A Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe that shows you how to make the Chinese takeout favourite Sweet and Sour Chicken in the oven so the chicken is CRISPY but not dried out inside. Coated generously in a sticky sauce with a perfect sweet-sour balance!
I don’t like to shout out from the rooftops “this is the BEST baked Sweet & Sour Chicken!” because who’s to say that theirs is the best? But this is a darn good recipe. And it’s MY favourite way of making Sweet & Sour Chicken in the oven. Here’s why:
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Not sickeningly sweet. It’s made with 1/2 cup of sugar which is still a lot compared to my usual midweek meals. But it is less than the 3/4 to 1 cup that you’ll see in many recipes.
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Not eye-squintingly sour. I don’t know how to properly describe my reaction when I accidentally eat something far too sour! Suffice to say this is tart, not overly sour. 🙂
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The Sauce tastes like restaurant sauce. Many Sweet & Sour Sauce recipes taste like they’re missing “something”. Usually that “something” is either Worcestershire Sauce and/or oyster sauce (sometimes also soy sauce). You can omit one of these but don’t leave out all of them, the sauce will taste very “flat”.
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The chicken really is crispy! The fact is, you will never be able to make chicken in the oven that is truly as crispy as deep fried (except wings – see my recipe for Truly Crispy Oven Baked Wings!). But this is pretty darn close.
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The chicken is NOT DRY. I have seen recipes that call for the chicken to be baked for 45 minutes to 1 hour which I find dries out the chicken. I’m really fussy about dry chicken! Mine is baked for 20 minutes – tops. That’s all you need.
Pretty hard to pick what I love more about this – the Sweet & Sour Sauce, or the crispy chicken! The chicken itself is so yum, it’s hard to resist nicking the pieces straight off the baking tray before they even make it to the sauce.
Try to resist! I promise it’s worth the wait. 🙂 – Nagi x
PS Oh, the other little thing I think makes quite a difference is using some of the pineapple juice in the can for the sauce. It adds that little touch of fruitiness that I really think makes the sauce similar to Chinese restaurants!
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Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb / 500 g chicken breast , cut into bite size cubes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg or 2 small eggs , lightly beaten (enough to coat chicken)
- 1 cup cornstarch / cornflour , placed in a large ziplock bag
- 3 to 5 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola)
- Oil spray
Stir Fry
- 1/2 tbsp oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 small onion , cut into large dice
- 1/2 red bell pepper , cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 green bell pepper , cut into bite size pieces
- 1 can (8oz/250g) canned pineapple pieces in natural juice. Separate pineapple from juice.
Sauce
- 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown - I use either)
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 - 3 tbsp pineapple juice (from the canned pineapple pieces)
- 3 tbsp ketchup (Australia: tomato sauce)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tsp soy sauce (Note 1)
- 1 tsp Oyster Sauce (Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Thickener
- 1 tbsp cornflour / corn starch + 4 tbsp water , mixed together
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F.
- Place chicken in a bowl, sprinkle with salt then add the egg. Mix to coat all chicken with egg, then drain out excess egg. (Note 2)
- Working a handful at a time, shake excess egg mixture off chicken then place chicken in ziplock bag. When all the chicken is in the bag, seal (trap as much air in it as you can to make a "balloon") and shake well to coat chicken in cornflour. Discard excess cornflour.
- Heat oil in a large skillet on high. Add chicken (in 2 batches if your skillet is not big enough) and cook briefly for 2 minutes, turning, just to make the outside light golden and a bit crispy. The chicken should be raw inside.
- Transfer to baking tray, spray with oil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until it becomes a little more golden brown and is crispy.
Sauce
- Meanwhile, discard oil in the skillet and wipe briefly with paper towels. Reduce heat to medium high and heat 1/2 tbsp oil. Add garlic and sauté for 20 seconds, then add onion and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add bell peppers and cook for 1 minute.
- Add Sauce ingredients. Stir until sugar has dissolved and the sauce begins to bubble.
