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Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

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Do you love Sweet and Sour Chicken? I do. Growing up, I can remember when I first went to a Chinese restaurant. We were living in Pueblo, Colorado, and it was unbelievable.

Right away, I fell in love with Chinese food and thought that sweet and sour sauce should go on everything. While I outgrew that desire, I still enjoy sweet and sour chicken from time to time.

You can visit your favorite local Chinese restaurant or make this delicious dish at home. I’ll show you how to cook the chicken just right and make the tangy sweet and sour sauce that is the perfect accompaniment.

sweet and sour chicken, sauce, and a bowl of rice.

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Don’t be Intimidated by Chinese Cooking

Don’t be intimidated to try making restaurant-style Chinese food from scratch. You can do it, and your everyday grocery store should have everything you need for this recipe. The basics are chicken, cornstarch, flour, white pepper, oranges, lemons, ketchup, and some rice cooking wine or dry sherry.

I know you won’t forget the number of your local Chinese takeout restaurant, but now you can follow my recipe and make a delicious CopyKat sweet and sour chicken right in your own kitchen.

Benefits of Cooking Sweet n Sour Chicken at Home

One of the benefits of making restaurant-style recipes from scratch is that you know exactly what’s in your food. In this recipe, you can be sure that the ingredients are exactly the way you like them.

For instance, if you try to eat as much organic food as possible, you can use all-organic ingredients including free-range chicken that hasn’t been dosed with antibiotics. And, if you make Chinese food at home, it will not contain any MSG.

Sweet and Sour Sauce – Homemade vs Store Bought

You could buy ready-made sweet and sour sauce in a jar, but I think this homemade recipe tastes much better. This sweet and sour sauce is made with real fruit which gives it a depth of flavor that you’ll love.

Also, by making your own sweet and sour sauce, you can eliminate the artificial coloring usually found in a store-bought product. After all, not everyone wants to eat food containing dyes.

What is Chinese sweet and sour chicken made of?

This dish is filled with rich and flavorful ingredients. Orange and lemon give it a fruity aspect, vinegar and ketchup provide tang, garlic and white pepper give earthy flavor, and chicken is the star of the dish.

Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce Ingredients

  • Orange
  • Lemon
  • Fresh ginger
  • Sugar
  • Vinegar
  • Ketchup
  • Red food coloring (optional)
  • Cornstarch
  • Water

Chinese Style Fried Chicken Ingredients

  • Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Eggs
  • Ground white pepper
  • Granulated garlic
  • Salt
  • Rice cooking wine
  • Cornstarch
  • Self-rising flour
  • Ground white pepper
  • Granulated garlic
  • Water
  • Vegetable oil
sweet and sour chicken ingredients.

How to Make Sweet and Sour Chicken

There are two components to this recipe; the sauce and the chicken. You will first make the sauce and then the chicken. You’ll serve the chicken with the sauce either on the side or poured over it.

How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce

  1. Slice the orange, lemon, and ginger and place the slices in a medium pot with water. Bring it a boil and then simmer it for 30 minutes.
  2. Drain the water through a strainer into a large bowl. Press the fruit and ginger to release the juices into the water. Place the water back into the pot over medium heat. Add sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and food coloring. Whisk until well blended.
  3. Mix together cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Slowly stream the liquid into the sauce stirring constantly. When the sauce thickens, remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

How to Make Chinese Style Fried Chicken

  1. Use a fork to whip an egg in a medium-sized bowl.
  2. Cut chicken into small bite-sized pieces and add the chicken to the beaten egg. Add white pepper, granulated garlic, salt, rice cooking wine, and cornstarch.
  3. Marinate the chicken for 15 minutes before continuing the recipe.
  4. Make the batter: In a medium bowl, combine self-rising flour, white pepper, granulated garlic, salt, water, egg, and vegetable oil. Stir until this batter has a uniform consistency.
  5. Add enough oil to a pot to be 4 inches deep. Heat oil to 350 degrees.
  6. Use a skewer to dip the chicken into the batter and then into the oil. Fry until the chicken until it becomes light brown in color.
  7. Remove the chicken from the oil for a minute and then place chicken back in and fry it for an additional minute. Drain the chicken on a wire rack.

Serve the chicken with sweet and sour sauce.

What are some other uses for Sweet & Sour Chicken batter?

This recipe can be a little bit flexible – you don’t have to stick with chicken. If you like, you could swap the chicken out for pork. Heck, if you have a little batter leftover, you could easily slice up some onions and make onion rings – it’s up to you.

What goes well with Sweet and Sour Chicken?

Sweet and sour chicken is delicious on its own, but it can accompany several dishes to make it a full meal. Here are a few suggestions for you.

What else can you eat Sweet and Sour Sauce with?

Sweet and sour sauce is one of those condiments that is perfect for so many dishes. Should you have some leftover, save it in an airtight container in your refrigerator, and you can use it for the following.

How to Store this Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe and Sweet and Sour Sauce

Should you have leftovers I recommend that you place the sauce and the cooked chicken in different containers. Don’t pour the sauce over the chicken and then put it in the refrigerator because the breading will get soggy.

Both the sauce and the chicken will last in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.

How to Reheat Sweet and Sour Chicken

I like to reheat the chicken in an air fryer or a convection oven. I will reheat it for 7 to 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Heating the chicken in an air fryer really helps to crisp up like the first time. You can reheat it in the oven at 350 degrees, but it will take about 10 to 12 minutes.

Reheat the sauce on low heat on the stovetop until just warm.

