Here is a fact about cashew chicken stir fry: there is almost no wrong way to make it. I've been to Thailand a bunch of times now and I have eaten so many different varieties of cashew chicken. There's a kind that has a light brown broth, another dark brown, yet another a spicy reddish sauce. Some versions have a lot of vegetables, some have very few. Here's another fact: I love all of them! I've made many versions and it's a lot easier than you think to throw together.
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is One of my favorite flavor profiles
Okay, when it comes to chicken in sandwiches, I love the combination of chicken and bacon. When it comes to a stir fry, I'm absolutely obsessed with chicken and cashews. Whenever I go to Thailand, I eat cashew chicken every day... sometimes multiple times. It is such a satisfying meal, and the variety is so tremendous it feels like you're eating something different every time. So when I come back, I always try to recreate different versions that I have eaten. This is one of my recreations.
Easy-to-Make Cashew Chicken: The breakdown
The process is easy. You need to chop a few vegetables. Also, an Asian-style stir fry will often contain garlic and ginger. Chop that. Easy peasy. You just chop stuff. And you know how to chop stuff, right? There's really nothing complex about it. If you love Asian food you will have some of the sauce ingredients already on-hand. If you don't, spend a few bucks to get them. It's not a one-off, I promise. If you buy these ingredients you will find uses for them. Here's a gallery of the process and pictures of the sauce ingredients for reference.
If I'm cooking for one or two portions, I would probably cook everything in one pan. But when I'm making enough for 4-6, I cook the veggies in one pan and the chicken in another. The chicken sweats a little and so do the onions and peppers. This means you'll get a water build-up in the pan. I don't like water build-up because it will affect getting that sear on the chicken.
For the sauce, you can easily find the garlic chili sauce and oyster sauce at your local supermarket. The dark soy and the Indonesian sweet soy sauce you can find at most Asian markets. I'm really lucky that I live in an area that has a lot of Asian markets so I can get these easily. Yes, you can get them on Amazon too, but I've found they are usually way overpriced - especially for the Indonesian soy sauce.
Looking for more International Delights? We gotcha Covered
- Thai Lettuce Wraps with Rotisserie Chicken
- Crispy Thai Pork Toast
- Chicken & Eggplant Stir Fry
- Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage
- General Tso's Chicken with Trader Joe's Hack
- Easy Restaurant-Style Chicken Tikka Masala
Okay guys - get to the store and get to your kitchens! Really, there has never been a better time to learn how to cook. If you are a beginner in the kitchen - no problem! I have a printable recipe card below and a video with step-by-step instructions! Cooking food for our loved ones is such a beautiful tradition and an important way to stay connected. Eating a meal with friends and family gives us a chance to tell our stories, share our lives and hopefully laugh - A LOT! Please don't forget to laugh in life. It makes everything so much better.
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Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 portions 1x
Description
There are so many ways to make an awesome cashew chicken stir fry. This is one of them. A little sweet, a touch of spice and a lot of yum!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unsalted cashews, toasted in a pan
- 1 ¼ cups of celery, finely chopped (about 4 stalks)
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger (2-3 inches, see note#1)
- ¼ cup scallions, chopped
- 8 boneless chicken thighs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
The sauce
- ½ cup Indonesian sweet soy sauce (see note#2)
- 2 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic chili sauce (more if you want it spicier)
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
For the rice
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
NOTE: Don’t forget to watch my video with all the step-by-step instructions.
Instructions
- If you are making rice with this you should start that process first. By the time you finish everything the rice will be done. I prefer basmati rice, but any white rice works.
- Put cashews in a pan and toast on low heat, turning frequently until toasted. Should only take about five minutes. I usually do other things while these are toasting – but don’t forget about them or they will burn.
- Slice each celery stalk into three thin strips, then dice into small pieces.
- Slice around the core of your pepper into four sections. Cut into thicker strips from there and dice into a square-type shape. I do usually remove that white strip from inside the pepper.
- Cut the onion in half. Make two more cuts lengthwise, then cut across that to dice into a square-type shape.
- Finely dice the garlic. I usually slice it thin first, then dice it down from there.
- Peel the ginger with a potato peeler then grate it on a microplane. If you don’t have a microplane just slice the ginger thin (like with the garlic) and dice it down from there.
- Chop the scallion including the green part. This is for garnish.
- The sauce: add the Indonesian sweet soy sauce, chili sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce. Mix together and give it a taste. If you want it spicier add more chili sauce. If you want more umami flavor, add more soy sauce. Sweet: more sweet soy sauce. You get it.
- The chicken: Take a few moments to trim the fat off the chicken. Take each thigh and cut it into three or four chunks, depending on the size of the piece. Then cut into bite-sized pieces from there. All that really matters is that all the chicken pieces are uniform in size. Spread them out on your cutting board and season with salt and pepper on one side.
- Get two pans ready on your stove top and add 1 tablespoon of oil to each pan. Let it get hot on medium heat. Add the chicken pieces to one pan and spread them out. Then don’t touch them for about 2-3 minutes. We want to get a little sear on them.
- In the other pan (medium heat) add the celery and give it a stir. Let that cook on its own for a couple of minutes then add the onion and red pepper and mix well. Cook another couple of minutes.
- Give the chicken a toss and turn. Use kitchen tongs if you need to turn individual pieces over. Let cook another minute or two, then add the garlic and ginger plus a splash of oil to the center of the pan. Let that cook for a minute to get fragrant then mix together with the chicken.
- Give your veggies a final mix, then add them to the chicken pan and mix all together. Then add the toasted cashews and mix well.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and mix to coat all the ingredients. Garnish with scallions and serve with rice.
Notes
- If you want a less gingery flavor, only use half the amount of ginger.
- You can find Indonesian Soy Sauce at most Asian markets. It’s sweet and has a syrupy consistency. It is so delicious!
- The dark soy sauce. You can also find this at most Asian markets. To me it has a richer flavor than regular soy and I love the darker/reddish coloring it adds to stir fry dishes.
- For the garlic chili sauce – this you can find at any supermarket. If you have Sambal or Sriracha that works too!
- Oyster sauce is available in supermarkets as well. Usually the international aisle.
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