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    🏠Home » Recipes » Chinese Recipes

    Small Crock Pot Cashew Chicken

    Jan 28, 2023 by Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan · 8 Comments

    Recipe Table of Contents    
    4 from 51 votes

    An easy cashew chicken recipe for a small crock pot but easy to scale to a larger amounts. Packed with tender breaded chicken, cashews, and a wonderful sauce. Add some vegetables and serve over rice for a complete meal.

    cashew chicken on with rice on a gray plate
    Jump To:
    • 😊Why you will want to make this recipe
    • 🐓Ingredients
    • 👨‍🍳How to Make Cashew Chicken in a Crock Pot
    • ⏲️How long to cook chicken in a crock pot
    • ✔️Tips
    • ↕️Increasing or decreasing the recipe amount
    • ❓FAQs
    • 📖Chinese Recipes
    • 🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
    • 📝Recipe
    Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect

    😊Why you will want to make this recipe

    • A great "take-out at home" crock pot cashew chicken recipe everybody will love
    • Tender breaded chicken with crunchy cashews and vegetables cooked in a wonderful sauce.
    • An easy crock pot version of this popular Chinese-American restaurant dish fits in a 3 quart crock pot but is simple to double for larger households.
    • Has enough sauce to cook added vegetables and for rice.
    • Uses common pantry ingredients most people will have at home.

    The inspiration recipe is from Epicurious, but I did several nips and tucks. Cornstarch for the flour and some adjustments and doubling to the sauce.

    🐓Ingredients

    • Chicken—boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs would be fine
    • Cornstarch
    • Garlic
    • Cashew nuts
    • Pantry ingredients—oil, pepper, low sodium soy saucf, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, ground ginger, red pepper flakes
    • Optional—water chestnuts, other vegetables like a frozen stir fry mix.

    👨‍🍳How to Make Cashew Chicken in a Crock Pot

    1. Trim and cube chicken, then coat with cornstarch and brown in a skillet for a few minutes.
    2. Mix sauce of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, dry ginger, and red pepper flakes (optional.)
    3. Add chicken, one 8 oz sliced water chestnuts drained (optional) and the sauce to the crock pot. If you like softer cashews, add them now. Other vegetables can be added at this point also. If you like more crunch, then add the nuts near the end of cooking.
    4. Cook on low for 2½-3 hours or a bit more until chicken is 165°. Try to stir it about halfway through.
    5. Serve over rice and trim as you wish.

    ⏲️How long to cook chicken in a crock pot

    The chicken will usually reach 165° in about 2 ½ hours on low, give or take a bit, depending on your crock pot and other ingredients. Frozen vegetables will extend the time. So grab an internal temperature on the chicken before stopping.

    I don't suggest cooking on high. It is easy to overcook chicken in a crock pot and will give poor results.

    ✔️Tips

    • For a coating, cornstarch works well but needs a short browning before going in the crock pot. You can also make this without the cornstarch coating and skip the browning, but it is much better with it.
    • You can add other vegetables like broccoli, bell peppers, celery, or carrots. Add them at the start of cooking.
    • If you add a lot of vegetables, double the sauce for the current level. You may want to thicken more with a slurry of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in some cold water.
    • The cashews can be raw or already roasted but try to use unsalted or low-salt nuts. If you want your cashews firm and crunchy, add them near the end of cooking, but at the beginning works well for me since I like a softer texture.
    • Both the ginger and vinegar are a little lower in this recipe than other simular recipes. Increase if you want.

    ↕️Increasing or decreasing the recipe amount

    • The full recipe makes about 8 cups which fits nicely in a 3 quart crock pot.
    • Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings to half or double.
    • Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
    • The half recipe will fit in a 2-quart mini crock pot.
    • A double recipe fits in a 6-quart or larger crock pot.
    • Don't over fill a crock pot. They cook best if less than 75% full.
    • You can cook a smaller amount in a larger crock pot but it may cook a little faster.
    • Cook for the same amount of time.
    • Remember, all crock pots do not cook the same, so watch the endpoint.

    ❓FAQs

    How to lower the sodium in cashew chicken?

    Like most Chinese cooking, there is a lot of sodium. Use low sodium soy sauce. And the cashews should be unsalted or only lightly salted. Low sodium ketchup is also available. Please not, no salt is added in this recipe.

