30-Minute Paleo Mango Cashew Chicken ready in a flash! This soy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free take on cashew chicken is clean, healthful, and tastier than takeout!
I first published this recipe in April of 2014. Because I know so many of you are Chinese food fanatics like me, I figured I would re-post it for those of you who are newer here!
The basic gist of this simple yet wildly flavorful meal is we’re making a soy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free (paleo-friendly) version of Mango Cashew Chicken.
It is simply everything you want in a hearty meal!
Covering the savory, sweet, tangy, umami bases with plenty of yummy textures, this simple recipe is easy to toss together in less than 40 minutes.
Make it any ol’ night of the week!
You can serve it up with your favorite sides to fit your dietary needs. Cauliflower rice or regular steamed rice are my recommendations, as they will help soak up that tasty sauce.
Let’s discuss the fresh and funky ingredients needed to make this healthy dinner recipe happen!
Ingredients for Paleo Mango Cashew Chicken:
For the Sauce: Coconut aminos, unsweetened almond butter, sriracha, orange zest, pure maple syrup.
If you aren’t soy-free, you can replace the coconut aminos with liquid aminos or soy sauce. If you go this route, you may want to add more pure maple syrup, as coconut aminos is naturally sweet whereas liquid aminos (or soy sauce) is savory.
For the Mango Cashew Chicken: Onion, garlic, carrot, bell pepper, chicken, cashews, mango.
This combination of goodies yields a filling and flavorful meal! Feel free to add in some fresh ginger if you love it.
How to Make Mango Cashew Chicken:
Begin by making the sauce. To do so, simply stir the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl or measuring cup until everything is combined. Set the sauce aside until you’re ready to use it.
Get some oil heating in a frying pan or wok, then sauté the vegetables. I like to start by sautéing the onion to get it to soften up a bit and unlock all of that amazing flavor.
Once the vegetables have softened, add in the chopped chicken and cook for a few minutes to allow the chicken to brown.
Stir in the sauce and bring everything to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle boil, cover the skillet with a lid, and cook until everything is cooked through and the sauce is thick. If you need to remove the lid and cook at a boil to get the sauce to thicken for a few minutes, go ahead and do so!
Serve the Mango Cashew Chicken with cauliflower rice (as pictured) or your choice of steamed or fried rice.
Try my Basil Fried Rice or my Coconut Rice for excellent pairings!
Recipe Adaptations:
Here are some ways you can change up the recipe depending on your personal taste!
If you’re serving more than 3 people, double the recipe. As written, the recipe makes a smaller batch of food, ideally for two or three.
Replace the coconut aminos with liquid aminos or low-sodium soy sauce if you aren’t soy-free. Add an additional tablespoon of pure maple syrup if you go this route.
Make recipe Low-FODMAP by omitting the onion and garlic and adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar or rice vinegar to the sauce.
Add in your favorite veggies! Broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower, celery, and zucchini are all good options.
More Quick & Easy Chinese Recipes:
- 30-Minute Paleo Orange Chicken
- Easy 30-Minute Paleo Mongolian Beef
- Sweet and Sour Pork
- Easy Healthy Szechuan Chicken
- 30-Minute Sesame Ginger Garlic Broccoli Beef
Enjoy this flavor-blasted meal!
30-Minute Paleo Mango Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 1/3 cup coconut aminos*
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened creamy almond butter
- 1 tsp sriracha to taste
Mango Cashew Chicken:
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 1 green or red bell pepper chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped
- 1 1/2 cups fresh mango chopped
- 1 cup raw cashews
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the coconut aminos, orange zest, maple syrup, almond butter, and chili garlic sauce until well combined. Set aside.
- Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet, wok or frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until it begins to turn translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the carrot, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chopped raw chicken and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour in the sauce and continue cooking, stirring frequently, allowing the mixture to come to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
- Add the chopped mango and cashews. Stir well and cook just until heated through.
- Serve the cashew chicken over cauliflower rice.
