Sweet and Sour Chicken. Crispy chicken coated in a sticky sweet and tangy sauce. A popular Chinese dish ready in 30 minutes.
Popular in Chinese Restaurants
Sweet and sour chicken stir fry is a common chicken dish served at many Chinese restaurants and takeaways. It pairs deliciously with steamed rice and greens - a favourite in my books!
Why make my version?
There are many sweet and sour chicken recipes online but you should make mine because it’s:
- Delicious and tastes like take out!
- Easy to make
- Ready in 30 minutes or less
- No deep frying involved and therefore less oil wasted!
- No heavy batter required (just cornstarch!)
- Can be made in a skillet (no wok required)
- Ingredients are accessible and can be found at most Western grocers
- Pineapples are optional and can be omitted
Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken
My sweet and sour chicken recipe is very easy to make. You’re simply combining the minimal sauce ingredients, seasoning the chicken and then coating it in cornstarch (no batter here!). Then shallow frying the meat in a bit of oil. Then finally you’ll fry your vegetables and pineapples (optional) and pour your sauce into the pan. Mix in your fried chicken and that’s it!
No Deep Frying & No Heavy Batter
This sweet and sour chicken stir fry is not heavy battered or deep fried like how they do it at the Chinese restaurants making it slightly healthier. The coating is simply made of cornstarch and then shallow fried in oil, making it slightly healthier and there will be less oil to use or discard.
Pineapples can be omitted
This sweet and sour chicken with pineapple is just as delicious without the pineapples! I like adding pineapples for some added fibre and flavour but you can omit it.
What you’ll need
For this recipe you’ll need the following sweet and sour chicken ingredients:
- boneless skinless chicken thighs
- red bell pepper
- pineapple (optiona)
- yellow onion
- cornstarch
- vegetable oil, or avocado oil
Chicken seasoning:
- salt
- garlic powder
Sweet and sour chicken sauce:
- ketchup
- brown sugar
- regular soy sauce
- white vinegar
- water
- cornstarch
Optional garnish:
- sesame seeds
- green onion
How to make Sweet and Sour Chicken
Below are brief steps with visuals to show you how to make the best sweet and sour chicken. Please scroll down to the recipe card below to find full instructions and details.
Cut chicken thighs into bite sized pieces, about 4-6 pieces per thigh.
In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients. Set aside.
In a large bowl with your diced chicken thighs, season with salt and garlic powder and mix well.
Then add cornstarch and mix until each piece is coated in starch.
Over medium heat, add oil. Once oil is hot enough (test with wooden chopstick and look for bubbles), add coated chicken.
Fry on each side for 4-5 minutes or until golden crispy brown on both sides. Remove chicken from pan and place on a paper towel lined plate or a cooling rack.
Discard excess oil, reserving 1 tsp.
Over medium heat and into the same pan, fry onions, red bell pepper and pineapples for 30 – 45 seconds.
Pour in sauce and let it simmer to thicken and reduce, a couple minutes.
Once thick, add back in fried chicken and mix to coat evenly. Remove off heat.
Optional:
Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Cooking Tips
Below are tips on making crispy sweet and sour chicken at home:
Dice chicken into equal size pieces
This will allow for an even cooking time. I usually cut each thigh if they’re the same size into 6-8 pieces. If it’s a smaller thigh, about 4 bite size pieces.
Do not constantly move chicken as your fry
This prevents your chicken from becoming crispy as the exterior doesn't get enough time to fry. Instead, allow the chicken and fry in the pan for a 4-5 minutes per side, in a non-stick pan or 3-4 minutes per side, in a carbon steel wok.
Do not overcook vegetables
At the Chinese restaurant, the bell peppers and onions are not overcooked nor caramelized because we want them to hold shape. In fact, the bell peppers remain crunchy. So only cook for 30-45 seconds.
Pre-mix the sauce ahead of time
This is important and prevents overcooking of the bell peppers and onions.
FAQ
Below are frequently asked questions about this Chinese sweet and sour chicken:
Can I reheat this dish?
Yes you can definitely keep them for leftovers, however because the coating is light the chicken may not be as crispy the next day. But it still tastes great!
What is Chinese sweet and sour chicken made of?
It’s typically made of chicken thigh coated in cornstarch (or a heavy batter) and fried. It’s then coated in a sauce made of ketchup, vinegar, sugar, water and cornstarch (sometimes pineapple juice). Finally stir fried with bell peppers, onions and pineapple.
What's the difference between General Tso chicken and sweet and sour chicken?
Sweet and sour chicken is sweet and tangy as the name suggests. However, General Tso is more sweet and less sour and has a darker brown colour thanks to the hoisin. Whereas sweet and sour chicken is red in colour, thanks to the ketchup.