    Do I have to use the cornstarch for breading?

    No, the chicken does not need to be coated.

    How to make cashew chicken gluten free.

    Tamari is a great for soy sauce in recipes, simular in taste and usage, it is made with different ingredients. It is commonly available and even comes in a low sodium variety. But always read all labels, there is a rare brand of tamari that will not be gluten free.

    Other possible points of gluten the ketchup and even the rice vinegar. Again, read all labels if you want gluten free.

    📖Chinese Recipes

    Easy General Tso Chicken

    Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

    How to Cook Rice in the Oven

    Easy Fried Rice in 10 Minute

    Easy Chicken Stir Fry

    This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

    Chinese Recipes, Crock Pot Recipes, Small Crock Pots Recipes
    Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect

    🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

    raw chicken with cashews and spices

    Chop 1 ½ to 2 pounds of chicken into 1-inch chunks. Use skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs.

    adding trimmed chicken to ziplock bag

    To a 1-gallon food storage bag, add 3 tablespoons cornstarch and ½ teaspoon pepper. Add chicken and shake well to coat.

    browning coated chicken in black pan

    Heat 2 teaspoon oil over medium-high heat and add chicken. Gently stir every few minutes until browning nicely—about 6 minutes.

    mixing sauce in bowl

    Combine ½ cup low sodium soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 4 cloves minced garlic, ¼ teaspoon dry ginger, and ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional.)

    mixing sauce into chicken and other ingredients

    Add chicken, one 8 oz sliced water chestnuts drained, and the sauce to the crock pot. If you like softer cashews, add them now. Other vegetables can be added at this point also. If you want more crunch, add the nuts near the end of cooking.

    cashew chicken in ladle over a crock pot

    Cook on low for 2 ½ to 3 hours or a bit more until chicken is 165° if breasts or 185° if thighs. Try to stir it about halfway through.

    cashew chicken on a fork

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    📝Recipe

    cashew chicken on with rice on a gray plate

    Small Crock Pot Cashew Chicken

    From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
    An easy cashew chicken recipe for a small crock pot but easy to scale to a larger amounts. Packed with tender breaded chicken, cashews, and a wonderful sauce. Add some vegetables and serve over rice for a complete meal.
    Tap to leave a Rating
    4 from 51 votes
    Print Email CollectionCollected
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
    Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
    Servings #/Adjust if desired 6

    Ingredients

    US Customary - Convert to Metric
    • 1 ½ to 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs - Thighs would be fine
    • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
    • 2 teaspoons oil
    • ½ teaspoon pepper
    • ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
    • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
    • 4 tablespoons ketchup
    • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
    • 4 cloves garlic - crushed
    • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
    • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes - to taste
    • 8 oz sliced water chestnuts - drained-optional
    • 1 cup cashews - not salted
    • other vegetables - optional
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Chop 1 ½ to 2 pounds of chicken into 1-inch chunks. Use skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs.
      raw chicken with cashews and spices
    • To a 1-gallon food storage bag, add 3 tablespoons cornstarch and ½ teaspoon pepper. Add chicken and shake well to coat.
      adding trimmed chicken to ziplock bag
    • Heat 2 teaspoon oil over medium-high heat and add chicken. Gently stir every few minutes until browning nicely—about 6 minutes.
      browning coated chicken in black pan
    • Combine ½ cup low sodium soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 4 cloves minced garlic, ¼ teaspoon dry ginger, and ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional.
      mixing sauce in bowl
    • Add chicken, one 8 oz sliced water chestnuts drained, and the sauce to the crock pot. If you like softer cashews, add them now. Other vegetables can be added at this point also. If you want more crunch, add the nuts near the end of cooking.
      mixing sauce into chicken and other ingredients
    • Cook on low for 2 ½ to 3 hours or a bit more until chicken is 165° if breasts or 185° if thighs. Try to stir it about halfway through.
    • Serve over rice and trim as you wish.
      cashew chicken on a fork
    See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

    Your Own Private Notes

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    Recipe Notes

    Pro Tips

    1. This fits in a 3-quart crock pot. You can use bigger if you want. I try to fill a crock pot between 25% to 66% full, but I do occasionally push to 75%, but cooking takes longer.
    2. You can use chicken thigh meat but then use the endpoint of 185°.
    3. You can also make this without the cornstarch coating and skip the browning, but it is much better with it.
    4. Use low-sodium soy sauce and avoid adding anything with salt if possible.
    5. The cashews can be raw or already roasted. Use salt-free or low-salt.
    6. The size of your cut-up chicken pieces will partly determine the cooking time. But it also varies by your crock pot.
    7. Good refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for 3 months.

