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Tender, flavorful Cashew Chicken and Vegetables
Homemade Honey Cashew Chicken is so much better than Chinese takeout!
We adore the sweet heat in this easy, quick cooking, satisfying cashew chicken recipe. Our Asian-American inspired stir-fry is loaded with tender chunks of chicken breast, crisp red bell pepper, onions, tender broccoli florets and plenty of roasted cashews.
This skillet meal is finished with a delicious sticky sauce creating a delicious flavor explosion. Start cooking the rice first because this stir-fry will be ready in under an hour!
Ingredients Overview:
For the marinade:
- cornstarch used to seal the chicken and keep it tender
- fresh ground black pepper
- low-sodium soy sauce also used in the sauce
- sesame oil for terrific flavor
- rice vinegar for acidic flavor to balance the sweet sauce
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
For the sauce:
- cornstarch for thickening the sauce as it cooks
- rice vinegar for a nice tangy bite
- honey or brown sugar, both work very well
- low-sodium soy sauce or regular soy sauce
- Sriracha sauce or your favorite chili garlic sauce or hot sauce
- water or chicken broth
For the stir-fry:
- vegetable oil for sautéing
- broccoli florets
- sweet onion
- red bell pepper
- fresh garlic cloves minced
- crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- unsalted cashew nuts
For serving:
- cooked rice
- sliced green onions
- toasted sesame seeds
Overview: How to make Cashew Chicken
This simple recipe is divided into three easy steps. Once measured and prepped, this recipe comes together quickly.
Before you begin, start cooking the rice if planning to serve with the cashew chicken.
1. First make the marinade:
Cut the chicken breasts or thighs into one-inch pieces. In a large bowl combine cornstarch, pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Set aside to marinate.
This step can be done up to 4 hours in advance. For storage longer than 20 to 30 minutes be sure to cover and refrigerate the chicken until ready to cook.
2. Next combine the sauce ingredients:
Whisk the cornstarch, rive vinegar, honey, soy sauce, hot sauce and water together. Set aside.
3. Stir-fry the chicken and vegetables:
Drain the chicken in a colander or mesh sieve then spread the chicken pieces out on a paper towel lined plate. Blot dry with additional paper towels.
Heat vegetables oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove to a plate and keep warm.
Add the remaining vegetable oil to the pan then add the vegetables. Stir-fry until all vegetables are crisp tender. Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes and stir until fragrant.
Reduce the heat to medium-low.
4. Add the sauce and serve:
Finally, add the chicken back to the pan with the vegetables. Add the sauce mixture and cook, stirring constantly until thickened and the chicken and vegetables are coated.
Turn off the heat and add the cashews. Stir to coat. Check the seasoning and add salt if needed.
Serve immediately garnished with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
Serve over sticky Jasmine rice for a complete meal.
Hot cooked rice is perfect for soaking up the sweet and spicy sauce in this stir-fry classic. We don’t eat a lot of rice these days, but when we do it must be topped with a rainbow of vegetables and delicious protein.
Toasted cashews provide great textural balance and crunch, and the fresh sliced green onions complete the dish. Many Cashew Chicken recipes include brown sugar in the sauce. We’ve replaced the sugar with honey in this recipe but you can use equal amounts of brown sugar if desired.
Another Asian inspired dish sweetened with honey is our Easy Stir Fry Vegetables. It’s another easy and delicious recipe and perfect for a meatless-Monday meal or quick weeknight dinner.
Chicken with cashew nuts is my go-to favorite when craving Asian inspired recipes.
Originally posted in 2012, this recipe has gone through some delicious updates and improvements over the years. This final version is a keeper and is on repeat in our house!
Cornstarch may seem like an odd marinade ingredient as it’s usually used to thickened sauces. In this recipe, it does both.The little bit of cornstarch forms a protective barrier that helps prevent the chicken from overcooking and drying out. Nobody likes tough, dried up chicken hidden under some delicious sauce.
This Chinese cooking method, called velveting, can be accomplished by tossing the meat or chicken in cornstarch, or added to the marinade for easy preparation.
Cashew Chicken was invented by a restaurant owner in Springfield, Missouri.
In 1963 chef David Leong created Cashew Chicken using deep fried chicken chunks sautéed in a simple sauce made with oyster sauce and soy sauce.
