Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Do you love Sweet and Sour Chicken? I do. Growing up, I can remember when I first went to a Chinese restaurant. We were living in Pueblo, Colorado, and it was amazing.
I feel in love with Chinese food at that moment. I thought Sweet and Sour sauce should go on everything. While I don’t feel that way now, I do love Sweet and Sour Chicken from time to time. You can recreate this dish at home. I will show you how to make sweet and sour sauce, and how to do the chicken just right.
Don’t be intimidated by making restaurant-style Chinese food from scratch. You can do it. Your grocery store should have everything you need for this recipe. You will need chicken, corn starch, flour, white pepper, oranges, lemons, ketchup, and some rice cooking wine or dry Sherry. So you can see this recipe is achievable at your everyday grocery store.
You could by sweet and sour sauce in a jar, but I think this homemade recipe tastes much better. This sweet and sour sauce is made with real fruit. So it has a nice depth of flavor that you will love. This recipe can be a little bit flexible, if you like, you could swap the protein out for pork. Heck, if you have a little batter left over you could easily slice up some onions and make onion rings, its up to you.
One of the benefits of making restaurant style recipes from scratch is that you know exactly what is in your food. You could make this recipe completely organic if you desire by swapping the meat out for organic. In fact, you could use all organic ingredients in here if you life. By making your own sweet and sour sauce, you can eliminate the dye if you need to. I know not everyone want to have food with dyes in them.
I know you won’t forget the number of your local Chinese takeout restaurant, but now you can make a delicious copycat recipe for sweet and sour chicken.
Like Chinese Restaurant Recipes? Check out these favorites
Sweet and Sour Chicken
You can make sweet and sour chicken just like a restaurant does with this CopyKat recipe.
Ingredients
- Sweet and Sour Sauce Ingredients
- 5 cups water
- 1 medium orange
- 1 lemon
- 2 or 3 slices fresh ginger
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1 cup ketchup
- Red food coloring if desired
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 3 tablespoons of water
- Chicken ingredients
- 2 egg, divided use
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
- 4 tablespoons corn starch, divided use
- 2 1/4 cups self rising flower
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
Sweet and Sour Sauce Directions
Wash the orange and the lemon well. Slice the fruit and sliced ginger and place into a medium pot along with 5 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes. Drain water with a sieve, press the fruit into the sieve, you want to get all of the water released. Place water into a pot and add 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup vinegar, and 1 cup ketchup mix until well blended with a whisk. Heat the sauce over medium-high heat.
Combine 3 tablespoons cornstarch and three tablespoons water in a small bowl. Slowly stream the liquid into the sauce stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken. When the sauce thickens, remove from heat. Store unused sauce in an air tight container.
Chicken Directions
In a medium sized bowl add 1 egg. Scramble egg with a fork. Cut chicken into small bite-sized pieces. Add chicken to beaten egg. Add 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine, 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Stir to combine. The batter will look a messy. Allow to marinate for about 15 minutes before continuing the recipe.
To make the batter for the recipe in a medium sized bowl combine 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 cups of water, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Stir until this batter has a uniform texture.
Add enough oil to a pot to cover the 4 bottom inches. Heat oil to 350 degrees. Batter chicken by taking a piece from the marinade and dipping into the batter with a skewer, and then carefully laying the chicken in the cooking oil. Fry until the chicken becomes a light brown. Remove chicken for about 1 minute, and then place chicken back in and fry for about an additional minute. Frying the chicken twice will make chicken extra crispy. Drain chicken on a wire wrack.
About Stephanie
I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.
Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.