- Add Thickener. Bring to simmer, stirring constantly. Then cook until it thickens to a syrup consistency - about 3 minutes.
- Stir through pineapple pieces (just to warm) and remove from stove.
- When the chicken is done, add it into the skillet and toss to coat in the sauce.
- Serve immediately with rice - or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! Garnish with scallions if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
What alchemy is this! So time poor at the moment due to work. Made a big batch of the sauce over the weekend and just did enough chicken for dinner… cooked in the air fryer after then pan. Awesome! Have little bags of sauce in the freezer too.. thank you
It’s so great that you have it all ready to go when you get home from a long day Amanda!! N x
Holy moly this was an absolute winner, but I knew that even before I made it as all of your recipes are amazing. We had this tonight and everyone said it was perfect!
Nagi, I’m so excited for your cookbook! I made S&S Chicken tonight for the first time and it was a big hit with the fam. Delicious! Thank you!
I’d like to be able to freeze half the recipe.
Can I assume the sauce can be frozen but not the chicken
This is a family favourite. It’s quick, easy, and really delicious. My daughter took some leftovers to work the next day and her coworkers wanted to know which restaurant she had bought it from!
Oh wow!! N x
NAGI!
What a great sauce. I have been making sweet and sour on my own for years and it was pretty good but now I know what I was doing wrong. This the third recipe I have made from your list. Absolutely knock it out of the park every time. Who would have thought to put dijon mustard in stroganoff…… outstanding my hats off to you Nani
This is definitely the best sweet and sour chicken recipe! Every time I make one of your recipes it’s another best!
Thank you, Nagi! My kids and I are big fans of sweet and sour chicken, and this recipe is the best. Thank you!
Oh my god ! This is the most amazing dish! My husband could not praise it enough! ( which I wish could take credit for it) but I keep telling him it’s Nagi’s recipe i followed! , he can’t stop talking about it as I’m texting you, he said it was the best meal I’ve ever cooked, in a nutshell…he loved it! Thank you ! 😘
This turned out as resturant quality. I doubled the quantity of sauce. Yummy.
You can never have too much sauce!! N x
Me quedo deliciosa esta receta. Muchas gracias por compartir swguire practicando muchas de tus recetas.
Te estoy muy agradecida.
So glad you enjoyed it Fabiola! N x
Estoy muy feliz de encontrar sus recetas, quisiera prepararlas todas se ven tan deliciosa.
Muchas gracias por compartirlas
De nada! Enjoy fabiola! N x
I’ve made this before with chicken and it’s great. This time I had some leftover slow cooked pork loin (your recipe) so I cubed it and pan fried it then poured over the prepared sauce. Super delicious!
Yea! N x
I want to double this recipe. Any no no”s if I do double it?
You definitely should Nancy!!! Enjoy! N x
Hi Nagi,
Do you have any idea how to keep the chicken crispy for an hour after it cooks ? I am planning to make this for a potluck party but I have to travel 45 minutes to the venue. What I am thinking is to cook everything and will mix the sauce and the chicken when I arrive at the party.
Hi Carol – I would do exactly that – keep the sauce separate until serving 🙂 N x
Delicious. Perfect sauce, and crunchy chicken. My only mistake was not browning the chicken enough before popping in the oven, so then I had to put them back in the frying pan before serving, and it game out a little dry – I’ll know for next time.
Hi Nagi! Made this recipe and it’s another winner! Every recipe I’ve cooked from your recipes have been so delicious! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes and give Dozer a big smooch for me. Now on to the next scrumptious meal. Take care and stay safe. 🙂
This is my go-to recipe whenever I make sweet and sour chicken/pork! Curious question though… notice that the pork recipe calls for pre-marination whilst the chicken recipe doesn’t. Any reason why?
Hi Matilda, because the pork needs the marinade to tenderise the meat. The chicken recipe used thigh and doesn’t need tenderising. N x
Love this crispy chicken hack! You are right i just kept eating it without the sauce. Wondering if i could apply this for other chicken/sauce recipes??