This Sweet and Sour Chicken is made with boneless skinless chicken breast, peppers, and pineapple simmered in the best homemade sauce. This is an easy 15-minute dinner, perfect for busy weeknights.
This homemade Asian dish is so much better than takeout. I serve it with rice and steamed broccoli.
Asian takeout dinners made at home, are my go-to lately. You simply can't beat a flavor-packed dish that takes under 20 minutes to make. Sweet and Sour Chicken is a combination of chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces, typically coated in batter or breading, cooked in the pan with peppers, onions and pineapple. The rice cooks perfectly in the same time the chicken, peppers and pineapple saute and then simmer in sweet and sour sauce. Talk about easy!
Ingredients
- boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs
- cornstarch
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- red bell pepper
- yellow onion
- garlic
- pineapple chunks with juice
- apple cider vinegar
- low-sodium soy sauce
- sesame oil
- ketchup
- brown sugar
- granulated sugar
Instructions
This chicken is so much better than the restaurant kind. Instead of deep-frying the chicken, we are coating it with cornstarch and cook in the pan until golden brown. Then add veggies and sauce and simmer away!
Step 1: cook the chicken and veggies
Heat up oil in a pan. Coat chicken with cornstarch, salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan and cook until golden. Add veggies and saute until crisp-tender. Add pineapple chunks and stir in.
Step 2: make the sauce
Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl or a glass measuring cup. When the chicken and veggies are done, pour the sauce over them and stir in well. Simmer until thickened.
Step 3: Serve
Serve the mixture over rice or add cooked noodles to the pan with chicken and sauce and make it stir-fry style.
Can I make this dish ahead of time?
You can easily make this dish up to 2 days in advance. Store the chicken with sauce in a covered container in the fridge. To heat up, place in a skillet. You may need to add a little bit of water since the sauce will be thick after refrigerating.
Can I use other meat than chicken in this recipe?
This recipe also works with pork. I think pork goes very well with pineapple and the sweet and sour sauce. It's delicious!
How to make the sauce?
This dish is fresh, colorful and bursting with flavor. The sauce is what really brings it all together. Most sweet and sour sauces use a lot of white sugar. I prefer the combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar. The pineapple juice adds sweetness too so we are able to cut down the amount of sugar. The sauce is based on vinegar and pineapple juice, with the addition of sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and ketchup or tomato sauce. The perfect balance of sweet and sour.
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Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
for the chicken:
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- ½ medium yellow onion diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
for the sauce:
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup pineapple juice
Instructions
- Place chicken in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cornstarch and stir with wooden spoon. Make sure each piece is coated with cornstarch.
- In a measuring cup, whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, oil, ketchup, both sugars, pineapple juice and cornstarch. Make sure there are no lumps. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat up oil. Add chicken and cook until golden.
- Add diced pepper and onion. Stir in garlic. Saute until the pepper is tender.
- Add pineapple chunks and stir gently.
- Add sauce mixture to pan and cook on medium low heat. Simmer until thickened.
- Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. The sauce will thicken even more.
- Serve, garnished with chopped green onions, over rice or stir in cooked noodles to make stir fry.
Notes
- Please note, that the nutrition value can vary depending on what product you use. The information below is an estimate.
- This recipe also works with pork. I think pork goes very well with pineapple and the sweet and sour sauce. It's delicious!
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on July 20th, 2018 and updated on March 4th, 2020.
Donnie swanston says
Yummo. Enjoyed this recipe so much
Anna says
Awesome! Thanks, Donnie!
Melissa says
Sweet and Sour chicken is our go-to when we pick up take out! My family was very happy to see I had made this for dinner! Great Recipe
Toni says
This quickly became a favorite at my house! Really a delicious meal for weeknights!
katerina @ diethood.com says
I can't wait to make this for my family!! They will LOVE it!
Suzana says
Great recipe even if you use plain vinegar, no sesame oil, turkey breasts, and only tomato paste instead of ketchup.
Kathleen Donaldson says
I tried this recipe tonight and was thoroughly pleased! It was soooo good! Definitely will be making this again. Very simple. I was afraid the vinegar would be too strong - but it is well balanced and all of the flavors blend together nicely. Made a large amount so I'm very happy that my husband and I will be having the leftovers again tomorrow.
Kathi says
Can this be made then frozen?
Jessica says
Oh my goodness! We love Sweet and Sour Chicken! This makes it so much easier to make at home!
Krista says
What a great dinner option! I have to make it soon!
Anna@CrunchyCreamySweet says
Thank you, Krista! I hope you love it!
2pots2cook says
Monday's dinner solved ! Thank you so much !
Jamielyn says
Looks so delicious! Sweet and sour chicken is one of my favs!
Catalina says
This is the perfect weeknight dinner idea!
Michelle says
I've never made sweet and sour chicken at home...think it's time to start! This looks fabulous!
Sandra says
Looks like a great weeknight meal! Can't wait to give this a try!