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Sweet and sour chicken is a popular Chinese recipe. This healthy and crispy sweet and sour chicken recipe is so delicious with sweet and sour sauce. It's better than takeout!
Table of Contents
Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Sweet and sour chicken is one of the most popular Chinese recipes.
Chinese sweet and sour is a cooking style that is easy, delicious and everyone’s favorite.
The dish comes complete with crispy fried chicken cubes with mouthwatering sweet and sour sauce. It goes well with steamed rice, fried rice or chow mein.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Sweet and Sour Pork
Sweet and Sour Shrimp
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sweet and Sour Sauce
How do you make sweet and sour chicken sauce?
You will need the following simple ingredients to make the sauce:
Sweet and sour chickenis a popular Chinese recipe. This healthy and crispysweet and sour chicken recipeis so delicious with sweet and sour sauce. It's better than takeout!
4.51 from 79 votes
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By Bee Yinn Low
Yield 2People
Prep 15 minutesmins
Cook 5 minutesmins
Total 20 minutesmins
Ingredients
8oz. (230g)boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size cubes
1tablespoonShaoxing wine(optional)
2clovesgarlic(finely chopped)
1green bell pepper(seeded and cut into squares)
1small tomato(cut into wedges, optional)
1stalk scallion(cut into 2-inch (5cm) lengths)
oil(for deep frying)
Batter:
4tablespoonsall-purpose flour
4tablespoonscorn starch
1/2cupwater
1/2teaspoonbaking powder
Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3tablespoonsketchup
2tablespoonsLingham brand hot sauce or other chili sauce
1teaspoonplum sauce
1/2teaspoonLea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1/4teaspoonChinese rice vinegar
1/2teaspoonoyster sauce
1tablespoonsugar
3tablespoonswater
1/2teaspooncorn starch
3dashes white pepper powder
Instructions
Cut the chicken breast meat into bite-size cubes and marinate with 1 tablespoon of wine for 10 minutes. Mix the batter in a bowl and add the chicken cubes into the batter. Mix the Sweet and Sour sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat up cooking oil in a wok and deep fry the chicken cubes. (Shake off the extra batter before frying). Transfer the chicken out on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Transfer the cooking oil out and leave only 2 tablespoons oil in the wok.
Add garlic and saute the garlic until light brown and then follow by the green bell peppers. Stir-fry until you smell the aroma. Add the sweet and sour sauce into the wok and bring it to boil.
Toss in the chicken, tomatoes and add the chopped scallions, do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Notes
Watch the cooking video on this page for step-by-step guide.
Course: Chicken Recipes
Cuisine: Asian
Keywords: Sweet and Sour Chicken
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Amount Per Serving (2 people)
Calories 162Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Fat 3g5%
Trans Fat 1g
Cholesterol 73mg24%
Sodium 619mg27%
Carbohydrates 51g17%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 16g18%
Protein 28g56%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
The original sweet and sour sauce originated in the province of Hunan, China. The sauce was a light vinegar and sugar mixture with very little resemblance to the bright orange dish served in our takeaways today.
Our sweet and sour dishes are either 'Cantonese style' (which is the same as 'Hong Kong Style') or Sweet and Sour 'Balls' (thick battered). Our Cantonese style is cooked with the sauce, onions, peppers and pineapple.Whereas the Sweet and sour Chicken or King Prawns balls come with a separate pot of sauce.
Basically, the sauce is what distinguishes one flavor from the others, so when making orange chicken, the sauce base is orange juice, with lemon, lemonade, pineapple, pineapple juice, and sweet and sour is tomato sauce or juice and vinegar and sugar or honey.
For the sauce: water, pineapple juice from a can, white sugar, white vinegar, and orange food coloring. For the batter: cornstarch, self-rising flour, vegetable oil, an egg, salt, and white pepper.
Sweet and sour chicken is a dish frequently served in Chinese restaurants in various countries in Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America and available at some restaurants in East Asia and Southeast Asia in an essentially identical version.
As we've already mentioned, sweet and sour dishes do actually exist in China. (Unlike other Chinese American dishes like General Tso's Chicken or Chop Suey.) However, it is a dish that has been heavily Americanized as well. Many sweet and sour sauces here in the U.S. are much sweeter than the Chinese version.
It typically serves up 16 teaspoons of sugar, about the same amount in 3 chocolate bars. If that isn't bad enough, the syrupy sauce coats chunks of deep-fried pork. Even if you split this entree with someone, you're still likely to get more than 800 calories and 48 grams of fat.
There are 1765 calories in a 1 order (706.000g) serving size of Restaurant, Chinese, sweet and sour chicken. The calorie breakdown is 46% fat, 38% carbs, and 16% protein.
Unlike the Chinese version, Thai sweet and sour is a stir-fry with pineapple, onion, tomato and cucumber (and any other embellishments you fancy). The sourness comes from pineapple juice with a little vinegar thrown in. There's no cornstarch in the sauce; it's thickened by being wok-caramelized.
General Tso's chicken and sweet and sour chicken are completely different dishes. Starting with the sauce, General Tso's chicken is a sweet, spicy, and slightly tangy while sweet and sour sauce is often served on the side and is just sweet and tangy.
The discrepancy is likely due to the fact that while sweet and sour chicken aptly contains slightly more sugar than General Tso's, the latter contains way more protein, so despite being a bit more calorically dense, it's actually the healthier choice.
The original recipe was Shanghainese and used black vinegar. It's not meant to be orange, but black. But somewhere along the way, ketchup replaced the vinegar and it turned orange in the UK. Now that dish is called Sweet and Sour Chicken—Hong Kong style.
While sweet and sour can be found in diverse forms in China, the American version builds upon the simple mixture of sugar, vinegar, and spices with the addition of fruit juice—most commonly pineapple—and ketchup, giving the sauce both its red hue and uniquely Western flavor.
A corn starch slurry thickens the sauce – this sauce is a medium thickness, so depending on your preference add little more or less corn starch slurry (but go slowly – the sauce will take a little time to thicken up once the slurry is added).
Chinese, specifically the red sweet and sour pork dishes that many Americans are familiar with is Cantonese. However there are sweet and sour dishes and a number of different Chinese cuisines, particularly in the east. It is not at all a part of Japanese traditional cuisine.
The original recipe was Shanghainese and used black vinegar. It's not meant to be orange, but black. But somewhere along the way, ketchup replaced the vinegar and it turned orange in the UK. Now that dish is called Sweet and Sour Chicken—Hong Kong style.
General Tso's chicken and sweet and sour chicken are completely different dishes. Starting with the sauce, General Tso's chicken is a sweet, spicy, and slightly tangy while sweet and sour sauce is often served on the side and is just sweet and tangy.
China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most populous country. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land.
Introduction: My name is Mrs. Angelic Larkin, I am a cute, charming, funny, determined, inexpensive, joyous, cheerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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