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Sweet and spicy flavors unite when you make slow cooker cashew chicken with tender snap peas. Although a lot of Chinese chicken recipes involve stir frying, this one uses a crockpot or slow cooker instead and that also helps both meld and intensify the wonderful flavors. Succulent chicken, crunchy cashews and fresh snap peas combine with the most delicious sauce that has sweet, spicy and savory elements. It’s easily as good as what you’d get at a Chinese restaurant; in fact I think it’s even better.
Have you ever made cashew chicken? The chicken comes out so juicy and delicious while the sweet, spiced sauce coats the chicken, sugar snaps and cashews beautifully.
Also try crockpot sausage and peppers or this Thai coconut, chicken and sweet potato soup. Another winning dish is crispy ginger beef.
Why You’ll Love It
Such rich flavors: Bold vibrant flavors like sweet hoisin, tangy rice wine vinegar, fragrant ginger and garlic, and tender chicken feature in this lip-smackingly delicious dish.
Easy to prepare: You simply brown the chicken and add it to a slow cooker with the remaining ingredients. Whisk up the sauce, pour that in too, and then slow cook until done. So easy!
Great for a crowd: I love making dishes like this when friends come over because I can prepare it in the morning and forget all about it until dinnertime! It’s an easy recipe to double too. Just make plenty of rice and that’s all you need!
Dairy-free: There’s no dairy in this cashew chicken recipe.
Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Chicken breast: You can use chicken thighs instead if you prefer.
Snap peas: These add a fresh flavor, as well as crunch and freshness.
Cornstarch: To coat the chicken pieces and give them a golden crust.
Soy sauce: For a savory, salty flavor.
Rice wine vinegar: Adds a sour tang to cut through the sweet flavors.
Hoisin sauce: For sweetness.
Garlic and ginger: Aromatic flavors that suit the dish so well.
Hot sauce: Use gochujang (a Korean chili sauce) or Sriracha.
Honey: Adds sweetness and a wonderful stickiness to the sauce.
Orange juice: For a fruity flavor.
How to Make Chinese Chicken
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Sauté the chicken pieces: Toss the chicken in cornstarch and then sauté it in a pan.
Slow cook the chicken and sugar snaps: Next, cook the chicken in the slow cooker and then add the sugar snaps plus about half of the nuts.
Prepare the sauce: The sauce is really simple to make. You just have to whisk the ingredients together and add it to the crockpot.
Slow cook: Now just let the slow cooker cashew chicken cook for about 6 hours.
The finishing touches: Add the remaining nuts and serve garnished with green onions. Enjoy!
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free: This cashew chicken recipe is not gluten free because of the hoisin sauce and gochujang. To make gluten free cashew chicken, replace the hoisin for additional soy or tamari sauce and use sriracha in place of the gochujang.
Chicken breast: Use chicken thighs instead.
Snap peas: Substitute mushrooms, carrots, bell pepper, or any other veggies you want.
Soy sauce: You can use tamari instead.
Extra-spicy: Double up on the red pepper flakes.
Reduced salt: If you’re trying to reduce your salt intake, reduce the soy or tamari sauce to 1/2 cup and add 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth.
Cashews: I don’t recommend using salted cashews or the dish might be too salty. In a pinch, if that is all you have, you can rinse them off and then sauté them dry before adding them to the slow cooker. You can make this recipe with peanuts if you prefer those. Peanuts are technically a legume but they suit a lot of Asian dishes.
Serving Suggestions
Appetizers: Enjoy pork egg roll in a bowl or these turkey potstickers.
Side dishes: This crockpot Chinese chicken recipe with cashews is good paired with rice. Boiled rice works well or you could make hibachi fried rice or hibachi noodles if you prefer. Another option is cauliflower rice which is low in carbs.
Dessert: Finish off with this jiggly Japanese cheesecake.
How to Store Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
Store: Leftover Crockpot cashew chicken will be good for about 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Make sure you let it cool completely before storing else the cashews will get soggy.
Freeze: You can also freeze Chinese cashew chicken by storing in a freezer safe airtight container for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Defrost it overnight in the refrigerator.
