Paleo Cashew Chicken Recipe (Video) - A Spicy Perspective (2024)

FAQs

Is cashew good for a paleo diet? ›

Luckily, paleo followers can make a quick substitute for popular dairy products with cashews as the base, thanks to the creamy texture of the nut. Cashews can be turned into milk, butter, or even cream products that mimic cream cheese or sour cream.

In a small bowl, mix together your sauce by combining light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, white pepper, msg, chicken stock, and cornstarch.

Chef David Leong invented Springfield-style cashew chicken in Springfield in the 1960s. David Leong — the Chinese American chef who invented Springfield cashew chicken — never intended to be an innovator. In the beginning, cooking was a form of survival.

Cashew chicken is simply a stir fry of chicken and cashews with a sauce that's got a salty-sweet flavour profile.

Research suggests that people who eat a small serving of cashews every day may see a small reduction in LDL "bad" cholesterol. Not only can they lower bad cholesterol, cashews may help prevent heart disease due to their high magnesium content.

If you're eating any nuts more often than as the occasional garnish, it may be too much. Because all nuts and seeds are high in inflammatory Omega 6s, and low in Omega 3s, they should be considered more of a garnish, rather than a go-to source of daily fat intake.

Cashew chicken (1 cup) contains 12.3g total carbs, 10.7g net carbs, 18.5g fat, 25.2g protein, and 312 calories.

The Springfield version uses deep-fried breaded chunks instead of naked slices, with only cashews and a thicker sauce of stock, cornstarch, soy and oyster sauces, more reminiscent of Asian flavored brown gravy.

Unlike another nutty stir-fry favorite, Kung Pao Chicken (which is cooked with chillies and roasted peanuts), cashew chicken (also called chicken with cashew nuts) has a mild, lightly sweet brown sauce, the perfect complement to roasted cashews.

More popularly, “almond chicken” in America's wide swath of Chinese-American restaurants would mean a version of cashew chicken, a dish of diced poultry, stir-fried with vegetables and cashews and then topped with toasted almonds; elsewhere, the chicken would be appropriately breaded, fried, and almond-topped, but ...

Is cashew chicken a Missouri thing? ›

"Cashew chicken is selected for and shall be known as the official dish for the state of Missouri," the text of HB 1624 reads. "Deep-fried cashew chicken is now served in more than seventy restaurants in the Springfield area."

Nutty, saucy and unbelievably satisfying, Springfield-style cashew chicken is the most well-known dish to come out of Springfield, Missouri. David Leong, founder of Leong's Asian Diner, created the recipe to draw more customers into the restaurant – which was called Leong's Tea House at the time.

Though regional variations exist, most modern hoisin sauce recipes contain some combination of the following ingredients: fermented soybeans, five-spice powder, garlic, red chili peppers, and sugar. "Hoisin" comes from the Cantonese word for seafood, though it's not commonly associated with seafood dishes.

Ingredients. The key ingredient of hoisin sauce is fermented soybean paste. Some hoisin sauce ingredients include starches such as sweet potato, wheat and rice, and water, sugar, soybeans, sesame seeds, white distilled vinegar, salt, garlic, red chili peppers, and sometimes preservatives or coloring agents.

Nuts and seeds such as macadamia nuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds play an important role on the paleo diet. As do healthy fats and oils from fruits or nuts (extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil coconut oil, walnut oil, etc.).

Consuming cashew nuts in excess can result in constipation or weight gain. It may also trigger an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals.

Nutrient Composition of Cashew Nuts:

They contain healthy fats, predominantly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications associated with diabetes.

Cashews have a higher net carb count than almonds and walnuts. Walnuts are winning the omega-3 race. Cashews and almonds both offer a hefty dose of omega-3 fatty acids. Still, walnuts come out on top every time.