Homemade saucy stir fry cashew chicken is better than your take out version. It’s so easy to make, you can bring dinner to the table in less than 30 minutes. Served with rice, it satisfies your craving for stir fry chicken any day!

Forget your take out, make healthy and better tasting stir fry chicken recipe at home. Don’t get intimidated with the number of ingredients. You most probably have some of the ingredients already in your pantry.
Stir fry sauce is what makes this dish taste delicious. The sauce has wonderful balance of sour-sweet-hot. You can slightly customize the sauce depending on what you have in hand and what you like to include in your stir fry chicken with cashew nuts dish.
Better Than Take Out Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
- Don’t even bother the take out version, you can make better than that at home.
- This saucy chicken stir fry is easy to make.
- You can bring dinner to the table in less than 30 minutes.
- Stir fry sauce has a wonderful combination of sweet, hot and sour.
- You can also customize the sauce slightly depending on what you have in the pantry and what you like in your stir fry sauce.
- If you never mixed chicken with nuts, you got to try this chicken with cashew nuts. Roasted cashews and stir fry sauce chicken is amazing with rice. For low carb healthy options, serve this stir fry chicken with cauliflower fried rice.
- Got a sudden craving for Asian stir fry chicken? No problem. Try this recipe; it’ll satisfy your cravings.
Ingredients Needed
Don’t get intimidated with the array of ingredients that you need to make this recipe. Most of the ingredients are most probably in your pantry.
Cook’s Tip: If you want to make a Chinese version of cashew chicken, use Chinese cooking wine or mirin. If access to Chinese cooking wine isn’t very easy you can use dry sherry or rice vinegar instead. You are in total control of what you want to add to your stir fry sauce in this recipe. Chinese version or Thai version depending on what you use for the sauce.
Hoisin sauce gives a wonderful sour taste. To add in more flavors mix hoisin sauce and oyster sauce together.
Note: Some prefer to add ginger and garlic into their sauce, I personally like to stir fry it in oil at the beginning so it removes the raw smell and taste of ginger and garlic. You do have option to add it to your sauce which gets poured over cooked chicken almost towards the end.
How To Make Cashew Chicken (Step-By-Step Instructions)
Step 1: First make the stir fry sauce. Simply whisk together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, chili sauce, corn starch, sesame oil in a bowl. Keep it aside until use.
Step 2: Dry roast whole cashew nuts in oven. Pre heat oven at 300 degree F. Dry roast cashews for 3 to minutes giving it a stir in between. Do not let cashews brown. You want to roast not brown it. Remove roasted cashews from oven and let it cool down.
Step 3: Prepping Chicken – Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces. Add all chicken into a zip lock bag or a wide bowl.
Season it with pepper, salt and corn flour. Shake well to coat all chicken pieces evenly. Let chicken sit in the marinade for 7 to 10 minutes.
Step 4: Heat oil (divide oil so you can add oil for every batch) in a skillet or wok. Add few marinated chicken pieces on to the skillet, without overcrowding it. Immediately stir fry it for about a minute on medium high heat, flip and cook it on other side.
Don’t cook chicken completely. We only want to sear it or fry it lightly in oil. Remove cooked chicken into a bowl and repeat the same process with remaining chicken. Once done remove all chicken to a bowl.
Step 5: Pour remaining oil to the skillet.
Note – don’t worry about the brown bits, you scrap it off the pan as you stir fry chicken and cashews. Those brown bits are all flavors. I do like to have them in my stir fry.
If you aren’t comfortable, use another clean skillet before you start stir frying chicken.
Add white part of spring onions along with minced ginger and garlic in. Stir for about a minute on medium high heat.
Step 6: Add back partially cooked chicken pieces give it a stir.
Step 7: Pour in the sauce into the pan. It may look like a lot of sauce and the dish can look too saucy with liquids, but it’ll evaporate as you cook for few minutes.
Note – If you find the sauce to be too thick and the chicken is turning thick and dry, add chicken stock or water to the pan as required to help cook chicken.
Step 8: Stir in everything and cook for about a minute or two tossing it frequently.
It’s time for cashews. Add in dry roasted cashews and stir again.
Step 9: Turn off heat after a minute.
Garnish with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
Serve this saucy stir fry chicken with cashew nuts over rice.
Cashew Chicken Sauce
The recipe for sauce is customizable. You can alter the flavors slightly. Most ingredients that goes in making the sauce are commonly available ingredients like corn starch, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili sauce.
Hoisin sauce and if using oyster sauce is something you may or may not have in your pantry.
Stir fry sauce has hoisin sauce, low sodium light soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili sauce, granulated sugar, corn starch and sesame oil all mixed in together.
Tips For Best Cashew Chicken Recipe
- Using boneless chicken thighs will give you tender chicken. Don’t worry, chicken breasts will taste good too.
