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Thai Cashew Chicken Recipe
An authentic Thai Cashew Chicken recipe is an absolute must if you’re looking for an exciting new Thai dish to cook and eat. This standout signature dish jumps out amongst all the healthy stir-fry recipes there are here in Thailand. And the best part is that anyone can make it!
This dish’s unique combination of spicy and sweet ingredients naturally form a savory Thai cashew sauce as you go through the recipe steps in order. When served alongside white rice, the rice absorbs and helps slow release the Thai Cashew Chicken’s stimulating greatness with each chew.
Why This Recipe?
As truly one of the best local Thai dishes there is to enjoy (the kind you will find at street food stalls and all the countless local eateries), it’s a great one to know how to make. It’s worthy of working into your monthly meals you make if anybody in the family takes a special liking to it.
Watch and follow-along with Ling as she makes this Thai Cashew Chicken just as the locals in Thailand do.
If you ever visit Thailand, remember to ask for Gai Pad Met Matmuang when trying out different local restaurants.
Enjoy this authentic and easy-to-make Thai chicken recipe
How To Make Thai Cashew Chicken Step-By-Step
Ingredients List
- Chicken breast with skin 300 g.
- Cashews 50 g. *baked raw cashew
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Pepper ½ teaspoon
- Sugar ½ teaspoon
- Dried red chili peppers 5
- Garlic 8 cloves
- Oyster sauce 1 tablespoon *Not fish sauce
- Soy Sauce 1 tablespoon *Non-GMO fermented
- White Onion 1
- Spring Onion leaf 2-3
- Thai Chili paste 1 tablespoon
- Coconut oil 1 tablespoon
Note about the soy sauce. The authentic Thai version of this recipe calls for soy sauce. However, most soy sauce today is commercially produced from GMO soy beans. Traditionally, a fermented non-GMO soy sauce would be used. For this recipe we recommend attaining or making this fermented non-GMO soy sauce. Second to that would be to use a healthy soy-sauce alternative like coconut aminos.
Step 1. Prepare the ingredients
Have all your ingredients together, slice the garlic (chopped or minced garlic are varieties you can try) and the green onion leaf and slice the white onion.
Step 2. Get things heating in garlic
Traditionally on a wok (we always use an iron skillet), start sautéing sliced garlic once you’ve got your cooking coconut oil heated over medium heat. Keep this going until you get a proper fragrance out of the garlic.
Step 3. Add the chicken
Once the garlic is golden brown or has had its flavors brought out a bit, add the chicken into your wok or skillet and let cook over this medium heat with the garlic.
Step 4. Add the white onion
After the chicken has cooked, add the sliced white onion. Keep this going together until the white onion slices have become soft.
Step 5. Add in the rest of the ingredients
Once those white onions are ready, it should be no more than a minute or so, add the Thai Cashew Chicken Recipe seasonings: oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, sugar and Thai chili paste.
Stir-fry until fragrant, then add cashew nuts, dry chili and spring onion leaves right before turning off the heat.
Recipe finished.
Can be served immediately.
Cooking Tips
- When stir-frying, use medium heat and stir at a high speed and not too long. The food will look bouncy, not faded and have a beautiful color to eat.
- If you get crispy chicken before stir-frying, you can fry the chicken first.
- You can choose the level of spiciness by adding as much or as little chili as you like.
- Not pictured is the white rice we ate this with. We’ll have to re-do all the pictures because these ones don’t do it justice in my opinion.
- Eating with white rice does enhance the flavor. The white rice on the side (normal white rice not sticky rice) creates a wonderful contrast even more than the dish by itself has without the rice. So if you’re not trying to limit carbs at the time of eating, yeah I’d definitely recommend eating with white rice.
Next, the Printable PDF version of the recipe.
Thai Cashew Chicken Recipe | Gai Pad Med Mamuang
Equipment
- 1 Iron Skillet or Wok Traditionally a wok would be used.
Ingredients
- 50 g Cashew nuts roasted
- 300 g Chicken breast with skin with skin
- 1 tbsp coconut cooking oil (preferably not vegetable or canola oil as these are horrible for you)
- 8 whole Garlic cloves
- 0.5 tsp Salt sea salt
- 0.5 tsp Pepper black pepper powder
- 0.5 tsp Sugar
- 5 whole Thai red chili peppers dried and sliced
- 1 tbsp Thai red chili paste
- 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce Not fish sauce
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce Non-GMO
- 3 whole Spring onion
- 1 whole White onion
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients. Slice the garlic (will be used first), chop the Spring onion leaf and slice the white onion. We went ahead and poured the amounts of each ingredient in little dishes, so this should help you see what those amounts look like.8 whole Garlic cloves
- Heat coconut oil in wok over medium heat. Traditionally on a wok (we always use an iron skillet), start sautéing the garlic you sliced. Wait until the oil is hot to put the garlic in. Keep heating with occasional stirs over medium heat until you get a proper fragrance out of the sizzling garlic.1 tbsp coconut cooking oil
- Add the chicken. Once the garlic is golden brown or has had its flavors brought out a bit, add the chicken into your wok or skillet and let cook over this medium heat with the garlic.300 g Chicken breast with skin
- Cook the white onions.After the chicken has cooked, with the chicken and everything still in there, add the sliced white onion. Keep this white onion cooking until its become soft.1 whole White onion
- Add in the rest of the ingredients.The white onions won't take long to be ready. Once they're ready, add the recipe's seasonings: oyster sauce, soy sauce, sea salt, black pepper, sugar and the red Thai chili paste.0.5 tsp Salt, 0.5 tsp Pepper, 0.5 tsp Sugar, 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce, 1 tbsp Soy sauce, 1 tbsp Thai red chili paste
- Stir Fry to greatness.Keep stir-frying this until you get a full fragrance coming out. Then add the roasted cashew nuts, dried red chili pepper slices and chopped spring onion leaves right before turning off the heat. Recipe finished. Can be served immediately.50 g Cashew nuts, 5 whole Thai red chili peppers, 3 whole Spring onion
Video
Notes
- Use medium heat and stir at a high speed for not too long (vs slower cooking time over high heat). The food will look bouncy, not faded and have a beautiful color to eat. (this is how Google translates what Ling just said in Thai).
- If you get crispy chicken before stir-frying, you can fry the chicken first.
- You can choose the level of spiciness by adding as much or as little chili as you like.
Nutrition
These Cashew Chicken Photos Don’t Do It Justice!
One glorious day, when we learn how to take beautiful photos like all the food bloggers out there, we’ll update the photos. A historical background section also needs to be added. I know this dish has a history stemming from north of Thailand in China. I will assume that whatever it was before, Thailand made it more delicious. But as I discover this information I’ll come back to add it in.
Although all Thai cashew nut chicken stir fry recipes will use the same ingredients, everyone has their own way to make it. This gives each restaurant serving it their own signature flavor.
In comparison, fried rice or Pad Thai can taste the same at many places. When you’ve found what you think is the best Gai Pad Met Matmuang, it’ll have been well worth it!
We hope you enjoy this authentic Thai food recipe!
It’s one of the best stir-fry dishes in my opinion. I’ve never had a Chinese cashew chicken, so I can’t comment on any comparison. But in terms of Chinese food vs Thai food, there’s not really a comparison.
There may be other Asian recipes around cashew chicken stir-frying as well, but I love this recipe, so the Thai version of this Roasted Cashew Nut Chicken stir fry is the only one I’ve ever sought out thus far.
How Did Yours Turn Out?
Have you made this one before?
Or maybe you remember it from your time in Thailand?
We’d love to know how you like cooking this one!
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