Chef John's Cashew Chicken

I changed the recipe only a little after reading other reviews about the "spiciness." I ommitted the fresh hot red chile pepper. I exchanged the 2 teas. Asian Chile pepper with Sriracha Hot Chile sauce (maybe same thing). I exchanged the 1 TBLS. Ketchup with Mae Ploy Sweet Chilli Sauce. Served it with Jasmine Rice. My husband and son loved it.

Delicious! The fresh lemon and cilantro create a bright flavor and not too oily or salty. I made this recipe exactly as written, using a leftover roasted chicken from the night before. This was a big hit with my husband and he asked me to make it again.

I could barely eat this dish it was so hot! My lips are still burning! I made it exactly according to the recipe and I even like spicy hot foods but not this one. I will not make it again. I had to take the family to McDonald's.

I read the reviews and took the advice of less vinegar - which was a great suggestion, I could have done even less - I did half. I also didn’t do the chilies and did Sriracha in place of the hot sauce. It was reaaaally yummy! I did half chicken and half shrimp because of dietary preferences and everyone loved it with the white basmati rice. Went well with Pinot Grigio :)

This was So good!! I only used one tablespoon of chili sauce and it was perfect. Better than take out as far as I'm concerned.

I liked this recipe, but next time will try with only one tblsp rice vinegar instead. Was a little too vinegary for what I was imagining. I omitted the sliced red pepper and added a few slices of red bell pepper and a whole zucchini. I also cut the chili pepper sauce to 1 tsp so my toddler would eat it. I will definitely make it again, with less vinegar.

I toned it down by omitting the sliced pepper, and really liked the resulting tangy and delicious dish. I love the idea of using up grilled chicken. Next time I might add some zucchini chunks, I think they would taste good in it.

It wasn't bad, but I won't be making it again.

too vinegar-y added one extra tbsp sugar, and still didnt taste 100%

My family loves this dinner and it's so easy to make! The first time I made it I followed the instructions exactly, but not I vary it a little each time. I sometimes add some veggies and or rice, I usually guesstimate in the measurements of all the ingredients. Each time it turns out great!

It was okay, needs some adjusting. Ditch the ketchup, less vinegar, no pepper, add chili oil, and triple the amount of garlic. We also added scallions and broccoli to give it a bit more of a healthy feel.

It smelled much better than it tasted. I did forget about adding the garlic (oops) but did add some garlic powder at the end. Thought that was why it wasn't great. I'm not a fan of cilantro and it had a huge presence in this dish. Overall, it wasn't terrible persay, but I wouldn't make it again. The flavors just didn't do it for me or my family.

Remove the toasted cashews before cooking the chicken to prevent making them soggy

I added some red pepper and snap peas. We used cauliflower rice instead of regular rice for a more healthy option.

It was great and easy

I used this recipe for the sauce and loved it! I didn't have cashews and added zucchini and sweet peppers to the recipe, so my version was modified but the end result reminded me a lot of a really good Thai cashew nut chicken. I used Indonesian Sambal Oelek for the spice, as indicated, and it didn't turn out hot at all. Based on the comments, the choice of chilis clearly has a major impact so be careful!

Loved this dish! I followed the recipe with just a few exceptions: used minced ginger from a bottle instead of fresh, dried cilantro instead of fresh, sweet chili sauce. Added zucchini, red bell peppers (not hot ones) and broccoli. I made the sauce exactly as noted and it was perfect over rice.

This recipe wowed me, it was quick and easy to make. Very tasty and all flavour profiles are well balanced. The only thing that I changed is instead of the using a sliced chili pepper, I added a pinch of dried chili flakes. Thank you Chef John !

This recipe is great. Easy and foolproff, thanks! I added a lot more water and stock at the end to get a more "saucy" consistency.

Easy and delicious. Will add this to my recipes.

Another home run from Chef John! Easy to make and I was surprised how good it was. This will get made again.

I used two fresno chilis to make sure this didn't get too spicy; the sambal oelek gives it a nice zing. Added a chopped green pepper for more veg and a bit more sugar to offset the sourness of the vinegar and lemon. Had to add a splash of fish sauce to give it some Thai flair.

Too tart and spicy for me. I usually love Chef John’s recipes, but this one needs a little tweak. Next time I’m going to cut the vinegar by a third and leave out the Sambal entirely.

I will make this again, but without the spicy sauce. It gave me a little heartburn.

I loved this recipe! The fresh Cilantro is essential in my opinion. I'm only giving it four stars because my husband didn't like the consistency of the cashews with the chicken

Another amazing recipe from Chef John! We switched out the chicken with pan fried tofu, cut into strips fried 4 sides and then cubed it. Flavour was perfect. Will be making this one again

Thought it was a bit too sweet, otherwise good.

It’s really good!!