- Do not crowd the pan while frying chicken pieces. Do them in batches if you have to.
- Soon as you add the chicken to oil, stir it immediately, else it will stick to the pan (Like you see in the video, I got distracted for a minute and chicken pieces were stuck, but I got it out of pan without breaking successfully with some effort haha!)
- Use low sodium light soy sauce in this recipe. Dark soy will have strong taste and will taste bitter.
- If you find the sauce to be too thick and the chicken is turning thick and dry, add chicken stock or water to the pan as required to help cook chicken.
- Whole cashew nuts are better choice. Brown ones can do, but it won’t look as pretty as whole nuts and you won’t get a mouthful taste of cashews when you bite in.
- Don’t use raw cashews directly in the dish. Also don’t use salted and roasted cashews. Buy raw whole cashews and dry roast them at home in oven or on stove top. Do NOT brown cashews, roast for just about 3 to 4 minutes and remove from heat just when it starts to brown.
- The recipe for sauce does not make the dish spicy. If you like spicy stir fry chicken, add more chili sauce. You can also reduce the amount of sugar by half in the recipe to make it spicy. But do it with caution so you are able to handle the heat you add to the sauce.
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Cashew Chicken (Better-Than-Take-Out)
Ingredients
For Sauce:
- 1 ½ tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoon low sodium light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ¾ tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Asian chili sauce or sriracha sauce
- ½ tablespoon corn starch
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
For Chicken:
- 1 lb boneless chicken thighs or breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup cashew (whole)
- ½ tablespoon corn starch
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil like sunflower oil or canola oil
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ cup white part of spring onions chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
For Garnish:
- Green onions
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- First make the stir fry sauce. Simply whisk together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, chili sauce, corn starch, sesame oil in a bowl. Keep it aside until use.
- Dry roast whole cashew nuts in oven. Pre heat oven at 300 degree F. Dry roast cashews for 3 to minutes giving it a stir in between. Do not let cashews brown. You want to roast not brown it. Remove roasted cashews from oven and let it cool down.
- Prepping Chicken – Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces. Add all chicken into a zip lock bag or a wide bowl.
- Season it with pepper, salt and corn flour. Shake well to coat all chicken pieces evenly. Let chicken sit in the marinade for 7 to 10 minutes.
- Heat vegetable oil (divide oil so you can add oil for every batch) in a skillet or wok. Add few marinated chicken pieces on to the skillet, without overcrowding it. Immediately stir fry it for about a minute on medium high heat, flip and cook it on other side. Don’t cook chicken completely. We only want to sear it or fry it lightly in oil. Remove cooked chicken into a bowl and repeat the same process with remaining chicken. Once done remove all chicken to a bowl.
- Pour remaining oil to the skillet.Note – don’t worry about the brown bits, you scrap it off the pan as you stir fry chicken and cashews. Those brown bits are all flavors. I do like to have them in my stir fry.
- If you aren’t comfortable, use another clean skillet before you start stir frying chicken.
- Add white part of spring onions along with minced ginger and garlic in. Stir for about a minute on medium high heat.
- Add back partially cooked chicken pieces give it a stir.
- Pour in the sauce into the pan. It may look like a lot of sauce and the dish can look too saucy with liquids, but it’ll evaporate as you cook for few minutes.Note – If you find the sauce to be too thick and the chicken is turning thick and dry, add chicken stock or water to the pan as required to help cook chicken.
- Stir in everything and cook for about a minute or two tossing it frequently.
- It’s time for cashews. Add in dry roasted cashews and stir again.
- Turn off heat after a minute.
- Garnish with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
- Serve this saucy stir fry chicken with cashew nuts over rice.
Video
Notes
- Using boneless chicken thighs will give you tender chicken. Don’t worry, chicken breasts will taste good too.
- Do not crowd the pan while frying chicken pieces. Do them in batches if you have to.
- Soon as you add the chicken to oil, stir it immediately, else it will stick to the pan (Like you see in the video, I got distracted for a minute and chicken pieces were stuck, but I got it out of pan without breaking successfully with some effort haha!)
- Use low sodium light soy sauce in this recipe. Dark soy will have strong taste and will taste bitter.
- If you find the sauce to be too thick and the chicken is turning thick and dry, add chicken stock or water to the pan as required to help cook chicken.
- Whole cashew nuts are better choice. Brown ones can do, but it won’t look as pretty as whole nuts and you won’t get a mouthful taste of cashews when you bite in.
- Don’t use raw cashews directly in the dish. Also don’t use salted and roasted cashews. Buy raw whole cashews and dry roast them at home in oven or on stove top. Do NOT brown cashews, roast for just about 3 to 4 minutes and remove from heat just when it starts to brown.
