While Thai Cashew Chicken is not as saucy as Chinese Cashew Chicken, what it lacks in sauciness it makes up for in big flavour. Crunchy golden cashews and chicken are tossed in a simple yet bold Thai stir fry sauce with as much or as little fresh chilli as you want!
This is a great Thai food favourite that’s incredibly quick to make.
Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
Stir fries featuring cashews are a favourite across Asia and the Thai version is one of the best! Unlike Chinese Cashew Chicken which is generous on sauce, the Thai version is a drier style stir fry where the sauce flavour 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 flavour coating the stir fry ingredients that stains and flavours the rice when you mix it through.
Honestly, just look at this. No one would see this wok of goodness and think, “It doesn’t look like there’s enough flavour in that,”… Right? 😂
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, flavour and nutty richness to the party. It’s best to use raw so they get toasted freshly in the wok (or skillet) for maximum flavour 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 flavoursome chicken pieces. If you prefer to use breast, consider tenderising it the Chinese restaurant way to make it softer and more juicy. 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 colour;
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 a the thickener for this Thai Stir Fry Sauce. You can use vegetarian oyster sauce, if you prefer;
Dark soy sauce – The most intensely-flavoured soy in the soy sauce family, and just a tiny amount packs a serious flavour punch. It also stains foods a gorgeously deep mahogany colour;
Fish sauce – Fish sauce is used in Thai cooking like soy sauce is used in Chinese cooking, ie. 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 flavour into any dish. No fishy flavours at all in the end result!
How to make Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
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!!
Sauce – Mix the sauce in a small dish;
Cashews – Start by cooking off the cashews. If using raw cashews (which I recommend for better flavour), it will take around 3 minutes to cook through on a medium heat. They will change from a pale cream colour to deep golden brown, and they should be crunchy (yep, you’re gonna 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 flavour (as opposed to cooking them);
Remove cashews from the wok / skillet. Reserve the oil – we will use that to cook the stir fry;
Stir fry! – As with all stir fries, we add ingredients in the order it takes to cook.
Start with garlic and onion, the aromatics. Just tossed for 30 seconds is all that’s needed to get them started and to flavour the oil. Next toss the chicken in.
Once the chicken is mostly cooked, add the white part of the green onions (ie. the thicker part at the base of the stem) along with the chilli. We add the white part of the green onions before the softer green part because it takes longer to cook. Cook for a further minute, and by this time everything that’s currently in the wok should be almost cooked through.
Sauce – Next, the sauce. Pour in, then continue to cook for another 1 minute or until the sauce reduces and everything in the wok gets stained a beautiful mahogany colour; and
Green onion and cashews – And finally, toss the green part of the green onions in, plus the cashews. Give it a toss for around 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 Thai 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.
I’d also add a simple side salad just to up the vegetable quota. A quick Asian Side Salad is a staple for me (that’s code for “an easy dressing that goes with any vegetables”), Smashed Cucumbers is another personal favourite I obsessively inhale all year round, along with Chang’s Crunchy Noodle Salad (Australia’s favourite salad!).
Then of course, my fallback that works with literally anything: simple, classic Asian Sesame Dressing. Use this for any vegetables – raw, roasted, steamed, blanched. You just can’t go wrong with it! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
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
- 200g/7oz chicken thighs , skinless and boneless, sliced into 1cm / 1/3" thin strips (Note 2)
- 2 green onions , cut into 2.5cm / 1” 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 chilli , finely sliced (optional garnish)
- Jasmine rice , for serving (or other rice of choice)
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 colour 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 & chilli: Add white part of green onions and chilli. 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 chilli (if you can handle the heat!).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Thai Stir Fry and Noodle Favourites
Life of Dozer
What Dozer ate this Easter – Beetroot Cured Salmon!!! 🙀
I just made this for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING! So many great flavours and so quick to make. I did tweak the amount of fish sauce (added half the amount) and substituted it with more soy. Also added some sliced capsicum. So good!!
First time I cooked this it didn’t taste quite right (hard to juggle pans on a small stove for our big household of 11). Cooked it tonight in smaller batches with 2 pans…so, so yummy. There was a moment when it was dead quiet as everyone was eating and enjoying which means a win in our family!!
