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–+ servings
Close-up of Sweet and Sour Chicken with crispy fried chicken, pineapple, red and green bell peppers, onions, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Sweet & Sour Chicken (Better Than Takeout)

Skip the takeout! This crispy sweet and sour chicken recipe features juicy fried chicken, bell peppers, and pineapple tossed in a tangy homemade sauce made with a secret broth infusion.

Ingredients 

For the Sauce

  • ½ red bell pepper chopped
  • ½ green bell pepper chopped
  • ½ onion chopped
  • 1 inch piece fresh ginger sliced
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • ½ cup cranberry juice
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup water for sugar
  • ½ cup white vinegar

For the thickener

  • 3 tbsp potato starch
  • 3 tbsp water

For the Marinade

  • 2 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder

For the Batter

  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup club soda or seltzer water
  • Neutral oil for deep frying

For the final assembly

  • ½ red bell pepper chopped
  • ½ green bell pepper chopped
  • ½ onion chopped
  • 1 can of pineapple chunks (20oz)

Instructions

Preheat

  1. In a wok or deep pot, add frying oil. I find that I use about a 1/2 gallon of frying oil in my wok. Just add enough frying oil so that the chicken wont touch the bottom of the pan when added.
  2. Turn on the heat to about medium. We are looking for a temperature between 315℉-335℉. Check the temperate of the oil with a thermometer. I like to use an infrared thermometer. If you don't have one, these are the thermometers I recommend.

Marinate the Chicken

  1. Cube the chicken breasts into bite size pieces and place in a bowl. Coat with chicken boullion powder and toss until coated completely. Cover and let sit for 15-20 minutes while you prep the orange sauce and batter.
    A glass bowl filled with raw, diced chicken pieces sits on a wooden cutting board, ready to be transformed into a delicious Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe.

Make the Sauce Broth

  1. In a small saucepan, add ½ of red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and onion, plus ginger, chicken stock, and cranberry juice.
    A pot filled with ingredients for Sweet and Sour Chicken—chopped onions, red and yellow bell peppers, ginger slices, and liquid—sits on a wooden cutting board with metal tongs nearby.
  2. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. This is your flavor infusion.

Mix the Tempura Batter While Broth Simmers

  1. In medium mixing bowl, add flour, cornstarch, baking soda. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
  2. In a glass, add ice cubes and sparkling water. Mix until the sparkling water is ice cold. If your water is already cold, you can skip this step.
    A large metal mixing bowl with pale batter inside sits on a wooden surface, ready for a delicious Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe. A metal whisk rests in the bowl, partially covered with bubbly batter streaked along the sides.
  3. Add egg and half of cold sparkling water to the dry ingredients. Use the whisk to hold back the ice cubes if you add the sparkling water to a glass with ice. Whisk until combined. It will be lumpy at this point.
  4. Begin whisking again and slowly add the remaining cold sparkling water to the batter until it is the thickness is a little thinner than pancake batter and runs off the whisk about the thickness of a rat's tail. This usually takes most of the liquid but not all.
  5. Set batter aside.

First Fry

  1. Check the temperature of the frying oil to make sure it is between 315℉-335℉. If it's above, decrease the heat to low. If it's below, increase the heat to medium high.
  2. Add 1/3 of the chicken pieces to the batter. Using a kitchen spoon, stir until coated.
  3. Use the spoon to scoop out each piece and place them in the hot frying oil.
  4. Fry the chicken pieces for 3-4 minutes until lightly golden brown. Remove from oil and place on a wire rack or in a large bowl lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil.
  5. Repeat until all chicken is battered and fried once.

Second Fry

  1. Increase the heat on the oil to high and check the temperature. The oil needs to be preheated to 350℉-375℉ to flash fry.
    2. Flash frying for a second time will push out the excess moisture from the batter and give it a very satisfying crispy texture.
  2. Prep a large mixing bowl to combine the fried chicken and sauce.
  3. Add 1/2 of the tempura fried chicken back to the oil and fry for 45-60 seconds. Don't go longer than 90 seconds or the chicken will start to dry out.
    Golden brown pieces of Sweet and Sour Chicken are frying in hot oil in a pan, with bubbles forming around them. A metal utensil is partially visible, submerged in the oil.
  4. Remove from frying oil and place in the large mixing bowl. Repeat with other 1/2 of the chicken.

Flash Fry the Veggies

  1. After all of the chicken is fried, turn off the heat. In the same oil, flash-fry (30 seconds) the last ½ of red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and onion for the final assembly. You don't need to keep the heat on because there is plenty of residual heat to cook the veggies. Remove from oil and drain.

Make the Sauce

  1. In another small saucepan, combine sugar and water. Heat over medium until dissolved and slightly thickened (3–4 minutes).
  2. Stir in white vinegar, simmer 1 minute.
  3. Strain the sauce broth. Discard solids.
    A metal strainer with a black handle holds chopped yellow and orange vegetables, perfect for a homemade sweet and sour chicken, resting on a wooden surface.
  4. Add sauce broth to sugar-vinegar mixture. Whisk in ketchup until smooth and glossy.
  5. In a small bowl, mix the potato starch and water to form a slurry.
  6. Add thickener and simmer 1–2 minutes until glossy and thick.

Combine & Serve Immediately

  1. In a large mixing bowl, add fried chicken, fried veggies, pineapple chunks and sauce. Toss to coat or fold with a rubber spatula.
    A metal bowl filled with Sweet and Sour Chicken, featuring battered chicken pieces, bell peppers, and onions in tangy sauce, sits on a wooden cutting board with a spoon inside the bowl.
  2. Serve over hot rice while crispy.

Nutrition

Serving: 237g | Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 529mg | Potassium: 411mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 614IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg
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