Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe – Quick Delicious and Easy

This Sweet n Sour Chicken Recipe or Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe tastes like an absolute dream. The perfect balance of tangy, sweet, and savory. This dish is made by seasoning the chicken with garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, all purpose flour, cornstarch, and egg. Fried into golden nuggets. Then tossed in a deliciously savory and colorful sauce made of pineapples, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, garlic, onion, bell peppers, and a slurry to help thicken the sauce up.  Serve once the chicken pieces look glossy and delicious. This dish is perfect for a quick weekday dinner, and ideal easy to do premade meal, or even to bring to parties.

What is Sweet and Sour Chicken ?

Sweet and Sour Chicken is not totally a traditional Southern Chinese cuisine but a Chinese-American dish that showcases the perfect balance between tangerines and sweetness. Deep fried chicken pieces coated in a deliciously savory and tangy red sauce mixed with other colorful vegetables. Made during the late 1800’s, the dish was made by Chinese immigrants to cater the dishes for the American palate. Due to its unique blend of flavors, these were welcomed and adopted into many varieties inside and outside of the country. The Sweet and Sour Sauce has a long history of being made since the Tang dynasty was invented by Chancellor Wei Juyuan, though some state that it came from the Henan province. A sauce used to stir-fry with other meats or vegetables or to be used as a dipping sauce. Some dishes are served with the sauce cold rather than hot, adding honey or using rice vinegar instead of white vinegar, or includes other spices like cloves and ginger. The more modern versions of the sauce that we all know now are often subtly sweet and savory more than being sour and too acidic. This recipe we all know today is a popular choice of Chinese takeout. Along with Chop suey and General Tso’s chicken that are made with a fusion of Asian Flavors with some American techniques.

How to Cook this Recipe ?

Ingredients

For the Fried Chicken

• 500 grams boneless chicken
• 2 cloves garlic ( minced )
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• Oil for deep frying

For the Sauce 

• 1 can pineapple chunks
• ⅓ cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cloves garlic ( minced )
• 1 large onion ( quartered )
• 3 pieces Red and green bell peppers
• Slurry ( 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoon water )
• Sesame seeds for garnish ( optional )

Steps :

1. In a bowl, mix together chicken, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, all purpose flour, cornstarch, and egg. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

2. Separate pineapple chunks and the syrup. Add ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. Mix well.

3. Deep fry the marinated chicken until it looks golden brown. Around 8 – 10 minutes at medium heat. To make it crispier, double fry for 2 – 3 minutes at high heat. Set aside.

4. In another pan, saute garlic until fragrant, add in onions and bell peppers. Cook for a few minutes before adding the pineapple chunks. 

5. Pour in the sauce. Once simmering, add in the slurry. Simmer for 1 minute. Add in the fried chicken. Toss until these are fully coated.

6. Garnish with sesame seeds before serving.

Questions

• Additional ingredients
  • Other popular options of this sweet sour chicken include  “Sweet and Sour Chicken and Broccoli”. Adding broccoli and letting it simmer for 3 – 5 minutes before adding the slurry. Broccoli not only adds more vibrancy into the dish but it also packs a lot of nutrients. 
  • For those wanting to make the dish more fuller without breaking the bank too much. Saute chopped up potatoes before adding the aromatics to ensure it’s well-cooked to make “Sweet and Sour Chicken with Potatoes”.

• Different Seasonings / flavors

This sweet and sour sauce with fresh pineapple sauce is absolutely delicious. There are more ways to enjoy and recreate this dish. Just by adding and vomiting some seasonings. Here are just some examples:

• Thai Sweet and Sour Chicken – Simply add 1 – 2 sweet chillies, some spring onions, a quarter of lime for an additional tang, chili sauce, and sugar into the sauce mix.
• For Sweet and Sour Sesame Chicken – Drizzle the dish at the end with some sesame oil and garnish with some sesame seeds.
• If you’re looking to make the popular Chinese Sweet and Sour sauce simple add a few tablespoons of brown sugar, ⅓ cup of rice vinegar, and 2 – 3 tablespoons of ketchup.
• Or the Americanized version “Sour Orange Chicken” ( sometimes called “Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce” ) the biggest difference between this and the Chinese version is that it uses more sugar, and orange juice with or without the additional pineapple juice, sometimes adding orange jam or marmalade, a bit of ginger, and pepper flakes.
• Another well known version of the sweet and sour recipe is the “Jamaican Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe”. For this sweet and sour chicken recipe Jamaican style; all you need to do is season the chicken with chicken seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and for the sauce, add baby corn, honey.

