Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken is spicy, sweet, crispy & crunchy, this dish is everything you could hope for and more in a copycat Chinese food recipe!
One of the most popular items on their menu, this recipe is authentically from the Cheesecake Factory, shared with a local news channel.
Ok, I know what you are thinking…wow this recipe is full of a ton of ingredients and looks like it takes forever. It is true, there are more steps than normal, definitely more ingredients than I normally use and the set-up does require a number of bowls.
Yes, this dish is officially high maintenance. But then you see this… at the end of all that work and you forget about all the steps and all the ingredients and all the dirty dished.
OR, you’ve actually been to the Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed this dish, so you know that while it may take a while to make, you would make it even if it took twice as long. It is just. THAT. GOOD.
The chicken in this Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken recipe has a few steps but it reads harder than it actually is to cook it! 
Want more Chinese Food Recipes?
- Honey Orange Firecracker Shrimp
- Panda Express Orange Chicken (Copycat)
- PF Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken
- California Pizza Kitchen’s Kung Pao Chicken Spaghetti
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Easy Mongolian Beef
- Panda Express Recipes… every single one in fact: Panda Express Recipes Index
- Many more Chinese food options…
Tools Used in the making of this Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken recipe:
Rice Flour: To make this dish authentically I use rice flour. I have also made it using cornstarch and flour in a 1:1 ratio in the past and the flavor is a bit different but in a pinch go for it!
Hoisin Sauce: This is like Asian BBQ Sauce, a ton of flavor and easy to use.
Sherry Wine: A sweet wine, if you can’t source this or don’t have time to order online you can swap white wine since the sauce already has sugar in it.
Low Sodium Soy Sauce – I find regular soy sauce much too salty, remember you can always add salt but you can’t subtract it. Starting with low sodium allows you to alter to your tastes if necessary.
Cheesecake Factory's Spicy Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast , cut into bite size chunks
- Seasoned Rice Flour (ingredients below)
- Rice Flour Batter (ingredients below)
- Spicy Soy-Sherry Sauce (ingredients below)
- 8 ounces Cashews
- 6 green onions , cut into 1/4" pieces
SEASONED RICE FLOUR
- 3/4 cup Rice Flour
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/8 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon Paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon Baking Powder
RICE FLOUR BATTER
- 1 1/2 cups Rice Flour
- 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 1/2 cups Ice Water
SPICY SOY-SHERRY SAUCE
- 1 cup Hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Sherry Wine
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 ounces fresh garlic , minced
- 1/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Chili Flakes
Instructions
TO MAKE SEASONED RICE FLOUR:
Mix the ingredients into a bowl together.
TO MAKE THE BATTER:
- Combine all the ingredients together, in a bowl over ice. Keep COLD.
TO MAKE THE SAUCE:
- Combine the sauce ingredients together and mix well.
TO COOK THE DISH:
- Toss the chicken with the seasoned flour.
- Put the batter into a large bowl with the chicken.
- Carefully combine the two until well coated.
- Heat the canola oil in a large pan or wok on medium high.
Add the chicken pieces to the pan, and cook 3 minutes on each side until browned and crispy.
- Break apart any pieces that stay stuck together.
Add the sauce and cashews into the pan. Add in the green onions.
- Toss all the ingredients together until well coated.
Let cook for 30 seconds to a minute for the sauce to thicken.
- Garnish with sesame seeds, parsley and crushed cashews.
Recipe Notes
Recipe adapted from ABC News courtesy of the Cheesecake Factory.
Most of the ingredients in this recipe are easy enough to find. If you have trouble finding rice flour, use cake or pastry flour. In a pinch you can even substitute half all purpose flour and half cornstarch.
Here are the pictures from when this was originally posted on June 17, 2015:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The Cheesecake Factory has a large and diverse menu. Every time I go, I tell myself that I will order something other than the Spicy Cashew Chicken. 8-10 visits later, I haven’t been able to follow through.
I just found your recipe this morning. I’m making it for the family tonight.
It’s so hard to deviate from your favorites, I totally get that!
Really good! Omitted salt from flour due to using salted cashews
This is so salty, I think my BP rose. There’s tons of salt in the hoisin sauce, the soy sauce (even though I used reduced sodium), then you add kosher salt, then cashews. Holy smokes! There’s too much sauce. That could be cut by a third. There’s way too much garlic, and I happen to like garlic. I would suggest cashews without salt and don’t put extra salt in the seasoned rice flour nor in the batter mix. You also need more oil for frying than 1/3 cup.
