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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
Sweet and sour chicken is one of the most popular dishes at any Chinese restaurant, and it’s not hard to see why! As the name says, it’s sweet, sour, and addictively delicious! It’s also incredibly easy to make from scratch at home as long as you don’t mind using a few cheat ingredients!
This Sweet and Sour Chicken is filled with onion and bell peppers and exploding with tangy flavor, just like your favorite takeout! Instead of spending loads getting it from a restaurant, why not try and make it yourself?
For more sweet and sour recipes, why not try and make some Sweet & Sour Chicken Shish Kabobs or this Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe instead?
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This recipe is so easy to make I know you’ll be adding it to your roster of midweek meals!
- Total Time: You can have dinner ready in just 30 minutes!
- Variations: You can make this recipe vegetarian by substituting medium firm tofu, cauliflower florets, or mushrooms for the chicken! You can also add snow peas, julienned carrots, or water chestnuts if you’d like a little extra crunch and freshness!
- Tools For This Recipe: You will need a large skillet and mixing bowls to make this recipe.
What You’ll Need for Ingredients
Chicken Breast: I like to use chicken breast in this recipe because they’re low in fat and the coating of flour keeps the meat nice and juicy, but if you prefer chicken thighs, they’ll work just as well!
Ketchup: Some folks might argue that American ketchup has no place in ‘authentic’ Chinese dishes, but honestly the dish as we now know it came about thanks to Chinese people emigrating to America in the 20th century and modifying it to fit what they had on hand and appeal to American tastebuds; which is why ingredients like ketchup and pineapple made their way into the mix! Ketchup is sweet, acidic, and rich in tomato flavor; perfect for adding to sauces like this!
Vinegar: I use a 50:50 mix of white and apple cider vinegar in this recipe! The white vinegar adds a punch of acidic tang, and the apple cider vinegar adds a milder, fruity sourness that pairs excellently with the pineapple.
Sugar: It might seem odd to use a mixture of brown and white sugar, but as with the two types of vinegar, this is another special step to add extra depth and flavor to the final dish!
Bell Peppers: Not only do their differing flavors add complexity to the final dish, mixture of green and red bell peppers makes for a nice visual contrast that makes the presentation more appealing!
How To Make Sweet and Sour Chicken
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the cornstarch to a large zip top bag and toss your chicken in the cornstarch thoroughly to coat. Then dip the coated chicken pieces into beaten egg and coat in flour.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the chicken in batches for 2-3 minutes, turning until browned and cooked. Set aside on a clean plate.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugars, ketchup, vinegars, soy sauce, and garlic.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together until well combined.
- Add the onion, bell peppers, and drained pineapple to the skillet you used to cook the chicken and cook together for 2-3 minutes, or until the desired tenderness is reached. Add a tablespoon of oil if needed. Pour the sauce over the cooked vegetables and bring to a simmer. Add the cooked chicken to the pan and stir gently to coat everything evenly. Serve over rice if desired!
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Keep Things Crisp: The trick to getting restaurant-style sweet and sour chicken is to make sure that you cook your vegetables until they’re just tender, and adding your cooked, crispy chicken to the veggies and sauce right before serving so it keeps its texture!
- Spice is Nice: If you want to add a little kick of heat to your sweet and sour chicken, feel free to add a sprinkling of chili flakes to your sauce ingredients, or to substitute a tablespoon of the ketchup for Sriracha chili sauce!
- Serving Suggestions: Sweet and sour chicken goes best over a bed of steamed white rice, but feel free to serve it with brown rice or cauliflower rice! For a truly ‘takeaway at home’ experience, why not serve it over a bed of my Easy Fried Rice?
Storage Instructions
Refrigerator: You can store leftovers in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. When you’re ready to eat, you can either warm it up again on the stovetop, or in the microwave in bursts until hot throughout.
Freezer: You can store this sweet and sour chicken in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 4 months! For best results, allow everything to thaw in the fridge before reheating on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
- Looking for something nostalgic but still delicious? Give my Mushroom Soup Chicken & Rice Casserole a try for a one-skillet meal!
- Give my oven baked Garlic and Herb Marinated Buttermilk Chicken a try for a tender and juicy main for your next dinner!
- Try cooking up a big pot of Bisquick™ Chicken and Dumplings for a hearty, home-cooked meal that’s perfect for a cozy dinner!
Not only is this recipe just as good as anything I’ve ever gotten from a restaurant, it also comes together quickly with easy-to-get ingredients; honestly I can have it on the table myself way faster than I could ever get it delivered. Zero down sides—especially when I can get my kids to help with the dishes!
Give this sweet and sour chicken a try and let me know how it turns out for you in the comments below!
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken breasts boneless, skinless
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cup cornstarch
- 3 eggs beaten
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown Sugar
- 4 tbsp ketchup
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce, (Option -use low sodium soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic, (fresh if available)
- ½ cup red bell pepper, (diced into 1 inch pieces)
- ½ cup green bell pepper, (diced into 1 inch pieces)
- ½ cup yellow onion, (diced into 1 inch pieces)
- ½ cup pineapple chunks, (drained)
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
- place the beaten eggs into a bowl
- Add the cornstarch to a large Ziploc bag and add the sliced up chicken
- Seal the bag well and lightly shake the chicken around to make sure all pieces are separated and coated well.
- Dip the chicken pieces into the egg mixture and then into the flour, set aside on a plate until the pan is hot.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the chicken 2-3 minutes, turning until browned and cooked, set aside on a clean plate.
- Add the onion, bell peppers and pineapple to the skillet and cook 2-3 minutes or until the desired tenderness is reached. Add a tablespoon of oil if needed.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the sugars, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. Pour it into the pan over the cooked vegetables.
- Add in the cooked chicken to the pan.
- Stir gently to coat evenly.
- Serve this over rice if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Krysia Corden says
hi, this is a fabulous recipe, my husband can’t eat pineapple so I substituted tinned peaches for the sweetness, it was delicious thanks xx
Randi says
This was REALLY good. I did not change anything, except added more garlic. Husband loved it and he is not a big fan of sweet and sour dishes. I said I would print it, he agreed! That, in our house, means a lot!
Mark says
Hi Karlynn! Just wondering if the sweet and sour chicken recipe uses green onions or if not what type. Thanks and I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.