Here’s a delicious Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken 🍗🍍 — crispy, tangy, and sweet without deep frying!
Ingredients (Serves 4–6)
Chicken:
- 2 lbs chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- Salt & pepper to taste
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup oil (for baking dish)
Sweet & Sour Sauce:
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Optional add-ins:
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven
- 325°F (165°C).
- Pour oil into a 9×13 baking dish and place in oven to heat.
- Prepare chicken
- Season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Coat pieces in cornstarch, then dip into beaten eggs.
- Brown the chicken
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.
- Lightly brown chicken pieces in batches (they don’t need to cook fully).
- Make the sauce
- In a bowl, whisk together sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic powder.
- Assemble
- Carefully remove hot baking dish from oven.
- Add chicken to dish, then pour sauce over it.
- Add pineapple and vegetables if using.
- Bake
- Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes so the sauce coats evenly.
- Serve
- Serve hot over rice or noodles.
Tips
- Extra crispy: Don’t skip browning the chicken before baking.
- Less sweet: Reduce sugar slightly or add a splash more vinegar.
- Shortcut: Use frozen pre-cooked chicken pieces to save time.
If you want, I can give you a quick 20-minute stovetop version that tastes just like takeout 😄