This recipe is awesome, but the batter sucks. It’s really thick but it didn’t stick to the chicken. I definitely plan to make this again but I’m going to skip the batter and just coat the chicken with the seasoned rice flour mix.
Followed exactly. Really good.
Wow, this was delicious! A little time consuming but not difficult. My batter was very thick and sticky, did not look like it does in the picture here, but it still came out very crispy and delicious. I made mine gluten free by using gluten free all purpose flour and gluten free soy sauce and hoisin and it turned out great. I will definitely make this again, one of my favorite meals!
So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, this recipe has…a lot of steps, hahaha. It is my favorite dish on their menu though so it was always a project I enjoyed taking on when I made it.
Can you make this recipe in the crockpot?
I’ve not tested it that way but if you decide to try, I’d love to know what worked out. Thanks.
Wonderful recipe – Thank you.
Super crispy coating that actually sticks to the meat. I used pork loin as that is what was thawed. I used about 1 cup of oil in a wok and loved the results. Deep fried chunks without hauling out the deep fryer. I had no problem with pieces sticking together since I was using so much oil. Meat was not greasy. Emptied out the oil and made the very flavorful sauce in the same wok.
Misread the recipe and decided I didn’t have sherry vinegar so I added 2 TBSP of raspberry vinegar in addition to the red wine vinegar. Probably made the sauce a little tangier but it sure didn’t ruin the recipe. I will try with sherry next time.
Don’t be put off by the length of the recipe. It goes together very quickly and easily. Will definitely use this recipe for other types of meat/seafood.
I have tried many of your recipes and loved them all. This one as the others is amazing. The rice flour is where it’s at! I didn’t have low sodium soy sauce so mine was just a tiny bit salty but still remarkably delicious.
Thanks for your kind words, Robin.
The ice water part is confusing me. Do I leave the ice in the water and combine everything else with it? Then take the ice pieces out when I mix the chicken in it?
Sorry for any confusion. I recommend putting the water and ice in a container and letting it get cold. Then once you’re ready to use it, pour the water (without the cubes) into the bowl to make the batter. You just need the water to be ice cold. I hope that makes sense.
This is a good recipe. I found it too salty, but it could be because I used salted cashews. I would use unsalted in the future. It’s an odd recipe in that you need to keep the batter cold. Working with rice flour is definitely different than regular flour. You need to figure out what utensils to use, as the chicken pieces stick together quickly when you put them in the hot pan. I used a wooden spatula to try and cut them apart and then used a small tong to turn them. There is absolutely too much garlic. Two ounces of garlic is A LOT! I was wondering if it meant two cloves. I minced an ounce, but didn’t even use that much of it. Two ounces is more than a whole bulb! Is that a typo? My husband and son really liked this, so I’ll make it again.
When testing, I found I needed a lot of garlic to get the exact taste, but I definitely recommend cutting back if that much is not for you 🙂 Happy to hear you and your family enjoyed it overall!
Do you use white or brown rice flour?
I used white in this recipe but feel free to sub in brown.
Hi! Do you leave in the 1/3 cup of oil in the pan after cooking the chicken? It seems it would make the sauce oily??
You’ll want to drain out any excess oil. Enjoy!
Make sure to use a non-stick pan to cook the chicken or it will stick! The sauce is wonderful!
Just found your site and loving everything about it! Made this and literally will never ever go to a Chinese restaurant every again- drop dead, eyes rolled in the back of my head delicious. Insanely amazing to think that this is achievable at home and with no special cooking equipment. You’re amazing! A total keeper!!! Xoxo
Wow!! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know!
OMG,delicious.all my family loved it.
Thanks.
If I don’t want to use any kind of wine, what can I substitute it with?
You can substitute the sherry wine for apple cider.
I am going to grocery store now to get two 5 pound chicken packages to make 3 of your Cheesecake Factiry recipes for my 30 year old twins and husbands birthdays coming up this week. Can’t wait to make them, just have to decide which birthday gets which fabulous recipe. Thank you a million
How awesome! You’re welcome!
I made this last night and it is so DELICIOUS!!!! Yes, it takes a lot of time, however, most Asian recipes that I’ve made have more prep time than actual cooking time. It is absolutely worth the time and effort! One thing that I did was make the sauce first, put in a quart Mason jar, and set aside. That way I just had to shake it again to remix and pour it in. I also didn’t use as many cashews but it didn’t affect the flavor! So good! The recipe is a keeper, I’ll be making it again!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Question on recipe: You say –
5. Add the chicken pieces to the pan, and cook 3 minutes on each side until browned and crispy.
6. Break apart any pieces that stay stuck together.
7. Add the sauce and cashews into the pan. Add in the chicken and green onions.
Step 7 says “add in the chicken” which was already done in Step 5. Do you remove the chicken at the end of Step 6 then add back in at the end of Step 7?
