No reviews yet — be the first to rate this recipe.
Created on August 20, 2026
Allergens: Peanuts, Tree nuts, Sesame seeds. May contain, depending on the products used: Cereals containing gluten, Soybeans.Detected automatically from the ingredient list, against Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. Always check the labels of the products you use.
Cashew chicken is a restaurant dish everyone assumes is complicated. It is so far from it that the cooking takes a quarter of an hour: all the work happens beforehand, in the chopping and the marinade, and the pan merely finishes the job. The secret fits in one sentence — the cashews go in last, never before.
We have made a version that looks towards West Africa rather than Canton: grated fresh ginger instead of oyster sauce, a touch of honey, toasted sesame, and fonio in place of rice. Fonio cooks in five minutes, never clumps, and leaves all the room to the sauce. The whole dish is on the table in under an hour, marinating included.
Cashews, by the people who sell them
Here is something almost nobody knows about the cashew: it barely exists raw. The nut grows hanging beneath the cashew apple, sealed in a double shell whose cavity holds a caustic balm, CNSL, chemically related to poison ivy sap. It burns skin. That is why the cashew is the only nut in the world never sold in its shell: it has to be shelled first, and for that it is steamed. What the trade calls a « raw cashew » is therefore a steamed kernel, never roasted — hence its tender texture and milky taste, quite unlike the roasted kind.
Second useful thing: the grade is printed on the label. W240, W320: the W stands for whole, and the number tells you how many kernels make up a pound. The lower the number, the bigger the kernel — and the dearer. For this dish the grade is irrelevant; pieces work perfectly and cost less. Keep the big whole ones for snacking, where size shows.
Third thing, and it is the one that changes the dish: toast them yourself. A shop-roasted cashew was toasted weeks ago, often in oil, and its aroma has long gone. Three minutes in a dry hot pan, and the same kernel gives off a brown-butter smell nothing can match. Three minutes of attention for half the flavour of the dish.
Our organic cashew nuts come from West Africa, where a considerable share of the world crop grows, and arrive in resealable bags from 100 g to 1 kg.
Ingredients
Serves 4:
For the chicken:
- 600 g chicken breast, cut into 2 cm cubes
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, or tamari for a gluten-free version
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 20 g fresh ginger, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Juice of half a lemon
- Pepper
For the stir-fry:
- 120 g organic cashew nuts
- 150 g red pepper, cut into strips
- 120 g onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon organic sesame seeds
To serve:
- 240 g raw organic fonio
- A few coriander or mint leaves
The recipe, step by step
- Marinate. Mix the soy sauce, honey, grated ginger, garlic and lemon juice. Pour over the chicken cubes, turn them by hand so everything is coated, and leave for 30 minutes at room temperature — or up to overnight in the fridge, which is better still.
- Toast the cashews. Dry, in a good hot pan, three minutes, stirring without stopping. They should turn golden, not brown: they carry on cooking off the heat. Set them aside on a plate, never in the pan.
- Cook the fonio. One volume of fonio to two volumes of salted boiling water. Pour it in, cover, take it off the heat, wait five minutes, then fluff with a fork. Keep covered.
- Sear the chicken. Drain the cubes, keeping the marinade. Heat the oil until it just smokes, then sear the chicken in a single layer, without stirring, for two minutes — that still contact is what colours it. Turn, give it two more minutes, and set aside.
- Fry the vegetables. In the same pan, the onion then the pepper, three to four minutes over high heat. They should stay crisp.
- Bring it together. Return the chicken, pour in the reserved marinade, and let it bubble for a minute: it reduces into a glossy glaze that coats everything.
- Off the heat, add the toasted cashews and the sesame. Stir once, not twice. Serve at once over the fonio, with the coriander.
The trick: cashews never go into the pan while it is cooking. Two minutes in the sauce is enough to soften them, and the dish loses its one contrast of texture. Off the heat, at the last moment, always.
Substitutions
- Soy sauce → tamari, for a genuinely gluten-free version. Ordinary soy sauce is brewed with wheat.
- Chicken → prawns, added at the same time as the pepper; or drained, seared firm tofu for a vegetarian version. Use 400 g in that case.
