Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
This Cashew Chicken Stir Fry with roasted cashews in garlic soy sauce, tastes just like take-out from your favorite Chinese restaurant. Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is so easy to make and filled with fresh veggies, chicken, and crunchy cashews! The sticky honey-soy sauce glaze is so easy to whip up, making this the perfect weeknight meal.
This is a healthy one-pan recipe that takes less than 30 minutes! You’ll have a delicious and low-key dinner on the table in no time. If you’re looking for more chicken stir fry recipes, try my Thai Basil Chicken.
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
Everyone needs those recipes that come together quickly in one pan for busy weeknights. This is that recipe! Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is a quick and easy dinner option that’s easy to customize and adapt.
I love ordering take out from my favorite Chinese restaurant, but I love to try and recreate the dishes at home! This recipe for Cashew Chicken tastes just as good as your favorite take out restaurant. Try serving with fried rice and dumplings for a complete dinner!
The chicken is sautéed with sesame oil until crispy before adding onion, red bell peppers, zucchini, green onions, and garlic. The vegetables stay crisp-tender and delicious and the toasted cashews add the perfect crunch.
I love being able to use fresh veggies in a meal and that is why I especially love a good stir fry. This Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is the perfect way to use up leftover veggies in the fridge for a hearty and healthy meal.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Easy – This recipe only requires a handful of ingredients and about 10 minutes to prep, what could be easier than that? You’ll be shocked at how quickly this recipe for cashew chicken comes together.
Makes great leftovers – We’re big leftovers people! I always make a large batch of whatever we’re having for dinner so I can spread it out through the week. Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is perfect for meal prep and only gets better the next day!
Customizable – I love this recipe because you can customize it to your tastes! Swap in different proteins like chicken breast, tender beef, pork, or shrimp. Swap out different veggies for your favorites. This is a great recipe for using up what you have on hand!
How to Make Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
While you don’t need any fancy equipment to make Cashew Chicken Stir Fry, I highly recommend investing in a quality wok. We use ours ALL the time and it makes it so much easier to cook up stir fries and fried rice thanks to the extra surface area. I’ve linked my favorite one below!
TOOLS NEEDED
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chicken. I like using chicken thighs here, but you can also use chicken breast.
- Raw cashews. Since we’re toasting the cashews ourselves, start with raw cashews so they don’t burn.
- Cornstarch. Coating the chicken in cornstarch before stir frying, allows the chicken to get nice and crispy. It also thickens our sauce.
- Garlic. Sliced garlic is sautéed for flavor, plus a little grated garlic in the sauce. You could also use a bit of garlic paste.
- Veggies. Onions, bell pepper, zucchini, and green onion are a great combo but you can always swap in some other favorites.
- Serrano. I love a bit of spice, but you can swap in jalapeño or skip it all together.
- Soy sauce. You can use regular, low sodium, or gluten-free tamari.
- Honey. Honey helps balance the sauce so that it’s perfectly sweet and savory. You could swap in brown sugar or even maple syrup.
- Sesame oil. A bit of sesame oil flavors the stir fry and the sauce.
The Process
- Whisk the sauce ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients until the corn starch is dissolved and no clumps remain. Set aside.
- Season the chicken. In a mixing bowl, toss the chicken pieces with cornstarch, salt, and pepper until well-coated. Set aside while the oil heats.
- Fry the cashews. Heat the oil and sesame oil in a wok and once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the cashews. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cashews are golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil to a paper towel lined plate and season with salt.
- Fry the chicken. Add the chicken to the wok and spread it out in a single layer in the wok. Cook, without moving the chicken, until golden brown on one side, and then flip and cook on the other side. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the pan and transfer to a plate.
- Saute the veggies and aromatics. Add the garlic and serrano to the remaining oil in the wok. Cook for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, zucchini and chopped green onions to the wok. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft. Add the chicken and cashews back to the pan and add the sauce. Bring to a simmer until the sauce is thick and toss to coat well. Season to taste with any salt and pepper and serve hot with rice.
Customizing Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
This is an easy recipe to adapt to what you have on hand! I love stir fries for their versatility and the ability to use up any meats or veggies that I have on hand. Here are my favorite ways for switching things up:
Switch up the protein. I love chicken thighs here, but you could easily swap in chicken breasts. You could also swap in beef, ground pork, diced pork tenderloin, shrimp, or even tofu! This recipe lends itself to just about any meat or protein with great results.
Swap the veggies. I love mushrooms, red bell pepper, and zucchini but some other great options would be green beans, snap or snow peas, baby corn, bok choy, cabbage, etc.
There are so many ways to make cashew chicken stir fry your own!
Storing and Reheating Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
We’re often so busy during the week, that I love a good dinner recipe that I can turn into lunches and leftovers for the week!
You can store the cashew chicken stir fry in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. All you have to do is just pop the chicken in the microwave to warm it through along with the jasmine rice.
I don’t recommend freezing cashew chicken since the veggies become unpleasant and mushy after being frozen and defrosted.
The next time you need an easy weeknight dinner, give this Cashew Chicken Stir Fry a try! It’s delicious and just as good as any take out restaurant. If you do give it a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram. I LOVE hearing about & seeing your SMF creations!
More Asian-Inspired Recipes to Try Now
Chicken larb
Red Pumpkin Curry
Chicken Khao Soi
Tom Kha Soup
Red Curry Beef Noodles
This post for Cashew Chicken Stir Fry may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links allow me to keep providing great recipes for free and I never recommend products that I don’t love and personally own.
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
Cashew Chicken
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 serrano pepper, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 6 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
Sauce
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon sriracha or chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Whisk the sauce ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients until the corn starch is dissolved and no clumps remain. Set aside.
- Season the chicken. In a mixing bowl, toss the chicken pieces with cornstarch, salt, and pepper until well-coated. Set aside while the oil heats.
- Fry the cashews. Heat the oil and sesame oil in a wok over medium heat and once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the cashews. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cashews are golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil to a paper towel lined plate and season with salt.
- Fry the chicken. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the chicken to the wok and spread it out in a single layer in the wok. Cook, without moving the chicken, until golden brown on one side, and then flip and cook on the other side. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the pan and transfer to a plate.
- Saute the veggies and aromatics. Add the garlic and serrano to the remaining oil in the wok. Cook for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, zucchini and chopped green onions to the wok. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft.
- Add the chicken and cashews. Add the chicken and cashews back to the pan and add the sauce. Bring to a simmer until the sauce is thick and toss to coat well. Season to taste with any salt and pepper and serve hot with steamed rice.
Rate & Review This Recipe
I’m new to cooking and tried to make this. I guess the step that I needed more instruction on was how and when to cut the chicken. I had chicken breast and just not sure how to cut it and how big.
Hi Lauren,
In the instructions it says the chicken is to be cut into 1-inch pieces, but the size is flexible–you’re really just looking for the chicken to be bite sized. If you ever see in the recipe instructions that a particular ingredient should be cut (diced onion, chopped pepper, etc), it means that you should prep and cut the item before cooking. For this recipe, you should cut up the chicken while it’s still raw before cooking. Same with all the veggies. This is also why I post process photos in the blog post so that new cooks like yourself can see what the recipe looks like at different stages. I encourage you to read through the post before starting a recipe to give you a better idea of how it should go. Hope that helps!
Cashew Chicken is a staple in our household and a recipe we love to make. This recipe replaces our old one in a heartbeat! The addition of the zucchini and the flavor of the seasonings are delicious. Can’t wait to make it again!