Pressure cooker cashew chicken is to die for! You just need a few ingredients to make this sweet sauce with crunchy nuts and tender pieces of chicken. You can make it in your Ninja Foodi too.
Last night we made cashew chicken for dinner and served it over rice. OH MY was it good! You can use breasts or thighs to make it with a rich savory sauce that has a bit of crunch from the whole nuts we included too. We love easy Instant Pot recipes!
Easy Cashew Chicken Recipe
We also just got a Ninja Foodi and it’s the bomb too. It works the same way except you can air fry at the end if you want. In this case you’re just pressure cooking. You can make it in a Crockpot Express too. I honestly can say I haven’t turned on my oven in months.
I bet you’re a Panda Express fan right? We are, but my wallet can’t handle it several times a week. Now you can make their very favorite dish at home, and adjust the heat to your liking too. This will surely become part of your weekly meal plans too.
Ingredient Notes
You are going to want to use either chicken breasts or chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces. This is how you get it done in less than 30 minutes flat with a sweet sauce.
There may be a few ingredients that you might need to buy such as hoisin sauce. If you haven’t heard of this, it is super versatile and what makes a lot of Asian dishes sweet with a thick dark sauce. I’m sure you have soy sauce.
Add a bit more or less soy sauce (or gluten free aminos) for a saltier base. As always, I say you should adjust it to your taste buds.
Minced garlic has a pop to it and is kinda’ expected when you try most Asian dishes. I use a scoop out of a jar but diced from fresh is great too.
Rice vinegar gives it a zing of flavor you would expect in this sauce. It is not as intense as regular white vinegar but if that is all you have I might cut the amount in half so it isn’t overwhelming.
Chicken broth is the best liquid to use to cook everything to tender. It has the most flavor to offer, stock is another option.
Cashews added in at the end are nice. You get a fresh bit of crunch to the dish that kids typically enjoy as a little surprise in their mouths.
At the end I suggest you take that last step to thicken the sauce with cornstarch. If you don’t want to of course you can skip that.
My girls all agree it is one of their favorite meals over rice. You can skip the nuts on the top or skip that step if you want. You don’t even need to precook the meat beforehand. Cooked in your sauce for 4 minutes on high pressure your meat it is done to perfection. So moist too.
Variations and Substitutions
Oh yeah, and you can add a bit of heat too if you’d like. We don’t. A squeeze of Sriracha or a pinch of chili powder would do the trick though. That’s what’s great about making homemade cashew chicken, you can make it JUST like you want it. If you want with rice make that separately.
Using chicken broth instead of water also gives this one pot meal more flavor. It definitely isn’t lacking of that! Similar to our Instant Pot honey chicken or Instant Pot Hawaiian chicken I highly suggest you cube meat into the same size (bite sized) to soak in the sauce as it cooks.
Do you have to brown meat before putting in a pressure cooker?
NO. You do NOT need to precook or saute this chicken before you pressure cook it though you could with the saute function. It cooks all at the same time and in just 4 minutes flat which makes for a short cook time!! Seriously. Some recipes like our Instant Pot crack chicken casserole you do. So it depends on what you’re cooking.
How do you the thicken sauce?
In a small bowl whisk together some of the hot liquid out of your pot with your cornstarch. Make sure it is nice and smooth, now dump that into your pot. Stir and allow to thicken. Turn pot off and serve immediately over rice or pressure cooker quinoa!
Instant Pot Cashew Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 1 cutting board
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken, boneless skinless breasts or thighs, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 tbsp sesame oil, or olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 3 whole green onions, sliced
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup cashews, roasted
- 2 tbsp cornstarch, optional to thicken sauce
Instructions
- Put your diced chicken, sesame or olive oil, salt, minced garlic, pepper, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and chicken broth into your pressure cooker. Stir.
- Close pressure cooker lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 4 minutes.
- Do a quick release when done. Open lid and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together your cornstarch and 5 tbsp of hot liquid from your pot until smooth.
- Set your pressure cooker to saute and when sauce inside begins to bubble pour your cornstarch mixture in and stir for 1 minute. Then turn pot off.
- Dice green onions and put into pot, add as many roasted cashews as you’d like. Stir so everything is combined well.
- Serve alone or on top of rice!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How many carbs are in cashew chicken?
That depends on what recipe you’re following but for ours the nutritional information is all listed below in the recipe card. Each serving is calculated for 3 ounces of the chicken and sauce itself. We always serve it with a side.
Other family favorite one pot meals you’ll love
Try our peanut butter chicken. Panda Express has firecracker chicken or Instant Pot orange chicken you can make yourself too. Or try something new with our Instant Pot lemon chicken dish we love. Looking for more pressure cooker chicken recipes? We have a LOT but our spicy Instant Pot teriyaki chicken is always a winner.
Loved it. More cashews and a little less vinegar.
Hi, can you use precooked chicken breasts rather than raw? If so does the cooking time change?
Thanks, Conni
You could. I would almost just add those with the sauce on saute and just warm together since it doesn’t need to be cooked
This is wonderful! Great timing and directions. The flavors really come together better than the wok version! Thank you for the fabulous recipe! Nyummers!
The vinegar flavor seems a little strong to me. Can I reduce it by half without completely changing it?
If you feel it is strong to you then of course reduce it a bit to your liking.
Is 1/4 cup chicken stock enough? I thought you need 1 cup minimum in a 6 qt pressure cooker
Juices are created when cooking chicken, I wouldn’t share a recipe that didn’t work.
Would be nice to have ingredients with measurements.
@Stephen, It is right there in the recipe card at the very bottom of the post.
We love this recipe! Thank you! 🙂 My only question is whether it would work better to blend the cornstarch with cold water–that is how I was taught to thicken things, as it is less lumpy. Also, I toss in a bag of frozen peas after it has thickened, and let the heat of the sauce cook them. So yummy!
@Bethany Seeley, it says in the directions to mix with cold water.
I had to go through the article again to see if it said it too.