Looking at the weather this week, it’s time to beat the heat. The slow cooker is perfect for this. No fuss and doesn’t heat up the house. I ran into this recipe from Half-Baked Harvest for Crockpot Creamy Cashew Chicken and was intrigued. I love cashews and I’ve never tried cashew milk. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. The recipe is very simple. Throw the chicken and veg in the pot, then whiz up the other stuff and throw it over top. Works for me.
I popped the recipe into my calculator and the stats were pretty good, however, the sodium is out of sight! Over 2000mg of sodium per serving will give anyone a heart attack! Luckily this recipe is easy to fix in terms of sodium. I will want to lower the calories a little more to leave room for a healthy serving of rice. Here are the original stats:
- 257 Calories
- 4g Fat
- 55mg Cholesterol
- 2016mg Sodium
- 528mg Potassium
- 25g Carbohydrate
- 30g Protein
- 35% Vitamin A
- 127% Vitamin C
- 29% Calcium
- 12% Iron
Really not too bad except for the sodium and low vitamin A. Here’s what I changed:
- I increased the servings from 4 to 5 to lower the calories and make room for rice.
- I deleted the added salt to greatly reduce the sodium content.
- I added two carrots to increase the vitamin A.
Here are the final stats:
- 247 Calories
- 3g Fat
- 44mg Cholesterol
- 288mg Sodium
- 515mg Potassium
- 23g Carbohydrate
- 24g Protein
- 100% Vitamin A
- 105% Vitamin C
- 24% Calcium
- 10% Iron
Here is the final recipe:
Crockpot Creamy Cashew Chicken
Serves 5
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 small potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 18 oz frozen carrots
- 1/2 cup unsalted roasted cashews
- 1/2 of a sweet onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 cups Unsweetened Cashew milk
- 1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped, plus more for serving
- steamed brown rice for serving
- Combine the chicken, potatoes, carrots and red pepper in the bowl of your slow cooker.
- To a blender or food processor, add the cashews, onion, garlic, ginger, Thai red curry paste, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and lemon juice. Puree the mixture until completely smooth. If needed, add 1/2 cup of cashew milk, to help the mixture blend. Pour the paste over the chicken. Add the remaining cashew milk. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
- Serve over 1/2 cup brown rice.
Your Level Best 