Description
A flavorful slow cooker cashew chicken recipe featuring tender, breaded chicken pieces cooked in a tangy and slightly sweet sauce with cashews for added texture. An easy and delicious alternative to takeout that’s perfect for a family dinner.
Ingredients
Scale
Chicken
- 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
Sauce
- 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
- Coat Chicken: Combine cornstarch and black pepper in a resealable food storage bag. Add chicken pieces and shake well to coat them evenly with the cornstarch mixture.
- Brown Chicken: Heat canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces for about 2 minutes on each side until lightly golden. Transfer the browned chicken to the slow cooker.
- Prepare Sauce: In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, sweet chili sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, grated ginger, red pepper flakes, and cashews. Pour this sauce mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker. (For softer cashews, cook them in the sauce; for crunchier cashews, add them just before serving.)
- Cook: Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours to allow flavors to meld and chicken to become tender.
- Serve: Serve the cashew chicken over rice for a complete meal. This recipe yields 6 servings.
Notes
- Use low sodium soy sauce to reduce saltiness if preferred.
- If you want more sauce, you can double the sauce ingredients or increase them by 1.5 times.
- Adding cashews at the end preserves their crunch; cooking them longer results in softer cashews.
- Brown the chicken properly before slow cooking to improve texture and flavor.