Where does sweet and sour chicken originate from?
It originates from China!
What does sweet and sour chicken taste like?
It tastes like fried battered chicken coated in a sweet tangy sauce with crunchy red bell pepper, pineapple and onion.
Other Chicken recipes you may like!
If you enjoyed this dish, you may enjoy these other Asian chicken recipes:
Sweet & Sour Battered Mushrooms
Orange Chicken
General Tso Chicken
Mongolian Chicken
Lemon Chicken
Try it!
Well, I hope you give my Sweet and Sour Chicken a try! It always excites me when you make my recipes and I hope this is one you try and most importantly, enjoy.
Sharing is caring
If you enjoyed my recipe, please share it with your family and friends or on social media! Take a picture of your re-creation and make sure to tag me @ChristieAtHome in your feed or stories as I would love to see it!
Did you enjoy it?
If you genuinely enjoyed my recipe, please leave a 5-star review. I would greatly appreciate it 🙂
Take care,
Christie
*This post for sweet and sour chicken Cantonese style contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also earn from qualifying purchases through additional affiliate programs
Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- ½ cup pineapple optional (feel free to use fresh or canned)
- ½ yellow onion sliced
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil or avocado oil
Chicken seasoning:
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Sauce:
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 3 tbsp brown sugar (or sub with cane sugar)
- 1 tbsp regular soy sauce not light or dark soy sauce
- ⅓ cup white vinegar
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ tbsp cornstarch
Optional garnish:
- ½ tsp sesame seeds
- 1 stalk green onion finely chopped
Instructions
- Cut chicken thighs into bite sized pieces, about 4-6 pieces per thigh.
- In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with your diced chicken thighs, season with salt and garlic powder. Then add cornstarch and mix until each piece is coated in starch.
- Over medium heat, add oil. Once oil is hot enough (test with wooden chopstick and look for bubbles), add coated chicken.
- Fry on each side for 4-5 minutes or until golden crispy brown on both sides.
- Remove chicken from pan and place on a paper towel lined plate or a cooling rack. Discard excess oil, reserving 1 tsp of it.
- Over medium heat and into the same pan, fry onions, red bell pepper and pineapples for 30 – 45 seconds.
- Pour in sauce and let it simmer to thicken and reduce, a couple minutes.
- Once thick, add back in fried chicken and mix to coat evenly. Remove off heat.
- Optional: Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
NOTES
Ahh this is such a nostalgic dish! My mom would make it on occasion since she doesn't like to deep fry too much. I love how your version is a shallow-fry -- keeps it a bit healthier! 🙂 Have a fantastic weekend, Christie!
Mmmm, this looks absolutely delightful, Christie! I love that your version of sweet and sour chicken is not deep fried - that's so much better than the restaurant version. Yum!
I love what you used instead of pineapple juice to make the sauce... and those sesame seeds sprinkled on top make the chicken so tantalizing! 💕
OKAY I had no idea that ketchup went into sweet and sour chicken!! How cool hehe you really do learn something every day! BTW-- this looks beautiful!
We made this tonight & it was better than take out!! I shallow fried the chicken & just added some pineapple! Delicious Thanks Christie, we’ll be making it again!
This sweet and sour chicken is honestly AMAZING. We tried the shallow pan fry and I actually love it more than the typical deep fry! The flavor of the sauce is delicious and it was even better the next day. My favorite part was that I didn't need to go to the store to buy canned pineapple, I had everything on hand to make it! Highly recommend this recipe!!
Thank you so much for making my recipe Cam! I am so glad you enjoyed it and you liked the shallow frying technique! Happy to hear that the flavour was stronger the next day 🙂 That's always a good thing.
This recipe was super easy to follow and so delish!! My 3yo girl is a huge fan of this dish and I’m now able to save $15/week on take out 🙂 I made two batches, one original for my girl and one spicy for myself by adding siracha to sauce mix. It was heavenly 🙂 Thanks Christie for this recipe!
My friend! I’ve made the recipe and it came out spectacular! It was my first Asian food meal and I really enjoyed. The flavours, the ingredients and texture! Everything perfect! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for making my recipe!! I am really glad to read that you enjoyed it my friend! Happy it worked out and that I could introduce you to more Asian flavours 🙂
Christie,
I just came to fetch this recipe as my girls like the sweet and sour chicken. Loved the fact it's not deeply fried.
This was better than take out! I like how this recipe doesn’t call for deep frying and I was still able to get the chicken crispy. YUM!
Amazing! Thanks for making my recipe! Glad you enjoyed it! ☺️