7.27.2017

CrockPot Cashew Chicken

I was talking with my girlfriend Jenna on Sunday when I told her I had been in a major cooking rut. I feel like all summer long we have made the exact same things, and I've just been so bored in the kitchen lately. 

My issue is that I'm bored in the kitchen, but I don't really have the desire or motivation to really mix it up - so I'm on the hunt for recipes that are easy (under 20ish minutes), taste good, and are somewhat healthy. 

She recommended a crockpot dish that she has been making the last few months - Cashew Chicken. She serves her over quiona, but I decided to serve ours over brown rice. There are tons of recipes on Pintrest, so I looked at a few, and finally ended up using this one as my base. I made a few slight changes (and doubled the recipe), and overall really liked it. 

In all transparency, it's probably not my #1 most favorite dish, but its good. I think it is a slightly better dish for fall, but it's easy, it's different, and I made it for my parents too this past Monday and it was a good crowd pleaser that everyone really liked and went in for seconds. 


I served mine with a pre-bagged Asian salad that complimented it really well. 

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as I mentioned, I doubled this recipe to serve 4 adults and had enough for leftovers. 

The Goods: 
 

  • 3 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 6 tbsp of Cornstach
  • heavy dash of black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 Cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 8 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 7 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 4 Tablespoons sweet chili sauce
  • 4 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp minced galic
  • 2 Tbsp of squeeze-able ginger
  • Heavy shake of red pepper flakes
  • 1.5 cups cashews *I slow cooked 1 cup, and added 1/2 cup before serving for extra crunch.

Directions: 

1. Combine cornstarch, pepper, and chicken into a gallon ziplock and shake to coat.


 
 
2. Heat oil and brown chicken for 4 minutes on each side (My crockpot is fancy and I can do this in the crockpot. If yours doesn't you could pan fry it and then add the browned chicken to your crockpot, OR the original recipe says you can skip this step too, but that it does add a nice touch).

 3. Mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, chili sauce, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of the cashews (I saved another 1/2 cup to add when I served the dish for extra crunch). 

 

4. Cook on low for 4 hours 

5. Serve over brown rice (I used 2cups uncooked ((which makes almost 4 cups of cooked rice)) which was plenty and allowed for rice for leftovers as well)

3 comments:

  1. This looks delicious! Can't wait to try it.

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  2. This week, I threw boneless skinless chicken thighs into the slow cooker with some garlic powder, salt & pepper, and a splash of stock and cooked it up. At home that evening, I shredded it and added a jar of Thai green curry sauce from Trader Joes ($2.49 at my store). I perrrrsonally like a saucier curry so I would have added another jar (esp since we served it with rice) but it was SO QUICK and really yummy.

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  3. That looks so good and easy! Love that bagged Asian salad. I'd eat that every night if I could!

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