Your favorite takeout can now be made completely in the Instant Pot with clean ingredients! This Instant Pot Cashew Chicken Stir Fry is perfect for weeknight dinners or meal prep — and it’s ready to serve in 45 minutes or less.

Takeout Taste, Healthy Ingredients

Cashew chicken is always one of my go-tos when we’re having takeout for dinner, and until now, we’ve never been able to replicate that delicious sauce and perfectly cooked chicken and veggies of our favorite takeout restaurants in a home-cooked version. Well, today’s the day! We’ve perfected the classic cashew chicken dish and make it COMPLETELY IN THE INSTANT POT. The sauce is spot-on (and only 5 ingredients!), the veggies are never mushy, and the chicken is cooked to perfection. And if you’re like us, this will quickly become one of your weeknight dinner faves 😀

How to Make Instant Pot Cashew Chicken

Instant Pot recipes (especially ones with multiple steps, using multiple Instant Pot features) can be intimidating, we get it. This is why we’re here to walk you through this recipe step-by-step to ensure your Instant Pot cashew chicken is oh so delicious every time. Lez do it:

Make the Stir Fry Sauce

First, you’ll prepare the most delicious (and clean ingredient!) stir fry sauce you’ve ever had. In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, maple syrup, minced garlic, grated ginger, and white rice vinegar, and then set aside.

Prepare Chicken

Next, you’ll prepare the chicken breasts by slicing into 1-inch chunks like the image above. Pro Tip: use a plastic or other non-porous cutting board when dicing your chicken breast to avoid cross-contamination of the raw chicken.

Turn on Instant Pot to Sauté

Turn on your Instant Pot’s sauté feature, and heat 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil in the Instant Pot. When olive oil is fragrant, add diced chicken breast and cook for 1 to 2 minutes to brown. Note: your diced chicken will NOT be fully cooked — it will cook the rest of the way in the next step. Then, turn OFF the sauté feature and add stir fry sauce, and toss chicken and sauce together.

Turn Instant Pot to Manual High

Cover your Instant Pot and turn the valve to seal. Cook on manual high pressure for 4 minutes. Note: The Instant Pot should take a few minutes to build pressure, but eventually it will count down from 4 minutes.

Prep Stir Fry Veggies

While the chicken is cooking, prepare your stir fry vegetables by dicing 2 large red peppers and cutting broccoli into bite-sized florets. Then, set aside.

Slurry Time

Next, prepare a slurry. What is a slurry, you ask? It’s a mixture of a thickening agent (in this case, corn starch!) and water to help thicken a sauce, stew or soup. You’ll make the slurry by whisking together 1/4 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl.

Quick Release Instant Pot

Once the Instant Pot beeps, quick release to release the steam that has built up. Once your Instant Pot is done quick releasing, remove the top and add chopped veggies, the slurry, and raw cashews into the Instant Pot, and toss everything together.

Sauté Round 2

Turn on the Instant Pot’s sauté feature again, and sauté for approximately 3 minutes, or until sauce has thickened.

Steam Stir Fry Veggies

Once the sauce has thickened, turn off the sauté feature and immediately cover the Instant Pot for around 5 minutes to let the veggies steam and fully cook. Note: your Instant Pot will be OFF during this time, but still hot enough to steam the veggies. Remove lid and assess how cooked the veggies are. If they are still too al dente need to continue cooking, put the top back on to continue steaming. Remember, no one likes overcooked veggies! Note: You can always turn the sauté feature back on at this time, and cook your veggies that way if steaming is not working well for you. We tested pressure cooking the veggies on manual high for ‘0 minutes,’ but found that the veggies came out just a little over cooked.

Serve and Enjoy!

Serve over your favorite grain. We love a classic white rice with this stir fry recipe, but any of the following would be delicious as well:

• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Healthy fried rice
• Cauliflower rice
• In a lettuce wrap!

More Instant Pot Meals

• Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff
• Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
• Instant Pot Pork Chops
• Instant Pot Sweet Potato Curry

More Asian Recipes

• Instant Pot Healthy Fried Rice
• Asian Zing Cauliflower Wings
• Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli
• Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowls

Photos by: The Wooden Skillet