Thai Cashew Chicken
Thai Cashew Chicken or Gai Pad Med Mamuang, is an easy stir fry with savory chicken, crunchy cashews, onions, and roasted chili peppers.
This Thai Cashew Chicken is a fast and easy meal and makes great leftovers. The Thai name is ‘Gai Pad Med Mamuang’, which translates to stir fry chicken with mango seed. While you’re not eating a mango seed, this is just the Thai term for cashews.
I love that it’s mild in spice, so my kids can eat it, but the chili peppers can be eaten for extra spice. Whenever I order this dish for takeout, there are never enough cashews, so I love adding extra cashews when I make it.
Ingredients Needed
This Thai Cashew Chicken doesn’t need a lot of ingredients, and it uses a basic stir-fry sauce that you can customize to your taste or dietary restrictions. The traditional version uses a mixture of golden mountain soy sauce, oyster sauce, and honey or sugar.
Here are some variations based on dietary restrictions:
Non-Soy: For a non-soy option, I recommend using a No-Soy Sauce like this one. Then adding a sweetener like Honey. Or my favorite Coconut Aminos which is low in sodium, soy free, and has a natural sweetness to it.
Coconut Aminos with a couple dashes of fish sauce is a great balance.
Gluten-Free: If you are gluten free, then you probably know that most soy sauces contain wheat flour. The No-Soy sauce, Liquid Aminos, and Coconut Aminos are all great Gluten Free options. Just be sure to check the labels.
Low Sodium: For a low sodium option, I recommend using a low sodium soy sauce, liquid aminos, or coconut aminos. Regular soy sauce and golden mountain sauce will have almost double the sodium content.
The remaining ingredients are: chicken, all-purpose flour, white onion, green onion, cashews, and dried peppers.
How to Customize
Stir-fries are a great way to use up any leftover vegetables you may have on hand. Here are some other options to add to this dish: Sliced celery, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, or sugar snap peas.
If you are adding more veggies, taste the dish before serving to see if more soy sauce is needed.
It’s also common to use dried Szechuan peppers to Cashew Chicken. They are pretty mild in spice, but if you want it to be spicy then use dried Thai chilis instead.
Substitutes for the chicken include Shrimp or Tofu for a meatless version. If using tofu, then pan fry or bake the tofu till it’s slightly golden and crispy. This way it won’t fall apart when added to the sauce and vegetables.
How to Serve and Store
Thai Cashew Chicken goes perfectly with Jasmine Rice. However, you can also serve it with Brown Rice, Quinoa, or Cauliflower rice for a low-carb version.
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also portion out the cashew chicken with rice into containers for a desk lunch or meal prep.
More Thai stir-fry recipes:
Thai Cashew Chicken Recipe
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Equipment
- Wok
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon Oil
- ¾ Cup Cashews Preferably Raw
- 3-4 Dried Chili Peppers
- 1.5 pounds Chicken Breast or Thighs Sliced Thin
- 1 tablespoon All Purpose Flour
- ½ White Onion Cut into 1 in squares
- 3 Green Onion Stalks or Chives Sliced into 2 in pieces
- 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce or Mushroom sauce
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce or liquid aminos
- 1 teaspoon Black soy sauce to get a darker color, or add more oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- 1 tablespoon Water Add water if the sauce is too thick.
- Rice for serving
Instructions
- Place oil in a wok over medium heat. Add cashews and fry until slightly golden. Then add the dried chili peppers for a few seconds to release their aroma. Remove everything with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
- Mix flour with sliced chicken until all pieces are coated. Turn the heat to medium-high, add the chicken, and cook the chicken halfway.
- Combine all the sauces in a small bowl. Add the sauce mixture and white onions. Continue cooking until the chicken is done.
- Add half of the green onions, cashews, and chili peppers. Combine and allow the sauce to bubble; add water if it is too thick. Taste and see if additional soy sauce or sweetener is needed. Turn off the heat, garnish with the remaining green onions, and serve hot with rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only and depends on ingredients and amounts used. Thai Caliente makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Hooray! Thai chicken cashew nut, Not the Chinese version
Yep! Slightly different, how did you like it?