Cashew Chicken
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:2 to 4 servings
- ½pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ⅓cup cornstarch
- 2tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
- ½cup cornstarch
- ⅓cup all-purpose flour
- ¼teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛teaspoon baking soda
- 2cups canola or peanut oil
- ½yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces (about ½ cup)
- 1small carrot, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
- 1celery stalk, cut into 1-inch dice
- 4ounces (drained) canned whole water chestnuts or peeled jicama, cut into ½-inch dice
- 2ounces (drained) canned whole straw mushrooms
- 1tablespoon minced rehydrated garlic (or 4 fresh garlic cloves, minced)
- ½cup granulated sugar
- ¼cup soy sauce
- 1tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1cup whole roasted cashews
- 1tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
- 1teaspoon sesame oil
- 1pinch MSG (optional), such as Aji-No-Moto brand seasoning
- Steamed rice (optional), for serving
For the Chicken and Batter
For the Breading
For the Dish
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1622 calories; 128 grams fat; 22 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 61 grams monounsaturated fat; 38 grams polyunsaturated fat; 100 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 30 grams sugars; 22 grams protein; 1413 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, batter ingredients and 2 tablespoons water. Mix them by hand until the dry ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Step 2
In a separate medium bowl, sift together the breading ingredients.
- Step 3
Working with one piece of chicken at a time, drop each battered piece into the breading and lightly toss it to coat. (Do not press the breading onto the chicken.) Shake the excess breading off, then place the breaded chicken onto a wire rack-lined baking sheet, leaving space between each piece.
- Step 4
Heat the oil in a large wok or skillet to 325 degrees. Gently drop the chicken into the oil one piece at a time, spacing them out evenly. Let them fry, undisturbed, for 7 to 8 minutes, until the pieces are deeply golden brown, then remove them with a spider or slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel-lined tray to drain.
- Step 5
Turn off the heat and carefully pour out oil into a heatproof container or pot to discard once it cools. Carefully scrape out any specks from the wok or pan with a paper towel held by tongs. Do not rinse the wok.
- Step 6
Heat the wok over medium-high. Add the onion, carrot, celery, water chestnuts, mushrooms and garlic. Stir-fry until the garlic and celery become aromatic, about 2 minutes.
- Step 7
Push the vegetables to one side of the wok. Add the sugar to the center of the wok and don’t stir it for several seconds, to encourage it to caramelize a little. Then add the soy sauce and oyster sauce, and stir until the sugar has dissolved into the liquids. Toss the vegetables into the sauce. Let the sauce come up to a full boil and stir occasionally for 2 minutes, allowing it to slightly reduce and thicken.
- Step 8
Stir in the fried chicken and cashews. Give the cornstarch-slurry a stir and add it to the sauce, stirring as it thickens. Remove from heat.
- Step 9
Stir in the sesame oil and MSG (if using), and transfer to a serving platter. Serve with rice, if desired.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
David W
I love NY Time Cooking recipes. Having said that, the time estimates are often ludicrously too short. I may be a slow chef, but there's NO way you do all the prep required for even the "for the dish" ingredients in 30 minutes. Please, more realistic estimates on how long it takes!
TC
I use Trader Joe’s chili lime cashews for a little heat- yummy!
Kathy
Lovely recipe, and thanks for the shout-out to Springfield-style Cashew Chicken courtesy of David Leong. I’ve been eating it for 50 years.
Maren Gesine
Yummy, BUT: definitely takes about an hour. I used chicken breast which turned out a bit too dry (fried for 7-8 minutes which was probably too long). A bit too sweet for my taste, sweet-tooth hubby loved it. Less sugar, more chile sauce next time. Also you need a lot less of the breading stuff, i threw away most of it which annoyed me. But a yummy dish overall which i will make again.
Joe A.
It’s impossible to find shaozing wine in this country that isn’t full of salt . Use a good Manzanilla sherry instead.
Nikhil
Very good recipe, but a little too sweet. Worth cutting the sugar in half!
Jackie
I'd like to echo Kathy's thanks for mentioning the late Mr. Leong and his iconic Springfield-style cashew chicken. It's not high cuisine, but it is comfort food for my far-flung family whenever they return home.
Dan
Good recipe, but it takes WAY longer than 30 minutes, even with help. Very long ingredients list.
