She Coated the Chicken Before It Went Into the Crockpot, Then Added Whole Cashews

Cashews often show up as a garnish once a chicken dish leaves the stove. Christal Sczebel of Nutrition in the Kitch takes a different route with her Crockpot cashew chicken, putting the nuts into the cooker with the sauce, chicken, peppers, and onion.

Half a cup of whole roasted cashews spends up to three hours in the Crockpot. Heat and sauce soften the nuts while leaving enough bite to contrast with the cooked chicken.

Chicken Gets Coated Before It Reaches the Crockpot

Chicken breasts are cut into small cubes, then tossed with tapioca starch or arrowroot flour. The coated pieces go into a hot pan with olive or coconut oil for a short browning step.

From there, the chicken moves to the Crockpot with sliced yellow onion and diced red bell peppers. The starch coating serves another purpose during the cook, helping the sauce gain body as the ingredients heat.

Sauce Combines Sweet, Salty, and Tangy Ingredients

Sczebel builds the sauce from gluten-free soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, water, ketchup, coconut palm sugar, garlic, and ginger. Each ingredient gets whisked together before the mixture reaches the Crockpot.

Ketchup and coconut palm sugar bring sweetness, while soy sauce supplies the salty side. Rice wine vinegar adds acidity against both. More ketchup can be added when the sauce needs extra thickness.

Whole Cashews Cook in the Sauce

Instead of holding the roasted cashews for the finished plate, Sczebel includes half a cup in the sauce mixture. Once poured into the Crockpot, the nuts sit among the chicken, peppers, and onion.

Three hours on low changes their texture. The cashews absorb some of the sauce and soften without turning into a paste, leaving a firmer element among the chicken and vegetables.

Three Hours on Low Finishes the Dish

With the chicken browned and the ingredients combined, the Crockpot is covered and set on low for three hours. A faster option calls for one to two hours on high.

Chopped green onion, sesame seeds, or more roasted cashews can go over the finished dish. Sczebel serves the chicken with rice or quinoa, while lettuce wraps offer another way to use the mixture.