Easy Homemade Sweet & Sour Chicken
My roommate taught me how to make this crispy Oriental Chicken in college, and it has been one of my very favorite homemade meals ever since.
This recipe will always have a special place in my heart, because it’s one of the very first dinners I learned to make when I was learning to cook for myself in college. And it is GOOD!
My roommate would make this for us all the time in a big 9×13 baking dish. And the two of us would gobble the whole thing down in just one night, easy. We served it over white rice and topped it with chow mein noodles. If you’re looking for a better-than-take-out recipe, this is it.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about frying the chicken.
Wait! Don’t leave! First of all, you don’t have to fry the pieces of chicken. In college, we would just pan fry it in a little bit of olive oil and cooking spray before baking and that was just fine. But since then, I’ve discovered that doing a little “deep” frying in my own kitchen is actually easier than pan frying AND it doesn’t really contribute as much oil to the meal as people generally think it does. I even took this picture to prove my point:
I measured out a cup of oil to fry my chicken pieces in over the stove top (it’s really not a very deep “deep fry” that I do), and as you can see– I used less than 1/4 cup of oil to fry the chicken! Once I realized how little oil I was actually using to deep fry food, I haven’t been nearly as scared.
But that’s totally your call in this recipe. If you don’t want to do it, just skip that part of the recipe and give your chicken pieces a little pan fry with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. It will still turn out great!
This recipe is a little bit of a time commitment (so be warned!), but it’s also T-O-T-A-L-L-Y worth it!! I’d call it a cross between Sweet & Sour Chicken and Honey Chicken– both favorites in this house. If that sounds like your cup of tea, pin this recipe and make it ASAP!!
yield: 6 servingsprint recipe
Oriental Chicken
My roommate taught me how to make this crispy Oriental Chicken in college, and it has been one of my very favorite homemade meals ever since.
prep time: cook time: total time:
INGREDIENTS:
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth + 2 tablespoons of corn starch
- 1 cup oil for frying (or less if pan frying)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Heat the oil over medium heat until it bubbles at the water test (drip water into the oil to see if it bubbles).
- Whisk together the corn starch and eggs to form a batter. Dip each piece of chicken in the batter and place in the hot oil to quickly fry the batter (don’t worry about making sure the chicken is done all the way, because the chicken also gets baked). Work in small batches and drain pieces of chicken on a paper towel before placing them in a greased 9×13 baking dish.
- Once all the chicken pieces have been battered and browned, make the sauce: whisk together the sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, and chicken stock (mixed with the two tablespoons of corn starch to prevent clumping) together over medium high heat until it reaches a boil. Stir and allow to boil for one minute.
- Pour sauce over the chicken and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice with chow mein noodles and pineapple.
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