Notes
Nutrition
This has become one of our family favorites. We usually do half coconut aminos and half soy and skip the maple syrup. Sometimes we have an orange (and it is definitely better), and sometimes we don’t and it is just fine. We top it with sliced green onions and cilantro with a squeeze of lime. So delicious!
I’m so thrilled to hear you and your family enjoys the cashew chicken, Stacy! Thanks so much for the sweet note! This is super helpful to others who want to try the same changes 🙂 xoxo
Swap out the chicken for tofu and I am so jumping on this gravy train! I mean…mango train. Yes, definitely want to be on the mango train.
I think “fungry” is my new favorite word. And this cashew chicken is my new favorite meal.
Made it tonight! SO GOOD! I love the orange zest that comes through every so often 🙂
YES! So glad you tried it and enjoyed it! It was such an easy meal and I love how much flavor is in it. Not to mention, it’s worlds healthier than takeout 😀
This sounds so good – I LOVE cashew chicken, and the mango sounds fabulous with it!
1. Thank you for the squeeze! Squeeze back! 2. I’m totally eating one of those sweet rolls you saw on instagram just for you this morning. You’re welcome. 3. I love this post. Like, I want that plate of stirfry next to my roll for breakfast. We weren’t lucky enough to have a Panda Express when I was in college. We had Jerry’s Restaurant (I’m totally NOT making this up. Maybe it was a premonition). ANYWAY, it was sort of like Bob’s whatever-the-hell-it’s-called, where it’s just greasy crap food that after about four glasses of hooch just sat there in your stomach like a rock. Not that it ever happened to me, because I was perfect back then, just like now. I think I’m done. Wish you were here today to really eat a roll with me. Have a good Easter weekend, my dear. xoxo
Ok. Got a question. Do you have a new print button thing? I’m sure I’ve printed off numerous recipes, but all I could find was a print-friendly button at the end, which printed the entire post and not just the recipe. What did I do wrong? xoxo
Hahaha! You sounded so southern in your first comment, I want to give you another squeeze! Wish I were there to enjoy one of them sweet rolls with all of you 😀 Jerry’s Restaurant must have been a hoot – I’d totally take it as a premonition too.
So the recipe printy thing….it’s not you, it’s ZipList (my recipe plugin)…Stephie may have told you the latest update of WP is all wonkydoodle, and it caused me to be unable to post. I fixed it by disabling my ZipList plugin, so until ZL comes up with a new version, it’s old school recipes for me :0 So glad you like the recipe, and let me know what you think! P.S. Sorry about all the printer paper you must have had to use 🙁
HAPPY EASTERRRRRRRR!
No problem. I saw what it was going to do, so I just printed the last page with the recipe. I just couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t print. I thought it was me. And yes, she was quite annoyed at WP and the changes. I’ll raise a sweet roll to you tomorrow in an Easter toast.
And yeah. I have some good hooch stories I’ll share with you someday. Yikes. No wonder you go to college when you are young.
Dang it! This was awesome!! Jerry was sitting there eating and saying, “This is the best stir fry I’ve ever had”. Now, before you get a big head, you have to realize that this man LOVES to eat. He says that about everything, which he then admitted to. He did point out that it was much better than anything we could buy in a restaurant, of which I totally agreed (duh). We also used the low-sodium soy sauce, and the salt content was perfect. I think regular soy sauce would be too salty, but that’s just me. He really liked the little kick that the chili garlic sauce gave it. This is a “keeper” as it’s called in our house. Yum, yum, yum!! 🙂
YAAAAAAAAAAAY! I’m so glad you and Jerry enjoyed it! No big head round these parts – for every person who enjoys a recipe, there’s always one who doesn’t. But I’m glad you were on the enjoyment end of the spectrum 🙂 Thanks for letting me know about the soy sauce. I kinda figured full-blown soy would be too much, so I’ll inform anyone who asks about soy to definitely use low sodium. I can’t wait to cook dinner with you and Jer Bear. Wait, do you call him Jer Bear ever?
xoxo
Well, I can’t pretend I’m not a big Panda fan, but this looks pretty darn special, I have a mango ripening on the counter as I type…can’t wait!