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Home Stir fries

Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

By:Nagi
Published:5 Apr '21Updated:5 Apr '21
191 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

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 on jasmine rice in a bowl, ready to be eaten

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? 😂

Freshly made Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry in a wok
Raw cashews
Raw cashews are paler and softer than roasted cashews.

What goes in Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

Here’s what you need for this Thai stir fry with chicken:

Ingredients in Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
  • 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!!

How to make Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
  1. Sauce – Mix the sauce in a small dish;

  2. 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);

  3. Remove cashews from the wok / skillet. Reserve the oil – we will use that to cook the stir fry;

  4. 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.

  5. 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

  6. 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!!

Close up photo of Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
  • Close up of Jasmine Rice
  • Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry in a bowl served with Jasmine rice
  • Close up photo of Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry served over jasmine rice

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.

Plate of Jasmine Rice
Jasmine Rice
How to cook rice featured image graphic
How to cook white rice – easily and perfectly
How to cook brown rice
How to Cook Brown Rice
Close up of spoon scooping up fluffy Basmati Rice
How to cook Basmati Rice
Close up of Cauliflower Rice in a bowl
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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Close up photo of Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

Thai Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 8 mins
Main, Stir Fries
Thai
4.96 from 69 votes
Servings2
Tap or hover to scale
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Recipe video above. Crunchy and creamy cashews are the star in this popular Thai chicken stir fry! Tossed with a bold and savoury Thai stir fry sauce, make this as spicy as you want – or not at all.
Thai Cashew Chicken is a dry-style stir fry so there's not a ton of sauce like with Chinese Cashew Chicken. But the flavour in this one is much more intense so you don't need nor do you want more sauce, it will be too salty!
SPICINESS: Nice buzz to it from 1/2 a fresh chilli, not blow-your-head-off spicy.

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:

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.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 454cal (23%)Carbohydrates: 17g (6%)Protein: 26g (52%)Fat: 32g (49%)Saturated Fat: 6g (38%)Trans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 95mg (32%)Sodium: 982mg (43%)Potassium: 566mg (16%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 6g (7%)Vitamin A: 145IU (3%)Vitamin C: 5mg (6%)Calcium: 45mg (5%)Iron: 3mg (17%)
Keywords: Thai Cashew Chicken, Thai chicken stir fry
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

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191 Comments

  1. Chantelle says

    March 22, 2022 at 12:00 am

    5 stars
    5th time lucky! Did not add water this time around and the sauce came out as per the video. Absolutely delicious! Now to master frying the cashews without burning them. Thank you for all your delicious recipes Nagi, people always compliment me on my cooking, but it’s only because of your recipes.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 22, 2022 at 6:04 pm

      I’m sure your cooking has something to do with the compliments! N x

      Reply
  2. Joyce Snedden says

    March 17, 2022 at 6:14 pm

    5 stars
    Quick,tasty and delicious

    Reply
  3. Tia says

    March 6, 2022 at 5:48 pm

    Hi Nagi, does the nutritional information for this recipe include if you’re serving it with rice or is it just the stir fry?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 7, 2022 at 2:17 pm

      It’s just the stir fry Tia! N x

      Reply
  4. Evia says

    March 3, 2022 at 7:12 am

    5 stars
    This is just unbelievably good. You are a wizard, Nagi.
    I did skip adding the chilis in the stir fry because I still can’t handle heat after tonsillectomy, but even without the chilis it tastes truly amazing.

    Reply
  5. Krittika says

    February 19, 2022 at 12:36 am

    5 stars
    I never usually leave comment but this is such a wonderful and easy to follow recipe. Thank you for sharing !

    Reply
  6. MasterChef (Pending) says

    February 14, 2022 at 3:37 pm

    Novice chef here – prep usually takes me about double times most people suggest! I’ve had a couple of goes at this now and getting closer, But 2 big problems. When I cook the (roasted, unsalted) cashews, many of them end up near black one side and mostly white on the other? I’m cooking in a non stick skillet, and think the problem is it’s too hard to flip them over and not enough oil for a flat surface pan? I tried tilting it like a wok last time & I thin that helps but still not right.
    Second, the overall look of the final product, esp chicken, doesn’t have that nice dark brownish look. I’ve double checked I’m using the right measures of all ingredients, so not sure why it’s not right? All suggestions greatly appreciated.

    Reply
    • Anna McCauley says

      March 1, 2022 at 6:21 pm

      Hi MasterChef (Pending), I’ve made this twice now with roasted cashews. First time better than second. Tonight I think my wok was more high than moderate which burnt them and I probably should have kept stirring them more. Next time I’ll try raw cashews. I chucked them in the compost and just three new ones in at the end which was fine 😃

      Reply
  7. Frank says

    February 11, 2022 at 1:51 am

    5 stars
    Easy to make and delicious.

