INSTANT POT CASHEW CHICKEN RECIPE
I am so excited to share this instant pot cashew chicken recipe with you all. Chunks of chicken, cashews, broccoli, red pepper, cooked in an easy homemade sauce right in the Instant Pot.
My kids each had 4 helpings of this! You guys, that never happens especially when rice is involved with dinner. For some reason my kids hate rice, which just happens to be one of my favorite foods ever. So yea, I am pretty excited about this cashew chicken just because my kids gobbled it up.
HOW TO MAKE CASHEW CHICKEN IN THE INSTANT POT
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts – You need about 3 chicken breasts which is equal to about 1 1/2 lbs to 2 lbs of chicken. If it’s a little bit over or under that’s ok.
Olive Oil – Cook the chicken in olive oil inside the IP on the sauté function. This gives the chicken a nice sear but it does not have to be cooked all the way through in this first step.
Cornstarch & Salt – This is what the chicken pieces get mixed with. It provides a nice coating on the chicken that will brown up nicely when it’s cooking in the olive oil.
Cashew Chicken Sauce – This is a mixture of low-sodium soy sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, and ginger.
Chopped Broccoli – This is fresh, raw broccoli from the produce section. Not frozen. Cut into smaller pieces if you want softer veggies (which my kids love) or leave in larger pieces for more crisp.
Red Bell Pepper
Cashews – I use the lightly salted cashews for this recipe.
Cornstarch + Cold Water – This makes the slurry which will thicken up the sauce after the 8 minute cook time.
MY HELPFUL TIPS FOR THIS RECIPE
- Make sure the chunks of chicken are not too big. I like mine in small, bite-sized pieces. Same thing with the broccoli and red pepper. Make sure that they are all uniform size so that the chicken cooks through and the vegetables get nice and tender.
- We love the softer veggies but if you want yours to have more crisp to them, then make the pieces larger OR you can add in the veggies after the cook time.
- Prepare the sauce, cut the veggies and chicken first thing. That way making this recipe is so easy because everything is ready to go.
- The recipe calls for low-sodium chicken broth and soy sauce. Unless you really like salt, you will want to use the low-sodium versions of each. By the time you add those cashews at the end, you will end up with the perfect flavor. Not too salty but still super flavorful.
- Remember that it will take a few minutes for the Instant Pot to come to temperature/pressure before the 8 minute cook time starts. For this recipe it should only take about 5 minutes.
- Use some garlic paste and ginger paste to make this recipe so easy. You can find the tubes of garlic paste and ginger paste in the produce area of the grocery store.
- You can use ground ginger in place of fresh ginger.
TRY THESE FAMILY FAVORITE INSTANT POT DINNER RECIPES
- perfect instant pot baked ziti
- potato corn chowder
- instant pot honey chicken
- santa fe chicken
- instant pot lazy lasagna
- sour cream pork chops
Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
- 1½-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts about 3 chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
cashew chicken sauce
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic or garlic paste or 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger, ground or fresh I use the ginger paste in the tube
Vegetables/Extras
- 1 cup chopped broccoli
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper about 1 red pepper
- 1 cup cashews
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into small bite-size chunks. Put chicken chunks in a mixing bowl and add the salt and cornstarch. Stir together until chicken is coated in the cornstarch.
- Mix together all the cashew chicken sauce ingredients and stir with a whisk. Set aside.
- Add the 1 tablespoon olive oil into the insert of the Instant Pot. Press the sauté function. Dump the chicken chunks into the insert and let cook for about 4-6 minutes. The chicken does not have to be cooked through, it should be cooked on the outside and will finish cooking in the next step. When chicken is done turn off the sauté function.
- Add the cashew chicken sauce (that you set aside from earlier) into the instant pot along with the chopped broccoli and red pepper. Stir together. Put the lid on and turn the valve to sealed
- Press 'manual' and set the cook time to 8 minutes.
- Release the valve to let the pressure and steam out. Add in the cashews and the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. To make the cornstarch slurry : mix together the 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water and stir.
- Serve over rice and garnish with sliced green onions and/or sesame seeds if wanted.
Notes
Nutrition
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