Cashew Chicken

This Cashew Chicken tastes better than takeout, with the tender chicken, crunch from the toasted cashews, and that DELICIOUS sauce! You’re going to love making this at home and it’ll be ready in less time than it takes to place a delivery order. Cashew Chicken has been a high requested recipe, and this is a version that brings a restaurant quality dish to your home!

Watch the Cashew Chicken Recipe Video Below!

My KEY tip for any “Tastier than Takeout” recipe is to prep your ingredients ahead of time! The dish comes together so quickly, and with the pan at high heat, having the next ingredient to be added to the pan is important since you need to work quickly so the ingredients already in the pan don’t overcook or worse, burn. This dish is relatively simple, but the most important steps are in the prep work!

Ingredients for Cashew Chicken

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for the best Cashew Chicken! This recipe serves 4, but use the scaling feature in the recipe card to increase the portions as needed!

Chicken

• 1 lb chicken thigh cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp neutral oil I used avocado oil
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Cashew Chicken Sauce

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 tsp msg optional
• 1/2 cup chicken stock high quality
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Cashews + Aromatics

• 1/2 tbsp ginger minced
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 4 oz cashews
• 6 scallions chopped, whites and greens separated

Cashew Chicken: Recipe Instructions

Marinate the chicken and prep aromatics

Cut chicken thigh into 1″ pieces and marinate with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white pepper, kosher salt, shaoxing wine, neutral oil, and cornstarch for 15 minutes. While the chicken marinates, prepare your aromatics and premix the sauce.

Because a dish like Cashew Chicken cooks so quickly, it’s important to have your ingredients prepped and ready to go so the cooking process goes smoothly!

Toast the Cashews

In a large pan or wok, heat 1 tbsp of neutral oil over medium heat and add your cashews. Next, cook for about 1 minute or until toasted and fragrant. We want the cashews to be slightly toasted and golden brown. Keep the cashews moving to evenly toast them in the pan. Once they are golden brown, remove and set aside in a bowl.

Cook the chicken pieces

In the same pan, heat 3 tbsp of neutral oil over high heat, then add your marinated chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes until cooked through. Remove and set aside in a bowl. Be sure to cook the chicken in batches if needed to get a good color on the chicken. If the oil is too cold due to overcrowding the pan, the chicken will not brown properly. Remove to a bowl once golden brown and cooked through!

Fry Aromatics

In the residual oil, fry the minced garlic, ginger, and scallion whites for 30 seconds until fragrant. Next, be sure the chicken and premixed sauce is ready by the pan because this cooking process will go quickly.

Add back Chicken and Sauce

Add back the cooked chicken and mix to combine. Finally, add the premixed sauce and continue stirring over high heat until the sauce has thickened (about 1-2 minutes).

Garnish and finish the Cashew Chicken

After you’ve added the sauce, continue stirring for a minute or two until the sauce has thickened (thanks to our cornstarch thickening agent). Finally, add the scallion whites and give it a final mix. If you followed the steps and measurements correctly, the end result will look like this!

If you liked this Cashew Chicken recipe, check out some of the most popular Chinese Take-Out recipes on the blog! Please consider giving a rating and commenting down below what you thought of the recipe! It really helps out the blog!

• Chicken Lo Mein
• Shrimp Fried Rice
• Beef and Broccoli
• Sesame Chicken
• String Bean Chicken