Ready to meet the newest addition to your line-up of easy weeknight dinners? Meet this Chicken and Cabbage Stir-fry with Honey Sriracha sauce and cashews. It is ready to get in your belly in only 20 minutes!

chicken stir-fry in a white bowl with chopsticks

I am so glad you’ve discovered this recipe, because it is greater than the sum of its parts. There is something magical about the sweet floral honey, spicy sriracha and tender cabbage all stir-fried together with chunks of chicken! We adore this recipe and I am so excited for you to try it too! 

Ingredients For This Chicken and Cabbage Stir-fry Recipe

For the Sauce

Honey

To balance the spicy Sriracha, I used honey in the stir fry sauce. I love the aromatic flavor it adds beyond just sweetness. 

Dry sherry or Shaoxing wine

The base of the sauce is dry sherry. If you have a good Asian market in your area you can look for Shaoxing wine and use that instead. Make sure not to use the cooking wine from the vinegar section of the supermarket because that has added salt and your sauce will be too salty.

White vinegar

I love the bright acidity that white vinegar adds to the sauce. The sour flavor balances the salty and sweet ingredients for a more harmonious taste balance.

Sriracha

The sweetness of the honey balances the heat in the Sriracha sauce. You can adjust this to your taste. My husband and I liked it as it was and added more at the table. My kids thought this was spicy but gobbled theirs up.

Salt

To balance all the taste and to bring out the flavor in this stirfry add the salt to the sauce.

Chicken Broth and Cornstarch slurry

At the end of the cooking you’ll also need to make a slurry to thicken up the sauce. For that I use a blend of chicken broth and cornstarch. Look for reduced-sodium chicken broth.

For the Stir-fry

High temperature cooking oil

I like to use Avocado oil because it is neutral and high heat tolerant. But if there is another one you stock in your pantry that is fine. 

Chicken breast

You’ll need one pound of boneless skinless chicken breast. Cut it into bite-sized cubes. Tip: wait to cut it after the other ingredients so you don’t have to clean the cutting board until the end. 

Garlic and Ginger root

Fresh garlic and fresh ginger add tons of flavor to the stir-fry. You can mince them or grate them with a microplane rasp style grater. 

Cabbage

The star of this recipe is the cabbage. You can use green, like I did here, or red, or a combination of both! Chop it into bite sized cubes/pieces. 

Scallions

At the end of cooking add in scallions to layer in flavor. You’ll want three sliced scallions. Or you could use 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves instead for something a little different.

Cashews

Look for roasted unsalted cashews. They will have the best crunchy texture and won’t get soggy like raw cashews would.

 

How To Make This Recipe

As with all stir-frys it is important to get all your ingredients together before you turn on the stove. Cooking is so fast that you won’t have time to be measuring and chopping once you start cooking. 

Choose your skillet. You’ll want to choose your widest skillet because the more surface area the better. If you have a wok, that is even better! 

Make the Honey Sriracha Sauce

the sriracha honey sauce

Step 1. Stir together the sauce ingredients before you start cooking.

Stir together the honey, Sriracha, sherry (or wine) and salt in a small dish and have that ready before you start cooking. 

Cook the Chicken

chicken cooking in a skillet viewed from overhead perspective

Step 2. Cook the chicken first with some of the oil.

The key to getting great flavor from the ingredients is to cook them in stages. Moisture from the veggies would prevent the chicken from browning. That’s why we cook the chicken first!

  1. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the skillet and lay the chicken out in a single layer.
  2. Let it cook until the bottom is browned. This will take anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the size of your skillet and how hot you let it get when you preheated it. 
  3. Turn the chicken over, and let it sear on another side for a minute. 
  4. Repeat again so that the chicken is no longer pink on the outside.
  5. Remove the chicken to a plate and keep it warm.

Note that it will continue cooking in a later step. 

Cook The Cabbage

adding the sauce to the cabbage in a skillet

Step 3. Cook the cabbage with the aromatics. Add the sauce and steam with the lid on to wilt the cabbage.