Thai restaurants often serve a similar dish made with thin sliced chicken, onions and cashews in a light brown sauce that’s not as sweet as the Chinese-America versions. If you’ve never tried Cashew Chicken, now’s a great time!
Thanks for PINNING!
Honey Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
For the marinade:
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 3 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons Sriracha sauce more or less to taste
- ½ cup water or chicken broth
For the stir fry:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 large sweet onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper seeds and ribs removed, chopped or sliced
- 3 medium cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup unsalted cashew nuts toasted (see notes)
For serving:
- hot cooked rice for serving
- ¼ cup sliced green onions for garnish
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- In a large glass bowl prepare the marinade by combining 2 tablespoons cornstarch, black pepper, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sesame oil and 1 teaspoon rice vinegar. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and toss to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate while preparing the vegetables. Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
- In a small bowl combine the sauce ingredients and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sauté, stirring frequently, until lightly browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Add the broccoli, onion and bell pepper and sauté until the vegetables are crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Add the chicken back to the pan and then the honey sauce mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened and all vegetables and chicken are coated, about 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cashews to the skillet. Stir to coat. Serve immediately over hot cooked rice garnished with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Easy, quick and flavorful Honey Cashew Chicken
This one skillet meal can be adapted to suit your family favorites. Adjust the level of sweet heat by adding more or less honey, sugar, hot sauce and crushed red pepper flakes.
You can also change up this recipe by substituting your favorite fresh vegetables. We love broccoli and red bell pepper in this stir-fry, but green bell pepper, snow peas, asparagus, water chestnuts all work well too.
Plan ahead and make your own flavorful Sweet Chili Sauce to use in place of Sriracha hot sauce.
Finally, don’t miss these great recipes for Spicy Basil Chicken, Beef with Broccoli and the incredibly flavored Mongolian Beef. We love our stir-fry recipes and bet you will too.
Kathy M
The a Honey cashew chicken was fabulous. I’m actually making it again but will leave out the cashews and added carrot sticks. Wanted more veggies in it and there will some left over and I never thought nuts froze well. Thanks for this recipe.
Tricia Buice
Thank you Kathy! I love, love, love this recipe. Now I’m craving it again. More veggies is always a great idea. We appreciate you taking the time to comment. Bravo!
Molly
Absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this meal again:) thank you for sharing!
Tricia Buice
Thank you Molly! So happy you enjoyed the chicken. It’s a keeper 🙂
michelle
looks like a great recipe!
wondering why we need to pat the chicken with a paper towel to dry? can we just put it on the skillet without that or is this an important step?
thanks in advance!
Tricia Buice
Hi Michelle. That’s a great question! Drying off the chicken helps promote browning and searing which helps build in tons of flavor. Those little browned bits of chicken create the base for all the great flavor in this dish. If you don’t dry the chicken, the chicken pieces steam in liquid instead of browning. The dish will still be good to eat, it just won’t have that extra edge of flavor. Drying the chicken is easy to do and worth the extra few minutes it takes to do it.
Claire
Made this last night, was absolutely delicious! Thank you for such a great recipe!!
Tricia Buice
Thank you Claire – I love this recipe, too! Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Kristen
This recipe is SO YUMMY! We added some extra veggies and doubled the sauce and it was absolute perfection. My entire family had two helpings. Thanks for sharing!
Tricia Buice
Thanks Kristen! I love this recipe and all the wonderful flavor – great idea to double the sauce!
Jen Litowski
This was delicious! My family liked it better than my other cashew chicken recipe – it seemed heartier with more veggies in it.
I’ll definitely be making again.
Thanks!
Tricia Buice
Thanks for the feedback Jen! So glad this turned out for you. I love this recipe and could eat it once a week. Enjoy and thanks again.
becca
Very yummy! I doubled the sauce recipe for extra sauce for the rice. Some of us used lettuce wraps and some had over rice. Much healthier than take out and easy to customize your preferred veggie combinations.
Tricia Buice
I love that you used this mixture in lettuce wraps Becca. Perfect lunch or light dinner solution! Thanks for sharing your feedback and for trying the recipe.
Marisa Henry
I made this frequently back in 2016- I thought I had lost the recipe but found it in my email. I am confused because I swore it had edamame in it. Was this changed? If so, could you please help me out and let me know the quantity of edamame?