1 hour at least
This is an amazing tasting dish. Not too sweet to us. Added two dried Szechuan peppers for a bit of kick. But I agree with other comments. This takes at least an hour. Just getting and prepping the ingredients will take 15 minutes. And most likely you need to do the chicken in 2-3 batches. I used 3/4 lbs and will use 1 lbs next time. I used a deep fryer instead not too waste oil. Also increased veggies and used whole can of oyster mushrooms. Highly recommend this and will make this again soon.
Karrin
I cook a lot of Asian food but I didn’t get on well with this recipe. The dough and breading was too thick and end result not tasty. Also too many cashews in ratio to vegetables. I might try to recreate it with no dough or breading, more vegetables and less cashews. I used honey instead of sugar.
Shari
We loved this! I didn’t have the Chinese wine so I used dry white wine. Also added some garden sugar peas and red pepper. Cooked the chicken in my deep fryer outdoors, then followed everything else with my wok in the kitchen. I will definitely make it again. Thank you!
Michael Paluszek
I wasn't sure about the batter. I had to add another 1/4 cup of water to make it batter like. I ended up with the consistency of pancake batter. The recipe worked well after that. We also thought it was too sweet. Next time we'll use less sugar.
Cat
I’ve made similar recipes by Chinese authored websites Made by Lau and Omnivore’s Cookbook. I was very surprised by the quantity of sugar and breading in this recipe; I only used 1/4 of the sugar and 1/3 of the breading and it turned out just fine. Traditionally, these kinds of dishes don’t have a thick batter anyway (I am Chinese). I also fried the cashews in the remaining oil before pouring it off, making them more fragrant. Also added oyster sauce to the slurry. Otherwise, a decent recipe!
Siskiyoukim
I never try dishes like this when we go out because I always veer toward spicier dishes. For whatever reason, I just had to try this, and it did not disappoint. I was a little panicky about 1/2 lb. of chicken. I doubled it, and there was easily enough breading and batter to coat the extra chicken. And there is plenty of leftovers all week for the two of us. If I make it again, I will add Szechuan pepper. Some bright green, snappy snow peas added at the very end would be beautiful.
Kris Clink Wilkerson
This was amazing! The prep is more than expected, but now that I've done it, I'll know what to expect.
Colleen Gallagher
Add a bell pepper and pineapple and jalapeño . Next time I would do two jalapeños
Frank
I lived up the road from Leong's for many years. While this recipe is probably good, the author notes it is similar to the original. It is not. Authentic Springfield Cashew Chicken is white rice topped with chicken fried in seasoned flour, a thin brown gravy, toasted cashews, and green onion. That is it, nothing more.
David PS
I've made this a few times exactly as written. Found the wine and MSG at an Asian market. It's just a little too sweet for my taste, so I'm going to back down to 3/4 cup of sugar next time. I also used about 3/4 pound of chicken. And yes, it takes much longer to cook than stated, but it is definitely worth it.
Allen
This is excessively sweet. Need to cut the sugar in half (at least) if not eliminate it altogether. Chicken never got “deep golden” from frying but it was fine nonetheless.
Max
Takes a while and it’s a mess to make but it’s absolutely delicious.
Jennifer R
So excited to see the shout out to David Leong and the famous Springfield cashew chicken. I often use the recipe that was published in the paper local to Springfield. I’m looking forward to trying this one.
eric_k
Followed the recipe w/o substitutions… it turned out certainly good but on the sweet side - i’d suggest 1/4 cup if not a tablespoon of sugar ( and possibly none at all). Obviously not too sweet because those who said ‘sort of sweet’ also ate seconds and thirds …
Steve Gensler
Great recipe! The only thing I would change is to reduce the amount of sugar to 1/3 cup. 1/2 c. Of sugar was way too sweet.
mitch
Cut sugar into 3/4ths and add red pepper and a wee bit of salt
Lisa
Best Cashew Chicken recipe I have ever tried. This has become a family favorite.
HSK
Any alternatives to deep frying the chicken?
davered
Absolutely delicious. I've cooked this a couple of times now and have discovered that in step 1, it works better to coat the chicken with the dry ingredients before incorporating the Shaoxing wine. Also the caramelizing step with the sugar is very important to building the flavor, don't rush it.
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