So easy and so yum, I added an extra 100g of chicken and a whole onion, the rest as is 👍
Followed the recipe to a T, including the part about tenderizing when using chicken breast, and it was delicious. Served with a little rice and stir fry veggies. It fed two people with a little leftover.
This was great! I added pineapple tidbits, red peppers, and snap peas because I needed some veg for my meal, and I appreciated that the sauce didn’t overpower the stirfry. (Based on other reviews, I cut the water to 1/3) We didn’t have the red chilis so we added a bit of Sriracha and it was perfect! We’ll definitely make this one again. Thank you!
Super delicious, I would say the serves are very small though.
Hi Nagi, would it work if I added Thai basil into this or would the sauce overpower it?
Hi Mike, you can if you like – or maybe this is the recipe you’re looking for: https://salesdock.info/thai-basil-chicken-stir-fry/%3C/a%3E N x
Hi! I noticed you’re based in Australia so I was using Australian 20ml tablespoons for your recipes, but I just clicked the “metric” button above the recipe and it changed it to 15ml for a tablespoon. Do your recipes use American or Australian tablespoons? Thanks!
Hi Kristina, That’s a really good question. The short answer is – I use 15 ml but in the vast majority of my recipes, it does not matter if you use 20ml or 15 ml. BUT if it does matter, I either specify as such or I say 4 tsp (which is 20 ml) or 3 tsp (which is 15 ml) instead (because teaspoons are more standard across the world). 99% of the time it’s baking recipes where it matters. Or where I use a very strong sauce like dark soy sauce. And in those cases, I always cater for the difference.
And in case you are interested, the long answer is: Historically, the standard Australian tablespoon has been 20 ml but it’s 15 ml in just about every other country in the world. There is no law that dictates this. But interestingly, nowadays, more and more chefs are (according to professional chefs I know) using 15 ml as the standard. Plus I’ve noticed that most kitchenware stores sell more 15 ml tablespoon measures than 20 ml measures! This is an area that I took a keen interest in when I first started out food blogging because I was worried about the difference affecting my recipes. So even to this day, I always have a look when I’m in kitchenware shops!
Hope that helps! – N x
Followed your instructions for the Velvet chicken then used that chicken in this recipe. So simple but the results were fantastic – both the texture and the flavour! Mr P was most impressed 😉
Made this today for my brother’s 50th birthday. He asked for stir fry. And chocolate cake so I made your Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake. Stir-fry was delicious! It took a little longer than the recipe said to reduce the sauce, but that was probably because I made enough for six people. The chocolate cake was amazing! Super fudgy! On top of the icing I added toasted coconut and walnuts. Also at my brother’s request. Thank you so much for all your recipes!
Would think this would still have great taste If the sugar was swapped for honey? Just looking to substitute the refined white sugar
Thank you
It’s going to change the taste slightly but it should be fine Sophie! N x
I have to say I was a bit dubious that I could pull this off but it was AMAZING, tasted like it had come from my favourite Thai takeaway! Paired with the fluffy jasmine rice recipe, it was perfect. I will definitely be making this again 🙂
will it be fine if i use prawn stock instead of fish sauce?
Probably not enough flavour, it’s not as intense flavoured 🙂 Ah, but if you use the prawn stock for the water as well, then that will be enough! AMAZING!
Absolutely love this recipe. Have made it a few times now. Only issue I have is I feel the water quantity is too much. I add about a third of what it says.
Thank you Nagi. Absolutely delicious. 5/5 loved it which doesn’t happen very often.
Such great flavor! Highly recommend this.
After I cooked the chicken I had quite a bit of liquid in the bottom of the wok, I believe it was from the chicken (likely injected with sodium and water). Unfortunately I did not drain it before adding the sauce but after reducing it for 10 minutes I got the syrupy consistency you mention.
Another 10 out of 10 delicious dinner. Quick, easy and hubby loved it. Highly recommended
A classic stir fry. Tasted great, quick to make and I had all the ingredients already in the house. Real crowd pleaser.
Awesome Shelby!! N x
This was so delicious! Still thinking about it the next day. Thank you.
Oh my goodness, this was absolutely delicious! seriously would be happy if i paid for this at a thai restaturant!
I added snow peas and capsicum and also did a cornflour bath which made the sauce glaze the food more i think. Definitely cooked longer than started, but i also did 1 kg of chicken, so to be expected! Honestly, Nagi you are the best food blogger going, you never fail! thank you