Sweet & Sour Chicken
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! I hope you are wearing green today! If not, consider this a friendly reminder! Muahaha! (That was an evil laugh if you couldn’t tell.) Today’s post has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day, although if you are running last minute you can still make my Key Lime Cupcakes, Tangy Lime Bars, or Shamrock Slush.
Anyway, I have been in a fatty, deep fried, Chinese mood lately & it’s been a while since I have made sweet & sour chicken. I saw this recipe on Pinterest & it looked so yummy & saucy, I knew I had to make it. This made a lot for our little family of four, but it was so delicious & pretty quick to make. I think the batter for the chicken made it faster than the standard breading of flour, eggs, & crumbs. So that’s always nice. One more thing about today’s post that I am excited about is that I finally bought a DSLR camera, so my pictures should start looking a lot nicer. And by “should” I mean I have never before held or worked with a DSLR camera, so I am still learning. Hopefully you will start to notice the difference & my pictures will make your mouths water that much more. Let me know what you think! In the meantime, whip up this Sweet & Sour Chicken for your next weeknight or weekend dinner.
Sweet & Sour Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken and Batter:
- 1 lb chicken breasts, (about 2 large breasts cut into 1-inch chunks)
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
- ½ Tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
- ⅛ tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp oil
- ⅓ cup water
- Canola Oil for frying (about ⅓-½ cup)
Sauce:
- 20 oz can pineapple chunks
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup white distilled vinegar
- 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 Tbsp COLD water
- 1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
- ½ onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
Instructions
- Make the batter by combining the flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, pepper, & baking powder. Add oil & water & mix well. Set aside.
- Drain can of pineapple chunks & SAVE THE JUICE. In a saucepan, combine the pineapple juice, water, vinegar, sugar, salt, & ketchup. Heat until boiling. In a separate bowl, combine COLD water & cornstarch to form a slurry/paste. Add this mixture to the boiling sauce & whisk it until it thickens (happens pretty quickly.) Turn mixture to low & keep warm.
- Heat oil in a skillet. Dip chunks of chicken in the batter & drop pieces individually into the hot oil. Fry chicken until golden brown & cooked through. Allow cooked pieces to rest on a paper towel.
- Once chicken is cooked, discard all but 1 Tbsp of the oil leftover in the pan. If there is no oil left, then add 1 Tbsp to your pan & heat it up. Add the pepper & onion. Saute for 3-5 minutes until soft, but still slightly firm. Add pineapple chunks, fried chicken, & sauce. Heat through. Serve over hot rice.
Notes
Did you make this?
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Recipe altered from Lil’ Luna
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I just put together a “50 Fabulous Chicken Dishes” Recipe Round Up from links that were submitted to The Weekend re-Treat over the past couple of weeks and this recipe was included and featured in today’s post!
http://thebestblogrecipes.blogspot.com/2013/04/50-fabulous-chicken-dishes.html
Shauna @ The Best Blog Recipes
And my husband loved it too 🙂
We had this for dinner tonight. There was a lot of work involved, so I don’t think that I would make this every week but definitely on a monthly basis. I think it was better than the classic Chinese buffet sweet and sour chicken. I served it with sauteed broccoli and steamed rice and crushed pineapple. I think next time I will stick with your suggestion of serving it with chunk pineapple. Elliot is quite picky and only ate some of the rice. Owen ate the rice, broccoli, and one piece of chicken. He has hard time with meat texture. I am super impressed that you said your kids only ate the pineapple and chicken. That would be a dream for me!
Sorry it was a lot of work. I thought it was easier than dipping in flour, then egg, then crumbs & then frying. I liked the tempura batter, so that was a lot faster for me, besides chopping the other veggies. Glad you liked it. Too bad the kids weren’t big fans. Thanks for your review!
I think that the more I make this the easier it will get for me to make it. Also I think the more I expose my kids to it eventually they will like it. They are not used to this kind of tangy sauce. I loved it though!
This looks soooooo good!!! I love chinese food! Congrats on your new DSLR! They’re so overwhelming at first, right?! Your pictures look great though! Good job! Can’t wait to see more!!!
Best,
Jen @ Yummy. Healthy. Easy.
Thanks Jen, you are so nice! Your photos are gorgeous! Hoping to get good like you 🙂
I am glad you posted this recipe today. I have been scouring the Internet for stir-fry or Chinese recipes after eating at Panda Express on Saturday and noticing how my kids even liked it. I can already tell a difference in your pics now that you have your camera. So exciting!
Thanks! That’s great that your kids liked the Panda Express. Let me know if they like this one. It’s so easy! My kids only eat the chicken & pineapple, but it’s a start!
Yum! Looks tasty! I pinned this one for later! Julia @ http://www.juliakendrick.com
I think it looks great! Congrats on the new camera…you will get the hang of it in no time 🙂
This looks delicious–sweet and sour is the best, especially when you know exactly what is in it!