Homemade crispy sweet and sour chicken with a better-than-takeout sauce made from store cupboard ingredients!
What ingredients could possibly give sweet and sour chicken that tangy, sweet and well, sour flavour?
Actually quick a bizarre combination:
- Ketchup - and plenty of it - for a tanginess and colour. I don't eat a lot of ketchup, but it's a must for this dish.
- Malt vinegar - it's the best type of vinegar I've found for getting the 'right' touch of sourness.
- Brown sugar - for rounded sweetness, and to counteract any bitterness in the vinegar.
- Pineapple chunks in pineapple juice - yep, rather than chopping up a fresh pineapple, I find pineapple chunks actually work better, and the juice is an all-important element to the sweet--tangy flavour of the sauce.
And of course we're doing this sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style - which means the chicken is chopped into bite-sized pieces, dredged in a flavourful coating then fried to crisp perfection, before being coated in that sweet and sour sauce.
Here's a quick rundown of the recipe. You can get the detailed steps and quantities in the recipe card below.
We start by coating the chicken in cornflour (cornstarch), then egg and then seasoned flour. Then fry in oil until crispy. You can do this in two batches if your pan is on the small side. I can just about do it in one batch in my wok. Then remove the crispy chicken from the wok.
Check the chicken is fully cooked:
If you want to ensure the chicken is fully cooked, slice open one of the larger pieces you can find, and make sure it's no longer pink in the middle. If it's white with no pink areas, it's cooked.
Ā
Now onto the sauce. We fry onions and peppers in a wok until very lightly softened (just a couple of minutes), then add garlic and ginger, followed by those all-important bizarre ingredients: ketchup, malt vinegar, brown sugar and tinned pineapple (including the juice). Bring it to the boil.
Let the sauce bubble for a few minutes, so it thickens slightly like this (it will thicken a little more when you add the chicken back in).
Then add in that crispy chicken and carefully toss in the sauce. So tasty!!
I love sweet and sour chicken from the takeaway, but there are a couple of things I don't love:
- The sauce is too bright orange - like glow in the dark orange. I've heard they use food colouring to get it that vivid (does anyone know for sure? let me know in the comments). Mine's very red (from the ketchup) but the colour is toned down by the addition of dark brown sugar.
- The crisp coating is often flavourless. It's more there for crunch, rather than to add additional flavour. I add extra seasoning and spices into my coating, so even without the sauce, it tastes delicious.
Can bake the chicken instead of frying it?
Yep! I have a recipe for baked sweet and sour chicken on the blog too.
I have a full section dedicated to Asian food, but here are some of my favourite Chinese picks:
- Sesame Chicken - A reader top favourite and top-rated recipe
- Spicy Ginger Beef Sir Fry - with lovely shredded and crispy fried ginger on top
- Sticky Chinese Pork Belly - melt in the mouth sticky deliciousness
- Crispy Chilli Beef with Broccoli - Chris's number one favourite dish that I make
- Honey Garlic Chicken - so juicy and moreish
- Pulled Crispy Duck (with homemade plum sauce) - an easy method to get shredded crispy duck at home
- Sticky, Slow-Cooked Pork Ribs - hands down the best ribs I've ever tasted
What to serve with sweet and sour chicken:
- Boiled rice - check out my full post on how to boil rice (the method I ALWAYS use)
- Special Fried Rice - masterclass post on getting it perfect!
- Just leave the chicken out of my Lo Mein recipe for a lovely noodle side dish.
- Maybe add a side of spare ribs? These are Asian style ribs topped with crispy onions, inspired by a restaurant we went to in China town in London.
Watch how to make it:
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- ¾ cup (90g) plain (all-purpose) flour
- Ā½ tsp salt
- Ā½ tsp pepper
- Ā½ tsp garlic salt
- 2 tsp paprika
- 3 chicken breast fillets - chopped into bite-size chunks
Sauce:
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 large onion - peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 1 red pepper - chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 1 green pepper - chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cloves of garlic - peeled and chopped/crushed
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- ⅔ cup (150ml) tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp malt vinegar
- 6 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
- 17 oz (475g) canned of pineapple chunks in juice
To Serve:
- Egg Fried Rice
- or Boiled Rice
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan until very hot.
- Whilst the oil is heating, place the egg in one shallow bowl and the cornflour in another shallow bowl. Add the flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt and paprika to another shallow bowl and mix together.
