Easy Cashew Chicken
I can never resist a quick Asian inspired stir fry chicken recipe. This tasty Easy Cashew Chicken is no exception! Better than take out!
Why You’ll Love this Chicken Stir Fry
- This tasty recipe can be whipped up more quickly than the time it takes to get takeout or delivery.
- You can tweak it with your favorite vegetables!
- Don’t want chicken? It will work with beef and pork, too! So versatile.
I’d much rather spend the day dusted in flour and covered with chocolate drips preparing a decadent dessert than making dinner. I DO want to eat something spectacular for my evening meal, but my heart isn’t always into fixing a recipe with a multitude of steps. Thank goodness McCormick has come to the rescue. I selected their Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry Skillet Sauce in hopes of creating a quick dinner that would please my hubby’s picky palate.
The result was better than takeout stir fry chicken. More wholesome ingredients and the bonus of knowing all the ingredients in your meal! Plus you can shake up the veggies to make your cashew chicken exactly how you want it.
Tips for Making a Stir Fry Recipe
- Are you familiar with the French term mise en place? The literal translation is set in place and refers to having all your ingredients measured, chopped, and ready to go before you start cooking. This process can happen early in the day so when dinner time approaches, the task of cooking or baking is less daunting. This is a terrific help for baking and cooking. Do the prep earlier in the day.
- As pictured above, when making this easy cashew chicken, have the meat and vegetables cut and cashews toasted. Sauces can be mixed ahead of time, too. This allows for more efficiency when it’s time to cook, just like a restaurant chef. Give it a try.
- Marinate the chicken (or other protein) while prepping the other ingredients. Seafood does not need a long marinating time, but beef and pork can handle up to a few hours.
- Stir fry your ingredients in batches of what takes a similar cooking time. For example, hard vegetables like carrots take longer than cabbage.
- It took me less than a half-hour to have this better than take out stir fry chicken ready and—drum roll—Bill gave it two thumbs up. So this cashew chicken was quick, tasty, and a hubby pleaser. Can’t beat that!
- If the packaged stir fry sauce is unavailable, try the tasty marinade in this chicken stir fry recipe.
You May Also Like:
It still shocks me that the picky hubby, who didn’t grow up with any ethnic dishes unless you count pizza, loves the Asian food I make at home. Here are a few more recipes from our kitchen:
- Asian Lemon Chicken from Eazy Peazy Mealz
- Chicken Stir Fry with Oyster Sauce
- Asian Beef with Peppers
- Pork Bulgoge
- Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Grilled Thai Chicken
- Beef Bulgogi
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
- More Easy Main Dish Recipes
Easy Cashew Chicken
A quick and healthy meal that will please your palate!
Ingredients
- 1/2-3/4 cup toasted cashews (toast in a 350º oven for 5 minutes or until fragrant, watch carefully)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch slices
- 1 1/2 cups snow peas
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- Vegetable oil
- McCormick Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry Skillet Sauce
- Cooked rice, for serving
Instructions
- Combine oyster sauce, dry sherry and soy sauce in medium bowl. Add sliced chicken, toss to coat and set aside while prepping ingredients.
- Using a large skillet or fry pan, heat about a teaspoon of oil and add bell peppers. Sauté till they just start to soften, about 2 minutes. Remove to large bowl. Repeat with snow peas, adding another teaspoon of oil to the pan and sauté the snow peas till they turn bright green and soften slightly. Remove to bowl. Add scallions to bowl with vegetables.
- Add about a tablespoon of oil to the pan and sauté the chicken in one layer till browned on both sides. Add the McCormick Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry Skillet Sauce and cook till hot and chicken is cooked through, just a minute or two.
- Add the scallions, peppers, and snow peas and sauté for 1-2 minutes till hot. Add cashews and serve immediately over rice.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 647Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 24gCholesterol: 116mgSodium: 1037mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 5gSugar: 9gProtein: 54g
44 Comments on “Easy Cashew Chicken”
This was so easy to make and the whole family loved it. That stir fry sauce is my favorite too. We keep some in the pantry at all times.
This has been my go-to recipe for busy nights! So quick and easy to make, plus it is so good!