    To adjust the recipe size:

    You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

    Nutrition Estimate

    Nutrition Facts
    Small Crock Pot Cashew Chicken
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 318 Calories from Fat 135
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 15g23%
    Saturated Fat 3g15%
    Cholesterol 73mg24%
    Sodium 937mg39%
    Potassium 626mg18%
    Carbohydrates 17g6%
    Fiber 1g4%
    Sugar 5g6%
    Protein 29g58%
    Vitamin A 110IU2%
    Vitamin C 2mg2%
    Calcium 23mg2%
    Iron 2mg11%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
    Course : Main Course
    Cuisine : Chinese

    © 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.

    Editors Note: Originally Published October 2, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.

    More Chinese Recipes

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    • Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli
    • Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
    • Crock Pot Chinese Boneless Ribs

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    1. Deborah L

      January 29, 2023 at 10:42 am

      5 stars
      Dear Dr Dan, This one of our family Favorites! So easy and delicious. The only problem is the are seldom any leftovers. My husband can eat the whole thing himself. For dinner. For lunch. For dinner again… (maybe). I will be doubling this next time and hiding half in the freezer. Thanks for your yummy, easy recipes.
      Deb Lein

      Reply
    2. Deborah L

      January 07, 2021 at 8:33 pm

      4 stars
      Dr. Dan, very tasty easy crockpot supper for the two of us. Made a very generous 4 servings. Next time I will cut back the garlic to 2 or 3 minced cloves even though we like garlic. I had no water chestnuts and used two ribs of celery chopped in narrow cross cuts. Put them on top of chicken and that worked Very well for Crunch. The spiciness was a little 'hot' for my taste. The ingredient list shows 1/2 teaspoon dry ginger. After I had combined and added everything for the sauce, I noticed the directions mentioned only 1/4 tsp ginger. Next time I will definitely cut back on ginger. That may be the culprit. With 30 minutes to go, added cashews and frozen broccoli and they stayed crunchy. Plenty fo sauce.

      Reply
    3. Inge Kohl

      July 29, 2020 at 12:08 pm

      Looking at the recipe and reading the comment about the liquid not being enough I was wondering..
      You mention at the beginning that you doubled the sauce. Does it mean that your recipe already account for that or should I go ahead and double it?
      The amounts for the sauce do seem pretty small.
      Thanks

      Reply
      • Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

        July 29, 2020 at 1:17 pm

        Hi Inge,
        Welcome to the blog.
        The recipe is as I originally published it and is double the amount of sauce in the original model recipes. It will produce about 1 cup of sauce - a bit variable due to the release of fluid from the chicken.
        So you can increase more if you want, but remember if put on rice, it will go a long way and it is very flavorful.
        But one of the advantages of home cooking is to change things the way you want. So just increase it and you will be fine.
        Dan

      • Catherine Smith

        July 29, 2020 at 4:32 pm

        Dr Dan, this sounds delicious and if I wanted to cook it in the oven, would you recommend degrees and length of time please? Thank you. By the way, I have made your Parmesan baked potatoes numerous times and they’re always a hit.
        Regards, Catherine

      • Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

        July 29, 2020 at 5:11 pm

        Hi Catherine,

        Welcome to the blog.

        I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help. I have never done this. It would cook significantly faster.

        You could try stovetop. Cook the chicken to 165 then remove and cook any vegetables until tender. Then combine the chicken, nuts, veggies and sauce and simmer for a while. If you want more tender nuts then cook them with the veggies. I can't be more specific, sorry.

        Dan

    4. Eileen

      July 25, 2017 at 4:30 pm

      Can't image what went wrong but this was a disaster. Wasn't near enough liquid in the recipe and it went dry in the slow cooker. Did anyone else have this problem? What in the world could I have done wrong?

      Reply
      • DrDan

        July 29, 2017 at 9:38 am

        Hi Eileen,
        I have not had that issue. Sorry it didn't work well for you.
        Dan

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