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Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken is one of my family’s favorite meals. Tender chicken combined with an amazing sauce, pineapple, onions, and peppers is a WIN.
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This is BY FAR the best homemade sweet and sour chicken recipe I have ever had. I prefer it to takeout. The sauce is incredible! It tastes just as good, if not better, than any restaurant! Try it and see for yourself. You will want this great recipe in your regular dinner rotation.
Ingredients in Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (boneless, skinless chicken thighs can also be used)
- Pineapple chunks or tidbits
- Red bell pepper
- Onion
- Eggs
- Cornstarch
- Cooking oil
- Sweet and sour sauce
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Sweet and sour sauce is one of my very favorite dipping sauces, which is why we always double or even triple the sauce recipe. The flavor is just so good! We love using it for dipping egg rolls, pot stickers, wontons, and even spooning it over rice. Sweet and sour sauce is so easy to make and just uses a few easy ingredients:
- Ketchup
- Sugar
- Soy sauce
- Cider vinegar
- Salt
If you want to make the sauce separately, just combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Once it starts simmering, combine a little cornstarch with water and whisk it in slowly until it thickens (see recipe below).
For Extra Dipping Sauce:
To prepare extra sauce for dipping, prepare the sauce according to the recipe with doubled ingredients. Pour half of the sauce over the chicken, then simmer the other half in a small saucepan for 10-15 minutes. If you want to thicken the sauce, combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with ¼ cup of water. About 5 minutes before serving, SLOWLY whisk in cornstarch mixture to simmering sauce until the consistency is where you want it. You may not need all of the cornstarch mixture.
Questions
Sweet and sour chicken traditionally is made with breaded chicken, peppers, onions, and pineapple. The sauce is made from sugar (sometimes brown sugar is used), ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, and salt.
When frying the chicken, the breading is made of a thick batter of flour, egg, cornstarch, salt, and white pepper. Our baked version of this recipe, is lighter. The chicken pieces are dipped in cornstarch and an egg batter, then lightly browned before baking.
The preparation of both chicken recipes is similar, however our General Tso’s chicken recipe has fresh ginger and cayenne pepper in the sauce which gives it more of a spicy kick. General Tso’s chicken also isn’t made with chunks of pineapple, peppers, and onion.
Read Next: Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Side Dishes for Sweet and Sour Chicken
Take your sweet and sour chicken to the next level by serving it with one of these tasty side dishes:
How to Make Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Equipment
- 9×13 baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 20 ounces pineapple chunks or tidbits
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1/2 onion
SAUCE:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1-2 teaspoon chili paste (optional, use if you want to kick up the spicy heat in the sauce)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken, onion, and bell pepper into bite-size pieces. Drain pineapple tidbits and reserve pineapple juice for another use.
- Place cornstarch in a shallow dish. Dredge each chicken piece in cornstarch then dip in beaten egg. Heat oil to medium heat in a large skillet. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned. It doesn't need to be cooked through.
- Place drained pineapple tidbits, pepper, and onion in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Position chicken tenders evenly over pineapple and vegetables.
- In a medium bowl, stir sauce ingredients together with a whisk. Pour over chicken. Toss chicken and vegetables lightly until covered with sauce. Bake for 50 minutes, turning once after 25 minutes.
Notes
FOR EXTRA DIPPING SAUCE
- Double the sauce recipe.
- Pour half over the chicken (as the recipe calls for) and simmer the other half in a small saucepan for 10-15 minutes.
- If you want to thicken the sauce, combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with ¼ cup of water. About 5 minutes before serving, SLOWLY whisk in cornstarch mixture to simmering sauce until the consistency is where you want it. You may not need all of the cornstarch mixture.
Made this, but with a little different sauce. Everybody LOVED IT!
I love this recipe! I grew up eating sweet and sour this way and haven’t been to a Chinese restaurant here in Georgia that makes it this way! I added red pepper flakes instead of paste! Can’t have it too spicy with a 75 and 89 year old guys eating it! Thanks for sharing and it is oven but smells awesome!
Loved it. Easy to make too.