• How to make Sweet and Sour Chicken without Pineapple?

All you need to do is substitute this with lemon, lime or orange juice as you’d like. You can also add half the amount by using white vinegar instead.

• Sweet and Sour Chicken without Cornstarch?

Alternatives to cornstarch include potato starch, tapioca starch, arrowroot, or all purpose flour.

• Other ways on how to make Sweet and Sour Chicken?
  • To make this Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe using an Air fryer; Preheat your air fryer at 400°F or 200°C, place the chicken pieces in one layer over the basket lined in parchment. Spray or drizzle the seasoned chicken with oil. Fry for 10 – 15 minutes, flipping halfway until the chicken turns golden. Toss these in the simmering sauce after.
  • For a healthy sweet and sour chicken recipe, try “Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe” Bake the chicken pieces at 200°C or 390°F preheated oven. Make sure to place the chicken in one layer, on a tray lined with parchment paper, drizzle in oil. Bake for 15 – 25 minutes, flipping halfway, until these turn golden. Then toss with the simmering sauce.

How to cook Sweet and Sour chicken ?

To make this Crispy Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe, all you need to do is season the boneless chicken bits with garlic, salt, pepper, paprika for a hint of spice, all purpose flour and cornstarch to give you that nice crunchy outer layer. Bind everything with an egg. Mix well until the chicken pieces are coated in the batter. Set aside to let it marinade for a while.

To make the Sauce; start with separating the pineapple syrup from the sauce. Together with the syrup mix ketchup to bring out the red coloring sweet and sour is known for, then vinegar for a stronger tang and acidity, soy sauce, salt, and pepper, with a bit of sugar to help cut the acidity. Add more if needed. Set this aside and fry the chicken pieces at medium heat until these look like light golden nuggets. To ensure crispy chicken bites, fry once more after letting it rest to room temperature. This time fry at high heat until these look more golden-brown. Set aside in a strainer to help remove any excess oils. 

To arrange everything together saute garlic, onions, and bell peppers until the aromatics are fragrant. Add in the pineapple chunks then the sauce. Bring to a simmer, giving it a taste to make sure you’re happy with the sauce. Then mix in the slurry. Simmer for at least a minute before tossing in the fried chicken bits until these look beautifully glossy from the sauce. Garnish with some sesame seeds at the end and it’s ready to be served!

Try our other Yummy Fried Chicken Recipes :

• Easy Fried Chicken and Gravy
• KFC Style Fried Chicken
• Fried Chicken ala Max’s
• Korean Fried Chicken Wings
• Crispy Soy Garlic Butter Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken Resipi ( Tagalog ) :

Mga Sangkap :

Para sa Manok

• 500 gramo boneless na chicken
• 2 butil ng bawang ( tinadtad )
• ½ kutsaritang asin
• ½ kutsaritang paminta
• ½ kutsaritang paprika
• 2 kutsarang all purpose flour
• ¼ tasa cornstarch
• 1 malaking itog
• Mantika pang prito

Para sa Sarsa

• 1 lata pineapple chunks
• ⅓ tasa ketchup
• 3 kutsarang suka
• 1 kutsarang soy sauce
• Asin at paminta panlasa
• 2 kutsarang asukal
• 3 butil ng bawang ( tinadtad )
• 1 bawang ( hiniwa sa apat )
• 3 piraso pula at berdeng paminta
• Slurry ( 1 kutsaritang cornstarch hinalo sa 2 kutsarang tubig )
• Sesame seeds pang dekorasyon ( opsyonal )

Paano Lutuin :

1. Sa mangkok, haluin ang manok, bawang, asin, paminta, paprika, all purpose flour, cornstarch, at itlog. Iiwan sa ref ng 30 minuto.
2. Hiwalayin ang pineapple chunks at syrup. Haluan ito ng ketchup, suka, soy sauce, asin, paminta, at asukal.
3. Iprito ang minarinate na manok hanggang mag kayumanggi. Mga 8 – 10 na minito sa katamtamang init. Para maging mas-crispy, iprito ng pangalawang beses ng 2 – 3 minuto sa mataas na init. Itabi.
4. Sa ibang kawali, lutuin ang mga bawang hanggang bumango. Haluan ng sibuyas at mga paminta. Lutuin ng ilang minuto bago haluan ng pineapple chunks.
5. Ibuhos dito ang sauce. Pakuluan bago haluan ng slurry. Pakuluin ng 1 minuto. Haluin ang fried chicken hanggang matakpan ang mga ito ng sarsa.
6. Dekorasyonan ng sesame seeds bago ihanda.

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