- Dredge the chicken in the cornflour, then dip in the egg (make sure all of the chicken is covered in egg wash), and finally dredge it in the seasoned flour. Add to the wok and cook on a high heat for 6-7 minutes, turning two or three times during cooking, until well browned. You may need to cook in two batches (I find I can do it in one batch so long as it's no more than 3 chicken breasts). Remove from the pan and place in a bowl lined with kitchen towels.
- Whilst the chicken is cooking, you can start on your sauce.
- Add the oil to a large frying pan/skillet, heat it up on a medium-to-high heat and add in the onions. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the onions start to go translucent.
- Add the peppers and cook for a further minute.
- Add in the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Add the tomato ketchup, vinegar, dark brown sugar, and the tinned pineapple (including the juicand stir. Bring to the boil, and then turn down the heat and let it bubble (stirring every so ofteuntil slightly thickened.
- Transfer the cooked crispy chicken to the pan with the sauce and toss to coat.
- Serve with boiled or fried rice and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
Video
ā Notes
Nutrition
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Angus Weir says
The whole family loved the sweet and sour chicken and the fried rice I cooked. It was positively devoured.
michelle says
Another excellent recipe. Everybody loved it.
Scott says
Fantastic recipe! Thank you!
I freestyled with the ketchup and bought a 435g tin of pineapples in pineapple juice and the taste was sooo authentic!
We will save this as a go too whenever we fancy a Chinese meal moving forward
Sarah says
Hi, itās super yummy! Just a quick question - are the state calories per portion (1/4 of the recipe) or for the whole lot?
Nicky C says
Made this tonight 12/1/21 using gf flour & cider vinegar. Probably didnāt add as much sugar, but oh my, delicious & the children said good chicken & ate it without a problem so a win win. Thank you
Diane says
Made this for the first time tonight - took me a little longer to prepare than 10 minutes, and that was with my daughter's assistance - but well worth it. A hit with all the family - thank you.
Hannah Mitchell says
Eating it now!
Really simple really tasty
Fun to cook
Highly recommended
Stacy says
Hi,
How many grams (approx) of chicken do you use in this recipe?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Stacy, about 525g or 18.5oz of chicken.
Kim says
The sweet and sour chicken is the best recipe that Iāve ever made ! Itās better than from a restaurant
Jude says
Wow, that's excellent! Beautiful crunch on the chicken and you're not wrong, better sauce. Although the flavour is bang on, it's not luminous and visible from space! Love it, thank you!
Nicky Corbishley says
Ha ha yes definitely not luminous. I think a lot of the blindingly red ones have food colouring in - which I'm happy to miss out š Thanks for rating the recipe!
Pauline Whittington says
Will the sauce freeze? I always make too much, as I live alone.
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Pauline, yes, the sauce should freeze fine. Just defrost overnight in the refrigerator and reheat until piping hot.
Mollie says
I love it! I changed a few things, but this recipe is a great base! My son and I are gluten free, so I used rice flour with a little bit of GF breadcrumbs added (80 g brown rice flour and 15 g corn & rice GF breadcrumbs). For the sauce I used maple syrup instead of brown sugar (1:1), ACV instead of malt vinegar, mixed some toasted sesame oil with the cooking oil, and did away with the pineapple and pepper combo which I HATE and find so prescriptive in all the sweet and sour dishes everywhere. Since I wasnāt using pineapple or the juice that comes with it, I added 1 Tbs apple juice and 1 Tbs orange juice to the sauce. I simply omitted the bell peppers after sautĆ©ing the onion, and after adding all the other sauce ingredients, I let it bubble a couple minutes and then added my stir fry veg (broccoli, mange tout, and baby corn), cooked it a few minutes, and then added back in the chicken. It was great. The chicken had the perfect texture, all crispy and chewy, with the right amount of sauce. My husband loved it, and even my daughter, who hates sweet and savoury together, gobbled up the chicken! A massive hit. Thank you!
Hilary Tresidder says
Made your sweet and sour chicken this evening. So easy and so delicious. One for my favourites recipe book!
Louise says
I made this yesterday for the first time. It was delicious and so filling that there was no room for dessert!
A great simple recipe using cupboard staples ( I did buy the sesame seeds especially) but otherwise a tasty meal on a budget.
Pam says
Can you bake the chicken with the sauce in the oven instead of cooking it in the sauce?
Chris Corbishley says
Hi Pam
Yep! We have a recipe for baked sweet and sour chicken on the blog too. https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/healthier-baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken/
Thanks
Chris