Hi Liz:)
Huge, huge fan of McCormick products. Looks like this one doesn’t disappoint!
Thanks for sharing, Liz…
Just wanted to let you know I made this dish tonight for my husband and he really liked it!! Thanks for a great recipe for him!
Oyster and soy sauces, sherry, veggies… you are calling my name! Love it and it is so pretty, too!
This looks SO good. My kind of comfort food!
We love Cashew Chicken! I wasn’t aware that McCormick made a stir fry sauce! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz@HoosierHomemade
Oh, I love me some take-out! I need to get this skillet sauce so I can make it at home.
Oooh that stir fry skillet sauce sounds so good! Great choice.
I love cashew chicken and this definitely puts any that I have ever made before to shame! I must try your recipe Liz.
This looks fantastic! Stir-fries are our favorite and I love how easy this is to whip up with the McCormick skillet sauce!
This is my all time favorite Chinese dish and yours looks gorgeous!
I love all the colors in this. And the crisp veggies–yum!
This looks great Liz! You have all my favorite veggies in there!
Hi, Liz! I make a version of this and it’s just one of the best quick and easy (and tasty!) midweek meals. I love to get everything ‘mise on place’, too, and then just chuck everything in the pan when it’s time to eat. I love how colourful this is with those peppers in, too! 🙂
I love chicken with cashews.. one of my favorite dishes! Yummy!
Brilliant way to dress up the stir-fry mix, Liz! It is indeed wonderful that in America we have choices like McCormick’s meals.
Oh I love cashew chicken and I bet the Stir Fry sauce was an amazing addition!!
I love quick and easy recipes and this one looks scrumptious! Have never seen the seasoning sauce. Great idea!
Such an awesome recipe and the photography is just outstanding. Love the combination of flavors.
Now that looks like my kind of meal and as I was reading I thought I’d cook that for dinner tonight but then remembered we’re out at a Chinese restaurant tonight – maybe there will be something similar on the menu! I hope the super bowl has gone well and that there were no wardrobe malfunctions during the halftime entertainment xx
Mmm, love cashews! This looks so fresh and tasty. Beautiful!
That looks absolutely delicious Liz!! I must check my local super market to see if they have these sauces!
I love cashew chicken too. This is a great stirfry, Liz.
Love a quick stir fry for dinner! This looks good with cashews. 🙂
What a wonderful recipe for the skillet sauce you choose to work with! I just realized a year or so ago that I love snow peas. This would be a hit in our home!!
Liz, I love cashew chicken!! can’t wait to try this!!
Such a gorgeous looking dish Liz!
Stopping by from YG to let you know this is one tasty looking dish! Cashew Chicken was my introduction to Asian Cuisine and has been my favorite ever since – This version looks so health and fresh it makes me want to go throw some on the stove right now!
What a delicious stir-fry idea1
I love a good stir-fry. Even better, I love how easy this dish is to make. Pinned.
What a great dish, just look at all those gorgeous colors!
Oh, this looks nice and tasty…and healthy, can’t beat that combination. Will give this a try, have never used pre-packaged mixes before, so might be fun to give that a go. Nice photos, as always.
Love the toasted cashews!!! Sounds awesome Liz!
This definitely looks like a crowd-pleaser!
Yum! I loved the stir-fry sauce as well – love that you made yours into a Cashew Chicken!
I just love those crunchy cashews on top…and so many colorful veges. Yum!
Now this stir fry is way healthier than the take away we get. It looks so good with all those fabulous colors too. I could totally just eat the stir fry and not miss the rice to help make it low carb. 🙂
You hit on all my favorites here, Liz. Chicken, cashews and peapods! I also love that you included red bell peppers! So tasty!
This looks so fresh and delicious!
I’m a big fan of cashew chicken, but I’ve never got the same wonderful flavours at home as when I eat it in a restaurant. This sounds like the perfect way to get the best of both worlds!
I’m making this for my husband because he loves cashews.
Sounds like they have a nice variety of meal starters Liz! Love the great colors in your stir fry:@)
Liz, this dish makes me hungry, for sure. Love the color combo, flavors, and…using just one skillet. Yum!