Sweet & Sour Chicken

Sweet and sour chicken is a typical Cantonese dish that can be found at every Chinese restaurant. Ask any of my local Dutch friends or colleagues, they do not know a lot about traditional Chinese dishes, but they sure know about this sweet and sour chicken. The taste of this dish can be described as sweet and sour ;)!

I don’t like to deep fry at home, because it’s too oily, so this recipe only covers the air fryer. I have prepared the dish based on recipetin‘s recipe. Only the air fryer part has been fully tested and prepared by me. For other ways of preparing this recipe, such as deep frying and even oven based directions, I refer you to recipetin’s original recipe (please note that she used pork in her recipe).

My tweaks and tips:

• Don’t put too much corn starch on the chicken, otherwise the chicken will still be partly white due to too much powder. This is because you don’t deep fry it like in oil.
• Use boneless chicken thighs, but if you don’t have them, you can also use chicken breast. But you will have to make it more tender first by “marinating” it with baking soda (9/10 tsp for 400 grams of chicken breast) or baking powder (1 1/4 tsp for 400 grams of chicken breast) for 30 minutes. Rinse with water and pat dry with paper towel.

Review:

The sauce of Recipetin is really good, it tastes as good the one they serve in Chinese restaurants. The only thing that was more prominent in her recipe than the ones in restaurant is ginger. If you don’t like ginger, I suggest you to lower the use of ginger.

For the recipe, see below:

Print Recipe

Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

Keyword

Recipe

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Passive Time

2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

Marinated chicken:

• 400 grams boneless chicken thighs Can be replaced with chicken breasts, go to point 2 under my "tweaks and tips" to make the chicken tender.
• 1/2 large onion I used a food processor to make it more efficient.
• 1 large minced garlic cloves
• 1 small slice grated ginger I used a food processor to make it more efficient.
• 3/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

For the air fryer:

• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3-4 tbsp cornstarch for coating More if needed

Sweet and sour sauce

• 1/3 cup white sugar My pineapple juice was 5% sweetened, so I used 1/4 cup white sugar instead.
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp canned pineapple juice I used 227 grams.
• 3 tbsp ketchup I used Heinz Ketchup
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 4 tsp corn starch
• 1/2 cup water

Vegetables for stir frying:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 minced garlic glove
• 2 tsp finely chopped ginger I used a food processor to make it more efficient.
• 1 medium-sized onion
• 1 yellow bell pepper You can use any bell pepper color.
• 1 cup canned pineapple pieces If you use 227 grams as well, you can use all pineapple pieces.

Keyword Recipe Prep Time 20 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Passive Time 2 hours Servings people Ingredients Marinated chicken: 400 grams boneless chicken thighs Can be replaced with chicken breasts, go to point 2 under my "tweaks and tips" to make the chicken tender. 1/2 large onion I used a food processor to make it more efficient. 1 large minced garlic cloves 1 small slice grated ginger I used a food processor to make it more efficient. 3/8 tsp baking soda 2 tsp cornstarch 2 tbsp light soy sauce For the air fryer: 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil 3-4 tbsp cornstarch for coating More if needed Sweet and sour sauce 1/3 cup white sugar My pineapple juice was 5% sweetened, so I used 1/4 cup white sugar instead. 1/4 cup rice vinegar 3 tbsp canned pineapple juice I used 227 grams. 3 tbsp ketchup I used Heinz Ketchup 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tsp oyster sauce 4 tsp corn starch 1/2 cup water Vegetables for stir frying: 1 tbsp oil 1 minced garlic glove 2 tsp finely chopped ginger I used a food processor to make it more efficient. 1 medium-sized onion 1 yellow bell pepper You can use any bell pepper color. 1 cup canned pineapple pieces If you use 227 grams as well, you can use all pineapple pieces.

Instructions

Marinade chicken:

1. Mix the chicken with ingredients under Marinated chicken.
2. Marinade for at least 2 hours and preferably overnight.

Sauce:

1. Mix everything thoroughly except for water together under “Sweet and sour sauce”.
2. Add the water and mix it thoroughly.

Air fryer:

1. Mix the chicken with the vegetable oil under “For the air fryer”.
2. Dip the chicken piece by piece in the bowl of cornstarch, make sure the whole chicken is covered with a small layer of corn starch. See picture below:

   
3. Preheat air fryer at 200 Celsius degrees.
4. Put the chicken in the air fryer in two batches, you don’t want the pieces on top of another. See picture in step 2. Set timer for 10 minutes and shake the air fryer basket halfway.
5. After the second batch, put the first batch back for 2 more minutes.
6. Take the first batch out for the second time and put the second batch back for 2 more minutes. This step is to create an even more crispy effect of the chicken.

It's time to WOK:

1. Collect all ingredients.
2. Heat oil in the big wok pan over high heat.
3. Add garlic, ginger and onion, stir for around 1-2 minutes.
4. Add bell peppers and stir for 2 minutes.
5. Add the sauce and pineapple and let it come to rapid simmer. Simmer for 2-4 minutes until it thickens (in recipetin’s recipe, she said 2 minutes, but it took me about 4 minutes before it thickens). The key here is to see a path briefly in the wok pan when you drag the spoon across it.
6. Add the chicken, then toss to coat quickly (Recipetin says to aim for 10 seconds, I think I managed 15 seconds and it was still fine ;)! So don’t stress!!)
7. Serve with white rice and enjoy your meal =)!

I hope that you will enjoy this dish as much as I do ^^!

Tried and loved this recipe? Share this recipe with your friends or leave me comment. I would also like it if you share your pictures of this recipe with me by tagging @angiesrecipereview on Instagram and I will share your creations on my story!

Thank you for visiting my blog and have a nice day =D!

Cheers,

Angie