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This Thai Cashew Chicken recipe is off the chart DELICIOUS! With perfectly crisp sweet onions, nutty cashews, and crisp chicken bites, glazed in a salty and sweet cashew nut chicken sauce…you’ll love the aroma the moment you step into the kitchen. Seriously addictive and incredibly easy to make!
Pair the dish with Chinese egg drop soup, hot and sour soup, or Chinese garlic green beans, with steamed rice, cauliflower rice, or shirataki rice for a fantastic healthy dinner!
Thai Cashew Chicken – from Portland, Oregon!
We had a wonderful Thai food experience in Portland, Oregon! The standards for Thai food are so high that I’m confident to say that the Thai food you get in Portland is as good as what you can get in Thailand. While some restaurants in Portland are overhyped, in my opinion, I would be happy to eat at PaaDee – especially their Thai Cashew Chicken and Thai Larb – every single day for the rest of my life. 🙂
The Paadee version of Thai style cashew nut chicken has crispy chicken, toasted cashew nuts, dried red chilies, chunky scallions, covered in a sticky salty and sweet sauce. We ordered ours with green beans (see photo below) …let me tell you…this is the best thing in the world. I am mouth watering just thinking about it.
This homemade version gives you that same delicious aroma and with chicken cubes that are a little crisp outside and tender flavorful inside. You get that intensely flavored cashew chicken sauce (but gluten and soy-free) and with crisp sweet onion and crunchy nutty cashews…getting really hungry here…shall we begin?
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Ingredients for Thai Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry Recipe:
A great thing about this Thai chicken cashew nut recipe is that the ingredients are simple and you can get them at local grocery stores or online.
- Chicken breasts
- Coarse sea salt
- Garlic and onion powder
- Bell Peppers
- Yellow onion
- Raw cashew nuts
- Garlic, ginger, scallion, dry red chilis
- Cashew Chicken Sauce:
- Coconut aminos
- Fish sauce
- Apple cider vinegar
- Peach jam or apricot jam
- Tapioca or arrowroot starch, or xanthan gum
How to make Thai Chicken with Cashew Nuts:
- Lightly toast the nuts and set them aside.
- Dice and season the chicken breasts.
- Pan sear the chicken to golden crisp and set aside.
- Saute the onion and set aside. Add the garlic, ginger, chili, scallions, and bell peppers.
- Add the sauce to thicken then return the chicken, cashew, and onion to the pan. Toss to combine.
🙋🏻♀️ Umami Tip: Saute the onion slices for 10 seconds and scoop them out so they remain crisp and crunchy.
What to serve with Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
Rice!
Rice is the answer to most Asian stir-fry dishes! If you ask me, that’s almost always my answer 🙂 Why? Because the main dish is loaded with flavor so a light flavored or plain rice keep the meal balanced! Try steamed rice, cauliflower rice, riced broccoli, or shirataki fried rice!
Side Dishes
Want to add more veggies? Besides sauteed garlic green beans, try my Sichuan style green beans, bok choy dim sum, Asian cucumber salad, Tatsoi Asian greens salad, Asian chopped salad, and Chinese broccoli recipe.
Thai Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry (paleo, gf, keto, if modified)
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashew nuts unsalted
For the chicken:
- 1 lb chicken breasts dice to ½ inch (1.27cm) cubes
- ½ tsp coarse sea salt
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 3 tsp tapioca starch or arrowroot starch
- 3 tbsp avocado oil divided, stir-fry use
For the vegetables and aromatics:
- 4 oz yellow onion sliced, about half of one medium onion
- 0.6 oz garlic cloves sliced, about 3 cloves
- 0.25 oz ginger finely minced
- 3 pieces Thai dry red chilis cut open and seeded, optional
- 3 bulb scallions sliced to 1.5 inch (3.8cm) sections, white and green parts separated
- 1 whole bell pepper dice to ½ inch cubes
For the cashew chicken sauce:
- 1.5 tbsp coconut aminos
- ½ tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2-2.5 tbsp peach jam or apricot jam
- 1 tsp tapioca starch or ⅛ tsp xanthan gum
Instructions
- Dice the chicken and combine with the seasonings from salt to starch. Set aside in the fridge.
