Friday, February 19, 2021

Cheesecake Factory Cashew Chicken Copycat

Crispy chicken in a spicy soy sauce with cashews and green onions all over a bed of rice makes for a fantastic dinner

I still haven't been to Cheesecake Factory even though I have made many copycats throughout the years and we literally have one in our mall. Still haven't gone. Maybe we will once the pandemic dies down a little, but until then, I'll just keep making copycats. I love this copycat because I adore cashew chicken stir fry or whatever this dish is.  I really liked this method of making a slurry from rice flour and I really loved the spicy soy sauce too.

What you need:

For the Spicy Soy Sauce: 

  • 1 cup hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. sriracha sauce
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 oz. fresh minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red chili flakes

For the Seasoned Rice Flour:

  • 3/4 cup rice flour
  • 1/5 tsp. salt
  • 1/8 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp. paprika
  • 1/8 tsp. baking powder

For the Rice Flour Batter:

  • 1 cup rice flour
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups ice water
For the Chicken:
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 lb. chicken breasts, cut in bite-size pieces
  • 8 oz. cashews
  • 6 green onions, diced
  • 2 tsp. white sesame seeds
  • Cooked rice for serving

Directions:

  1. For the Spicy Soy Sauce: mix together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and sriracha together. Then add sugar, garlic, and chili flakes. Mix until sugar dissolves.
  2. For the Seasoned Rice Flour: Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix together. 
  3. For the Rice Flour Batter: Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Keep cold.
  4. For the Chicken: Add chicken to seasoned rice flour and toss until well coated.
  5. Add rice flour batter to bowl with chicken and stir gently until chicken is coated evenly.
  6. In a wok or deep skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and fry in batches until brown, crispy, and cooked through.
  7. Empty any leftover oil from skillet and add spicy soy sauce mixture, 3/4 of cashews, 3/4 of green onions into the skillet. Add chicken and toss. Heat through.
  8. Serve chicken over white rice topped with sesame seeds and additional cashews and green onions.

Recipe from Feeding Big [no longer active]

I love a good stir fry with tons of veggies and this Caramelized Cashew Ginger Chicken Stir Fry is one of my all-time favorite recipes. Y'all know I love copycats and this Lighter Kung Pao Chicken Skillet from Whole and Heavenly Oven is a  take on a dish at Panda Express.

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