Absolutely delicious! I put mine over Jasmine Rice. My kids loved it!

I omitted the cilantro. Overall good flavor. I had to adjust the soy sauce to give it more of an authentic taste. Also added sesame seeds at the end.

Made this today. Wanted to note that I didn't have a lemon, so I used juice from half of an orange and omitted the brown sugar cause the orange was already sweet and it came out great!

Chef John you continue to rock my kitchen!! Reduced the hot pepper so that I could get everyone to eat it! It was great! ;-)

I loved, loved this sauce and I've made other variations of homemade stir fry sauces before. I didn't have the red chile pepper so substituted it for the jalapeno in my refrigerator. I used sriracha chili sauce and peanuts instead of cashews (but I used more than half more than the recipe called for because we love that). Oh, and since I had a partially used container of chicken broth in the refrigerator I used that liquid instead of the water. I've never used lemon juice and ketchup in my stir fry sauces before, but it definitely worked. This is my favorite stir fry sauce ever! I would guess that if you want it less spicy, cut back on the sriracha (or whatever chili sauce you use) and add a bit more brown sugar. And I used the two leftover grilled chicken breasts from last night's pasta dinner! Score!

I would like to try this recipe without the ketchup. I added some veggies to this recipe since it didn't have any, which was good. We all agreed that the ketchup gave it a little bit of a weird flavor.

Delish! So flavorful and really easy..used rotisserie chicken. Only reason I gave it 4 was it was a bit lemony…will DEFINITELY make it again, maybe just use 1/2 a lemon and it will be 5 stars!

This was fantastic! Thank you

Chicken Teriyaki is better recipe.

Delicious and simple. Spicy heat was just right!

This was delicious I’ll be making it again

Gave this a 4 cause it was easy, although I had to buy several ingredients that I didn't have on hand and I didn't love it cause I felt it needed some veggies - I added some bell pepper, but brocolli would have been great or mushrooms or......

This is an easy and delicious recipe. I made several changes after reading reviews, experimenting with some Asian flavors, and because I need vegetables in my life. I prepped carrots, red bell, onion, shiitake mushrooms, minced the garlic and ginger (adding a little more since there were more ingredients) and seasoned with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I also left out the red chili. I doubled the sauce recipe but added a teaspoon of Chinese hot mustard, a tablespoon of hoisin sauce, only 2 T of vinegar, and juice of one lemon. I had already made chicken thighs in a basil and lemon marinade, took the skin off and chopped in 1 inch pieces. I did a combo of olive oil and sesame oil to sauté all the veggies in, added the chicken and some frozen peas until warm, then added the sauce. Combined that with cauliflower rice. I didn’t add the cashews until I’d served up a portion and they were the perfect texture. I’ll leave them out until ready to eat the next serving so they don’t get soggy. I didn’t add the cilantro because the chicken already had the basil, but in the future would probably add that or a little Thai basil to give it that extra freshness.

Too tart and spicy for me. I usually love Chef John’s recipes, but this one needs a little tweak. Next time I’m going to cut the vinegar by a third and leave out the Sambal entirely.

I used 3 sliced jalapeño peppers instead of the chile pepper. For the chicken I seasoned diced chicken breasts with salt and pepper and sautéed in oil until no longer pink. I removed the chicken from the pan and then sautéed the jalapeños and ginger in the same oil. I would use this recipe again. Thanks!

The whole family, including toddlers, loved this dish. I did cut back on the spicy ingredients quite a bit though - did not add the hot red chili pepper and used about one third the recommended amount of Asian chili sauce; those who like spicy added some to their own serving. Other than that, all good as is!

This was good, served on rice.

i didnt use grilled left over chicken i justcubed up some breast and browned them to use

I made this with leftover turkey breast instead of the grilled chicken. Turned out great. I did back off the heat a bit from the original recipe. The cilantro is key.

Loved it, Loved it..... So easy to prepare and wonderful flavors!

This is a really good change up! I left out the spicy peppers after reading comments that it was too hot. The lemon flavor's were wonderful. I will make this again!

We really enjoyed the homemade sauce. We just added veggies.

I added 1 lb of sweet peppers for extra veggies, and consequently doubled the sauce. This was a winner in my household.

was ok but very vinegary next time I will use half of the vinegar. did not use chili so not to hot, but should add celery next time too

Really good...I used roasted peanuts rather than cashews, and added a little hoisin sauce. It was delicious

Very good!

I gave this dish 4 out of 5 stars because of the 'heat' from the peppers. Its a matter of taste. I omitted the sliced red hot chili pepper because I knew that the dish would be too hot for my family. Instead I used about 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. The dish was delicious and was requested again by my family!

This was fair. I do believe that visually the dish would have looked better with a green vegetable. I backed off on the rice wine vinegar (I always use seasoned