    Reply
  8. Linda Torson says

    January 30, 2022 at 9:17 am

    5 stars
    This was absolutely amazing! Made it for dinner this evening and, once again, Nagi has hit it out of the park! Couldn’t find a red cayenne pepper so used powder and dialed it back a little as my husband isn’t a huge spicy fan. I would have added more for myself. So glad I have some leftovers for tomorrow.

    Reply
  9. Frankie says

    January 30, 2022 at 2:43 am

    5 stars
    We have this at least once a week! It’s so much better than any takeaway we have ever had! So delicious – thank you!

    Reply
  10. Alexandra says

    January 27, 2022 at 1:44 pm

    5 stars
    I was surprised by this! Considering that I completely messed the order in which to add the ingredients and ended up with over cooked green onions, this was fabulous! Will be making this again!

    Reply
  11. Damien says

    January 11, 2022 at 10:40 pm

    5 stars
    Another perfect recipe – I have learned so much from your considered and curated recipes over months now. ‘Recipe Tin’ is my ‘go to’ – love the quick videos especially, I replay them while prepping – thank you!!! (ps. I have never commented on a food/cooking blog before, ever)

    I agree with the 15/10 taste rating above – you gave me the confidence to go further and darker with the cashews to a great result – and more oyster sauce It was amazing – thank you :-). (I served it with steamed rice and your brown sauce using stir fried carrot and snow peas, happy days)

    Reply
  12. Tina says

    January 6, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    Hi Nagi, I don’t have cashews on hand but I do have almonds. Do you think using almond would be fine? Or do you think it might affect the flavors?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 7, 2022 at 4:07 pm

      I think almonds would work fine here Tina. N x

      Reply
  13. Rae says

    January 5, 2022 at 5:53 pm

    5 stars
    Nagi, do you think adding Thai basil would work in this dish or should I tweak any of the ingredients?

    Reply
    • Rae says

      January 5, 2022 at 8:40 pm

      5 stars
      Sorry Nagi, I saw someone else’s comment (I should have kept looking before I asked) and I did try it… it was FAN-FLIPPEN-TASTIC! I’d tried the Thai basil chicken recipe you’ve posted but I preferred this one and can’t believe how much better it was than any dish I’d ever had at a Thai restaurant!
      I added a handful of Thai basil and a capsicum (just to up the veg).
      Thank you thank you thank you!

      Reply
  14. Jake says

    November 24, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    Quick question, you haven’t mentioned the ratios for the sauces so could you please clarify that? I don’t want to end up adding a lot of some sauce and destroy the dish 🙁

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      November 26, 2021 at 4:28 pm

      Hi Jake – the recipe as written is the correct amount of sauce for the portions as stated in the recipe. N x

      Reply
  15. Kim says

    November 16, 2021 at 12:52 pm

    Thanks Nagi. This was awesome. The cashews make it! We are spicy fans so the only thing we changed was we added 10 thai chilies. Fabulous!

    Reply
  16. Irma says

    October 26, 2021 at 4:47 am

    I had cashew chicken once with something that looks like battered chicken. Almost like popcorn chicken. I believe it is not an actual asian dish but if i were to make that, should i still use this sauce or should i use a chinese or other country inspired sauce?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      October 26, 2021 at 10:24 am

      Hi Irma! A battered chicken in a stir fry is more typically Chinese. You could try this one https://www.recipetineats.com/honey-chicken-stay-crispy/ which is delicious! N x

      Reply
  17. Jo says

    October 26, 2021 at 12:13 am

    5 stars
    OMG – This was so delicious. My rating is 15/10. I inadvertently made some changes. I added a tablespoon of dark soya sauce because I didn’t read the recipe correctly and I used asparagus instead of spring onions cos that was what was in the fridge. So so delicious. I have made it three nights in a row. Everyone loves it. Thank you. xxx❤️❤️❤️

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      October 26, 2021 at 10:45 am

      Thank you Jo! So glad you enjoyed it! N x

      Reply
  18. Julianne Tselepis says

    October 18, 2021 at 9:31 am

    What be a good substitute for cashews Nagi as we have a child with cashew allergy ?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      October 20, 2021 at 10:09 am

      Just swap in a few more veggies! N x

      Reply
  19. Kathleen D says

    October 16, 2021 at 11:07 am

    5 stars
    One of my favorite stir fry recipes of yours. I never have fresh chili peppers so I always use sambal olek to spice it up and regular bell peppers to add more veg.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      October 16, 2021 at 2:09 pm

      Yum! Sounds good! N x

      Reply
  20. Maddy says

    October 13, 2021 at 11:25 pm

    5 stars
    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!!

    Reply
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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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