A quick and easy chicken stir-fry with asparagus and cashews!
Chinese style stir-frys where you quickly cook a meat along with some vegetables, aromatics and a tasty sauce are a favorite and this chicken and asparagus one is the perfect way to enjoy some spring asparagus! This recipe is as easy to make and stir-frying the chicken followed by thinly sliced asparagus before adding garlic and ginger and the sauce. The dish is finished off with cashews, green onions and toasted sesame oil. It takes less time to make the chicken and asparagus than it takes to steam rice to serve it with, making this a perfect dish for any night of the week!
Updated 2025/06/05.
Chicken and Asparagus Stir-fry
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Servings: 4
A quick and easy chicken stir-fry with asparagus and cashews!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs, thinly sliced
- 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and sliced thinly
- 1 tablespoon garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 1/3 cup chicken broth (link)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup cashews
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
directions
- Heat the oil in a wok, or large skillet, over medium-high heat, add the chicken and stir-fry until cooked, about 3-5 minutes, before setting aside.
- Add the asparagus and stir-fry until it starts to turn a dark green, about 2 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken back to the pan, along with the mixture of the broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and cornstarch, mix and cook until the sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.
- Add the cashews and green onions, mix and cook for a minute.
- Mix in the sesame oil and enjoy!
Note: Add extra oil if needed.
Option: Velvet the chicken by marinating it in the mixture of 1 egg white, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (optional), and 1 tablespoon cornstarch for 1-2 hours, covered in the fridge. This will tenderize the chicken and make it melt in your mouth
Option: Velvet the chicken by marinating it in the mixture of 1 egg white, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (optional), and 1 tablespoon cornstarch for 1-2 hours, covered in the fridge. This will tenderize the chicken and make it melt in your mouth
Nutrition Facts: Calories 242, Fat 12g (Saturated 2g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 83mg, Sodium 283mg, Carbs 14g (Fiber 3g, Sugars 4g), Protein 31g
Nutrition by: 
Similar Recipes:
20 Minute Light Honey Garlic Chicken
Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken
General Tso’s Chicken
Sesame Chicken
20 Minute Skinny Sesame Chicken
20 Minute Light Cashew Chicken
20 Minute Light Sweet and Sour Chicken
20 Minute Light Orange Chicken
20 Minute Skinny Mongolian Beef
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Sesame Chicken
Sesame Chicken
Honey Lemon Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry
Honey Lemon Chicken
Orange Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Creamy Lemon Chicken
Quick and Easy Beef and Pepper Stir-fry
Spicy Peanut Chicken Rice Bowl
Sweet Chili Chicken Rice Bowl
Honey and Lime Jalapeno Chicken
Skillet Sweet Chili Chicken
Sticky Honey Sriracha Chicken Bites
20 Minute Light Honey Garlic Chicken
Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken
General Tso’s Chicken
Sesame Chicken
20 Minute Skinny Sesame Chicken
20 Minute Light Cashew Chicken
20 Minute Light Sweet and Sour Chicken
20 Minute Light Orange Chicken
20 Minute Skinny Mongolian Beef
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Sesame Chicken
Sesame Chicken
Honey Lemon Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry
Honey Lemon Chicken
Orange Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Creamy Lemon Chicken
Quick and Easy Beef and Pepper Stir-fry
Spicy Peanut Chicken Rice Bowl
Sweet Chili Chicken Rice Bowl
Honey and Lime Jalapeno Chicken
Skillet Sweet Chili Chicken
Sticky Honey Sriracha Chicken Bites
wow…I have not had dinner yet and that looks seriously good! Lovely!
I think cashews are one of the most underused ingredients – good for you for using them! Peanuts can be great but the sweetness of cashews is perfect with asparagus.
That stir-fry looks like a perfect weeknight meal. I love adding nuts to stir-frys for the contrast in texture.
This is one great looking dish!
Yum, Kevin, Yum! I don’t always comment, but I read all your posts and drool and secretly wish you were my personal chef. Sigh!
Beautiful pic! I love using stir-fries as back up meals b/c you’re right – you can swap out any meat and veggie. It’s a good way to use up what’s in the fridge.
What a perfect weeknight meal! I love the idea of asparagus and cashews together in a stir-fry, it looks SO good!
You have my husband drooling and insisting that I tell you he would eat this for dinner in a heart beat!!!
I’m all about fast meals, so I’ll have to keep this recipe close by!
Kevin, I just discovered your blog while looking for a recipe for clafoutis. I hadn’t made it since last year and needed to refresh my memory on order of ingredients. You have a superb site so I bookmarked it. I’ve been cooking great food in small kitchens for many years! Funny how so many mediocre cooks have big kitchens and pro stoves they don’t use. LOL
A gorgeous stir-fry! Yummy!
Cheers,
Rosa
I’m still looking for ways to use asparagus while it’s still around, and this sounds perfect!
Looks great and I’m not even a big fan of stir-fry. You might bring me around though.
Looks great Kevin..I love these types of dishes..
I love making them too..
I love the idea of stir fry with asperagus.
This sounds like a delicious combination, and the cashews on top look great!
Mmmm yum! My kind of dinner.
You’re right, stir-frys are so quick and easy, they make the perfect stress-free week-night supper. this version looks delicious, very juicy 🙂
I love this! Im gonna make it this week!
That sounds and looks so good.
This is sooo good. i made asparagus & almond chicken stir fry which i will post soon. love the crunchiness of the asparagus.
This one’s DEFINITELY a winner!!
this looks great!!! comfort food.
Stopping by for the first time…your recipes look delicious! My family LOVES asparagus!
So many ingredients, so much flavor!
Wow, that looks perfect and light… full of flavor but not heavy at all!
wayyyy better than any take-out.
nicely done. I love crispy cashews in my stir fry dishes.
Very nice Kevin, I like it that you can add what you want and swithc things around. Love that picture!
That’s another healthy meal!
I love love love cashews in stirfrys! Yum!
simple and delicious dish! Thumbs up!
I mad this last night because I had some asparagus that needed using, and also some cilantro (which I figured wouldn’t hurt anything). It was great – I didn’t have much green onion, but the added cilantro and a squeeze of lime at the end added up to something stellar. (Also, I used chicken thigh meat because thighs were on sale, and cooked it just a bit longer.) Thanks for the inspiration!
Great recipe – can’t wait to give it a try! I’ve never stir-fried asparagus before, but I’ve seen other recipes that blanch the asparagus first before adding to the stir-fry. It looks like you added yours straight up – were you using thinner asparagus?
studyzone: I used medium to thicker asparagus. I find that asparagus sautees well in a bit of oil. You will know when it is ready when it changes to a darker shade of green.
This looks like a Chinese fried rice, you may find something very similar in Chinese restaurant.
We made this tonight minus the cashews and it was great! Thanks for sharing.
This was delicious! I substituted broccoli for the asparagus and it was heavenly. And very simple. I’d never used fresh ginger before, it was much sweeter and milder than I thought. Not nearly as harsh as dried ginger can be. Thanks for another delicious meal. Your recipes never disappoint!
I made this recipe over the weekend with fresh asparagus from the local farm market. Delicious!
…and served it over coconut rice 🙂