Cashew chicken
The takeout favorite, made better at home: tender velveted chicken, whole cashews toasted until golden, and a glossy savory-sweet sauce. The secret to the crunch is using a whole W320 grade and toasting it separately so it never goes soggy.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- •600 g boneless chicken thigh, cut in 2 cm pieces
- •1 cup (140 g) W320 whole cashews
- •2 tbsp soy sauce
- •1 tbsp oyster sauce
- •1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- •1 tsp sesame oil
- •1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water (slurry)
- •3 cloves garlic, minced
- •2 cm ginger, minced
- •1 red bell pepper, diced
- •4 spring onions, cut in batons
- •2 tbsp neutral oil
- •1 tsp sugar
Method
- 1 Velvet the chicken. Toss chicken with 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tsp cornstarch. Rest 15 minutes.
- 2 Toast the cashews. Dry-toast W320 cashews in the wok over medium heat until golden, 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
- 3 Sear the chicken. Heat oil until smoking. Sear chicken in one layer until browned and cooked through, 5-6 minutes. Remove.
- 4 Build the sauce. Stir-fry garlic, ginger, bell pepper 2 minutes. Add remaining soy, oyster, hoisin, sesame oil and sugar.
- 5 Finish. Return chicken, add cornstarch slurry, toss until glossy. Fold in cashews and spring onions. Serve with rice.
Which cashews for cashew chicken?
Use W320 whole cashews — the standard whole grade. The kernels stay visible and provide the signature crunch, and W320 is far more economical than premium W240 for a cooked dish where a slightly smaller kernel makes no difference. Avoid pieces (LWP/SWP) here — you want intact nuts. Toast them dry and separately; adding raw cashews to the sauce makes them chewy.
Bulk buying for a restaurant or cloud kitchen?
Cashew chicken is one of the highest-volume cashew menu items in QSR and casual dining. If you're sourcing for a chain, W320 in 10 kg vacuum cartons is the standard spec — send an RFQ for processor pricing, or see the buyer guide for MOQ and packaging.