Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken
Better than take-out! Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken features juicy bites of chicken, tender-crisp vegetables, and crunchy cashews — all in a delicious orange ginger sauce. Cooking it all on a sheet pan makes it an easy meal with little clean-up!
This recipe adapts incredibly well to whatever vegetables you have on hand. It’s also easy to prepare in advance which makes it perfect for busy weeknights. You can cut up the chicken, vegetables, and garnishes ahead of time, and make the sauce. Just heat up the sauce briefly before using!
How long does Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken take to make?
The sauce takes mere minutes to cook! The sheet pan ingredients take about 20-30 minutes to cook. While it’s cooking, you can prepare some rice or noodles to accompany the cashew chicken.
Let’s talk about the ingredients for Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken
Chicken – I love using boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat for this, because you can cook it for a long time without it drying out.
Vegetables – For this recipe, I used three colours of bell pepper, snow peas, and red onion. Green onions and cilantro make great garnishes!
Sauce – I used tons of fresh ginger, orange juice, orange zest, crushed garlic, soy sauce, roasted sesame oil, and chili sauce. The sauce is thickened with corn starch to make it rich and glossy.
Can I Make Substitutions?
Chicken – You can use boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into bite-size pieces. I would keep the chicken breast to one side of the sheet pan, so you can remove it easily if it cooks faster than the vegetables. You can also try ground chicken or turkey!
Vegetables – As I noted above, you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Other veg you can try: broccoli, sugar snap peas, winter squash, carrots, etc.
Sauce – If you aren’t able to get a fresh orange to juice, you can use orange juice from the carton!
Aromatics – Fresh ginger and garlic are amazing in the sauce, but you can substitute ground ginger and garlic powder in a pinch.
Rice – This recipe is delicious with rice. You can also try noodles! If you cut the chicken and vegetables into smaller than bite size pieces, you could also enjoy this recipe as a lettuce wrap!
Can Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken be Gluten-Free?
Yes! The sauce is thickened with corn starch. If you ensure your soy sauce is gluten-free by using Tamari or similar, this recipe is gluten-free.
This recipe is also dairy-free.
The Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken Method
First, you cook up the sauce — which only takes a few minutes!
Cut up all the sheet pan ingredients and toss it in the oven. Depending on your vegetables and how small you cut them, it could take 20-30 minutes.
While the chicken mixture is cooking, you can prepare your rice.
Watch how to make Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken
Sheet Pan Orange Cashew Chicken
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Sauce pan small
- parchment paper or aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 cup snow peas
- ½ red onion chopped
- 1 bunch green onions sliced, white and green parts separated
- ½ cup cashews
Sauce
- ½ cup orange juice
- Zest from one orange
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger peeled & grated
- 4 cloves garlic peeled & grated
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
To serve
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions
- Fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 cups cooked white rice ½ cup per serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare a sheet pan by lining with parchment paper, or aluminum foil, or spraying with oil. Set aside.
- Make the sauce: In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add orange juice, zest, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, ginger, garlic, maple syrup, and rice vinegar. Bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch you mixed with water to the pot and stir until sauce thickens; just a minute or two. Remove from heat.
- Cut chicken and vegetables into bite-size pieces and add to sheet pan along with the sliced white green onion parts. Drizzle over ½ of the orange ginger sauce and mix until everything is coated in sauce. Make sure chicken and vegetables are in a single layer.
- Cook for 20-30 minutes or until peppers are slightly softened. Remove from the oven.
- Divide rice into four bowls. Top with a fourth of the chicken vegetable mixture, then top with remaining sauce.
- Garnish with sesame seeds, green parts of the green onions, and chopped cilantro.