Also, in Step 5, do you add the chicken all at once or in batches?
Sorry for the confusion, I updated the recipe card. Not sure how that got in there. Thanks for catching that.
Made for dinner over the weekend and hubby loved it. Normally for a review, I make exactly as instructed as I hate when people change loads and then review their own work instead of the original. However, my one simple change to the recipe I don’t feel would have made a huge impact. I used ice cold carbonated water instead of ice cold water. We have a few Japanese friends who use this when making tempura (another uses vodka from the freezer) and swear by it. So it’s how we make anything as tempura. That one slight change aside, this recipe is superb!! I had to convince Hubby before I started that he would like it, but as soon as the smells started filling the house, he was constantly coming in to say it smelled great and how long before we ate ? not sure who was drooling more from the smell, him or the dog! Dog didn’t get any but hubby proclaimed it the best meal he had ever had and when we’re we having it again? So it was a success! We had left overs and both had them for lunch on Monday, him with rice and mine was eaten cold, in lettuce leaves with a bit of left over quinoa that needed to be used up. Was delicious hot or cold!! It was more involved than most recipes we cook, but as stated, it really is worth the extra washing up. And it’s not difficult to prepare either. Not something to make if you are in a rush in the middle of the week, but certainly worth doing at the weekend when you want a special treat.
I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Tried this recipe last night, I cut back the garlic and cashews a bit. It was a little spicy so next time I’ll probably add a little less red pepper flakes. Over all very good recipe, I will definitely make it again.
What brand of sherry wine did you use?
I used the Holland house Sherry cooking wine, it came out perfect. You can find it in most baking isles.
I tried making this tonight. I need help with the batter please. My batter was super thick and sticky, I even put water and ice in the fridge before making it to keep it very cold. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my favorite recipe from Cheesecake Factory and I am wanting to nail it at home.
This batter is definitely a little bit harder than the usual so don’t feel bad at all with the first attempt. The trick to it is making sure that your egg whites are beaten until they’re really frothy otherwise it’ll be too heavy. Hope you found this helpful!
What egg whites?!?
Oh wow, looks like I needed more coffee before responding….there are no egg whites in this recipe. I was thinking of my Kung Pao Chicken Spaghetti. I”m so sorry. The batter for this recipe will be thick and sticky, completely normal.
WoW! I never tried putting cashew on the chicken, but I think it is so delicious. Cashew has a very distinctive taste so let’s make a try. I’ll pin it on my Pinterest account so I won’t miss the photo. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the pin, Rhodelyn!
I just made this dish came out well. I roasted my cashews in the oven. The other key thing I did was reduce the sauce with the cashews before adding the fried chicken parts, so the chicken stayed very crispy. It was a success big with my family. I used a wok too.
What type of cashews did you use? Roasted, unsalted?
I used roasted salted peanuts for this recipe.
Hi there, thank you so very much!
By chance did you mean Cashews for the Cashew Chicken?
Oh my gosh, Yes! haha! Sorry about that.
I pinned this a couple of weeks ago. Finally made it tonight. Absolutely delicious! I’m hooked. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe. So worth the effort, and really not that labor intensive after all.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the pin too!!
This Spicy Cashew Chicken was amazing!! I paid myself the $18 I would have given Cheesecake Factory!
Haha, love it!
Made it! Time consuming but spot on!
This is such a yummy recipe! There are a lot of steps but it is sooooo worth it! The whole family loved it!!
Definitely! So glad you all enjoyed it!!
I tried this recipe and it was SPOT ON! Loved it. It wasn’t that difficult either. My son told me that this was the best thing I’ve ever made.
Yay! So glad you guys loved it! I know that kids can be picky sometimes so it makes me so happy hearing about them loving the food too!
The one confusing part…
Break apart any pieces that stay stuck together. Add the sauce and cashews into the pan. Add in the chicken and green onions.
It never says to remove the chicken from the pan. Am I supposed to use another pan for the sauce and cashews, and then transfer the chicken to it? Seems like I could just add the sauce and cashews into the pan with the chicken already in it.
Sorry for the confusing directions, I updated the recipe for clarity. 🙂
I’m super excited to make this today for my husband’s birthday. Spicy cashew chicken at cheesecake factory is his favorite meal. I just have one question; after you fry the chicken, do you drain the oil from the pan or is there so little left that you just leave it? Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I will get back to you after I prepare it but I expect it to be amazing!
