Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

While Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is not as saucy as Chinese Cashew Chicken, what it lacks in sauciness it makes up for in big flavor. Crunchy golden cashews and chicken are tossed in a simple, yet bold Thai stir fry sauce with as much or as little fresh chili as you want! This is a great Thai food favorite that’s incredibly quick to make.

Stir fries featuring cashews are a favorite across Asia and the Thai version is one of the best! Unlike Chinese Cashew Chicken, which is generous on sauce, the Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry version is a drier style stir fry where the sauce flavor is much more intense. So, you don’t need, nor do you want a ton of sauce to soak your rice. There’s plenty of flavor coating the stir fry ingredients that stains and flavors the rice when you mix it through.

Raw cashews are paler and softer than roasted cashews.

What goes in Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry:

Here’s what you need for this Thai stir fry with chicken:

• Cashews – The nuts are actually the star ingredient in this stir fry! They bring texture, flavor and nutty richness to the party. It’s best to use raw so they get toasted freshly in the wok (or skillet) for maximum flavor development. It only takes around 3 minutes. If you only have roasted cashews, that’s fine too. Just toast them lightly for around 90 seconds, they don’t need to be as fully cooked. Whichever you use, be sure to use unsalted cashews. Salted cashews will make the dish far too salty.
• Chicken – Thigh is best, for the juiciest and most flavorful chicken pieces. If you prefer to use breast, consider tenderizing it the Chinese restaurant way to make it softer and juicier. If you’ve never done it before, it will blow your mind – it’s a simple trick yet a total game-changer!
• Onion and garlic – Essential aromatics. It’s hard to find a stir fry in my world that doesn’t start with these two!
• Green onion – For freshness and color.
• Chilli – For a hit of spiciness. 100% optional;
• The sauce – Here’s what you need:
  • Oyster sauce – This packs a ton of umami as well as acting as the thickener for this Thai Stir Fry Sauce. You can use vegetarian oyster sauce, if you prefer.
  • Dark soy sauce – The most intensely-flavored soy in the soy sauce family, and just a tiny amount packs a serious flavor punch. It also stains foods a gorgeously deep mahogany color.
  • Fish sauce – Fish sauce is used in Thai cooking like soy sauce is used in Chinese cooking, i.e.. as a primary seasoning. While it might smell a bit (ok, very!) funky straight out of the bottle, once it’s cooked it is completely transformed. It adds an incomparable complexity and depth of flavor into any dish. No fishy flavors at all in the end result!

Steps Involved:

As with all stir fries, once you start cooking, things move fast! The key when cooking stir fries is to make sure you have all the ingredients chopped and ready to toss in, including the Thai Stir Fry Sauce. Also cook the jasmine rice beforehand – it takes longer to make than this stir fry!!

1. Sauce – Mix the sauce in a small dish;
2. Cashews – Start by cooking off the cashews. If using raw cashews (which I recommend for better flavor), it will take around 3 minutes to cook through on a medium heat. Cashews will change from a pale cream color to deep golden brown, and they should be crunchy (yep, you’re going to have to try one to check!).If you are starting with cashews that are already roasted, then you only need to toast them for around 1 1/2 minutes just to heat them through and bring out the flavor (as opposed to cooking them).
3. Remove cashews from the wok / skillet. Reserve the oil – we will use that to cook the stir fry.
4. Stir fry! – As with all stir fries, we add ingredients in the order it takes to cook. Start with garlic and onion, the aromatics. Tossing for 30 seconds is usually all that’s needed to get them started and to flavor the oil. Next toss the chicken in. Once the chicken is mostly cooked, add the white part of the green onions (i.e. the thicker part at the base of the stem) along with the chili. We add the white part of the green onions before the softer green part because it takes longer to cook. Cook for another minute, and by this time everything that’s currently in the wok should be almost cooked through.
5. Sauce – Pour in the sauce, then continue to cook for another 1 minute or until the sauce reduces and everything in the wok gets stained a beautiful mahogany color; and
6. Green onion and cashews – Finally, toss the green part of the green onions in, and the cashews. Toss for approximately 20 – 30 seconds which is all that’s needed for the green onion to wilt slightly.

And you’re done! What was that, a grand total of 8 minutes? I told you it was fast!!

What to Serve with Cashew Chicken Stir Fry?