Like Chinese restaurant recipes? Check out these favorites

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Be sure to check out more of my Chinese recipes and copycat restaurant chicken dishes.

sweet and sour chicken, sauce, and a bowl of rice.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour chicken can be made at home. 
4.8 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Sweet and Sour Chicken
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 555kcal
Author: Stephanie Manley

Ingredients

Sweet and Sour Sauce

  • 5 cups water
  • 1 orange
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 or 3 slices fresh ginger
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup vinegar
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • Red food coloring if desired
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons water

Chinese Style Fried Chicken

  • 2 eggs divided use
  • 1 pound chicken breasts
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch divided use
  • 2 1/4 cups self rising flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions

Sweet and Sour Sauce Directions

  • Wash the orange and the lemon well. Slice the fruit and sliced ginger and place into a medium pot along with 5 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes. 
  • Drain water with a sieve, press the fruit into the sieve, you want to get all of the water released. Place water into a pot and add 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup vinegar, and 1 cup ketchup mix until well blended with a whisk. Heat the sauce over medium-high heat. Combine 3 tablespoons cornstarch and three tablespoons water in a small bowl. Slowly stream the liquid into the sauce stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken. 
  • When the sauce thickens, remove from heat. Store unused sauce in an air tight container. 

Chinese Style Fried Chicken Directions

  • In a medium-sized bowl add 1 egg. Scramble egg with a fork. Cut chicken into small bite-sized pieces. Add chicken to the beaten egg. Add 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Stir to combine. The batter will look a mess. 
  • Allow to marinate for about 15 minutes before continuing the recipe. To make the batter for the recipe in a medium sized bowl combine 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 egg, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Stir until this batter has a uniform texture. Add enough oil to a pot to cover the 4 bottom inches. 
  • Heat oil to 350 degrees. Batter chicken by taking a piece from the marinade and dipping into the batter with a skewer, and then carefully laying the chicken in the cooking oil. Fry until the chicken becomes a light brown. Remove chicken for about 1 minute, and then place chicken back in and fry for about an additional minute. Frying the chicken twice will make chicken extra crispy. Drain chicken on a wire rack. Serve chicken with sweet and sour sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 555kcal | Carbohydrates: 93g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 822mg | Potassium: 537mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 45g | Vitamin A: 355IU | Vitamin C: 23.7mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1.2mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JWelch

    5 stars
    I don’t really comment on things very often, but this recipe is… interesting enough that I thought I should. The chicken is great. One of the best Chinese American chicken recipes I’ve had. Five stars.

    The sweet and sour sauce gets one star, which is not reflected in my review. It was gross. It tasted of bitter ketchup; nothing like what you get in restaurants. I understand a previous comment that wondered why it tasted like ketchup was the main ingredient. Yes, ketchup belongs in sweet and sour sauce. Not that much ketchup, though. The worst part was the bitter from the lemon and orange. And I mean BITTER. Were they supposed to be peeled? If so, that really should be specified. If not, then do yourself a favor and use the standard recipe that calls for pineapple juice in the place of boiled citrus.

    Reply

    • Stephanie

      Thank you for your review. I am sorry the sauce turned out worse than awful for you. It sounds like the citrus peels cooked for too long and became bitter. I am very sorry about this. I will look at adjusting my instructions to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future. I am sure the ketchup ratio was adversely impacted by the bitterness of the citrus you experienced.

      The intent was to leach out the flavorful oils of the orange and the lemon and have that give your sauce a little something extra. The something extra wasn’t a punch of bitterness.

      Reply

  7. Michael M

    I’m going to make this now using the exact ingredients and directions in the recipe. I wish all the ingredient amounts were specific like “2 or 3” slices of ginger, and “red food coloring”. Grams would be nice for the ginger and how many drops of food coloring. I’ll post results shortly!

    Reply

    • Michael M

      Perfect. Follow this recipe exactly and everyone will think it was just delivered from your favorite restaurant. I am amazed. The sauce is perfect, too; don’t change anything!

      Reply

  11. billy clemons

    Where are, what are the vegetales. this is the first serrt snd sour chicken receipe that i have seen that does not include the peppers, onions. it is almonst like bacon and eggs without the bacon?????

    Reply

  14. Bess

    The chicken came out great!! I didn’t try the sauce because I wanted to make sure I was focused on the chicken. Plus, I had some premature sauce already. The tempura batter was perfect. I wish I had some zucchini or cauliflower to dip in the leftover! Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

  19. Tim

    Don’t know where Stephanie ate her Chinese, but I’ve had lots, and never before encountered sweet and sour that tasted like ketchup was the main ingredient – awful. Recipe yields 1 1/2 quarts – enough to last a lifetime, and then some.

    Reply

    • Stephanie

      Tim, I bet like you I have had Chinese food at many places. Most likely we both together could list out at least 100. I did a lot of study on the recipe, and many Chinese cooks add in Ketchup. I know, it’s pretty crazy. I believe there is a great documentary about Chinese food, or we should call it American Chinese food it’s called The Search for General Tso, and their website is http://www.thesearchforgeneraltso.com/. Most food we eat and call “Chinese Food”, isn’t really Chinese. It is Americanized food, that many Chinese immigrants adapted for the west. I believe Sweet and Sour would be one of them.

      While I understand you don’t like my recipe, it makes very good Sweet and Sour sauce.

      Reply

  20. Chanise

    I am cooking this recipe now and it tastes exactly like the restaurant. I told my husband I’m never ordering take out again!!! Followed the recipe exactly as stated. I’m trying not to eat them all while I cook. Thank you for this recipe. This is one for the books.

    Reply

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