Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
A Chinese takeout favorite made right in your crockpot and all you need is 10 min prep. It doesn’t get easier or healthier than that!
If you’ve been following Damn Delicious for awhile now, you know that I love creating Chinese takeout favorites.
It’s just so much healthier to make right at home since you know exactly what’s going into your dish.
Plus, making these dishes at home can be quicker than waiting for 45-min delivery.
But not only is this crockpot cashew chicken so much cheaper and quicker with just 5 min prep, it tastes 1000x better than takeout too!
Best of all, you don’t have to skimp on the chicken or the cashews, although I loved the cashews a bit more in this dish.
The cashews just soak up all of that amazing flavor, giving you that nice crunchiness alongside the juicy, tender chicken.
To top it off, the leftovers are just as good the very next day. I just highly recommend doubling the batch because you’ll want to skip the takeout and have this all week instead!
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2 green onions, sliced
For the sauce
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- To make the sauce, whisk together soy sauce, ketchup, rice vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in a small bowl; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 2 minutes.
- Place chicken into a slow cooker. Stir in soy sauce mixture and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 2-3 hours. Stir in cashews and cook on low heat for an additional 15 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions, if desired.
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I’ll be trying this recipe tonight! Just wondering if anyone has frozen leftovers? Would it make a good freezer meal?
Thank you!! Looks delicious 🙂
Easy & delicious recipe!!! I did it in the skillet. Just let it simmer a little longer. My husband loved it!!!
Made it for dinner but it smelled so good ate it for lunch. Delicious and so easy. Added some lite canned pineapple. Ate it with rice noodles. So glad I found your site.
I’ve made this a few dozen times so figured I should probably write a review! I make it exactly as-written and my 4 & 6 year old LOVE IT. Their favorite part is the cashews so occasionally I make it without any chicken (+extra cashews) for a vegetarian meal – still delicious!!
What size slow cooker do I need?
Used the red pepper flakes and topped with green onion. Instead of soy sauce I used Golden Dragon stir fry sauce. Gave it a nice little kick.
Will definitely make this again
I made this exactly as followed and it was delicious. The cashews were crunchy, but had taken on the flavor of the chicken. I opted to use the crushed red pepper and green onions and that added a little zing.
That’s great!
This is one of the best things I have made in my slow cooker all year! I followed your recipe exactly but I added fresh green beans a few minutes before the cashews at the end to have a veggie in there. I also doubled the recipe so I would have leftovers and I think the cold leftovers are even more delicious! So glad I discovered your website!
This recipe is AMAZING!! Can’t wait to make it again. My family of 5 loved it. I wasn’t able to use the slow cooker so I followed the recipe, added a tiny bit of cornstarch and water mixed together, and drizzled it into the sauce (which I doubled). I only had roasted cashews on hand, they worked perfectly. Thank you for a great recipe…it was such a tasty and hearty meal!
Sweet!
I only have salted cashews, can I use that, or will it make this too salty???
Yes, the dish may be a little too salty but as always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Hi I only have roasted/salt free cashews on hand…will that work?? Thanks!
Yes!
If i add the cashews the last 15 mins of cooking time but cant serve right away, would you recommend keeping it on the warm setting til after work or microwaving later on.
Either option works, but I would keep it on the WARM function if it is available.
Hello
I had this dish yesterday and I am totally honest with you when I say that it came Excellent. Didn’t expected tho for 1st time to get it right. Crunchiness and the flavour – Ohh man! You don’t need take away just a crockpot.
CHUNGAH you are amazing , a kind person and a big heart is what you need to give back such goodness.
Thank you for sharing with us and you are doing an amazing job. Keep shining .
Sincerely,
Florin
Wow, this was amazing, loved this dish, and I am now just adding meat slowly back into my diet and so glad to have found this site 🙂
If I am using powdered ginger, how much should I use?
About 1/2-1 tsp.
love this dish. stumbled upon your site..love the different recipes ! definitely going to start trying them out..thank you!!
Hello! I am making this dish tonight for a dinner party. I am multiplying the recipe 4 times. I am making even more of the sauce to make sure there is enough. How long do you think I should cook it for? Probably a little longer I would think I just don’t want it to become shredded chicken.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
This might be silly, but I want to verify that I keep the same cooking time if I double the chicken and sauce. Please let me know?
Cooking time may have to be extended, as needed, actually. But as always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
It was amazing, I really enjoyed the flavor combinations. I added broccoli which was a good choice. Thanks for sharing!
You’re not really cooking the chicken in the pan correct? I did 4 minutes in the pan on medium is that enough?
The chicken will continue to cook through in the slow cooker.