The traditional rice of Thailand is Jasmine Rice which has a lovely, subtle perfume, making it decidedly more interesting than plain white rice! Though really, any kind of rice will work just fine here – brown, white, basmati, jasmine, and for those of you on a low-carb bender, Cauliflower Rice.

More Recipe Suggestions:

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Stifado with Artichokes and Kalamata Olives

Thai Curry Chicken Skewers

30 Minute Creamy Thai Turmeric Chicken and Noodles

Thai Basil Chicken

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Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

Thai Cashew Chicken is a dry style stir fry so there's not a ton of sauce like with Chinese Cashew Chicken. But the flavor in this one is much more intense so you don't need, nor do you want more sauce, it will be too salty!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Keyword #northeastnosh #thaicashewchicken #thaifood #thacuisine #cashewchicken #cashew #chicken #wokcooking #food #foodie

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Total Time 18 minutes minutes

Servings 2 Servings

Equipment

• Large Skillet – cast-iron
• Wok – Modern
• Wok – Traditional
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Garlic Mincer
• Herb Scissors/Chopper
• Mixing Bowls w/lids

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp peanut oil or canola or vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup raw cashews unsalted (Note 1 for roasted)
• 1 garlic clove finely minced
• 1/2 onion brown, yellow, or white, cut into thin wedges
• 7 oz chicken thighs skinless and boneless, sliced into 1/3″ thin strips (Note 2)
• 2 green onions cut into 1-inch lengths, white part separated from green part
• 1/2 red cayenne pepper deseeded and finely sliced on the diagonal (omit or reduce if preferred) (Note 3)

SAUCE:

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce Note 4
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce Note 5
• 2 tsp fish sauce Note 6
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 3 tbsp water

SERVING:

• Red chili finely sliced (optional garnish)
• Jasmine rice for serving (or other rice of choice)

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Instructions

• Sauce: Mix all the Sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
• Cook cashews: Heat oil over medium heat in a wok or large skillet. Add cashews and cook for 5 minutes until they become a dark golden color and crunchy (yep, you might have to eat one to check!). Remove from skillet with a slotted spoon.
• Garlic & onion: Turn heat up to high. Add garlic and onion. Cook for 30 seconds.
• Chicken: Add chicken. Cook for 1 minute until the outside changes from pink to white.
• White part of green onion & chili: Add white part of green onions and chili. Cook for 1 minute until chicken is just cooked through.
• Add Sauce: Cook for 1 minute until it reduces down to a syrup, coating the chicken nicely.
• Green onion & cashews: Add green part of green onions and cashews. Toss for 30 seconds.
• Serve: Transfer to serving dish. Serve with jasmine rice, or other rice of choice, garnished with extra red chili (if you can handle the heat!).

Recipe Notes:

• Cashews – Pan-toasting raw cashews has the most superior flavor. But if you only have roasted cashews, that’s fine too. Just cook for around 1 1/2 minutes until they are lightly golden, and they smell nutty.
• Do not use salted cashews, it will make the dish too salty.
• Chicken – Thighs will yield a juicier result than breast. But breast will also work just fine. Consider tenderizing the breast the Chinese way. It makes it so much softer and juicier! (No need to do it for thigh).
• Chili – A golden rule is the larger the chili, the less spicy it is (usually!) I’ve used large red cayenne pepper here which is not that spicy but still has a decent kick to it. You can omit or reduce the chili if you wish. If you want spicier, consider using Thai birds-eye chillis – BOOM! 🙂
• Oyster sauce – This can be substituted with vegetarian oyster sauce, sold in some large grocery stores. It’s actually not bad.
• Dark soy sauce – This soy has a more intense color and flavor than light soy and all-purpose soy. It stains the chicken an appealing mahogany color. If you use light or all-purpose soy, the dish color and flavor will not be as good! More on different soy sauces here, and when you can sub with what.
• Fish sauce – Fish sauce is a traditional ingredient in Thai cooking and has more complex flavors than soy sauce. You can sub with more soy sauce, but the flavor will not be quite as good. (The oyster sauce still goes some way to compensate if you don’t use fish sauce, as it too is packed with umami!).

More rice options:

• Plain white rice
• Brown rice
• Cauliflower rice
• Thai Fried Rice
• Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
• Storage – Leftover stir fry will keep for 4 days in the fridge. It keeps well! It will also freeze fine too.