Cashew chicken has always been one of my favorite Chinese food recipes. But the restaurant version is way too high in Weight Watchers Points. So I made my own healthier version, and I bulked it up with lots of extra veggies.
I also decided to utilize my zucchini spiralizer again and added zucchini noodles to this dish. It was SOOOO good! Each serving was huge and very satisfying.
If you want to shave off an extra point or two, you could have fewer cashews, but I like to splurge a bit on this because it’s really what gives the dish its flavor (and name!).
If you are a fan of Chinese fast food, then this Weight Watchers Cashew Chicken is a must-try! Enjoy.
Cashew Chicken with Zucchini Noodles Recipe
Ingredients
Servings:
- 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts - diced
- 2 large zucchini - ends cut off
- 1 red or orange bell pepper - diced
- 2 cup broccoli florets
- ½ cup roasted cashews - chopped
- 3 scallions - sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- ½ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp red chili paste
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp fresh ground ginger
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using a spiralizer (or mandolin with a julienne blade), shred zucchini into long, thin, spaghetti-like strips. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, chili paste, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and sauté until browned and cooked through. Remove and set aside.
- Add the remaining tsp of sesame oil to the pan, along with garlic and ginger, and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add in bell pepper and broccoli, and cook for about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until sauce is thickened.
- Toss in zucchini noodles, and cook for another minute or two, just enough to allow the noodles to mix with the sauce.
- Remove from heat, stir in chicken, and toss well. Divide onto 4 plates, and top each with scallion, and 2 tbsp of cashews.
Equipment
1 Skillet
Nutrition
Serving: 2 cupsCalories: 336 kcal (17%)Carbohydrates: 22 g (7%)Protein: 30 g (60%)Fat: 13 g (20%)Saturated Fat: 2.4 g (15%)Fiber: 4 g (17%)Sugar: 10 g (11%)
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11 Comments
Made this last night and it was fantastic! It’s hard to find recipes that work both with for me on WW and my husband who usually tries to do paleo. To save time, I used grilled chicken I had leftover instead of sautéing it in the sesame oil, and I just used PAM spray to cook the garlic, ginger, and broccoli, so then I sprinkled sesame oil on the finished dish for some added taste. This recipe worked out great for both of us, and he’s requested it to become a regular in our house!
This recipe was 100% awful. Too salty. Way too salty. Too much sesame oil. Besides, sesame oil can’t withstand high heat. My advice? Find a different way to make the sauce with less soy/shoyu/tamari. Use a little bit of sesame oil in the sauce. Fry the chicken in peanut or vegetable oil. Coat the chicken in a little of the cornstarch.
Using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website, this recipe comes out to 11 points per serving. Not sure if you have access to that to figure your points. Sometimes, the whole of a recipe is more points than the individual items because Recipe Builder “rounds up” and because even things like the soy sauce, cornstarch and chili paste have points. Just thought you’d like to know.
P.S. It also counts calories ( and translates them into points) for ALL ingredients, including vegetables that are normally “free” if eaten alone. That also affects points totals.
I’ve used the recipe builder a few times, and often find it inaccurate. I prefer to manually add up ALL of the ingredients (including the vegetables, cornstarch, soy sauce, chili paste, etc) in the recipe, combine their totals, then divide by the number of servings. Then I enter 1 serving into my Weight Watchers Points Plus Calculator and I get my Points Plus value. I have found this way to be much more accurate. The recipe builder often uses averages for certain items, since there are so many brands and versions of ingredients.
I appreciate your work for making such wonderful Noodles Recipe. Sure, I will try it on this valentine day for someone :)
Do cashews need to be roasted? Can I use just straight out of the jar?
You can do either. I used them straight out of the package, but if you like the roasted flavor, feel free to use that option instead.
The ingredients say ‘roasted cashews’. Did you roast/cook your cashews or is that the way you bought them? Will plain (unroasted) cashews work as well?
You can buy them roasted, or you can roast them yourself. You can also use plain raw ones if you prefer, though the flavor is a bit more enhanced with the roasted.
I keep zucchini noodles in a zip lock bag with a paper towel at all times. When prepared ahead, it seems to take some of the water out of them. It’s amazing how many dishes they can be used in, tossed in at the last minute. This recipe sounds like a winner, and I plan to make it this week.