- The recipe for sauce does not make the dish spicy. If you like spicy stir fry chicken, add more chili sauce. You can also reduce the amount of sugar by half in the recipe to make it spicy. But do it with caution so you are able to handle the heat you add to the sauce.
Comments & Reviews
Jennifer Hattenburg says
Love this! So easy! Thank you for sharing this!
Jyothi Rajesh says
I’m glad you loved the recipe Jennifer! Thank you!
Lauren says
how would that ever be enough liquid for a sauce? 5Tbsp? I make dishes like this all the time from recipes I find online, and they never have enough liquid for the sauce.
Jyothi Rajesh says
You can increase the sauce quantity mentioned in the recipe to suitable levels to suit your taste preference. You can use 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 3 tablespoons of hoisin sauce and increase corn starch to 1 tablespoon. Use chicken stock or Chinese wine to thicken.
Janet says
This was so delicious. I followed the recipe as written. I’ll make it again for sure. My family loved it. It’s a tad spicy for my granddaughters right now but the rest of the family didn’t mind the spice. Thanks for the recipe.
Jyothi Rajesh says
I’m so glad your family and you loved this cashew chicken recipe Janet! Please feel free to adjust the spices to suit your granddaughters palate next time. Thank you for your valuable feedback!
Samuel A Shaw says
I juat have a question in the ingredients is say about corn starch for the chicken but down in the directions is say about corn flour for on the chicken. I was just wondering which one it is
Jyothi Rajesh says
Sorry for the confusion, it’s corn starch
Sheri Davis says
Excellent Recipe! My Hubby said BRAVO he loved it! I only used 1/2 Tablespoon of sesame oil and I altered it a tad by adding 2 green pepper and 1/2 bunch green onion and used only 5 oz Cashews.
I will definitely make this again and again.
Thank you for sharing!
Sheri
Jyothi Rajesh says
So glad you and your husband loved this recipe Sheri Davis. Thank you for trying
Elaine says
I like lots of sauce and my husband doesn’t like too spicy so I doubled everything except the chili sauce. I also gradually added about a half cup chicken broth at the end to get up the brown bits on the bottom and loosen the sauce up. Delicious.
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you very much Elaine. So glad to know you and your family loved the recipe!
Donna says
Per your request I am posting a review here. This recipe is delicious! I use one chicken breast, make the full recipe of sauce and add whatever vegetables I have on hand. I make it about twice/month. Husband is not a big chicken fan but really likes this!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you very much for sharing you feedback Donna
RC Marti says
Hello Jyothi, maybe its me but I don’t see cashews in the recipe ingredient list. How much should be dry roasted and added to the recipe?
Jyothi Rajesh says
Oops sorry. And thank you for bringing it to my notice! Updated the recipe card now. Hope you try and like the recipe
Jessica says
That was a delicious meal! I will be making it again for sure! Thanks for the recipe!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thanks so much Jessica, so glad you love the recipe! Jo x
Becky says
This recipe is perfect!
Jyothi Rajesh says
I’m so glad you are loving the recipe Becky!
Valerie says
Loved this recipe. Made it last week and my family wants it again so guess what is for dinner.
Jyothi Rajesh says
Glad you and your family enjoyed it Valerie!
Kacey Perez says
Cashew Chicken is one of my favorites and this recipe couldn’t look any better! Thanks for sharing!
Daniela says
Looks like some deliciously comforting chicken! And I love your in process shot and how you labeled what each ingredient is… so useful!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you
LaKita says
This cashew chicken looks absolutely delicious and definitely better than take out. Cannot wait to give it a try!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Hope you try it, it’s definitely our favorite stir fry now. Rich and delicious!
Paige says
This looks beautifully prepared, definately better than take out, and I’m going to make it! Very pretty photos too.
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you Paige
David says
Yum! Chicken with cashews is one of my favorites at Chinese restaurants. Your version looks even tastier! And easy to make too with your step by step instructions.
Jyothi Rajesh says
Glad you found the post useful. Thank you
Colleen says
This recipe was a hit. My whole family loved it. Thanks for posting!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Yay, so glad you got to try the recipe. Thank you for trying!
Marwin Brown says
This recipe looks good especially that sauce. I’m partial to chicken breasts, so might tweak the recipe slightly
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you Marwin
Bernice Hill says
Though I’m not much of a cashew fan, I do love this dish. It looks so saucy and delicious. Best of all, it’s a quick dinner and who could argue with that?
Jyothi Rajesh says
You could definitely reduce the amount of cashew in the recipe. If stir fry recipes is your favorite, you should definitely try it.
Aleta says
Cashew chicken is one of my favourite take out dishes, though I have never tried it at home. This recipe is really easy to follow and I have all of the ingredients on hand! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Jyothi Rajesh says
Thank you Aleta