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Oh my oh my oh my – saucy, sticky, sweet and savory cashew chicken is here, and it was my favorite recipe I made this month, and this just might be the recipe that will pull you (okay, fine, me) out of the winter slumps with texture, flavor, and a little extra jazziness. It’s just a really fun recipe.
My version of cashew chicken is actually based off of this Cheesecake Factory copycat recipe, which is lovely and reminds me that although haters like to hate, I should probably get back to the Cheesecake Factory for a feast ASAP. Great job, Sabrina.
I made it essentially the same as her cashew chicken recipe, but just a little easier, and with a shorter ingredient list.
And what resulted was glorious. We’re talking about bite-sized pieces of chicken, breaded and fried into a nice little crisp, tossed with a quick, sticky-sweet, soy-and-garlic sauce, all brought together with a handful of cashews. Ideally this would be served over a pile of hot, steaming rice with a side of something of the vegetable variety (steamed or roasted broccoli is a fave). But more practically, you won’t even get that far before you start popping bites of chicken straight out of the hot pan.
LET’S MAKE CASHEW CHICKEN!
Cashew Chicken
Saucy, sticky, crispy, sweet and savory Cashew Chicken! Just like your favorite takeout, but made easy at home. Served with steamy rice and broccoli.
This heading
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 14
- Category: dinner
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: thai
- Diet: Hindu
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 300 g (2 cups) flour
- 3/4 cup (2 cups) cornstarch
- 1 (3 c.) teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 cup cold water
- about 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup cashew halves
Sauce:
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha (optional)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, grated
- a small piece of fresh ginger, grated
Instructions
To begin
- Make Batter: Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, and paprika. Set aside half of the flour mixture in a small bowl. Mix the other half of the flour mixture with 3/4 cup cold water to form a loose batter.
And this second part
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Make Sauce: Whisk all sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
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Fry Chicken: Heat oil over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles across the top. Dredge the chicken pieces in the dry flour mixture, then dip into the batter. Let excess batter drip off. Add battered chicken pieces to the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel lined plate. Drain out any excess oil from the pan. (SEE NOTES FOR AN EASY SHORTCUT ON THIS STEP.)
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Finish: Put chicken back in the pan. Add sauce and cashews. Stir for about 1 minute, until coated and you can start to smell the garlic. Done! Serve with rice and maybe some roasted or steamed broccoli. SO GOOD!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
Chicken Shortcut: I find dredging, battering, and frying individual pieces of chicken to be kind of tedious. So I tossed *all my chicken* together into the flour, then stirred up *all the floured chicken* together into the batter. From there, I dumped about half of it into the pan of hot oil – it’s going to stick together and feel very wrong, but you can work quickly and use two forks to break the pieces apart. And repeat with the other half batch. Done!
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I thought about making my own green curry paste, but friends, in my googling, I read that many Thai cooks think it’s better to just buy the commercial jarred curry paste than to make your own if you’re going to be making substitutions. Hello. Hi. Good news! Savin’ me some work. And hopefully makes it taste more authentic, according to the internet. I can do that. I can buy up a jar of green curry paste and cook up some curry magic with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
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