  1. Add more oil to the skillet or wok and then add in the aromatics (the ginger and garlic) and stir fry them for a second before adding in the cabbage.
  2. Once you add the cabbage, stir it together with the garlic and ginger. This will cool down the skillet and prevent the garlic from burning. 
  3. Add the honey sriracha and sherry sauce while stirring. 
  4. Cover the skillet or wok to trap the steam from the sauce. It will help soften the cabbage. 
  5. Cook it until the cabbage is wilted. This only takes 2 or 3 minutes.

Add the Chicken and Cornstarch and broth slurry To Finish The Stir-fry

the chicken is back in the skillet

Step 4. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices from the plate to the skillet along with the cornstarch slurry. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and the cabbage is tender.

  1. Now that the cabbage is slightly softened and wilted, you can add the browned chicken back to the stir-fry. There will probably be juices on the plate with the chicken. Add them too!
  2. Stir in the cornstarch slurry. (Note: if the cornstarch has settled to the bottom of the dish, restir it right before adding it to the skillet.)
  3. Stir and cook the stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through, the cabbage is tender and the sauce is thick. 

To Finish the Stir-fry

stirring in the cilantro and cashews at the end

Step 6. Stir in the cilantro or scallions and cashews once the stir-fry is removed from the heat.

  • Add the scallions and cashews once you take it off the heat. 
  • Serve with more Sriracha to taste.
  • I suggest serving this with brown rice or cauliflower rice.

close up of the stir-fry with green cabbage and scallions mixed

More Healthy Stir-Fry Recipes:

If you love chicken stir-frys this Chicken and Veggie Stir-fry is a colorful and yummy family friendly recipe with lots of colorful vegetables. 

We have two beef and broccoli stir-fries here this Clean Eating Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry is made without any grains, and this Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry is more traditional. 

Hoisin Pork and Pepper Stir-Fry

Healthy Maple Tahini Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Tofu and Pepper Stir-Fry with Cashews

 

Print
a white bowl with chicken stir-fry with chopsticks

Chicken Cabbage Stir-fry

  • Author: Katie Webster
  • Prep Time: 12 minutes
  • Cook Time: 8 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 cups 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Asian

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews
Print Recipe

Description

This Chicken and Cabbage stir-fry has a sweet and hot Honey Sriracha sauce and cashews in it. It is my new favorite weeknight diner because it’s ready in 20 minutes.

Scale

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons dry sherry or Shaoxing wine
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon sriracha, or to taste
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons avocado oil or organic canola oil, divided
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized cubes
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger root
  • 6 cups chopped green cabbage* see notes
  • ¼ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 teaspoons corn starch
  • 3 scallions, sliced or 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
  • ½ cup chopped cashews, preferably roasted unsalted

Instructions

  1. Stir honey, sherry, vinegar, sriracha and salt in a small bowl.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoons oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Swirl around the bottom of the wok. Add the chicken in a single layer, and let cook, undisturbed until browned on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes. Turn over and continue cooking stirring once or twice, until no longer pink on the outside, 2 to 3 minutes longer.
  3. Remove the chicken from the skillet or wok with a spatula and set aside on a plate. NOTE: The chicken will continue cooking in a later step.
  4. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil to the skillet or wok and return to high heat. Add garlic and ginger, and stir fry until fragrant but not browned about 30 seconds. Add cabbage, and stir to coat with the garlic and ginger.
  5. Stir in the sauce. Cover cook until the cabbage is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
  6. Stir broth and cornstarch together in a small dish and stir into the cabbage mixture. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
  7. Add the chicken and any accumulated juice from the plate and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the cabbage is tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
  8. Remove from the heat and stir in scallions or cilantro and cashews.

Notes

Feel free to use a blend of red and green cabbage to make this more colorful.

For more variety, you can sub 1 cup of the cabbage for 1 cup of any of the following veggies: sliced shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced carrots, red bell pepper strips, small broccoli florets

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
  • Calories: 310
  • Sugar: 16 g
  • Sodium: 340 mg
  • Fat: 13 g
  • Saturated Fat: 2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 23 g
  • Fiber: 3 g
  • Protein: 26 g