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.
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
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ 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
✎ Notes
Nutrition
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Sumeya says
I loved it easy and simple recipe. It's yummy my kids loved it. Will definitely make again and send the recipe to my family.
Thank you
Margaret Smith says
Lovely sweet and sour,better than Chinese restaurant,Will definitely keep this recipe.ThankYou .
Lulu says
INCREDIBLE! The best sweet and sour chicken I've tasted - and cheaper than takeaway too.
Forgot to add, the only changes I made to this dish were using chicken thigh instead of chicken breast, keeping the chicken at room temperature for 30mins (before cooking) to make it tender & using sesame oil instead of vegetable oil for the sweet & sour sauce. Delightful! 🙂
This is the 1st recipe I tried from Kitchen Sanctuary & I will be trying more.
Lulu says
Pleasantly surprised at how great this recipe is. With us being in a recession, I've had to cut out takeaways completely. This proved to be tastier than the Chinese takeaway down the road by a long shot! And I love how you give us simple & accessible ingredients to get bang on flavours. 5/5 stars from me!
Rob says
Fantastic recipe and now my go-to! Thanks for sharing!
carolann harrop says
love it was so tasty thankyou
Vicky says
Amazing recipe 🙂 the easiest and best recipe to follow. This dish tastes amazing and is simple to make. Far nicer than the local Chinese! I won’t be ordering out again!! X
Jo says
Took longer to do than 25 mins but it was amazing and the family loved it. Will deffo do it again in the future. Thanks xx
Claire says
We all love love love this recipe - even ordered a takeaway the other night and still preferred this one!!
Just a question, does it freeze well?
Many thanks
Claire
Isobel says
The result was tasty and much appreciated by the recipients BUT it took a LOT longer than suggested and I had to top up the flour and egg dips twice.
Lorraine says
Best sweet and sour chicken.
Sarah Ruse says
This is so yummy we actually prefer this to the sweet and sour chicken from the takeaway , easy to make and everyone in the family enjoys it.
Nathalie says
Absolutely wonderful. Everyone liked it. As good if not even better than a takeaway! It was so easy to make. Asian cooking usually puts me off as it seems so difficult (I find French cooking easier… but I am French😁). But your Asian recipes seem so easy and are so well explained that I want to try them all.
Marie says
Delicious recipe , crispy and tangy thanks!
Sharon says
Brilliant recipe, easy and delicious