just a few things you may want to remember:

Be sure to bring the marinade to a boil before serving!
- it is contaminated with raw chicken and should simmer and reduce for at least 10 minutes or so to kill all bacteria

-consider using chili-garlic sauce or some asian spicy condiment instead of the southwestern flavored chili powder (cumin doesnt fit well into cashew chicken)

-add more aromatics such as ginger and garlic, tastier and healthier

-dont forget to salt the cashew water

I really look forward to making this for my family...I am about to head to the grocery store and get the ingredients, just to be able to make this tonight. Cashew Chicken is one of my favorite dishes.

I think this sounds fabulous, and not too much trouble for a weeknight meal. I wonder, would marinating the chicken overnight be too much?

cashew chicken always reminds me of my wife and my cross-country move of a couple years ago. we stayed the night in springfield, mo and went out for dinner to some brewery/restaurant. the waiter arrived and told us the specials, ending with "and, of course, cashew chicken". he left and we were left to wonder what the heck that meant. come to find out, the dish was first served in springfield in 1963 at Leong's Tea House. it's the unofficial "national" dish of the city!

this looks AMAZING! Would this recipe work with the hot chiles to make it spicier or would that be a bit overkill?

i think it's great, but you should test adding, pineapple, ginger, bamboo or other chineese-like ingredients

Hi Lauren - can one over-marinate chicken? I don't know. I would try it and see.

Hi Dave - Who would have thunk?

Hi Rebecca - I thought it was perfectly spiced as it was, but everyone has their own comfort level of hotness, so experiment and let us know!

Hi Benja - Great suggestions, thank you.

Elise, I made this last night and it was great. Thank you! (and Marc)

Looks and sounds great.
I'm just experimenting with cooking again(more a steak/potato, or sandwhichs sort normally).
Can't wait to try this out.

Made this for dinner tonight. It's EXCELLENT. My only regret is that I made half the sauce amount hinking the full amount might be too much. Won't do that again! I added veggies too, which I stir-fried separately then tossed in at the end. This recipe is a perfect example of a few simple ingredients creating a wonderful, flavourful dish. Yum. Yum.

Just wanted to thank you for the great recipe! I've made it several times since first seeing it a few weeks ago, and wanted to tell you how much my boyfriend and I enjoy it.
Thanks again!

After the Thanksgiving turkey, roast beef, meatloaf, chicken potpie, ginger snaps and carrot cake (for his birthday), this dish finally prompted my bf to tell me I need to post a comment on your site to show how much we enjoy the recipes. :)So thank you.

Being Korean, I'm picky about all types of Asian food. The chili powder didn't stand out at all for me but I did add some ginger in the marinade. I also made slight modifications:

* Made the marinade separately (all liquid ingredients only, put chilli powder directly on the chicken) and cooked veggies first, set aside, cooked the chicken and added cooked veggies later

* Added 1 teaspon minced fresh ginger in the marinade

* Added 1 green pepper cut into 1 inch cubes to onions and mushrooms

* Added constarch mixture at the end to thicken the sauce

I would definitely make this many times over again! Thanks again.

Thanks so much for sharing this easy and delicious recipe! My roasted cashews were begging to be included in a tempting meal so I decided to be creative and use what I had on hand. This is the "quick as you can" modification to this great recipe:

Replace raw chicken breasts with roasted chicken picked up in the deli section of the supermarket. Slice breast meat, etc into cubes.

Substitute roasted and salted cashews instead of uncooked. Boil as in original recipe.

Substitute sesame oil & a little olive oil if you don't have peanut oil. (Would this be a healthier option?)

No need to worry about contamination since chicken is already cooked!

If I had green onions I might add along with the ginger others have mentioned.

One word- YUM!

Just tried your cashew chicken recipe and LOVE it! Thanks! :)

This recipe is incredible. I am newly-wed and was searching online for a recipe to use in our new wok. My husband and I absolutely loved it and it is easy to make. with plenty of left-overs. Just a note. I wasnt able to find raw cashews, so I used roasted and salted ones. and I substituted olive oil for the peanut oil. But it all worked just the same. This will be a regular in my kitchen. Thanks so much.
Stacy

Going to make this tonight. Looks delicious. Chef Justin, I'm thinking cumin is used in Indian/ South Asian cuisine. So it wouldn't be too foreign, right?

Made this tonight as I was looking for a cashew chicken that didn't require flour or corn starch (since I didn't have any). Ended up still having to run to the store to get some mushrooms and another onion, but I love it!

I agree with everyone who suggested additional ingredients, but as a base this was absolutely fabulous. Just learning to cook, and while this might have taken a regular cook only 30-45 mins, I thought the 2 hours (including walk to the store) wasn't all that bad (I'm very casual when I cook lately as I find it relaxing).

The recommended spice was just the right amount for me (I like things at at a medium hotness), and I added a little bit of sriracha chili sauce for the rice (I only had white rice), and it sweetened it a bit (worked for me).

Used 2 large chicken breasts, and cut half a cup of onions and mushrooms from the recipe -- and I now have food for probably another 2-3 hefty meals :)

Thanks to Marc and Elise!