Name: Paleo Cashew Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 29 min
Ingredients: 1 pound chicken breasts; 1/2 tsp sea salt; 1/4 tsp black pepper; cooking spray oil; 1/3 cup coconut aminos (soy sauce is ok if you tolerate soy); 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 1/3 cup honey (use maple syrup for vegan, sub 3 minced dates for Whole30); 1 tsp sesame oil (can sub avocado oil for AIP); 1 tsp fresh ginger (sub 1/2 tsp for ground dried ginger); 2 cloves garlic (minced); 1 tbsp arrowroot powder; 1/4 cup bone broth; 1/2 cup water; 3 cups broccoli florets; 3 peppers (sliced, sub for AIP with 3 extra more cups of broccoli ); 1/3 cup cashews (sub tigernuts for AIP); 2 tbsp avocado oil; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp sea salt; 1 tbsp sesame seeds (omit for AIP); red pepper flakes (omit for AIP)

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This Healthy Cashew Chicken Sheet Pan Meal is so delicious, yet so quick, easy and it does not require much work at all! The sweet yet salty Chinese sticky sauce combined with the nice and crunchy peppers, cashews, and broccoli is so good. This recipe only requires 10 minutes of hands-on time and can be on your dinner table within 30 minutes.

Why Should I Make This Recipe?

First off, this recipe is so simple! I love sheet pan meals because you literally can throw everything all together and just let it bake.
Secondly, this meal is great for meal prep as it reheats super well.
This recipe is naturally dairy free, gluten free, grain free, paleo, refined sugar free and it can be made AIP (autoimmune protocol friendly) Whole30 and meatless, too!
This recipe reminds me so much of my other favorite sheet pan meals, like my favorite Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas.
The sauce on this recipe is SO delicious. It is the perfect combination of both sweet and salty-it tastes just like Chinese Chicken!
This recipe can be easily made vegan by substituting the chicken for chickpeas!
Lastly, kids love this meal! This meal is super kid friendly-kids love the sweet sauce.

Recipe Ingredients:

Chicken breasts-You can totally use chicken thighs here if you prefer the darker meat flavor. If you do go the thigh route I suggest trimming the thighs. I love to get all of my chicken from the Butcher Box. They have the best quality stuff and it gets shipped right to your door. If you use my Butcher Box link you can get 2 pounds of free meat every month!
Salt, pepper, garlic powder-To flavor the chicken.
Cooking oil spray-I love using avocado oil cooking spray. Avocado oil is a great roasting oil because it has a high smoke point. I always try to avoid oils with lower smoke points like olive oil when roasting because they become quite toxic.

For the Cashew Chicken Sauce:

Bone broth-This is your base. I like Kettle & Fire. Use code BLANK
Coconut aminos-This is a great soy sauce alternative for those of you who cannot tolerate soy or gluten. If you can tolerate both of those you can use regular soy sauce here.
Sesame oil-For the Chinese flavoring. If you are doing the autoimmune protocol, you can use avocado oil.
Honey-To add the sweetness to this dish. If you are vegan you can use maple syrup and for Whole30 you can use minced dates.
Fresh ginger-Ginger is a key in this recipe! If you do not have fresh, you can use ground ginger. Note that ground ginger is a lot stronger than fresh ginger so you only need half of the amount.
Garlic-For flavor.
Apple cider vinegar-Give this sauce a nice kick without making it spicy!
Arrowroot powder- This thickens the sauce so the sauce is not running, without the arrowroot it would be watery. Arrowroot is the Paleo alternative for cornstarch.

The Sides

Broccoli & peppers-As your vegetable! If you are doing AIP you can substitute extra broccoli for the peppers.
Cashews-This is a must in cashew chicken! Note for AIP you can substitute the cashews with tiger nuts which is a great nut free alternative.
Avocado oil-To help the vegetables roast.
Sea salt & garlic-For flavor.

To Serve:

Red pepper flakes
Sesame seeds

How To Make:

Step 1-
- First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix your cubed chicken with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add the chicken to a sheet pan and spray with cooking oil. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Step 2-
- While the chicken is cooking, toss the broccoli, peppers, oil, salt and garlic powder together then set aside.

Step 3-
- Place all of the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 2 minutes. It is important to continuously whisk the sauce with a whisk or it will clump up. This is the arrowroot in it that will clump.

Step 4-
- When the chicken is done, add the vegetable mixture to one side of the sheet pan and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes.

Step 5-
- Once the sheet pan meal is done, pour the sauce on top and garnish with red pepper flakes and sesame seeds.

Recipe Frequently Asked Questions:

How Long Does This Last In The Fridge?

I would eat this within 5 days.

How Can I Reheat?

I suggest reheating on the stovetop for 5-10 minutes.

What Is Arrowroot Powder?

Arrowroot is a commonly used alternative in paleo cooking to help thicken sauces. It works just like corn starch!

Chef’s Tips:

Be sure to whisk your sauce, or else it will clump together.

If you like this recipe, you will LOVE my other sheet pan meals:

If you enjoyed this recipe it would mean the world to me if you rated it and left a comment below. It helps others find it on google.xoxo-Allianna

Lori says

April 14, 2022 at 1:12 pm

My favorite takeout! So good and easy to make at home yourself

Paleo Cashew Chicken Sheet Pan Style

Why Should I Make This Recipe?