Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken (2024)

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If take-out is what you’re craving this Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken is the perfect 20 minute budget-friendly meal to fill that need!

Chinese take-out is one of our most favorite things on the planet. I mean seriously, it’s just so good and all the options that there are amazing.

But we also like to save money too, so we started making our own homemade Chinese take-out and we have hardly looked back. Whether it be this Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken, potstickers, egg drop soup, etc. We love to make it at home.

Oh and you wouldn’t believe how easy some of these recipes are to recreate! This recipe is only a few ingredients and whips up in under 30 minutes start to finish!

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

Like mentioned above, minimal ingredients make this a fast weeknight recipe that the whole family will adore.
Sweet and sour chicken is a perfect pairing item and goes well with a variety of things such as rice, noodles or soup.
The dipping sauce is served on the side, preventing the nice and crispy chicken from getting soggy and oversaturated.

There has been much debate on whether this Chinese chicken is served with the sauce over the top or if it is served alongside.

We have been to ALLLLLL the take-out places and not once have we seen it served over the chicken itself. So this is our preferred method of serving, but if you like it over the chicken itself, by all means, drizzle away.

HOW TO MAKE SWEET AND SOUR CHINESE CHICKEN, STEP BY STEP:

Preheat your deep fryer to 375 .In bowl combine your flour, cornstarch, salt, water and sugar and whisk until smooth. The batter will be thin, don’t worry it is supposed to be like that, trust me (Photos 1 & 2).

Dip your chicken pieces one by one into the batter and then place into deep fryer. Fry for about 7-8 minutes or until golden. Turn out onto paper towel to drain, repeat will all chicken (Photos 3 & 4).

To make your sauce, in sauce pan combine your sugar, vinegar and water and heat on medium until sugar is desolved.Meanwhile in small bowl stir together your ketchup and cornstarch (Photos 5 & 6).

Once sugar is desolved stir in the ketchup and cornstarch mixture and turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil.Once mixture is boiling and it rises up in pan remove from heat and cool (Photos 7 & 8).

See how simple this homemade takeout Chinese chicken is? There really is no comparison, just look at all the amazing reviews that people have left making this.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR CHINESE CHICKEN:

The batter for the chicken will be thin, do not worry about it, it sticks to the chicken hen frying and creates a nice and crispy coating.
Some people like to serve the sweet and sour sauce over the chicken itself, we don’t recommend this as it makes the chicken soggy since it is breaded, but if that is how you are used to doing it by all means go for it!
Cut your chicken into larger pieces, 2″ work best for actual restaurant size!
When adding chicken to deep fryer make sure your basket is down and add one at a time, this prevents it from sinking and sticking the the bottom of the grates.

If you are craving take-out but want to keep it on a budget then you have to whip up this Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken recipe. You won’t be disappointed!

If you like this recipe you might also like:

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
Korean Spicy Pork Bowls
Shrimp Tempura Rolls

If you’ve tried this SWEET AND SOUR CHINESE CHICKEN or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!

Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken

If take-out is what you're craving this Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken is the perfect, quick and easy, budget-friendly meal to curb fill that need! Homemade, delicious and tasty.

5 from 25 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Ingredients

▢ 2 Chicken breasts cut into 1-2" pieces

Batter:

▢ 1/4 cup self-rising flour
▢ 1/4 cup cornstarch
▢ 1/4 tsp salt
▢ 1/4 tsp sugar
▢ 1/2 cup water

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

▢ 1 cup sugar
▢ 1/2 cup vinegar we used rice, but can use white
▢ 1/2 cup water
▢ 3 Tbs ketchup
▢ 1 Tbs cornstarch

Instructions

Preheat your deep fryer to 375.
In bowl combine all batter ingredients and whisk until smooth, batter will be thin but that is what you are looking for.
Dip your chicken pieces one by one into the batter and then place into deep fryer.
Fry for about 7-8 minutes or until golden.
Turn out onto paper towel to drain, repeat will all chicken.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

In small sauce pan combine your sugar, vinegar and water and heat on medium until sugar is desolved.
Meanwhile in small bowl stir together your ketchup and cornstarch.
Once sugar is desolved stir in the ketchup and cornstart mixtures.
Turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
Once mixture is boiling and it rises up in pan remove from heat and cool.

Notes

The batter for the chicken will be thin, do not worry about it, it sticks to the chicken hen frying and creates a nice and crispy coating.
Some people like to serve the sweet and sour sauce over the chicken itself, we don't recommend this as it makes the chicken soggy since it is breaded, but if that is how you are used to doing it by all means go for it!
Cut your chicken into larger pieces, 2" work best for actual restaurant size!
When adding chicken to deep fryer make sure your basket is down and add one at a time, this prevents it from sinking and sticking the the bottom of the grates.

Nutrition

Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.

Tried this recipe?Mention @TornadoughAlli or tag #TornadoughAlli!

Nutrition Disclaimer