Sweet and Sour Chicken
When it comes to Chinese recipes, there are a few basic cooking methods. One of them is sweet and sour.
Sweet and sour chicken is also one of the most popular dishes. It’s basically fried chicken cubes coated with a crispy batter and stir-fried with a mouthwatering sweet and sour sauce.
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Sweet and Sour Sauce
How do you make sweet and sour sauce? With my easy and healthy recipe (no red food coloring in the sauce!), you can make it in advance and keep in the refrigerator. The ingredients include:
- Ketchup – this is the key ingredient and gives sweet and sour sauce its iconic color.
- Chili Sauce – you can use any Asian chili sauce you like. This gives you the heat in the sweet and sour sauce.
- Plum sauce – this is one of the secret ingredient that gives my recipe that extra special flavor
- Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce – this is another secret ingredient that will make your sauce just like the best Chinese restaurants
- Chinese rice vinegar – this ingredient gives the tartness in the sauce and makes sweet and sour chicken sauce so appetizing
- Sugar – the sweetness in the sauce comes from sugar.
How Do You Cook Sweet and Sour Chicken?
The key to a great sweet and sour chicken is that you don’t want your chicken to swim in the sweet and sour sauce like what most Chinese restaurants do.
The sauce should lightly coat the chicken cubes so they don’t turn soggy. Another secret is the use of baking powder in the frying batter, which does a great job in giving the battered fried chicken an extra crunch.
What Dishes to Serve with this Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
How Many Calories Per Serving?
This recipe is only 162 calories per serving.
Pairs well with:
Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Sweet and Sour Chicken - crazy delicious and crispy chicken in the most amazing homemade sweet and sour sauce. This Chinese takeout is so easy to make and better than restaurants.
Ingredients
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
Directions
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
Recipe Notes
If you don't have Lingham hot sauce, you can use other chili sauce or chili garlic sauce. If you use Sriracha, which is very spicy, you probably should tone it down to about 1/2 tablespoon or to taste.
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Carolina King
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!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Carolina, please try more recipes on my site, they are all better: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Diane
Curious if it’s possible to make this without deep frying the chicken.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can, but don’t use the batter.
Lesley McPherson
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!!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Lesley, sounds very good. Yes, my sweet and sour chicken is amazing.
Valerie Wright
This is most definitely the best sweet & sour we have ever had. Absolutely fantastic. ❤️
Rasa Malaysia
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/
Dominique
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.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Dominique thanks for trying my sweet and sour chicken recipe.
H
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!!
Rasa Malaysia
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/
Mirjam Buehler
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!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Mirjam thanks for trying my recipe, please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Neli Howard | Delicious Meets Healthy
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!!!