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Sweet and Sour Chicken

This Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe is restaurant delicious (or better!) but quick and easy to make at home! Plus, it’s healthier than takeout with the options to either pan fry or bake PLUS it’s stir-fried with veggies for a complete meal-in-one! To make this Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe, the bite-size chicken gets tossed in a simple breading then is baked or pan fried to crispy perfection then enveloped in the most intoxicating sweet and sour sauce ever! It’s sticky, sweet and tangy infused with pineapple juice, sugar, red wine vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. The layered complex flavors combined with the crispy, juicy chicken will have everyone combing back for seconds and thirds! Serve this Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe with rice or low carb cauliflower rice and you have an easy weeknight meal your whole family will beg you to make again and again!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

Chicken “marinade”

Chicken Breading

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch replace with flour if baking
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 tsp EACH ground ginger, garlic powder, pepper
  • Vegetable oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Stir Fry

  • 3-4 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
  • 1/2 onion chopped into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 15 oz. can pineapple tidbits in juice
  • 1 green bell pepper chopped into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped into 1-inch chunks

Instructions

  • IF BAKING: Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick mat or foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Place baking sheet in the oven to heat up.
  • MARINATE CHICKEN. Whisk eggs in a large bowl then whisk in all remaining “marinade” ingredients. Stir in chicken and let marinate at room temperature while you prep the rest of the ingredients, preferable 20 minutes.
  • WHISK SAUCE. Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, set aside.
  • BREAD CHICKEN. Add flour, cornstarch, and seasonings to a large freezer bag (or large bowl). Remove chicken from marinade with a slotted spoon, dab off excess egg with paper towels and add to breading. Toss chicken until well coated, pressing coating into chicken from outside the bag.
  • TO PAN FRY (See notes for more cooking options): Add enough vegetable oil to a large frying pan so it reaches 1/4-inch up the sides and heat over medium-high heat. Working in batches, shake off excess breading from chicken add to hot pan in a single layer and cook for about 4-6 minutes, or until cooked through, turning halfway through. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.
  • STIR FRY: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add onions and 1 cup pineapple and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add bell peppers, ginger and garlic and stir fry for 1 minute.
  • ADD SAUCE. Stir sauce (to make sure cornstarch has not separated) and add to skillet. Simmer until thickened.
  • COMBINE. Add chicken and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Notes

How to Cook Sweet and Sour Chicken – 4 options

You have four options when it comes to cooking your Sweet and Sour Chicken: to bake, lightly pan fry, to shallow pan fry, or to deep fry.   Each technique uses different amounts of oil resulting in varying amounts of crispiness, but they are all winners, especially once smothered in sweet and sour sauce.
Deep fried will obviously emerge the crispiest and “puffiest/fluffiest,” for lack of a better word, with the most even browning and a distinctively fried flavor.   Baked chicken can still become surprisingly crispy and still boasts all the flavor.  I typically shallow pan fry as it is a happy medium and still produces crispy chicken – but on days I want to splurge – deep fried is where it’s at.
Here are the different cooking options ordered from least oil to most oil:
TO BAKE:   Carefully place chicken on the hot baking sheet in an even layer and spray generously with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes then move the baking sheet about 8" away from broiler and broil until crispy, watching closely so the chicken doesn't burn (about 2-4 minutes). Flip chicken pieces over and broil another 2-3 minutes, or until crispy.
TO LIGHLTY PAN FRY:  Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet heat over medium-high heat.  Working in batches, shake off excess breading from chicken and add to pan in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 1 minute then continue to cook and stir until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.   It is important that you use a nonstick skillet when using so little oil or else your chicken will definitely stick – don’t even think about using a stainless-steel pan.
TO SHALLOW PAN FRY:  Add enough vegetable oil to a large frying pan so it reaches 1/4-inch up the sides and heat over medium-high heat. Working in batches, shake off excess breading from chicken add to pan in a single layer and cook for about 4-6 minutes, turning halfway through. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.  You can use a nonstick pan, or cast-iron skillet for shallow pan frying.
TO DEEP FRY:  Add enough vegetable oil to a Dutch oven or frying pan so it reaches 1-inch up the sides.  Heat the oil to medium-high.  Once very hot, add the chicken in batches and cook until golden and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

