Sheet Pan Cashew Chicken

When attending college, it can be difficult to find the time to prepare meals, eat them, and clean up after them. With this recipe, I wanted to share with other students, like myself, that delicious, healthy meals do not need to be difficult and they do not need to involve using a lot of dishes.

With this recipe, there is minimal clean up time and the ingredients are easy to throw together to make an easy, fancy, and nutritious meal. The only dishes that are needed to prepare this recipe are a saucepan if you are making the teriyaki sauce from scratch, a sheet pan, a wire whisk, and utensils to toss the chicken and vegetables. If you plan to serve the cashew chicken with rice, then you will also need another pot and lid to steam it.

Cost Breakdown

Ingredient	Amount	AP Unit Cost	Recipe Ingredient Cost
Soy Sauce	1/2 cup	$1.58/15 oz (1 cup = 8 oz)	$0.42
Hoisin Sauce	1/4 cup	$3.34/13.2oz (1 cup = 8 oz)	$0.51
Rice Wine Vinegar	2 Tbsp	$1.68/12.7 oz (1 oz =4 Tbsp)	$0.07
Brown sugar	3 Tbsp	$1.62/2 lbs. (1 oz =4 Tbsp, 1 lb. =16 oz)	$0.04
Sesame Oil	1 Tbsp	$4.79/8.4 oz (1 oz = 4 Tbsp)	$0.15
Ginger	1 tsp fresh minced	$2.48/8oz (1 oz = 4 Tbsp, 1 Tbsp= 3 tsp)	$0.03
Garlic	3 cloves	$1.48/3 bulbs (about 10 cloves in a bulb)	$0.15
Cornstarch	2 Tbsp	$1.24/ 16 oz (1 oz = 4 tbs)	$0.04
Water	1/2 cup
Chicken	2 lbs.	$3.84/ 3 lbs.	$2.56
Broccoli	1 head (about 9 oz.)	$3.46/ 1 lbs. (16 oz = 1 lbs.)	$1.95
Red Bell Pepper	1 pepper	$3.64/2 peppers	$1.73
Green Bell Pepper	2 peppers	$0.77/ 1 pepper	$1.54
Cashews	1 cup	$5.48/ 10 oz (5.3 oz = 1 cup)	$2.90
Total Recipe Cost			$12.09
Cost Per Serving (6 servings)			$2.02

1. This recipe was created and shared by Kate Dean and this recipe can be found on her website at: https://www.ihearteating.com/sheet-pan-cashew-chicken/#recipe
2. If you have access to a farmers market, you could get the bell peppers and broccoli when they are in season
3. If you don’t have all the ingredients for the sauce on hand or they are too expensive you could replace the sauce in the recipe with a simple homemade or store bought teriyaki sauce.
4. If you would like to make your own teriyaki sauce, here is a link to an easy 4 ingredient teriyaki

sauce:https://theadventurebite.com/3-ingredient-easy-teriyaki-sauce-recipe/#wpr m-recipe-container-21859

Tips for being on a budget

1. All the prices for the ingredients in the cost breakdown can be found at Walmart and for many of them I found the cheapest product from the store brand.

2. If a student is on a really tight budget, the sauce made for this dish could be replaced with a simple homemade or store bought teriyaki sauce. A simple homemade teriyaki sauce can be made using soy sauce, water, honey, and cornstarch. This recipe is a good reference.

3 Ingredient Easy Teriyaki Sauce Recipe

3. Since red bell peppers are more expensive than green bell peppers, the red bell pepper could be replaced with another green one so that there would be three green bell peppers.

4. The cashews are the most expensive ingredient and although they add a little crunch to the recipe, they could be left out and most of the flavor would still be kept in the recipe.

5. For vegan or vegetarian eaters or if you just want to make the recipe a little more cost effective, tofu is a great option to replace the chicken. It is cheaper than most meat and you would have the bonus of not working with raw meat.

Tips for time efficiency

1. Prepare the rice or other grain while making the chicken so that both are ready near the same time (check how long it takes to steam and start it accordingly)
2. Chop the chicken and veggies in advance
3. If making the sauce from scratch, measure out ingredients beforehand so they are ready to throw in the sauce pot and cook.

Ingredient Locations

You can find what you need for the sauce down the international aisle in most grocery stores. I found mine at Walmart and WinCo.

The broccoli, red bell pepper, and green bell peppers can be found in the produce section.

The chicken will be in the poultry section usually found at the back of the store.

I could not find any of the ingredients for the cashew chicken recipe at the SNAC food pantry, although I was able to find some sort grain, sticky rice that pairs well with it

If you cultivate your own garden, then you could try using fresh homegrown bell peppers and/or broccoli if you grow those. You also might be able to find them at a local farmers market.

Recipe Difficulty

This recipe is really simple and a great way for beginners to learn to cook raw chicken and roast vegetables. I would highly recommend this recipe for anyone including advanced chefs to beginner chefs.

Personal experience making the recipe.