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:
Nagi, you’ve done it again! Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken is a recent discovery for me and it exceeded my expectations. The taste is just great and the recipe and notes are up to your usual high standards. Thankyou, we love it.
This is so delicious! Being a saucy person, I did double it.
The chicken remained crispy but tender.
I also added carrots and broccoli because we love veggies.
KEEPER
Just made this and it was great. I used 1/3 cup sugar and it was sufficient for us.
Tips: use a gallon bag for the cornstarch shake. I didn’t and there wasn’t enough room to coat everything.
Next time I’ll take the chicken out of the bag and put it on parchment paper or wire rack. Dumping it from bag to hot pan led to clumping. More strategic placing in the hot oil would have led to a better crust.
Chopped up some peanuts and scallions to pretty it up and get some texture.
A++++
I don’t leave many recipe reviews despite cooking from multiple new recipes per week/month. This one is that good. Honestly better than any restaurant sweet and sour I’ve had – it tastes like what you want Panda Express to be. The sauce is perfectly balanced. To be fair, I used thighs instead of breasts, I didn’t have pineapple chunks (but did have juice), and I added a sliced red chile with the bell pepper and a pinch of chili flakes to the sauce for some heat. This is definitely going to be in my winter dinner rotation – amazing.
Oh my goodness. This is incredible. Honestly you’d never want food from a Chinese shop again after trying this gem! I put the chicken in the air fryer rather than the oven, and it was perfectly crispy.
I love sweet and sour but I struggle to find a semi decent one here in QLD
Until now!!! This is better than any take away store and was so quick and simple. Another knock out dish Nagi!!
Did this again for the second time…wow….even better….just even better than restaurant stuff….
Thanx Nagi for the simpicity of your recipes….:)
I cooked this for dinner tonight.,
absolutely fabulous.
thanks
Aussie expat here missing Sydney Chinese food – I made this and I was transported home. Fantastic!
Totally delicious! It is on rotation here. I add in extra veggies too 11/10!!
Wow…restaurant quality plus….sauce was outstanding …..another go too….:) Thankyou
I made this with the emergency dump fried rice. OMG it was sensational. Thanks Nagi
I made this. My boyfriend said it was the best sweet and sour chicken he’s ever had. Better than takeout. He is very picky. It’s really good. ❤️
Made the baked sweet and sour chicken, and oh my days it was magnificent 😍my husband said it looked and tasted as to what you would get from chinese restaurant. Definitely new favourite 😋😋
This sweet and sour is the best we have ever tasted. Absolutely top quality. Thank you Nagi for your lovely recipes
This was a simple to prepare, surprisingly awesome meal. My partner said that he would be happy to eat this sweet and sour chicken in a restaurant. Thank you so much for sharing this one.
Best thing I’ve ever cooked👍🏻
Brilliant, eating it now. Easy and tastes authentic. Another recipe from Nagi added to my list.
Yummmmmmm
Outstanding!!! Thank you Nagi!
Absolutely brilliant. The sauce was devine, I didn’t have a green pepper so I used sugar snap peas. Only problem is that in the UK we use metric measurements so it’s a real pain having to convert. Thank you Nagi.