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This Crockpot Cashew Chicken is better than most Chinese takeout cashew chicken. Throw it all in the slow cooker and have a delicious, no fuss dinner!
In addition to being delicious, this Crockpot Cashew Chicken is super easy to make! You can have this ready and in the crock pot faster than you can get your kids in the car and drive to the nearest Chinese place for take-out. My family absolutely LOVED this recipe! We served it with some steamed veggies and it was the perfect pairing. You can throw veggies in the crockpot with this dish or you can serve them on the side — whatever is easiest for you!
Ingredients in Crockpot Cashew Chicken
- Chicken Breasts
- Flour
- Black Pepper
- Canola Oil
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
- Ketchup
- Brown Sugar
- Garlic Cloves
- Fresh Ginger
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Cashews
History of Cashew Chicken
When you bite into the sweet and savory flavor of cashew chicken, you might imagine a heritage-rich, ancient backstory for this food. In reality, cashew chicken heralds from Springfield, Missouri in 1963. A chef from China, David Leong, created the dish as he was trying to incorporate the flavors of his homeland with the tastes of the local residents. It quickly became popular as the recipe was widely circulated with other restaurant owners. Now, more than 50 years later, this delectable entree of bite-sized pieces of fried chicken coated in rich brown sauce with crunchy cashews is on the menu of almost every Chinese restaurant in the United States!
Cashew Chicken Freezer Meal
This cashew chicken recipe can easily be adapted to be a freezer meal. Make double the amount and freeze half for later! When making this a freezer meal, skip dredging the chicken in flour. That will just make a mess after freezing. Simply add the chicken pieces (un-dredged) to a gallon-sized plastic zip-top freezer bag, combine the sauce ingredients, and add the sauce to the bag. Squeeze the air out and seal tightly. That’s it! To enjoy later, thaw your bag in the refrigerator then add it to the Crock Pot just as you would in this recipe. Add cashews after cooking.
Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
If you’re in a hurry to make dinner and would rather make this cashew chicken in an Instant Pot, it’s easy to do! You can even brown the chicken right there in the Instant Pot before cooking so you don’t have to dirty a skillet. You will just have to do it in batches.
- After browning the chicken, remove the chicken and add the sauce to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- To avoid getting the “burn notice” on your Instant Pot, you will want to add ½ cup of chicken broth over the sauce.
- Add the chicken over the top of the sauce, seal the Instant Pot, and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.
- Do a quick release and stir to cover the chicken in sauce.
Stove-Top Cashew Chicken
If you don’t have a Crock Pot or an Instant Pot and just want to make this on the stove top, it’s a breeze! Just be sure to use a skillet large enough to hold everything.
- After cooking the chicken in the skillet, there is no need to remove it. Just pour the sauce right over the chicken.
- Cover and simmer on low heat until the chicken is cooked through (165-degrees F), stirring occasionally. This should only take about 30-40 minutes.
- If the sauce seems to be getting too thick, just add some chicken broth to thin out.
A Big Thank You!
This recipe for this version of Crockpot Cashew Chicken was adapted from Karen at 365daysofcrockpot.com. She is the best and her Crockpot recipes are all outstanding. I have had the pleasure of meeting her several times and she has some awesome recipes. She gave this one a 5-star rating and I couldn’t agree more. It is delicious! Check out her blog for even more amazing crockpot recipes!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can put raw chicken in the slow cooker. However, because this chicken has an extremely light flour breading, you’ll want to brown it first in a skillet before adding it to the slow cooker.
For this recipe, I recommend using at least a three quart crockpot.
Sometimes I like to add stir-fry veggies (just use the frozen kind from Costco) and they work great in the recipe.
Read Next: Easy Crockpot Chicken Recipes
More Crockpot Recipes to Try
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Soup: Chicken and Rice Soup warms you up on cold fall and winter days. It is also ideal for busy days. The ingredients go into the Slow Cooker in the morning and a nice, hot meal awaits in the evening.
- Slow Cooker Lasagna: This Slow Cooker Lasagna recipe is not only delicious, it is definitely the easiest way to make lasagna. You don’t have to boil the lasagna noodles ahead of time and deal with wet, sticky noodles.
- Slow Cooker Cheese Tortellini Soup: This Cheese Tortellini Soup is a flavorful, easy slow cooker meal. Tortellini, sausage, and spinach in a creamy tomato soup and slow cooked to perfection.
- Slow Cooker Kalua Pork: Kalua Pork with Cabbage is a Hawaiian dish often served at Luaus. This version is made in the slow cooker and tastes just like authentic shredded Kalua Pig.
- Slow Cooker Pasta E Fagioli Soup: Our version of the Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup tastes just like the original.
- Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana Soup: Many agree that this Zuppa Toscana Soup Olive Garden Copycat is actually better than the original! It has a creamy both base and is loaded with sausage and potatoes.
- Slow Cooker Molten Chocolate and Caramel Cake: I am in love with this Slow Cooker Molten Chocolate and Caramel Cake. Besides this being rich, chocolatey, and delicious, it is so easy to make and the clean up is a breeze!
- Easy Crock Pot Pork Chops: With four ingredients and a sauce you’re going to love, you won’t want to miss this comfort food!
How to Make Crockpot Cashew Chicken
Crockpot Cashew Chicken
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts boneless skinless , about 4 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces
- 1/4 cup flour all purpose
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon canola oil
- 1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 4 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup cashews UNSALTED, or to taste
Instructions
- Combine flour and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.
- Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker.
- Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken.
- Cook on LOW for 2 to 3 hours. Stir in cashews and serve.
Notes
- After cooking the chicken in the skillet, there is no need to remove it. Just pour the sauce right over the chicken.
- Cover and simmer on low heat until the chicken is cooked through (165-degrees F), stirring occasionally. This should only take about 30-40 minutes.
- If the sauce seems to be getting too thick, just add some chicken broth to thin out.
Just made it and it was delicious! Next time I will add a few hot peppers to the sauce — heat was the only element that felt missing to me. I also added 3 cloves of fresh garlic, as is my way.
We always add Sriracha after the fact.. all of us like different levels of heat!
My wife surprised me with this meal today when we got home from church. One plate was not enough, and I have left-overs to bring to work tomorrow. This is a must-have/must-make meal for any food lover.
So glad you liked it! You have one awesome wife 😉
I am vegetarian and substituted the 2lb of chicken for 14oz of frozen tofu. Worked out great!
What size crockpot do you use. I know the shape of crockpot matters. If it’s oval it leaves more surface area and stuff can burn easier or not cook the same as something with a smaller surface area like a round crockpot.
This was lip smacking delicious! I used pork loin diced instead of chicken and cooked it on the stove because I was in a hurry. I added veggies to it also and served it over brown rice. Can’t wait to have leftovers tomorrow. Thank you for this great recipe!
You are very welcome! You will find that the leftovers heat up great 🙂 My husband’s favorite to take to work!
Mine turned out just like picture. Was a hit! Thanks! Will make again!
can you use ginger that is in the spiced isle or does it need to be fresh ginger?
Thanks.
It’s best with fresh but you can use the spice
I tried this tonight, and it came out VERY SALTY. I used salted cashews. Is there any way to make this a little sweeter?
Definitely use unsalted cashews and low sodium soy sauce. If it is still too salty you can add a little brown sugar to balance it out.
I made this tonight and it was a hit. I did make a few alterations, but the general idea of the recipe remains the same and I am grateful for the inspiration.
I did all of this on the stove top (rather than the slow cooker) and it took less than 45 minutes, start to finish. I added a bit of Chinese 5-Spice to the flour/pepper mix to coat the chicken, browned the chicken in a skillet, then removed it from the pan. Then I stir-fried some chunks of green pepper and onion in the pan, added the sauce (doubled the recipe, next time will triple it for our family’s preference) and added the chicken back to the pan. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes in the sauce. Served it with white rice and broccoli. Was a big hit (even for my newly-picky two year old).
Thank you for your tips! I don’t always remember or have time to get things going in the crock pot earlier in the day. Thank you for sharing a stove top version!
The recipe shown is the exact recipe on the post. I’m not sure how people keep getting black sauce? It may be the type of soy or brown sugar? I have made this dozens of times and have never had it come out black. I honestly don’t know what is going on?
I made this for dinner tonight. It was fabulous. It looked exactly like your picture, especially after I added the green onions. Thank you for a wonderful dinner.
A couple of things – one: 3-4 hrs is TOO long, maybe hence the blackness of the chicken, for some – mine took almost less than 2 hours two: very little flavor. this isn’t a typical cashew chicken recipe. IF, i make this again – i will either choose a different recipe or tweek this. Not a bad STARTER, to the recipe. Because I do not waste food, I will just add soy sauce to this, when served.
What size crock pot is this for? I have a 5 quart. Would it work? This is on my menu for the week
Thanks
Yes, a 5qt should work great
I would use boneless chicken thighs instead of breasts; much more flavor. Also, I don’t understand the point of using a crock pot. You fry the chicken to get it crisp and then put it in sauce and cook for 3-4 hours, which loses all the crispiness. I would cook the sauce sans the chicken and cashews; and then add the chicken and toasted cashews just before serving.
I made this tonight, and doubled the recipe. It came out PERFECT! My kids LOVED it!! I used tamari instead of soy sauce, since it was what I had on hand. It wasn’t too salty at all (I read all the comments) and it looked just like your picture. The only thing for me was it was done in about 1 1/2 hours on low…maybe I made my bites too small or browned them a little longer. So, I’ll always check it around 1 1/2 hours so the chicken doesn’t overcook. Overall, this was a winner in our book. Thanks for a great recipe!
Could I use peanuts instead? We have cashew allergies. Looks yummy!
Of course!
i doubled the sauce part of the recipe and my whole meal came out SOOO salty!!!! Any ideas why? I messed up somewhere. I couldn’t eat even a bite, it was so nasty!
Did you use salted cashews? If so, go with unsalted next time.
I have made this 3 times. we all love it! (and I use regular soy sauce and salted cashews and it’s never been dark or too salty)
I’ve made this recipe a few times, but this is the first time I read the comments. On the black chicken – in addition to the rice wine vinegar check, also check your soy sauce to make sure you aren’t using DARK soy sauce. (It will be on the label.) My husband loves the dark stuff, and I used that the first time. Looked terrible, but taste was good enough that I gave it another shot using regular soy sauce and it was great. The colour will also be affected by your choice of brown sugar – dark or yellow. I found the yellow (lighter) brown sugar will result in a lighter colour.
Thank you for sharing your suggestions Laura!
The sauce is not covering the chicken in the crockpot. I used the same amounts & measurements you have. Just doesn’t seem like enough. Is that weird? Do I need to make more so it doesn’t dry out or just stir it often?
It should be fine, the chicken shouldn’t be completely submerged in sauce..