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This amazing slow cooker cashew chicken is way better than takeout! The chicken is breaded to perfection, the sauce is full of flavor and the cashews hidden throughout are the best part!
Make this a restaurant-worthy meal with these sides. My tried and true favorites will make it yummy, Wontons, Egg Rolls, and of course, Rice.
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken Recipe
My love for cashews runs deep. One time I bought a big thing of cashews from Costco and ate the entire thing by myself. Cashews are amazing. And when added to this amazing Chinese slow cooker meal. Mind blown. If you haven’t ever tried coating and browning the chicken before adding it to the slow cooker. It is a must, it makes a HUGE difference in taste and texture. It will take your Cashew Chicken to the next level. Instead of the sauce being thin, it thickens it up while it cooks and soaks the delicious marinade into the breading. As soon as it was done, I couldn’t believe that something that delicious was just made in the crockpot.
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken has to be seriously one of the best slow cooker meals that I have ever had! The cashews add so much amazingness to this meal and it was uh-mazing! Like I couldn’t stop eating it amazing. This is one meal that you aren’t going to want to pass up! I know that your family is going to love it as much as we did!
Ingredients For Cashew Chicken
Super simple ingredients that come together to make a divine dish.
- Chicken breasts boneless skinless: About 4 pieces, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Cornstarch: Coats the chicken to create the crust when pan-cooked.
- Black pepper: Flavor booster.
- Canola oil: This is a great choice to cook the chicken in.
- Soy sauce low sodium: You can use regular if you want to.
- Rice wine vinegar: Mild flavor that still has the tang.
- Ketchup: Sweet and savory, perfect for the sauce.
- Sweet chili sauce: Adds a touch of heat.
- Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and caramelization.
- Garlic cloves: Mince your garlic
- Grated fresh ginger: Packs a punch of flavor and heat you will love.
- Red pepper flakes: More heat.
- Cashews: The nut of choice.
How to Make Cashew Chicken in the Slow Cooker
The slow cooker makes this so easy and so delicious. The extra step of browning the chicken is divine.
- Prep the Chicken:Combine cornstarch and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with cornstarch mixture.
- Brown: Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker.
- Sauce: Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sweet chili sauce sugar, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and cashews in small bowl; pour over chicken. (I like my cashews to be softer so I add them during the cooking process, if you want more of a crunch, add them right before serving)
- Slow Cook: Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours.
- Enjoy: Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.
Other Ways to Cook Cashew Chicken
No Slow Cooker, No Problem: This can easily be made in a large skillet on the stovetop. After you saute the chicken add the sauce to your large skillet, let it simmer for 20-30 minutes covered. If you need to thicken the sauce more, make a cornstarch slurry of 1Tablespoon cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons cold water, mix and then stir into the sauce and bring to a gentle boil. Serve as desired.
Instant Pot: Sauté the chicken in the instant pot, once cooked remove and add the sauce. If you are getting a burn notice add half a cup of chicken broth. Pour on the sauce and manually cook for 20 minutes.
Tips and Variations for The Best Cashew Chicken
The fact that you can make this luscious of a meal in the slow cooker is insane. It seriously tastes like take out, only better!
- Chicken: You can use chicken breasts or chicken thighs. If you do not like chicken, pork or beef are also good choices. Shrimp is not recommended as it does not do well in the slow cooker.
- Breading and Frying: It takes an extra step and a few extra minutes, but it is totally worth it. Please try to work this step into your plans. You can thank me later!
- Vegetables: Add some vegetables to round out the dish. Broccoli, zucchini, bok choy, snap peas, celery, mushrooms, edamame, and green pepper all make great choices. Add to the crockpot the last 30 minutes of cooking.
- Cashews: I do not recommend using salted cashews as they will cause the dish to be too salty. If that is all you have, you can rinse them off and sauté them dry before adding them to the crockpot.
- Serve: We love this dish on rice, but you can use brown rice, cauliflower rice, zoodles, ramen noodles, or quinoa.
Storing Your Cashew Chicken
This dish tastes even better the second day.
- Fridge: Keep in tightly sealed in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: Place the cooled cashew chicken in a freezer-safe bag or container that is air-tight and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to use thaw in the fridge overnight. Heat in the crockpot for 1-2 hours or on the stovetop till warm and bubbly.
- Make-Ahead Freezer Meal: Make a double batch of this insanely delicious meal and freeze one batch for later use. For the freezer meal, skip dredging the chicken as it will make it a bit messy. Add everything to a freezer-safe bag except the cashews. Press all the air out of the bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight, add to the crockpot, and cook as directed by the recipe. Add the cashews and enjoy!
More Asian Inspired Recipes to Try
Being able to make take-out at home and have it taste even better than the real thing is epic. It saves you money and gives you control over the ingredients, which is a huge plus. Making your meals at home from scratch is often healthier and always tastes better. It is so fun to be able to eat your favorites but know you cooked them. If you have not tried it, you must. It is way easier than you think and your family and friends will think you are amazing. Try these tried and true recipes that will have you thinking you may never go out again!
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Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts boneless skinless, About 4 pieces, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon canola oil
- 1/2 cup soy sauce low sodium
- 4 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons ketchup
- 2 Tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup cashews
Instructions
- Combine cornstarch and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with cornstarch mixture.
- Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker.
- Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sweet chili sauce sugar, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and cashews in small bowl; pour over chicken. (I like my cashews to be softer so I add them during the cooking process, if you want more of a crunch, add them right before serving)
- Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours.
- Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.
Video
Notes
-If it is too salty you can simply use low sodium soy sauce.
-If there isn’t enough sauce, you can double the sauce or make it 1 and 1/2 times. Updated on May 20, 2021 Originally Posted on July 13, 2012
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do you cut up the chicken mini bite size pieces ?
Yes I did. 🙂
This was awesome! My husband said it is better than any take out he’s had! The best part is it was so easy to assemble and then just let the crock pot do the rest and what comes out is a super delicious dish! It did seem like there was not going to be enough sauce so I doubled it and it was perfect!
Even with low-sodium soy sauce and unsalted cashews (2nd attempt), while delicious, is simply too salty for our tastes. Next time I am going to try doubling all of the sauce recipe EXCEPT the soy sauce and see if that helps. The method is so great I am not ready to give up on it yet.
Yeah everyone has their different tastes. We LOVE it as is. 🙂
Excited to try this! I have never cooked with ginger before. I guess you could say I am a novice in the kitchen. Do I have to buy fresh ginger and Grate it or can I buy it in the spice aisle? I’m guessing the fresh might be much cheaper? Thank you for any help you can be
Made it today for the first time. It looks wonderful and it smells amazing.. BUT I almost choked when I tried it. It really is very salty. Other than using unsalted cashews or maybe low sodium soy sauce, is there anything that you would recommend to make it less salty? I love the recipe, just looking for ways to make it less salty..
I am sorry you think it is too salty. But I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe because we love it so much and it gets rave reviews from others.
Why does the picture show scallions when they aren’t listed as an ingredient? Seriously, how hard is it to be accurate?
How hard is it to know that scallions are used as garnish? Do I really need to put that in the ingredients for you? 🙂
No kidding Alyssa, besides her being nasty about it I cannot count the # of recipes I’ve seen where something was used as a garnish but not listed as ingredient. I have decided to stop reading any comments from now on, it just makes me crazy how so many change the entire thing then complain they didn’t like it and blame you when it looks/tastes different….really people? If you make it exact and don’t like it, fine say so (no need to be nasty) but I have always tried to make it exact the first time then know if and what needs to be changed to my tastes. Don’t know how you can stand saying the same thing over and over again all the time, I read the whole thing first and wasn’t confused about a thing. Sounds good, just got chicken out of the freezer to try this but I assure you if it doesn’t “look” like yours or for whatever reason I don’t like it, it certainly isn’t your fault….it could very well have something to do with the cook. And by the way, most Chinese dishes I’ve ever made I have garnished with scallions and that’s without being told to do so.
Sue–thank you. I feel like we are all learning as we go so I don’t mind answering questions that some might find trivial. I have found that I learn from so many of the comments/suggestions that it makes it well worth my while!
I accidentally made it with white sugar instead of brown and it was good. I’m making it again with brown sugar this time though
Wow. This ought to be labeled Salty, salty, harsh cashew chicken. This tastes nothing like cashew chicken in a restaurant. It has far, far too much soy sauce as well–it overwhelms the sauce. It is rare that I throw out leftovers, but we ate a small portion and trashed the rest. I followed the recipe exactly. It was horrible.
Not sure if this has been said however some really good changes that I found worked great. Take 2 cups of Water Chestnut (I quartered them) and 2 cups chopped up Celery. Oil blanch them for roughly 2-3 minutes, add on top of rice under chicken. Also this recipe calls for 3-4 hours. That is completely and woefully unnecessary, start checking your chicken after 1 hr 30 minutes, probably be completely done right around 2 hours. I took mine out at 3 hrs and i had some pieces that were overcooked and dry. I also topped with the dry chow mein noodle for crunch.
Where can you buy canola oil please in the uk
Canola oil is located by the olive oil and vegetable oil.
I would like to try this recipe, but would like to add vegetables so that there is at least half vegetables and half protein from chicken, possibly with even less chicken, at 1/4 protein and 3/4 carbohydrates, though. Any suggestions on how best to do that?
I would cut down on the chicken a bit and defiantly double the sauce. 🙂
I added green onions as a garnish, added water chestnut & celery myself and it only made the recipe better. I could see easily adding baby corn, slice carrots, mushrooms, etc. Just add more ingredients for the sauce to compensate for the increased amount of vegetables.
Excellent recipe! We love cashew chicken, and this was restaurant quality. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I made this recepe this i was very good this is a keeper ?
Marco
Ridderkerk
The netherlands
I have a problem with ANY kind of hot sauces – so I was wondering if anyone knows what can I use to substitute “sweet chili sauce sugar”?
Thanks!
Honestly so do I! And this isn’t spicy at all.
I really want to try this recipe but everyone at home has acid reflux, I’m worried about the chili sauce and red pepper flakes. How spicy is this recipe? Anything I can substitute? Thanks!
I always leave the red pepper flakes out for my kids and it is just fine.:)
SOME PEOPLE DO NOT READ THE RECIPE CAREFUL BEFORE THEY WRITE A COMMENT???
I AM MAKING THE DISH RIGHT NOW. IT SMELLS WONDERFUL. I ALSO THINK THERE IS NOT
ENOUGH SAUCE & I DOUBLED IT. RICE NEEDS A LOT OF SAUCE. THANK YOU.
I MAKE A LOT OF YOUR RECIPES.
DOES NOT taste like take out cashew chicken. WAY too salty.
Sorry, but this was WAY too acidic. Followed the recipe and doubled the sauce.