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Taking only 30 minutes to make, this Paleo Cashew Chicken is loaded with veggies, lean protein, and so much flavor! It’s a lower carb healthy meal that everybody will devour!
Gluten-Free Cashew Chicken
A quick and simple dinner to throw together, this Cashew Chicken Skillet is the perfect 30-minute meal! Chicken is diced and cooked up together with some Asian-inspired flavors, loads of veggies, and cashews. This dish is free from dairy and can be easily customized to work with what you have on hand.
When the dinner can be prepared in less time than it takes to call up and order from your local take-out, and as delicious as this is, you know it’s going to be a winner!
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken Breasts
- Red Bell Pepper
- Shelled Edamame
- Broccoli
- Sesame Oil + Avocado Oil
- Coconut Aminos
- Rice Vinegar
- Honey
- Chili Garlic Sauce
- Ginger + Garlic
- Arrowroot Starch
- S+P
- Cashews
- Cilantro
Substitutions
Chicken: Use chicken thighs in place of chicken breasts if you want!
Veggies: It’s easy to swap out the veggies with what you have on hand. Just make sure to cut them all into equal-sized pieces, so they cook evenly.
Chili Garlic Sauce: This gives it a nice flavor and a bit of heat. It can be swapped out with some chili flakes if desired.
Coconut Aminos: This is a soy-free soy sauce substitute. You can use soy sauce in its place if you want, but make sure to salt the dish at the end of cooking to ensure it doesn’t taste too salty.
Arrowroot: We haven’t tested this, but believe that tapioca is an ok substitute here.
Sesame oil: This adds a really nice flavor, but if you don’t have it, it can be omitted.
Tips for Making Paleo Cashew Chicken
- Prep up everything before you begin cooking. Because a stir fry is a very quick cooking time, you don’t want to be scrambling around prepping the next step while you are cooking.
- Make sure to cut all chicken and veggies to similar sizes so they cook evenly.
- If you are serving this with an additional side dish (more on that below) make sure to plan that out to have ready right when this will be finished.
How to Serve It
This skillet dinner is perfect to make for nights when you are looking for a quick meal, as this can be eaten as is. But you can serve this in a variety of ways if you wanted to bulk it up even more:
- with cauliflower rice
- with regular rice
- over quinoa
- over a bed of crunchy lettuce
- over spaghetti squash
Watch the video here:
If you like this one-pan dinner, check out these others:
- 30-Minute Loaded Taco Skillet
- Lemon Chicken and Rice Skillet
- One Pan Roast Chicken Dinner
- One Pan Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice
One-Pan Paleo Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/3 cup coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoon honey or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce or chili flakes
- 2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast diced into bite sized pieces (see note)
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 ” piece ginger peeled and grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large red bell pepper cored and diced
- 1 cup shelled edamame if frozen, thawed
- 2 cups 1" broccoli florets
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup roasted and salted cashews
- Minced cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Whisk together sesame oil, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, honey, and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. Set sauce aside.
- Cut chicken into 1" pieces and place inside of a large bowl with arrowroot starch and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to coat the chicken fully.
- Heat avocado oil in a large, heavy skillet. Once hot, lightly brown chicken on both sides, in batches if necessary, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- Remove chicken from the skillet and set aside. To the pan add ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the bell pepper, edamame, broccoli florets and water and cook until the water has evaporated and the veggies are crisp-tender about 5-7 minutes.
- Pour the sauce into the skillet. Once the sauce has boiled, add back the chicken and the cashews and cook through until hot, about 2 more minutes.
- Divide cashew chicken into four bowls, and sprinkle with cilantro. If desired, you can also serve it with rice or cauliflower rice.
Hi! Does this really have 63g of protein per serving? That seems high based on the ingredient list. Thank you!
Made this tonight and it’ll definitely get added into the rotation. I added shredded carrots I had left from a super bowl appetizer I made and used hot honey instead of regular. Delish!
We loved this stir fry. I did use boneless thighs. It was so easy and delicious! As usual, thanks for another great recipe!
Fantastic one-pan meal! My entire family loved it, even the picky kiddos!
Delicious dinner! Everyone loved it!
Any idea what the calories are?
Another home run, thank you Lexi! Easy, healthy, delicious dinner!
The whole family loved this recipe! Thats a big deal with my picky eaters.
Big hit for dinner! Will be making it more often! Thank you!
I made this tonight and really enjoyed it! Super easy, quick recipe and I like that there is flexibility with what veggies you want to put in it. It took a little longer for my sauce to thicken to coat everything but otherwise it was great!