Reheat: You can warm it back up in the microwave or in a pan on the stove, as you prefer.
Top Tips
Coat the chicken in cornstarch: The reason for this is it helps to seal the chicken pieces. This helps it stay juicy inside and crisp up to a delicious golden brown on the outside.
Don’t cook the chicken through: You just need to brown it. It continues cooking in the slow cooker.
Reheating tip: The cashews lose their crunch when the dish is stored and reheated. To add a bit more crunch you could throw in a few more cashews before reheating it.
Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe FAQs
This ingredient adds incredible flavor to this easy slow cooker chicken recipe. Gochujang is a type of red chili paste with savory, sweet and spicy elements. It’s used lots in Korean cooking. You can sub sriracha instead or, for less of a spicy flavor, just omit it from this crockpot chicken with cashew nuts.
Since sugar snaps are the only vegetable in this slow cooker recipe, you might like to serve a vegetable on the side either with the rice or in place of it. Broccoli would be good or you could have mushrooms or green beans. Maybe you’d prefer a vegetable medley, in which case you can chop various vegetables into more or less equal size pieces. Then simply stir-fry them in a little oil. I like using a range of colors, so perhaps something like broccoli, red bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, and maybe some yellow bell pepper too.
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken Recipe
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Cups snap peas
- 1 Cup cashews, unsalted
For the Sauce:
- 3/4 Cup soy sauce, or soy sauce, low-sodium recommended
- 1/4 Cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 Cup chili sauce, sweet
- 1 Tablespoon gochujang chili paste, or Sriracha
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 Tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
- 4 Cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 orange, juiced, about ¼ cup
- 1 green onion , diced
Instructions
- Heat a frying pan or skillet on the stove over medium high heat.
- Add diced chicken to a bowl with cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.
- Add olive oil to the hot pan and swirl to coat. Add chicken and brown for 4 minutes, tossing frequently as it cooks.
- Remove chicken from heat and add to the slow cooker. Chicken should not be fully cooked. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour.
- Add sugar snap peas and half of the cashews to the slow cooker.
- At the one hour mark, prepare the sauce. In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients for and whisk well.
- Pour cashew sauce into the slow cooker over the chicken, sugar snap peas, and cashews. Toss lightly.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Add remaining cashews when 30 minutes are remaining.
Notes
Don’t cook the chicken through: You just need to brown it. It continues cooking in the slow cooker.
Reheating tip: The cashews lose their crunch when the dish is stored and reheated. To add a bit more crunch you could throw in a few more cashews before reheating it.
Nutrition
Better than any takeout chicken I’ve ever tried, crockpot cashew chicken is a real winner. Everything from the moist, golden brown chicken to the crunchy cashews, fresh vegetables and delicious sauce is perfect! This will become one of your favorite Asian chicken crock pot recipes.
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
After this is cooked, does it freeze well and then just reheated in the microwave?
I’ve frozen it and it does freeze and reheat well (microwave or stovetop). The cashews will thaw out a little softer so I like to throw in another handful when reheating so the recipe still has crunch.
Crock pot cashew chicken is a total winner! Moist chicken, crunchy cashews, and all!
This is my new go-to slow cooker chicken recipe. 😋
This recipe is one of my go-to choices when I am craving Oriental food! Never fails!
It doesn’t get any better than this! My favorite recipe of yours 🙂
This recipe was a winner! It left me craving more.
My electric wok used to be my go-to gadget in the kitchen, typically for Chinese dishes. It stopped working suddenly last week so I decided to try something new and made this in my crockpot. The slow cooking worked really well here and I loved the texture and flavors. I might just stick to using the crockpot in future!
My sister had a stroke and I try to give her meals for the freezer that she just has to “dump” in the slow cooker with minimal additional effort. How might I do this with the Cashew Chicken with Snap Peas?
Hi, this recipe isn’t a good one to freeze ahead of time. I have done that with this recipe and it worked well. https://xoxobella.com/slow-cooker-chunky-ham-potato-cheese-and-broccoli-soup/
this looks so tasty. I am going to make this on the weekend!