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Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Sweet and sour chicken is one of the most popular Chinese recipes.
Chinese sweet and sour is a cooking style that is easy, delicious and everyone’s favorite.
The dish comes complete with crispy fried chicken cubes with mouthwatering sweet and sour sauce. It goes well with steamed rice, fried rice or chow mein.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
How do you make sweet and sour chicken sauce?
You will need the following simple ingredients to make the sauce:
- Ketchup.
- Chili sauce.
- Plum sauce.
- Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce.
- Chinese rice vinegar.
- Sugar.
My recipe is healthy with no red food coloring in the sauce.
You can make the sweet sour sauce in advance, store in an air-tight container and keep in the refrigerator.
How to Make Sweet and Sour Chicken?
The recipe is easy and simple. First, cut the chicken into bite-sized cubes.
Then make the sweet and sour chicken batter and coat the chicken with the batter.
Next, deep fry the chicken and stir fry with the sweet sour sauce.
Cooking Tips
For the best sweet and sour chicken, please following my cooking tips below:
- The combination of plum sauce, Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce and Chinese rice vinegar make the sauce tastes like the best Chinese restaurants.
- DO NOT double the sauce. The sauce should lightly coat the chicken cubes so the chicken remain crispy and not soggy.
- Use baking powder in the batter. The baking powder makes the batter light and airy and the chicken will be extra crispy and crunchy.
- DO not use red coloring in the sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Add Pineapple to the Recipe?
Yes, you sure can. Just opt out the tomatoes in the recipe and replace with pineapple.
You may use fresh pineapple or canned pineapple with syrup. If you use canned pineapple, remember to discard the syrup before cooking.
Cut the pineapple into bite-sizes pieces before cooking.
Can I Use Air Fryer to Fry the Chicken?
Yes, you can use air fryer. Just lightly coat the chicken with the batter and air fry in an air fryer.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 162 calories per serving.
What to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve this dish with steamed rice or other rice and noodle dishes. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 oz. boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size cubes
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 green bell pepper (seeded and cut into squares)
- 1 small tomato (cut into wedges, optional)
- 1 stalk scallion (cut into 2-inch lengths)
- oil (for deep frying)
Batter:
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Sweet and Sour Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Lingham brand hot sauce or other chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon plum sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breast meat into bite-size cubes and marinate with 1 tablespoon of wine for 10 minutes. Mix the batter in a bowl and add the chicken cubes into the batter. Mix the Sweet and Sour sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a wok and deep fry the chicken cubes. (Shake off the extra batter before frying). Transfer the chicken out on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Transfer the cooking oil out and leave only 2 tablespoons oil in the wok.
- Add garlic and saute the garlic until light brown and then follow by the green bell peppers. Stir-fry until you smell the aroma. Add the sweet and sour sauce into the wok and bring it to boil.
- Toss in the chicken, tomatoes and add the chopped scallions, do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Sweet and sour chicken is the best!
Hi,
Thanks a lot for the recipe . It is the best sweet and sour chicken. Every time I make this my son always said ‘better than in the restaurant’
Thanks!
Tried it today. It’s surprisingly really yummy!
Restaurant quality!
??
Great!
Thank you for sharing your recipe. ?
I’m cooking it again today.
We Love it! ?
Awesome!
Hi!Tried this today and was amazing!Great for adults and kids!I did not have weschestire sauce and rice wine vinegar.Added yellow onions as an addition.loved it!thank you for an amazing receipe!way better than restaurants!
Thanks Ratha, all my recipes are great please try more!
Hi
Thanks for the great recipe! Two questions
1) You mentioned the use of plum sauce.
a) Is there an alternative – eg. oyster sauce?
b) Can i omit this ingredient?
2) Instead of deep frying, I like to use my air fryer. What temperature should I set it at and for how long?
Thank you!
You can skip plum sauce. I don’t know about air fryer. I don’t use it.
If using an air fryer and battered chicken thigh cubed to bite size pieces go about 6 minutes @ 200C then turn over and go 4 minutes more at 200C. Ensure to lay chicken in a single layer, do seperate batches if it won’t fit (don’t overcrowd). Ensure to spray oil on the air fryer grate to prevent sticking and half a cup of water in the base of the air fryer basket can help prevent any smoking if the batter drips and comes in contact with the bottom of the hot basket. It will be crispy, maybe not as crispy as deep fried, but the health benefit is worth it.
Greetings from the UK! I make this recipe for the family at least once a month and they absolutely it! I have 10 people coming for dinner tomorrow evening and I will be making this recipe as I know it will go down well, both with adults and children alike. So much tastier and healthier than restaurant sweet and sour. Thank you!
Hi Carolina, please try more recipes on my site, they are all better: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Curious if it’s possible to make this without deep frying the chicken.
Yes you can, but don’t use the batter.
Made this tonight for my family. I scaled up for 3 people but couldn’t get plum sauce. I added pineapple juice and pineapple chunks. Awesome!!
Hi Lesley, sounds very good. Yes, my sweet and sour chicken is amazing.
This is most definitely the best sweet & sour we have ever had. Absolutely fantastic. ❤️
Hi Valerie, thanks for trying my sweet and sour chicken recipe. Yes, all my recipes are delicious, please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Amazing recipe. Just tried it for the first time and really enjoyed it. Didn’t had the plum sauce but looked after a recipe. The end result was fantastic (made with dried plums, vinegar, sugar, white vinegar, sushi vinegar, garlic, ginger and pepper). Not sure if it comes close to the original chinese taste but added extra flavour to the sweet sour sauce. This recipe is a keeper.
Hi Dominique thanks for trying my sweet and sour chicken recipe.
Keeper! At the last minute I realized I was out of ketchup. Some tomato paste, vinegar, honey, extra water, Thai sweet chili sauce and hot honey along with listed ingredients later, tasty, very tasty. But most of all, followed recipe for the chicken exactly and it was juicy and delicious!!
Hi H thanks so much for trying my sweet and sour chicken. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Hi! Im going to cook this for the first time and bringing to a potluck lunch! May I know is the chicken crispy? Do I need to double fry them? Thanks
You can double fry.
Absolutely delicious!!! Loved every bite of it! Light, crispy batter and a fab sauce without pineapple. Didn’t have the vinegar, used a bit of white wine instead. Will definitely make it again. Thank you for a quick, easy, very ‘moreish’ recipe!
Hi Mirjam thanks for trying my recipe, please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
This is better than restaurant quality sweet and sour chicken…absolutely perfect without any changes. All of my kids enjoyed it too, which is bonus!!!