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Cashew chicken stir fry is an easy dinner that can be on the table in 30 minutes! Chicken, veggies, and cashews are coated in a delicious, sweet, spicy, garlicy sauce. Serve over rice for a healthier and better than takeout dinner!
Stir fry is such a great dinner to make when you don’t have a lot of time to cook. Once you prep the protein and vegetables the rest of the meal takes minutes to come together.
The other nice thing about stir fry is that it’s a great way to use up any vegetables in your refrigerator that are nearing their expiration date. You can mix and match whatever sounds good, because it’s the sauce that brings the whole meal together.
There’s plenty of stir fry sauces that you can buy, but I prefer to make my own. The flavor is far superior in my opinion and you don’t have to worry about what all of those ingredients are that you can’t pronounce.
Ingredients For Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
- boneless skinless chicken breasts
- cornstarch
- red bell pepper
- sugar snap peas
- frozen shelled edamame
- green onions
- unsalted cashews
- low sodium soy sauce – use low sodium tamari for gluten free
- rice vinegar
- honey
- sriracha (optional)
- sesame oil
- fresh ginger
- garlic
How To Make Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
Start by cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces. Put them in a bowl and toss them together with the cornstarch, salt, and pepper.
Chop the red bell pepper and green onions and pull off the string on the sugar snap peas if needed. Make sure your shelled edamame is defrosted.
In a bowl or glass measuring cup whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sriracha, sesame oil, grated ginger, and garlic.
Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until it’s very hot. I like to let mine heat for several minutes. Add the oil to the skillet and swirl it to coat the bottom.
Dump the chicken into the skillet and spread it into a single layer. Let the chicken sear in the pan for a couple minutes before tossing it around. Allowing it to sit untouched will give you nice browning.
Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the skillet onto a plate. Add additional oil and then add in the peppers, green onions, and sugar snap peas. Cook the vegetables until they are crisp tender. This should only take a couple minutes.
Add the chicken back into the skillet along with the edamame, cashews, and the sauce. Stir everything together so that it’s coated in the sauce. The sauce should start to thicken quickly.
Once the sauce has thickened and is clinging to the chicken and vegetables, remove the skillet from the heat. Top with additional green onions and sesame seeds if desired
Tips For Making Stir Fry
- Prep the veggies, chop the chicken, and make the sauce before you start cooking. Stir fry cooks very quickly and you want to have everything close by and ready to go.
- You don’t need a wok to make stir fry. A large skillet/sauté pan will work great, but it’s best not use non-stick for stir fry.
- Make sure your skillet or wok is extremely hot. Heat over medium-high heat, but let the pan heat for several minutes before adding in the oil.
- Use an oil with a high smoke point. This isn’t the time to use olive oil. Go with avocado oil, grape seed oil, or canola.
- Don’t add in meat that’s ice cold. Let it sit on the counter for about 20-30 minutes and come to room temperature. Adding the meat in when it’s cold will lower the temperature of the skillet and you won’t get a nice sear.
- Cook the meat first, then the vegetables, and don’t cook them at the same time.
- Cook the vegetables that take the longest to cook first. For example peppers, carrots, and onion should go in before anything delicate like greens.
How To Serve Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
My favorite way to serve stir fry is over brown rice. Sometimes I’ll add a little ground ginger to it or stir in a drizzle of sesame oil. You can also serve the stir fry over white rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice for a low carb option, rice noodles, soba noodles, or ramen noodles.
More Stir Fry Recipes
- Sweet and Sour Shrimp Stir Fry
- Orange Tofu and Edamame Stir Fry
- Thai Chicken Stir Fry
- Harrissa Chicken Stir Fry
- Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry Quinoa Bowls
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
Stir Fry
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil canola or grape seed oil are alternative options
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame defrosted
- 4 green onions sliced thin
- 1/2 cup unsalted cashews
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons sriracha optional
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil optional
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic grated or minced
Instructions
- Place the chopped chicken in a bowl and toss them together with the cornstarch, salt, and pepper.
- Chop the vegetables and have them ready to go next to stove. In a bowl or glass measuring cup whisk together the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
- Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until it's very hot and then add in the oil. Swirl it to coat the bottom then dump the chicken. Spread it into a single layer and let it sear in the pan for a couple minutes before tossing it around.
- Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the skillet onto a plate. Add additional oil if needed and then add in the peppers, green onions, and sugar snap peas. Cook the vegetables until they are crisp tender, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet along with the edamame, cashews, and sauce. Stir everything together so that it's coated in the sauce. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until everything is heated through and the sauce has thickened.
- Garnish with extra green onions and sesame seeds if desired and serve over rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
