Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry Recipe
Whereas Thai Cashew Chicken will not be as saucy as Chinese language Cashew Chicken, what it lacks in sauciness it makes up for in large flavour. Crunchy golden cashews and chicken are tossed in a easy but daring Thai stir fry sauce with as a lot or as little contemporary chilli as you need!
This can be a nice Thai meals favorite that’s extremely fast to make.
Stir fries that includes cashews are a favorite throughout Asia and the Thai model is without doubt one of the finest! Not like Chinese language Cashew Chicken which is beneficiant on sauce, the Thai model is a drier fashion stir fry the place the sauce flavour is rather more intense. So that you don’t want nor do you need a ton of sauce to soak your rice. There’s loads of flavour coating the stir fry components that stains and flavours the rice once you combine it via.
Actually, simply take a look at this. Nobody would see this wok of goodness and suppose, “It doesn’t seem like there’s sufficient flavour in that,”… Proper? 😂
Right here’s what you want for this Thai stir fry with chicken:
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Cashews – The nuts are literally the star ingredient on this stir fry! They carry texture, flavour and nutty richness to the get together. It’s finest to make use of uncooked in order that they get toasted freshly within the wok (or skillet) for max flavour improvement. It solely takes round 3 minutes. When you solely have roasted cashews, that’s effective too. Simply toast them flippantly for round 90 seconds, they don’t should be as totally cooked.
Whichever you employ, you should definitely use unsalted cashews. Salted cashews will make the dish far too salty;
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Chicken – Thigh is finest, for the juiciest and most flavoursome chicken items. When you want to make use of breast, contemplate tenderising it the Chinese language restaurant strategy to make it softer and extra juicy. When you’ve by no means performed it earlier than, it is going to blow your thoughts – it’s a easy trick but a complete game-changer!
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Onion and garlic – Important aromatics. It’s arduous to discover a stir fry in my world that doesn’t begin with these two!
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Inexperienced onion – For freshness and color;
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Chilli – For successful of spiciness. 100% elective;
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The sauce – Right here’s what you want:
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Oyster sauce – This packs a ton of umami in addition to appearing as a the thickener for this Thai Stir Fry Sauce. You should utilize vegetarian oyster sauce, for those who want;
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Darkish soy sauce – Probably the most intensely-flavoured soy within the soy sauce household, and only a tiny quantity packs a critical flavour punch. It additionally stains meals a gorgeously deep mahogany color;
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Fish sauce – Fish sauce is utilized in Thai cooking like soy sauce is utilized in Chinese language cooking, ie. as a major seasoning. Whereas it’d odor a bit (okay, very!) funky straight out of the bottle, as soon as it’s cooked it’s utterly remodeled. It provides an incomparable complexity and depth of flavour into any dish. No fishy flavours in any respect ultimately end result!
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As with all stir fries, when you begin cooking, issues transfer quick! The important thing when cooking stir fries is to be sure you have all of the components chopped and able to toss in, together with the Thai Stir Fry Sauce. Additionally prepare dinner the jasmine rice beforehand – it takes longer to make than this stir fry!!
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Sauce – Combine the sauce in a small dish;
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Cashews – Begin by cooking off the cashews. If utilizing uncooked cashews (which I like to recommend for higher flavour), it is going to take round 3 minutes to prepare dinner via on a medium warmth. They are going to change from a pale cream color to deep golden brown, and they need to be crunchy (yep, you’re gonna must strive one to test!🤷🏻♀️).
In case you are beginning with cashews which are already roasted, then you definitely solely must toast them for round 1 1/2 minutes simply to warmth them via and convey out the flavour (versus cooking them);
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Take away cashews from the wok / skillet. Reserve the oil – we are going to use that to prepare dinner the stir fry;
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Stir fry! – As with all stir fries, we add components within the order it takes to prepare dinner.
Begin with garlic and onion, the aromatics. Simply tossed for 30 seconds is all that’s wanted to get them began and to flavour the oil. Subsequent toss the chicken in.
As soon as the chicken is usually cooked, add the white a part of the inexperienced onions (ie. the thicker half on the base of the stem) together with the chilli. We add the white a part of the inexperienced onions earlier than the softer inexperienced half as a result of it takes longer to prepare dinner. Prepare dinner for an extra minute, and by this time all the pieces that’s at the moment within the wok needs to be nearly cooked via.
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Sauce – Subsequent, the sauce. Pour in, then proceed to prepare dinner for an additional 1 minute or till the sauce reduces and all the pieces within the wok will get stained a ravishing mahogany color; and
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Inexperienced onion and cashews – And at last, toss the inexperienced a part of the inexperienced onions in, plus the cashews. Give it a toss for round 20 – 30 seconds which is all that’s wanted for the inexperienced onion to wilt barely.
And also you’re performed! What was that, a grand complete of 8 minutes? I informed you it was quick!!
The standard rice of Thailand is Jasmine Rice which has a stunning, refined fragrance, making it decidedly extra fascinating than plain white rice! Although actually, any sort of rice will work simply effective right here – brown, white, basmati, jasmine, and for these of you on a low-carb bender, Cauliflower Rice.
I’d additionally add a easy facet salad simply to up the vegetable quota. A fast Asian Facet Salad is a staple for me (that’s code for “a simple dressing that goes with any greens”), Smashed Cucumbers is one other private favorite I obsessively inhale all yr spherical, together with Chang’s Crunchy Noodle Salad (Australia’s favorite salad!).
Then after all, my fallback that works with actually something: easy, traditional Asian Sesame Dressing. Use this for any greens – uncooked, roasted, steamed, blanched. You simply can’t go flawed with it! – Johnsat x
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)
- 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
- 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!).
Notes
1. Cashews – Pan-toasting raw cashews has the most superior flavour. 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.
2. Chicken – Thighs will yield a juicier result than breast. But breast will also work just fine. Consider tenderising the breast the Chinese way. It makes it so much softer and juicier! (No need to do it for thigh).
3. Chilli – A golden rule is the larger the chilli, 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 chilli if you wish. If you want spicier, consider using Thai birds-eye chillis – BOOM! 🙂
4. Oyster sauce – This can be substituted with vegetarian oyster sauce, sold in some large grocery stores. It’s actually not bad (no offence to veggo’s)!
5. Dark soy sauce – This soy has a more intense colour and flavour than light soy and all-purpose soy. It stains the chicken an appealing mahogany colour. If you use light or all-purpose soy, the dish colour and flavour will not be as good! More on different soy sauces here, and when you can sub with what.
6. Fish sauce – Fish sauce is a traditional ingredient in Thai cooking, and has more complex flavours than soy sauce. You can sub with more soy sauce, but the flavour 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!).
7. More rice options:
Plain white rice
Brown rice
Cauliflower rice
Thai Fried Rice
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
8. Storage – Leftover stir fry will keep for 4 days in the fridge. It keeps well! It will also freeze fine too.
9. Nutrition per serving, excluding rice.
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