Cashew chicken for beginners is great if you've never experimented with Asian-style food. This is what I made for years for a quick easy dinner or if I was having a friend for dinner. There are only a few ingredients and the sauce is simply oyster sauce from a store-bought bottle. It's easy, delicious and doesn't take much time to put together.
Falling in love with cashew chicken
I absolutely love the combination of chicken and cashews. Love. It. Even before I traveled to and lived in Asia, I loved it. But I will say that traveling to Thailand changed everything for me with cashew chicken. There seems to be about a hundred different ways to prepare it and I wanted to try every version possible. I really am not kidding that I ate cashew chicken every day I was in Thailand for at least one of my meals. And somehow it was different every time. Chicken, cashew, umami, basmati. Best combination. No one was more surprised than me to find out the origin of cashew chicken.
the CHEF who gave us cashew chicken
It wasn't on my mind to research who "invented" cashew chicken because it's been so ubiquitous throughout my life. I assumed this was some kind of standard Chinese or Thai chicken dish. When I Googled "origin of cashew chicken" the first thing that came up is that cashew chicken was brought into this world from Springfield, Missouri. I was not expecting this.
A Chinese-American chef named David Leong is the creator of this dish. Seems it was first served (deep fried!) in 1963 in Springfield, Missouri. Leong had moved to the States from China in 1943 and wanted to find a way to bring his favorite foods from home right here to us.
He was incorporating the love of fried chicken from the locals into the original recipe which became a hit. It is now known as Springfield-style cashew chicken. And I must say when I read this, it made me want to take a trip to Springfield to see if I can tour all the restaurants serving it! It is probably the one way I have never experienced this dish!
Chef David Leong's cashew chicken lives on in Springfield, Missouri at Leong's Asian Diner where members of the Leong family are still at the helm!
cashew chicken for beginners: The basics
This is a simple and flavorful cashew chicken that is perfect for first-timers. The combination of the oyster sauce and garlic makes an amazing sauce. The prep and process is very straightforward (I promise!) and you can follow along with my instructional video as you make it.
There are six main ingredients for this cashew chicken for beginners as well as a couple of optional add-ons. And of course, we are using a few common kitchen ingredients like oil, salt and pepper.
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Now, if you master making this version of cashew chicken, you can certainly try my more advanced cashew chicken stir fry which has about 5-6 more ingredients.
Six Main ingredients for cashew chicken:
- Chicken (boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins)
- Garlic
- Onion
- Asparagus
- Cashews
- Oyster sauce
Additional (optional) add-ons:
- Chopped scallions (I used)
- Diced red pepper (I used)
- A couple of splashes of soy sauce (I didn't use this time, but you can if you want)
easy steps for making cashew chicken for beginners
Cashew Chicken for Beginners
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 portions 1x
Description
If you’ve never made this dish before you are going to love this cashew chicken for beginners. Super easy to make and delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 ½ - 3 pounds boneless chicken thighs (or chicken tenderloins)
- 2 tablespoons of garlic, finely diced
- 1 bunch of asparagus (cut in 1-inch pieces)
- ½ cup diced onion (about ½ of a medium onion)
- 1 bunch of chopped scallion, optional
- ½ of one medium red pepper, diced, optional
- 1 ½ cups whole, roasted and salted cashews
- â…“ cup oyster sauce (plus more as needed)
- Olive oil and vegetable oil for cooking
- Salt
- Pepper
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Instructions
Note: There is a summarized (short) video near the top of the blog post. The full instructional video is inside the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- At the beginning of the cooking process. If you are making rice to go along with this dish, plan your time and get your rice cooking to serve alongside the cashew chicken.
- If you’re using chicken thighs, take a few minutes and trim the fat with a pair of kitchen shears. I also have a tutorial of how to trim the fat from chicken thighs if you need a little more guidance. If you are using chicken tenderloins you can skip this step. Cut the chicken into small, bite sized pieces and transfer to a plate or small sheet pan. Season with a light sprinkling of salt (½ – ¾ teaspoon) and pepper (¼ teaspoon). Set aside and finish other prep.
- Finely dice the garlic. I usually slice the garlic into thin rounds and dice it down into smaller bits from there.
- With the asparagus, cut some of the bottom of the stalks off that are discolored. Then chop the whole bunch of asparagus into one-inch pieces.
- Chop the onion into about one inch pieces. Then pull the onion layers apart and set aside in a bowl.
- If you are using the scallions, chop one bunch of scallions for garnish.
- If you are using the red pepper, chop that now into approximately the same size as the onions.
- You’ll need two large pans for this. I used 12-inch sauté pans which works great for this.
- Add a little olive oil to the pan for the veggies and let it get hot. This should be on medium heat. Then add the chopped asparagus and stir around the pan. You’ll cook this for about five minutes total as you add in the other veggies.
- In the other pan, drizzle a little vegetable oil in the pan – about 1 tablespoon – and heat on medium-to-high heat. Let it get hot, then add the chicken and spread out evenly across the pan. Then let it cook for 4-5 minutes without touching it. It will turn mostly white by the end and get crispy around the edges.
- While the chicken is cooking, return to your veggie pan, add the cashews and give everything a good stir. Let it cook for a minute, then add another splash of olive oil in middle of pan and add the onion – then mix and let cook a minute. Add the red peppers, and mix again. You should keep stirring the veggie mix and be careful not to let the cashews burn. Since I used roasted and salted cashews for this, I didn’t salt the veggies. If you use unsalted cashews, hit the veggies with a little salt.
- Once the chicken is ready, use a spatula to turn the chicken pieces and then your kitchen tongs to finish turning them. They only need to cook a couple more minutes once turned.
- Add a splash more vegetable oil (or olive oil) to the middle of the pan along with the garlic and let it cook there for a minute until it’s fragrant. Then mix the garlic in with the chicken.
- Transfer the veggies into the chicken pan and mix until well combines. Add the oyster sauce and mix to coat. Add a splash of water to thin out. Add more oyster sauce if you want it saucier. I do usually add a bit more – depends on your preference.
- Serve over white rice and garnish with fresh scallions if you are using them.
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