cooing wine or rice vinegar)
- 2 teaspoon molasses
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger root, sliced
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
- a pinch or two of pepper flakes for spice or a squirt of sriracha
Stirfry
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shiitake mushrooms, chopped fine
- 2 green onions
- 1 bell pepper, chopped in 1-inch pieces
- 3/4 cup cashews, roasted
Instructions
- Prepare the Chicken: Add the chopped chicken to a bowl or a bag. Add in the cornstarch and salt. Stir or shake around until fully coated. Set aside while you prep the ingredients.
- Make the sauce: In a blender place tamari (or soy sauce) maple syrup, sesame oil, sherry vinegar, molasses, ginger, garlic, chicken broth, cornstarch, Chinese 5 spice, white pepper and pepper flakes. Blend until completely smooth.
- Cook the chicken in batches, frying over medium-high heat, with high heat oil, about 1 minute each side until just light brown. (It will continue to cook in the sauce don’t worry about cooking all the way through.) Set aside on plate with a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
- Stir-Fry: In a pan or wok with oil add onions, garlic, ginger and diced shiitakes sauté about 3 minutes on medium heat. Add bell pepper, the sauce, the chicken, cashews and 1/2 of the green onions. Let the sauce bubble for about 2 minutes. (If you want the sauce to thicken more, mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 1-2 teaspoons water and add, bringing it to bubble again.)
- Add the rest of the green onions and serve over rice if desired! Also makes a delicious filling for lettuce cups!
Notes
Toast raw cashews in a 350F oven for 10-15 minutes- don’t walk away!
The cashews will soften in the stir fry. Add them on top after cooking if you prefer the crunch. Or half cooked and half as garnish.
If you prefer you can skip the cornstarch slurry and add the chicken in with the onions and sauté.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 316
- Sugar: 13.3 g
- Sodium: 440.6 mg
- Fat: 5.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 56.5 g
- Fiber: 3.5 g
- Protein: 14.9 g
- Cholesterol: 28 mg
Did I miss something with the cornstarch slurry on the chicken? I’m still cooking this now, but I’ve got a weird mess of chicken that won’t brown and clumps of cooked cornstarch goo all over the pan. I’m sure I’ll end up with something edible, and the flavor of the sauce is going to be good, but what was the purpose of the cornstarch and water on the chicken? Should I have drained it? I know cornstarch is supposed to crisp up food when frying, but that’s not what happened in my pan.
Shoot sorry about the Adrianne. Was your pan heated before adding the chicken? I will make this again and make sure the recipe is accurate.
This sounds wonderful! I’m going to try to make it vegetarian with pumfu!
Fun! Let us know how it goes. 🙂
I let my pan warm up for a good 5 minutes on medium high. I have an induction cooktop, but no wok for it, so I just used a very large all clad d5 skillet. But it formed a crust on the bottom of the pan almost immediately, so I think that kept everything from browning. The rest of the recipe was awesome, I just think I might not do the cornstarch in the chicken next time.
Oh gottcha.
Oh goodness! So delicious. Even my husband who doesn’t really care about food said we need to have it again for sure. 😄
Haha…I think that is a pretty good compliment!
Very good
Great to hear!
This was a good tasting recipe but not outstanding as I was expecting after reading the description of the sauce. Like others, I needed to add a splash more water to the cornstarch slurry just to be able to mix it; but once I did it was perfect. Just covered the chicken bits evenly without any leftover. Your tip to cook the chicken in batches kept it crispy on the outside. My only complaint was that the flavor of the dish overall was too mild. I served it over rice and wished the sauce had more flavor. Maybe I need to double the sauce. I served it with the site ‘s Thai Noodle Salad with Best Ever Peanut Sauce. Perhaps the bold flavors of the salad overshadowed the Cashew Chicken.
Hi Pam, I’m curious if you adjusted anything in the sauce? Did you use sherry vinegar? Appreciate the feed back!
This was delicious, and we enjoyed it very much. However, I had a hard time getting a “slurry” using the given ratios of water to cornstarch, and I ended up doubling the water to obtain a stirrable (still very thick) slurry. Likewise, the sauce thickened up a LOT when added to the pan. Instead of adding more cornstarch as suggested in the notes, I had to add more water. It makes me wonder if the initial slurry was supposed to have 2 TEASPOONS of cornstarch instead of two TABLESPOONS. These are nits though, the dish turned out fine and I’ll definitely make it again.
Thanks Donna, I will check it out and make sure it is correct.
I made this wonderful dish last night. It was sooo delicious… perfect for a cold winter evening. The sauce was extra good. Highly recommend this recipe!!
Wonderful Teresa, so happy to hear!
This is such a delicious meal. I made it with vegan chicken and it was one of the best meals I’ve eaten in a while. It’s definitely going to be one of the recipes I double/triple next time I cook it so that I can keep leftovers in the freezer. Love it!
Perfect, so great to hear Emma!
I’ve been longing to eat some good Chinese food that wouldn’t be all sweet and sticky for a long time, and this recipe is exactly what I needed. That 5 spice mix from your recipe is amazing, and has just become a staple in my seasonings stash.
Oh perfect Marta! So glad this all worked for you.
My company loved this.
We are so happy you all enjoyed!
My husband and I had this last night and it was delicious! The only thing I would change next time is to use a little less maple syrup. Also, I added a little more water to the cornstarch/salt mix for the chicken as there seemed to be a bit too much cornstarch for the amount of water. I will definitely make this again though.
Thanks Barb, glad you enjoyed. I noted your suggestions in the recipe!
The whole family loved it!
Nice! So glad you enjoyed.
This was quite tasty!! I found the sauce to be delicious and something I will make again. My only complaint was that the cornstarch coating on the chicken made it almost slimy. Next time I’ll either deep fry the chicken, or just leave it without the coating to have a better texture.
hmmm….slimy is not good. Curious if you used thighs or breasts and if you patted them dry (recipe did not state this) before adding cornstarch slurry?
Hi Tonia,
I used chicken thighs and perhaps my cornstarch mixture was too wet when I put it on! Will try again and maybe get a different outcome.
What a great and approachable recipe! The whole family loved it! I’ll certainly cook this again soon!
So glad it worked out for you Francesca!
So tasty-full of flavor! Love the clean recipe, not too oily, sweet or salty (like many Chinese recipes)…. just right 🙂
Great! Thanks Fern.
Just made this, super good.
Glad you enjoyed!
It is tasty (I used diced zucchini instead of bell peppers because I don’t like bell peppers and the store was out of broccoli because the I-80 was shut down for snow) but is not worth the 1.5 hours it took to make it, even with my daughter helping to prep vegetables. I can make a stir fry equally as tasty in about 30 minutes.
Thanks for the feed back Marijke, glad you enjoyed the flavor.