This Easy Cashew Chicken Is Better (and Faster) Than Takeout
In this single-serve dinner, tender bits of chicken are cooked alongside broccoli and buttery cashews, then tossed in a sweet, slightly tangy sauce.
Serves1
Prep10 minutes
Cook10 minutes
Cashew chicken is one of the most popular restaurant takeout meals, and for good reason. Tender bits of chicken are cooked alongside broccoli and buttery cashews, then tossed in a sweet, slightly tangy sauce. This single-serving version is easy to make at home, and it’s lighter than most versions, too. That’s because instead of thickening the sauce with cornstarch, the sauce is simply reduced until it coats the chicken and veggies. As it simmers, the water evaporates and the flavors intensify, resulting in a flavor-packed dish.
This recipe calls for ground ginger for convenience, but if you have a knob of fresh ginger, you can absolutely use 1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated ginger instead. You can also use frozen broccoli instead of fresh, and if you like your cashew chicken on the spicy side, add in a pinch or two of crushed red pepper flakes. A little goes a long way.
Cooking for One: Cashew Chicken
In this single-serve dinner, tender bits of chicken are cooked alongside broccoli and buttery cashews, then tossed in a sweet, slightly tangy sauce.
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 10 minutes
Serves 1
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons
low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons
honey
- 1 teaspoon
olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon
ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon
water
For the chicken:
- 1
boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 6 ounces), cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/8 teaspoon
kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons
olive oil
- 1/2 cup
peeled and thickly chopped yellow onion
- 1/2 cup
fresh broccoli florets
- 1 clove
garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/4 cup
unsalted cashews
- 1 cup
cooked white rice
Instructions
To make the sauce: Whisk together soy sauce, honey, oil, ginger, and water in a small bowl. Set aside.
To make chicken: Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat 30 seconds. Add chicken and sauté until cooked through, about 4 minutes.
Add onions, broccoli, and garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute until vegetables are crisp-tender.
Add cashews and sauce. Cook until mixture comes to a light boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 3 minutes. Enjoy with cooked rice.
Recipe Notes
Excerpted from The Ultimate Cooking for One Cookbook by Joanie Zisk. Copyright © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved.
Cooking rice for one: Cook a large batch of brown or white rice and freeze it in individual portions using a muffin pan. Once frozen, pop the rice discs out of the muffin pan and freeze in a zip-top bag. Whenever you need a single serving of rice, just heat up one of the frozen discs.