Sweet and Sour Chicken
Made in the oven, this easy sweet and sour chicken recipe will have you giving up your Chinese takeaways. Opt for the homemade version, which still packs in the flavour.
(Mostly) Oven Cooked
Ok, so you do have to do a quick fry to crisp up the chicken pieces, but it’s just for crispness, and you can use as much or as little oil as you like. The real magic happens in the oven with the sauce.
Without this frying step, the egg and cornflour covering just goes mushy, so don’t skip this step (unless you have an air fryer and can do it that way instead).
Sweet & Sour Sauce
You can cook and use the sauce separately for a stir-fry or dipping sauce too if you wish. Just take the sauce ingredients and simmer in a pot on the stove until thickened. You can keep it sealed in the fridge for up to a week.
Sweet & Sour Chicken
Course: MainCuisine: Chinese4
servings20
minutes1
hourIngredients
- Sauce
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Chicken
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 cup of cornstarch
2-3 eggs, beaten
oil for light frying
sesame seeds & spring onion for garnish
Directions
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and mix until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
- Cut your chicken breasts into strips (or chunks if you’d prefer), put into a bowl with salt & pepper, paprika, and cornstarch – combine until covered
- Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and dip the pieces of chicken in one by one. Set aside in preparation for frying
- Pre-heat oven to 180c and prepare an oven tray with spray oil.
- Use a little vegetable oil to fry the egg-dipped chicken pieces until light brown on each side, drain the oil off with a paper towel and add to the oven dish.
- Pour sauce over chicken and cook for 50-60 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to a sticky consistency – turn chicken every 10-15 minutes to ensure coverage
- Serve garnished with sesame seeds and spring onions.