- Cashews → roasted, roughly chopped peanuts. The dish turns more rustic, closer to a dry mafe, and very good.
- Fonio → rice, of course, but you lose the twenty minutes you had gained.
- Honey → a teaspoon of cane sugar or agave syrup. Do not leave it out: it is what makes the sauce shine.
Storing and getting ahead
In the fridge: 3 days in an airtight box. The cashews soften from the next day — unavoidable, and no great loss.
In the freezer: 2 months, but without the cashews or the sesame, which go in at serving.
What can be done the day before: the marinade and the vegetable prep. Chicken marinated overnight is better. Fonio cooks in five minutes; there is no point getting ahead of it.
To reheat: in a pan, two minutes over high heat with a tablespoon of water. The microwave loosens the sauce and softens the chicken.
Equipment
A large frying pan or a wok — the only real requirement, because crowded chicken boils instead of browning. A fine grater for the ginger. Nothing else.
Nutrition
Déclaration nutritionnelle
| Pour 100 g | Par part (341 g) | Total pour 4 parts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Énergie | 191 kcal | 651 kcal | 2,604 kcal |
| Matières grasses | 7.7 g | 26 g | 105 g |
| dont acides gras saturés | 1.4 g | 4.8 g | 19 g |
| Glucides | 15 g | 51 g | 204 g |
| dont sucres * | 1.4 g | 4.9 g | 20 g |
| dont polyols * | 0.1 g | 0.4 g | 1.7 g |
| Fibres alimentaires | 3.9 g | 13 g | 53 g |
| Protéines | 14 g | 47 g | 186 g |
| Sel | 0.52 g | 1.76 g | 7.03 g |
Si vous changez le nombre de parts ci-dessus, seule la dernière colonne bouge — et c’est normal : doubler la recette double le gâteau, pas la part. Les deux premières colonnes décrivent le gâteau lui-même, elles ne dépendent pas du nombre de convives.
Valeurs calculées à partir des ingrédients, pour 4 parts, en tenant compte d’environ 0 % d’évaporation à la cuisson. Elles ne remplacent pas une analyse en laboratoire et varient selon les marques employées.
* La table de référence ne renseigne pas toutes les valeurs pour Poulet, blanc sans la peau, cru, Noix de cajou, crue, Fonio, noir, grains entiers, cru, Oignon, cru, Sésame, graine, Miel. Les lignes marquées d’une astérisque sont donc des minimums : le vrai chiffre est égal ou supérieur. Mieux vaut une valeur basse annoncée comme telle qu’un zéro faux.
Sources des compositions : FAO/INFOODS Food Composition Table for Western Africa (2019) (FAO, CC BY-NC-SA) et Table Ciqual 2025, ANSES (Licence Ouverte / Open Licence (Etalab)).
Two remarks about these figures. A portion is high in protein and a source of fibre within the meaning of the European regulation on nutrition claims — 46 g of protein and 13 g of fibre, which is considerable for a single dish. On the other hand, the soy sauce alone accounts for nearly six of the seven grams of salt in the whole dish: add no other salt, and choose a reduced-salt sauce if this matters to you.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use ready-roasted salted cashews?
Yes, but then leave the salt out of the marinade and taste before seasoning: the soy sauce already brings plenty. The result will be fine, without the aroma of cashews toasted at the last minute.
Is this dish really gluten-free?
Only with tamari. Conventionally brewed soy sauce is made with wheat. Fonio itself is naturally gluten-free, as are cashews and sesame.
Why is my chicken releasing water instead of browning?
Three causes, always the same: the pan was not hot enough, the cubes were still soaked in marinade, or they were too tightly packed. Drain them, get the pan hot, and cook in two batches if you have to.
Can I make this without a non-stick pan?
Yes, and it is even better: a good hot iron or stainless pan gives a colour non-stick never produces. You simply have to wait until the oil smokes before laying the chicken down.
The products in this recipe
What to serve alongside, or try next
- Organic fonio: 5 recipes for 5 uses, from breakfast to dessert — including the raw-fonio coating, which uses the same bag.
- 3 easy and delicious recipes with organic cashews — where cashew cream replaces dairy cream.
- 3 refreshing drink recipes with organic hibiscus flowers — an iced bissap goes very well with this dish.
