Easy sweet and sour chicken is a delicious meal for two. This 30-minute recipe proves you can make healthy takeaway dishes at home and for less cost too!
My easy sweet and sour chicken recipe differs slightly from the original Chinese recipe.
But it's still just as delicious AND it's healthier!
You see, in the original sweet and sour recipe, chicken cubes are first coated with a batter and then deep fried.
The deep fried batter coated chicken is then added to a tasty stir fry of peppers, onions and sweet and sour sauce.
In my sweet and sour chicken recipe I've removed the need to deep fry the batter coated chicken.
Instead it's stir fried in the very minimal amount of oil needed to make it crispy.
The chicken is then removed from the pan and the vegetables stir fried in the same oil.
Not only does this make the recipe so much healthier, it also makes it much easier and less time consuming to make!
I will confess that I have used a little sugar in the sweet and sour sauce. However, this is a very minimal amount - just one teaspoon.
I've also used dry sherry but that's purely for the flavour. Again only one tablespoon's worth.
Alcohol evaporates before water does. So when you allow the liquid sauce to simmer for a couple of minutes before serving, you can be sure all the alcohol will be gone and you're definitely not going to get drunk off this meal!
In comparing how many calories are in ½ typical container of takeaway chinese sweet and sour chicken, It's 508 calories.
My easy sweet and sour chicken is only 327 calories. I think you can see why my version is healthier!
Tips For Cooking This Easy Sweet And Sour Chicken
- Use boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Keep to the quantites required to make the sauce in the recipe.
- The chicken should just be lightly coated with the sauce and not swimming in it.
- Serve this recipe fresh and as soon as it's cooked.
- Unfortunately this recipe is not really suitable for freezing.
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Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
You can serve your easy sweet and sour chicken on a bed of rice if you want. Like I have in the pictures. Cook your rice whilst making your stir fry to save time.
Alternatively instead of rice you could add in some extra vegetables when stir-frying the garlic, onion and peppers. Carrots and baby corn would go well!
I’d love to hear what you think of my recipe in the comments below and please do rate my recipe 5* if you like it! 🙂
Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon plain flour
- Salt and Freshly ground pepper
- 300 g skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1 small onion sliced
- ½ red pepper deseeded and sliced
- ½ yellow pepper deseeded and sliced
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 50 ml water
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
Instructions
- Place the flour in a small bowl and season with the salt and pepper.
- Roll and coat the chicken pieces in the flour mixture.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a suitably sized frying pan or wok over a medium heat. Add the coated chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink inside, about 6 – 7 minutes. Then remove chicken from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the garlic, onion and pepper and stir-fry for about 3 – 4 minutes.
- Return the chicken to the pan and stir in the sugar, vinegar, tomato puree, soy sauce, water and sherry. Allow the liquid to simmer for a couple of minutes in the pan before serving.
Mimi
This is very nice. I don’t deep fry anything, so I really like this recipe. Fabulous ingredients. I love having tubes of tomato paste in my refrigerator just for when you just need a small amount, like in this recipe. It’s a brilliant product.
Neil
I'm never without a tube of good qualify tomato paste in my fridge either Mimi. Sometimes it can make all the difference to the flavour of recipes just with the very minimal amount don't you think? Thanks for liking my recipe and for taking the time to comment as always. Hope you have a great weekend!
David @ Spiced
I'm all about the easy meals, Neil! I mean I do enjoy getting in the kitchen for larger projects, but in the evenings I just need easy. This sweet and sour chicken sounds delicious, and I love the lightened up version...no need to deep fry that chicken! Dare say I would enjoy this version more than the tradition one! I hope you and Lynne have a great weekend ahead, my friend!
Neil
I agree with you David. Let's keep things easy in the kitchen in the evening. I want to enjoy my food then and not have a whole lot of washing up to get through! Glad you like the recipe and hope you guys have a great weekend too!
Ben|Havocinthekitchen
We like to grab sweet & sour chicken once in a while when we decide to indulge ourselves with takeaway, but those meals sometimes are horribly oily (Why would anyone add so much fat, eh?)... Not to mention the price! So I am absolutely with you when it comes to enjoying some chicken. It's the matter of minutes indeed, and it's so much a cleaner and healthy option. Delicious!
Neil
Thank you Ben. We too like to indulge every now and then on a takeaway. But I hope people will see that you can enjoy sweet and sour chicken more often, at home and it's much healthier too! 🙂
Laura
Neil, I love this easy sweet’n’Sour recipe! I rarely fry anything, and with a dish like this, for me, it’s all about the sauce! And this one sounds so flavorful! Thanks for the quick and easy recipe!
Neil
Oh that sauce is so tasty Laura. You'll love it! 😉
sherry
i love chicken and this sounds delicious, and healthy. i've never liked those deep fried versions that you get in chinese takeaway anyway:) cheers sherry
Neil
Chicken is a big favourite of ours too Sherry. Much more so than any red meat. Glad you like the recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment! 🙂
Easyfoodsmith
This is the kind of chicken dish my daughter would love. thanks for sharing 🙂
Neil
Glad you like it! Not only is it delicious but its easy to make and healthier than take-out too! 🙂