TIPS AND TRICKS 

  • Don’t chop chicken to small.  The chicken should be chopped 1” thick, erroring on the side of larger so that it doesn’t overcook and dry out.
  • Thoroughly bread chicken.   If you notice any of the chicken pieces aren’t fully coated in the breading, give them another toss or use your hands to press the breading into the chicken.
  • Remove excess egg/marinade.  It is important to remove excess egg so the flour breading bag doesn’t become a goopy mess. To do this, I plop the chicken on a wad of paper towels before adding to the flour mixture.
  • Remove excess flour.  Even if you shake the chicken as you remove it from the breading, a lot of flour can end up in the pan or on the baking sheet.  To remedy this, I like to place the chicken in a strainer after dredging to help shake off any excess.
  • Don’t let chicken touch.  Space the chicken apart either on the baking sheet or in the pan so the pieces aren’t touching – chicken will never get crispy if it’s hidden/touching other chicken.
  • Keep an eye on the chicken. Don’t walk away from the chicken while it is frying or while it is broiling because it can turn from crispy to burnt in a flash!
  • Serve immediately. Whether Sweet and Sour Chicken is baked or fried, it will get softer the longer it sits in the sauce. To prevent soggy chicken, serve immediately or store the chicken and sauce separately, then combine when reheating.
  • Customize!  Make this YOUR Sweet and Sour Chicken by making it sweeter, tangier, or spicier if desired.

SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN STIR FRY

  • Marinate chicken per recipe instructions with the addition of the breading seasonings: ½ teaspoon salt and 1/4 tsp EACH ground ginger, garlic powder, pepper.
  • Meanwhile, whisk the sweet and sour sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.
  • Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large seasoned skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Once very hot, add chicken in a single layer and cook until golden; flip chicken over and cook an additional 2 minutes, then continue to stir fry until cooked through; remove to a plate.
  • To the now empty pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil and heat over medium high heat. Add onions and pineapple and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add bell peppers, ginger and garlic and stir fry for 1 minute.
  • Stir sauce (to make sure cornstarch has not separated) and add to skillet. Simmer until sauce is warmed through and thickened. Add chicken and toss to coat.

MAKE AHEAD

Even though this Sweet and Sour Chicken is easy to make, you can still prepare it in stages if that works better for you.
  • Sweet and Sour Sauce:  Whisk the sauce ingredients together but do not simmer/thicken.  Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
  • Breading:  Whisk the flour breading ingredients together in a Ziploc freezer bag.  You can store the breading for weeks or proceed to dredge chicken then refrigerate.
  • Marinade: Whisk the marinade ingredients together but don’t add the chicken; the chicken should only marinate for 30 minutes.
  • If baking:  Prepare chicken through dredging but instead of placing on a baking sheet, place on a greased cooking rack placed on a baking sheet.  The elevated cooking rack will help crisp up the chicken when it’s time to bake since we are eliminating the step of heating the baking rack before adding the chicken.  Cover the chicken tightly with foil or plastic wrap.  Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before cooking.

STORAGE 

This Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe is best served fresh because it is at peak crispiness, sauciness and the chicken is the juiciest.  You will find leftover chicken is not crispy but is still delicious.
  • How to store:  Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
  • How to reheat on the stove:  Leftovers are best reheated on the stove, even if they are small portions.  To reheat, heat a drizzle of vegetable, canola or peanut oil over medium heat.  Once hot, add the chicken, stirring occasionally until warmed through.
  • Reheating in microwave:  Microwaving leftovers is not advised as the chicken can become rubbery and the breading will definitely not be crispy, so just take not to overcook the chicken.

HOW TO FREEZE 

If you are making Sweet and Sour Chicken specifically to freeze, then I recommend freezing the chicken and sauce separately and omitting the bell peppers so the chicken and peppers don’t become soggy.

TO FREEZE CHICKEN WITHOUT SAUCE:

  1. Cook chicken according to preferred directions then let cool to room temperature.
  2. Space chicken apart on a baking sheet then transfer baking sheet to the freezer.
  3. Let freeze for 1-2 hours or until the chicken is solid. This prevents the chicken from clumping together.
  4. Add chicken to a freezer size bag, squeeze out excess air and label.
  5. Add sweet and sour sauce to a separate airtight container.
  6. When ready to use, defrost chicken and sauce in the refrigerator overnight and chop stir fry ingredients.

TO FREEZE CHICKEN IN SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE:

If freezing leftovers, I recommend removing the bell peppers before freezing because they will become mushy when thawed.
  1. Let Sweet and Sour Chicken cool completely.
  2. Transfer chicken to either a large freezer size bag or divide into smaller size bags.  Alternatively, transfer to airtight container(s).
  3. Press air out of the freezer bag, seal, label and freeze for up to 3 months.
  4. When ready to eat, defrost in the refrigerator.
  5. Heat on the stove until warmed through, adding fresh bell peppers the last 3 minutes or so.