Hi Shelly- so glad you liked it! 😀 Thanks for the 5-stars!
hi i just tried to print out your recipe for sweet sour chicken but i dont want all the comments just the recipe and indgreants
Make sure you are clicking the button that says print in the top right-hand corner of the recipe. Hope this helps!
Making this tonight and it is in the oven. Smells wonderful . I too am using the Suraci sauce since I did not have the chili paste . I am also adding a little ginger and garlic just to kick it up another notch . I also doubled the batch for the sauce as recommended , Love extra sauce . I had a can of water chestnuts and added also.
Sounds delicious! It might be a little spicy if you are using Sriracha but if you are into spicy you will not be disappointed! Let us know how it turns out!
Thanks for the great recipe! I have used the oven and the electric skillet for this recipe. The batch cooked in the electric skillet turned out better. I saved on the pineapple by printing a coupon at http://www.frugalharbor.com. Thanks again for the great recipe.
This was amazing!!! My whole family loved it! I used white vinegar and left out the chili sauce. Can’t wait to make it again. Thank you!! 🙂
Thank you, Linz! We love to hear success stories! I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
Awesomeness. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
You are very welcome 🙂 Hope you like it!
ABSOLUTELY the easiest and best I have made or in restaurant!!! THANKS for this recipe! Delicious over quinoa!
So happy that you like it! Great idea to serve over quinoa. 🙂
totally awesome recipe, the whole family loved it. I used white vinegar and used a tablespoon of Chipotle Hot Sauce to give it a slight smokey heat flavor.
It’s become a household dish in our family.
So glad you liked it! We also like to add Sriracha to the mix to give it a kick 😉
I fixed this for my husband and 85 year old mother last night. They both loved it. I actually made a double recipe of the sauce and poured it all over the pineapple, vegetables and chicken. I made a third recipe of the sauce for dipping. This is an awesome recipe and definitely a keeper! It took a little longer to prepare than I thought it would and was a little messy dipping the chicken but well worth it all. We all thought it was better than any sweet and sour chicken we had ever gotten at a restaurant!!! I found really good egg rolls at the store that were a perfect addition and used minute rice.
So glad you and your family liked it! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
i have been trying different recipe for sweet and sour for along time. I just have to thank you I finally found it thanks again
So glad you liked it! It is one of our favorite go-to weeknight dinners!
Followed recipe just as it given. This was the “best sweet and sour chicken ever. My husband couldn’t stop raving over it! Delicious!
Thanks so much!!! Tell you husband “Thanks”, too!
I made these with quorn for my vegetarian boyfriend. AMAZING!
I did change the batter by using tapioca flour, garlic and herb salt with a generous pinch of cayenne pepper.
And I added pineapple juice to the sauce.
Thank you so much!! We have a new favourite dish!
Thank you for sharing your ideas! I’m so glad you like the recipe.
Do I have to bread and fry the chicken or can I just skip that part??
You can skip it, it just won’t be as crispy
I made this last night, and it was delicious!! I used white vinegar and didn’t include the chili paste but it was fantastic!!
So simple and so delicious! 🙂 I will have to make this again and again, and try with some chili paste one day.
Thanks for sharing this!!
This by far is the best sweet and sour chicken recipe I have ever made. I didn’t have chili paste and used a teaspoon of siracha sauce which worked well. I highly recommend making the additional sauce because it concentrates and adds a nice addition to the dish. My husband said “do not lose this recipe!”
Thank you, Andi! I love Sriracha sauce. I’m going to add this to my recipe next time I make it.
Is there any alternative for cornstarch? Tks
Yes, you could use flour if you needed to
Why into the cornstarch first and then the egg….I would have thought the egg first, then the cornstarch?
Since it is being baked it makes it so it doesn’t get as soggy. You can still do it the other way if you want. If you fry it completely without baking you would want the starch on the outside for sure.
I may be wrong as for the reason, but for me, the cornstarch goes first because it will absorb the moisture from the chicken and it will allow the egg to completely cover the chicken.
Needless to say, I am trying this recipe for dinner tonight, thanks
How many servings is this meal? Thanks in advance.
about 4-6
What can I use instead of chili paste?
Do you bake it with or without a cover?
Without a cover…
Thanks!
I love the addition of chili paste and pineapple! I’ll have to try both of those next time since we make this recipe often.