Better-than-takeout 20-minute Chicken With Cashew Nuts And Peppers (2024)

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Why it’s better than takeout (or at least as good!)

• I don’t claim that this is a completely authentic chicken and cashew nut recipe. But hey, so what? It’s delicious, colourful and healthy. And did I mention it’s on the table in just 20 minutes? Less time than you could order a takeout, right?

• This recipe contains generous amounts of all the major components – chicken, peppers, onions, crunchy cashew nuts, and of course the yummy sauce.

• Speaking of the sauce, it contains a ‘secret ingredient‘. Well, not so secret really, but it takes the dish from good to delicious.

• Another simple trick gives you super tender and tasty chicken. Just marinate the chicken in a little corn starch / corn flour and rice wine vinegar while you’re preparing all the other ingredients.

There are 4 simple components to this stir-fry: chicken, vegetables, sauce, and of course the all-important cashew nuts. When making any stir-fry, I always prepare everything first. You can even do this earlier in the day to get ahead.

chicken: You can use either chicken breast or thigh. I like to chop the chicken into small bite-sized pieces. While you’re preparing everything else. pop the bits of chicken into a bowl and stir through a teaspoon of corn flour / corn starch and a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar.

vegetables: Crush or slice some ginger and garlic. Chop up a whole onion into chunks. Then slice 2 peppers (I like 1 red and 1 green) into bite-sized chunks. Finally, slice a few spring onions / salad onions, ready to stir through at the end.

sauce: I keep the sauce for my cashew chicken simple but with a good balance of flavours. You’ll need oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, sugar, salt and water. Plus… can you guess what the ‘magic’ ingredient is? It’s Chinese 5 spice! I call it ‘magic’ because to me it’s what gives your cashew chicken its distinctive (and very delicious) Chinese flavour.

Don’t skip the rice wine, either. Strictly speaking, use Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing Wine) in this dish. But I find it’s delicious with rice wine vinegar (Japanese mirin) too if that’s all I have. Just use what you have in the cupboard!

cashew nuts: Stir them through at the end so that they get coated in the sauce but stay crisp and delicious.

Step 1: Stir-fry the chicken until just cooked through. Remove from the pan.

Step 2: Stir-fry the rest of the veggies.

Step 3: Add the chicken back into the pan. Pour over the sauce and let cook for a few more minutes.

Step 4: Briefly toss through the spring onions / salad onions and cashew nuts.

Step 5: Serve immediately. I prefer rice, but noodles would be delicious too.

Once you’ve added the sauce and tossed everything together, your kitchen will even smell like you’ve just brought takeout home!

I love making this recipe with the crunchy, colourful peppers. You can however very easily make it with different vegetables.

All of these possibilities would work well:

• snow peas / mange-tout
• zucchini / courgette
• broccoli (chopped into small pieces and stir-fried until tender)
• thin rounds or batons of carrot
• asparagus, chopped into short lengths