Regardless, it is a delicious meal and I am making it this weekend.
Tricia Buice
Hi Marisa – boy you are good! It did have edamame in it before I updated the recipe. I used to add 1 cup of frozen shelled edamame at the same time as the broccoli. Glad you came back and found this recipe again. One of our favorites for sure! All other recipe modifications were minor.
Marisa
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for replying. I am making this tomorrow so I came to check and Lo and behold, you’re that good too!!! Thank you so much for responding. This recipe is fabulous- I also double the sauce because it’s scrumptious. We love edamame here so I appreciate you letting me know.
Tricia Buice
Thank you Marisa!
Janine
Made this tonight! Absolutely delicious 🙂 I used the 1.5 tablespoons of sriracha and thought it was the perfect amount of heat. My five year old did find it a tad too spicy for him so I am going to dial it back a little the next time I make it. But other than, wouldn’t change a thing! Definitely a keeper.
Tricia Buice
Thanks Janine! I adore this recipe and could eat it once a week. So much flavor. I think it will be fine with less sriracha. Enjoy and thanks again.
Tammy
My chicken is marinating and cashews are toasting. Can’t wait to try this as it looks amazing.
Tricia Buice
Oh how I wish I had this for dinner tonight! I LOVE this recipe and hope you do too. Yum!!
Alexandra Morley
This chicken recipe turned out just like the picture. More importantly tasted absolutely delicious. The only thing I’d do differently next time is to double the sauce, I think you need extra for the rice. Scrumptious! Thank you.
Tricia Buice
Thank you so much Alexandra! I appreciate you trying our recipe and also for taking the time to let us know how it turned out for you. Outstanding!!!
Karen (Back Road Journal)
I’ve always got cashews in the pantry, they are my husband’s favorite nut. He would definitely be pleased if this was on the dinner table.
Tricia Buice
Bet he loves this dish Karen – thanks so much!
Abbe@This is How I Cook
One of my favorite dishes! Such a classic. You have reminded me that I haven’t made this in a long time!
Tricia Buice
Yummy stuff Abbe! Enjoy!
Jackie Ryan
This is delicious! I added mushrooms and thin sliced carrots and green pepper, because I didn’t have a red pepper. But the sauce is so yummy, it would be great with any stir fry veggies, I think! I also used just regular salted cashews and it was all delicious! Thank you!
Tricia Buice
I think you’re right Jackie. Any crisp vegetable would be delicious in this chicken dish. Glad the salted cashews worked out for you. Thank you for the feedback and for commenting!
Tina
This looks amazing and am dying to try! However, I cant have honey. Can it be omitted or is there a substitute?
Tricia Buice
Hi Tina – you can skip the honey all together or replace it with a few tablespoons brown sugar. If you use golden or corn syrup – that would be great here too. The sweetness is a nice contrast to the mild spiciness but won’t kill the dish if it is omitted. The chicken is not overly sweet but the honey gives the dish balance. Hope you enjoy!
Susan
This is one of my most favorite take out dishes! Now I have no excuse not to make it at home. All of those colorful vegetables would make me smile with all the white on the ground right now 🙂
Tricia Buice
Bet you have tons of snow Susan. This is one of my all time favorites too – so good! Thanks
Karly
This is my favorite! Delish!
Tricia Buice
Mine too – thanks Karly!
sue | the view from great island
Cashew chicken is my favorite take out meal too! I have to admit, your version looks a lot fresher than the one that arrives at our door, I’m definitely trying it, thanks Tricia!
Tricia Buice
Thank you Sue! Enjoy 🙂
Chris Scheuer
This looks better than anything I’ve ever had at an Asian restaurant. You’ve really got my taste buds up for Asian and this Cashew Chicken is a perfectly delicious place to start! Pinned!!
Tricia Buice
Thanks Chris!
Larry
Great shots of a delicious looking dish. Eight Treasure Chicken has long been a favorite at restaurants so I know I would love this and have it saved.
Tricia Buice
Thanks so much Larry 🙂
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers
This is a beautiful dish and no doubt every bit as tasty as it looks! Can’t wait to try this one 🙂
Tricia Buice
Thanks Jennifer!
angiesrecipes
It’s one of my favourites! I need to make some too 🙂
Tricia Buice
Thanks Angie – enjoy!