There’s little left that I leave it plus I love that it keeps all the flavor in this dish. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Just made this and it was good. Will not use as much garlic nex time though. I used my vitamix to make the rice flour.
YES! So much garlic! The restaurant version is super garlicky too. Glad you liked it even considering the garlic overload!
Thankyou for sharing this recipe! I’ve tried cooking it tonight and my husband totally loves it! 🙂
Wonderful!! I am so glad you both enjoyed it 🙂
Paleo friendly to replace the rice flour and the reg flour with coconut flour and almond flour. Sounds yummy I will try this
Sounds wonderful! I hope you love it!
This looks scrumptious, i love spicy chicken. Thanks for sharing this.
Simon
My pleasure!
I made the cashew chicken sauce not the orange chicken, but I will eventually 🙂
Ah! Haha sorry the comment notification came on my phone and I thought we were still talking about that one. This one is a more involved sauce but definitely a favorite 🙂
I actually think that one is more involved because you need to peel a whole orange. This one came together in a couple minutes.
Yep, you’re right, its the flour and the batter recipes I was thinking about. The sauce is pretty quick.
Made just the sauce today and its great. A couple tips, if you want the sauce to be thick and syrupy like I do then add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to the mixture. Once it boils it will thicken up tremendously. Also for anyone struggling with what 2oz of minced garlic is I believe its 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup, but I didnt measure I just minced up 3 large cloves. It was probably 1 1/2-2 tablespoons.
Ooh good tips! I am one of those who keeps a huge jar of minced garlic in my fridge. I put 5-6 heads of garlic in the food processor at once since I go through it so often. Careful on the cornstarch, don’t forget since your chicken is breaded (I used cornstarch here) when it goes back into the sauce to coat, it will also help thicken up the sauce 🙂 So glad you liked the sauce!
Yeah it ended up getting TOO thick lol. Next time I would do 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Im using on non breaded chicken 🙂
Ah yes, I’ve done that many times! Did you think the sauce tasted tomato-y?
Any idea what nutritional info is on this recipe??
I haven’t done the calculation, but a super easy way to cut out most of the fat is to dredge the chicken in seasoned cornstarch instead of the batter. Then pan fry in just a couple of tablespoons of oil. Most of the fat and calories come from frying up the chicken in the batter. I do something similar in my Orange Peel Chicken dish and it is still crispy and delicious. I made it this way for the cashew chicken to stay true to the recipe the restaurant shared.
This is something that my family may enjoy a lot, thanks for another chicken idea. We have so many chicken breasts here that I need to create a dinner idea for!
Sometimes I feel like all we ever eat is chicken. But I can always count on my oldest eating if we make chicken so we go with what works, haha.
I love copy cat recipes! I have not tried making cashew chicken before this sounds amazing.
It may have a lot of ingredients and take a lot of steps, but it sure does look good.
Haha, yes! It is definitely not one of my five ingredient meals!
Thanks for linking up with us. I will definitely have to make this for my husband who loves Asian food.
I hope he loves it!
this looks amazing and great pics by the way. I know my husband would love this dish, so I think I will show him, and try and make it one night next week if it’s not too hot out! 🙂
Thanks!
This looks delicious. I will be giving this a try – we love all the food at Cheesecake Factory
I’m sure I would have a longer list of favorites but I only ever order this main entree!
Great photos and I love this dish at TCF! Can’t wait to try yours.
You’ve had it?? You have to make it and come back and tell me what you think!
That dish looks amazing and Cheesecake factory dishes are my favorite. You make it seem so easy so I think I need to try it and impress the hubby
Aww thanks! It is a lot of ingredients, but the steps are all totally easy if you take them one at a time and the result is FANTASTIC 🙂
Mmm, the Cheesecake Factory has the best food! This looks delicious!
Thanks! Yes, they do have wonderful food 🙂
The reason restaurants won’t go out of business is because of people like me – now that I see how complex it is to make at home…. I won’t scoff at the cost on the menu next time I’m there haha! Maybe I can show this to my husband and see if he will make it for me ; )
You know, I used to hate to make it at home because it was a total chore. I wised up though! I made the sauce x6 and froze it in portions. So now I just dust with rice flour, dip in batter and cook. Then at the end I microwave the sauce and pour it on to combine with the chicken. Now, if it weren’t one of my favorite foods, I may not make it as often. But I swear it is requested at least once a week.
Your pictures are amazing, and I am officially drooling! Delicious looking recipe.
Thank you! I am really trying to learn more about this camera and how to do more than just use the auto feature on it! Haha.
