Sweet and Sour Chicken is a delicious make-at-home version that rivals takeout! Chicken, vegetables, and fruit combined with a luscious sweet and sour sauce.
Many years ago, back when my husband Jack was still a bachelor, he decided to take a class to learn more about cooking Asian cuisine. While he was already trained professionally in many other types of cuisines – at the time, he felt that he didn’t have a good mastery of Asian cooking.
Although he learned quite a lot in that cooking class – to this day – Jack still feels that it is very difficult for most of us to make good Asian cuisine at home, because so many of the recipes require specific ingredients that are typically available only at Asian or specialty markets.
So knowing that not everyone has easy access to those specialty ingredients that are often called for in recipes for Asian cuisine, Jack has set out over the years to develop more simplified recipes – like today’s Sweet and Sour Chicken. This recipe comes extremely close to achieving the same delicious flavor profile as the version you’d order at a restaurant, but it uses ingredients more commonly found in your typical, local American supermarket.
Most of the prep time and work in this recipe is getting all of the ingredients ready before you start cooking – but once all that work is done, this dish comes together very quickly! And it’s a dish that the entire family will love in the comfort of your own home without calling for take-out!
Interested in more chicken recipes?
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You may like these other Asian-inspired recipes:
- Healthier Beef Lo Mein
- Healthier Chicken Chow Mein
- Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Salad
- Asian Pepper Steak Bites
- Asian Burgers
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken is a delicious make-at-home version that rivals takeout! Chicken, vegetables, and fruit combined with a luscious sweet and sour sauce.
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
- Category: entree
- Method: saute
- Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 1 20–ounce can pineapple chunks in juice, juice separated from chunks (do not discard juice)
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dry ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
To coat the chicken
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch sized pieces
- 1 1/2 cups corn starch for coating
- Enough vegetable oil to come a third of the way up a wok or heavy pot
For the remainder of the dish
- 1 10–ounce jar maraschino cherries, juice separated from cherries (but do not discard juice)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 cup carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4 slices cut on the bias
- 1 1/2 cups onion cut into thick strips (vertical strips)
- 1 1/2 cups green bell pepper cut into thick strips (vertical strips)
- 2 cups hot, cooked white rice
Instructions
- In a very large bowl, mix the pineapple juice drained from canned pineapple, ketchup, vinegar, both sugars, soy sauce, garlic powder, ginger, salt, pepper and the 1 teaspoon of corn starch. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl beat whole egg with egg white then add soy sauce, sugar and salt. Stir to combine then add cut up chicken and swirl around to fully coat.
- In a second medium bowl, add the 1 ½ cups of corn starch. Work in batches and transfer chicken pieces from batter to corn starch and coat completely. Remove coated pieces to a platter. Add more corn starch if needed to finish.
- Heat wok and vegetable oil to 350 degrees using candy thermometer to maintain that temperature.
- Cook in four batches placing chicken in hot oil one piece at a time. Cook each batch four minutes, moving the pieces around as they cook so they don’t stick to each other. Use a Spider Strainer
or other kind of strainer to remove to a plate covered in paper towels.
- Soon as the chicken drains, add to the large bowl with the sauce. As you finish each batch and drain, again add to the bowl. Set that aside when done and discard the used oil and clean out the wok.
- In a small bowl, mix cherry juice with the one tablespoon of soy sauce and set aside.
- Heat the wok back up to as high as it will go and add the two tablespoons of peanut oil. Once it starts to shimmer with heat, add carrots and stir fry 2 minutes. Move the carrots to the edges and add onion and pepper. Stir fry that for 4 minutes. Add cherry juice mixture and cook for two minutes almost until the liquid is evaporated.
- Add pineapple chunks, cherries and reserved bowl of cooked chicken and the sauce it is in.
- Stir and heat mixture to serving temperature and serve with white rice.
Notes
Note: The entire cooking process until finished dish takes 30 minutes. Plan your cooked rice so it is ready once the dish is complete.
For some strange reason I’ve thought trying other recipes thinking – maybe, just maybe there might be a better one – nope! There isn’t! This is the best one I’ve ever found and I’ve stopped looking at others. My family loves it! Thank you for such a wonderful tasting recipe!
Aw…you’re very welcome Karen! You made our day!
This has always been my go-to recipe when I want to make sweet and sour chicken. My family loves it!
Thank you so much!
Was fantastic. I only had crushed pineapple and could not see or taste it. I like lots of sauce,so next time I’ll double the sauce. I used chicken breasts.
Meal was worth all the prep and chicken fry time. Oh and I would like 3 carrots. And probably two peppers. I think I’ll need a bigger pan. I don’t have a wok,had to use cast iron fry pan.
Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks Marge – this is definitely a flexible recipe so feel free to adjust the quantities to suit your tastes!
We made this tonight. It was spot on with the flavors!! Not too sweet at all. I made it per the recipe and did not substitute anything. It was excellent!! We plan to make this often, my teenage daughter said it was the best meal she has had in a while and I cook a lot!!! Based on this recipe alone, I plan to be a loyal fan on this website
Thank you Sammy’s Mom – we’re glad you found us!