- Slice the onion, break up the slices in one plate. Prepare the garlic, ginger, chilis, and white scallion parts on another plate. Dice the bell pepper. Make the sauce in a bowl.
- Preheat a wok, large stainless steel saute pan, or cast iron, over medium heat until it feels warm when placing your palm near the surface, about 2-3 inches away. Add 1.5 tbsp oil. Add the chicken and spread them out to a single layer. Pan fry over medium-high heat for 4 minutes the first side and 3 minutes the flip side. The chicken should be cooked. Scoop out the chicken and leave the oil in the pan.
- Add 1 tbsp oil. Lower the heat to medium. Saute the onion for 10 seconds and scoop out.
- Add garlic, ginger, chili, and white scallion parts with a pinch of salt. Saute for 8-10 seconds. Add bell peppers, saute for 10 seconds.
- Stir the sauce again then add it to the pan. The sauce will thicken in 10 seconds.
- Return the chicken, cashew, and onion to the pan. Add the green scallion parts and toss for 10 seconds before turning off the heat.
- Serve hot or warm with rice, cauliflower rice, or shirataki fried rice.
Notes
- Skip the starch coating in the chicken seasoning
- Use ¼ cup cashew (as opposed to ½ cup)
- Use green bell peppers (as opposed to red, orange, yellow)
- Use xanthan gum to thicken the stir-fry sauce
- Use keto friendly brown sugar for the sauce
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Also check out my Chinese cashew chicken, Black pepper chicken, moo shu chicken, moo goo gai pan, sesame chicken, mongolian chicken, kung pao chicken, chicken and broccoli, Asian chicken lettuce wraps, Pad Woon Sen , and sweet and sour chicken!
If I could give this recipe 10 stars, I would! Like every other recipe of Chih Yu’s that I’ve made, this one was incredibly delish!!!
The chicken was crispy, the veggies were perfect…. The sauce… I have no words!
I added mushrooms to the veggies and I think Chinese broccoli would be great too!
Thank you, Heather! So happy to hear!
Hi, how spicy is this if we take out the seeds on the Thai chilis? I don’t like heat but I love the flavor the chilies impart. Thank you Chihyu I LOVE your recipes so much ♥️
Hi Holly, when I make this dish it didn’t taste spicy to me. And I removed the seeds. You can also use red serrano chili pepper and that’s less spicy. Hope that helps.
Although I made a few tiny modifications to this because I was missing a few things (namely the jam, I used chutney instead!) I can assure you it’s well worth the work and steps taken. All of my family raved about how delicious it was and it will def be put on a regular rotation in my house!
This is a recipe I keep coming back to! I love how simple yet flavorful this dish is. The whole meal comes together so quickly with minimal prep required. One of my favorites for sure!!
This recipe is amazing! So grateful to you, ChihYu, for carefully developing recipes like this! Love the versatility of the sauce and chicken marinade and will be using those in my everyday cooking. The meal turned out as comforting and delicious as it looks in your pictures and in my pan! One of my favorites ever!
Thank you, Elena. So happy to hear!
This hits all the taste buds leaving you full, satisfied and happy! So delicious and love that it isn’t full of crap ingredients
Another winner. Made it a while back.
Always crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The sauces are always sooooo good.
Easy to get together when you are in a bit of a rush. Thanks
Thank you!
This dish continues to be a favorite in my house! Thanks for sharing..
Thank you, Ann. So happy to hear. Appreciate it!
I’m not doing Paleo, avoiding soy or anything – just looking for healthy dishes that focus on protein and veggies. I would like to use soy sauce, oyster sauce etc… What sauce would traditionally be used for this dish instead of the coconut aminos?
Hi Sandi, You would use soy sauce and oyster sauce in combination. Please adjust the quantity to your taste. Note that coconut amino is less salty and naturally sweeter than soy sauce. 🙂
sounds like a fantastic recipe but my husband is on keto and cannot use the jams, nor fruits, do you have an easy substitution/idea?
thanks!!!
Use keto friendly honey like this recipe – https://iheartumami.com/honey-sriracha-chicken/