I haven’t eaten at the Cheesecake Factory for such a long time. It does sound like a great addition for the menu!
You know, since figuring this dish out (and the cornmeal cakes ….ooh now I have to make those!!), I haven’t been back, except for maybe 2 or 3 times with friends who wanted to go. Especially when going out means babysitter!
I am all over this. Cashew chicken is my favorite Asian inspired dish. I’ll have to get hubs to make this for me as I don’t cook the Asian dishes around here lol
Awesome!
Oooh that is gorgeous! AND very tempting!
Oh my goodness, coming from you that means I have fireworks going off in my head. I absolutely 100% love your blog and have for a long time! You’re a bit of a rockstar to me. 🙂
I’ve never eaten at Cheesecake Factory, but that chicken looks amazing! I am going to have to try making it soon!
I hope you love it! Then if you ever end up at a CF you can order it and compare the two, haha.
This looks so delicious. I will have to try this recipe on the weekend. I am sure my family will love it.
I hope you love it!
I haven’t tried this dish in the restaurant yet. But this home version looks incredible!
Thanks! I can’t rave about it any more highly. It seems like such a basic dish on the menu, no fanfare. But when you try it, you pretty much only ever want that.
That sounds and looks delicious. I just bought some chicken that was on sale and now I know exactly what to make with it!.
Awesome, hope you love it!
This dish looks fantastic! Being able to make your favorite restaurant’s dishes at home is such a huge cost savings.
Yes, I love that too 🙂
I’ve never had the cashew chicken at the Cheesecake Factory, so I don’t have a comparison. But this looks absolutely incredible! I would love to mix it up and serve something other than orange chicken when my family wants a yummy Asian inspired dish.
Thanks!
I’m going to Pin this recipe it looks and sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing with us at #WednesdaysWisdom
Thank you so much for the pin!
I love Cheesecake Factory. Can’t wait to try and make the cashew chicken myself.
You’ll love it!
Wow, that’s something that I wouldn’t expect them to serve. Does it ever look delicious though!
I know right? And if they did you’d expect them to sort of phone it in. This dish tastes like you’re at your favorite Chinese restaurant.
Looks great! I believe I can easily substitute some things to fit Paleo as well. Thanks!
Wonderful!!
I swear Cheesecake Factory has the biggest menu on the planet and every single item is beyond delicious. I hope you are planning a few other copycats from this yummy spot.
Yes! I have a couple of others my hubby loves. Open to requests too!
I’ve never actually had this dish, but it sounds amazing. I need to set aside some time to make it.
I hope you get to try it 🙂
Your photos of the dish are amazing……it’s like I can smell it (or I wish I could)!! Definitely making this – thank you!
Aww how sweet! Thank you 🙂
Oh wow that ingredient list is quite long but you really make it seem much easier in your description! Awesome looking dish!
Yeah I wish I could condense the number of ingredients but the authentic taste is so good I didn’t want to alter it!
This looks and sounds really good. I can’t wait to make this for dinner. Thanks for the recipe.
Enjoy!
I definitely have to try making this. Those spices would be perfect. It would make a good date meal!
And save a huge bill from the restaurant! Last time I was there I think the dish was 16 or so dollars
Oh wow that looks super yummy right now! Now to just find someone to make it for this prego momma lol
Aww I hope someone is spoiling you! I was so tired when I was pregnant!
Oh my that looks good! I will have to see if I can find all the ingredients.
You won’t regret the offset it takes. It is just that good.
This looks and sounds delicious. I’m pinning it later. I MUST have it!
Thanks for the pin! I hope you love it
I’ve never eaten at the Cheesecake factory (I don’t think we have one here in Canada, but I could be wrong!) but this really looks so good!
Thanks!
That looks really good. I would need to substitute cashews with something else though. I am allergic. Wonder if almonds would be good?
Almonds would be great! Peanuts too! OR, just leave them out. The cashews aren’t part of the sauce, they just provide a bit of crunch 🙂 I know it sounds like they are a huge part of the dish, but the first 30 or so times I ordered this I would say “Spicy Cashew Chicken with no cashews” haha. It took me a while to enjoy nuts on savory meals.
Yum this looks so good.Makes me hungry just looking at it.
Haha thanks!
That looks simply amazing and absolutely worth the extra work! I’m pinning this now so I can remember to make it later.
Thanks so much for the pin! You won’t regret the extra time it takes!
That looks really good! I love a dish wit some kick to it. I’ll have to give this one a try. Thanks!
Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Enjoy!
That sounds absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to make this for my husband – he will love it.