Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken Copycat
A complete copycat version you can easily make right at home! And yes, it tastes a million times better (and healthier) than take-out!
Have you tried Panda Express’ sweet fire chicken yet? It’s a fairly new item but it’s quickly become a favorite. It has that amazing sweetness with just the right amount of spice to it. But just like every other entree item there, they always give you about 3 chicken bites and 8 pineapple pieces with each serving!
Fortunately, this homemade version is really easy to whip up. And if you’re short on time, you can even cut down the cook time further by using frozen chicken nuggets. With that, this will be on your dinner table in 15 minutes from start to finish!
And yes, as always, the homemade version is always tastier and healthier since you know exactly what’s going into your meal!
Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken Copycat
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 ½ cups diced pineapple, fresh or canned
- ½ cup Thai sweet chili sauce, or more, to taste
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
For the chicken
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into
- 1- inch chunks
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Working one at a time, dredge chicken in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in flour again, pressing to coat.
- Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet, 3 or 4 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bell pepper and pineapple and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in chicken and Thai sweet chili sauce until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions.
Did you make this recipe?
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Sooo good !
I am on weight watchers, so I needed something I liked with low points. I made it with onions, red peppers and garlic and sauted them with just spray olive oil and cooked my chicken breasts just cut up and spiced up, seperately in the same skillet. I added the Tai sauce that I got at Trader Joe, which brought my points up, but within reason. My husband added rice to his. He LOVED it and wanted the left overs so being a good wife, I let him have them. This is definietly in my rotation. Thank you so much for this. I loved Panda Sweet Fire Chicken and to find a recipe that helped me to make it weight watcher friendly was a goldmine for me.
DAMN DELICIOUS! Made homemade Thai sweet chili sauce and followed directions completely. Thank you!!!Â
Love this stuff. I made mine with unbreaded chicken breast, for a even healthier meal. And was still just as good.
This came out perfect! It was such an easy recipe to follow and did not take much time to make. No need to go out to buy it from now on.
Thanks for sharing.
I love this recipe. The sweet with the heat is a perfect taste for me! The recipe was easy to follow and didn’t take too long to make. Will definitely be making this dish again! Thank you!Â
SO GOOD!!!!! My teenage son loves it at PE and found this recipe for me to try! He loved it!
This was amazing! Everyone loved it and it was super easy to make.
Looks yummy & simple enough I’ll have to try it.
This is so much better than Panda’s! Another delicious recipe that will be added to the rotation!
I really don’t understand anyone writing a review about a recipe they truly haven’t tried. Â They actually tried their own recipe when they add different ingredients other than what this particular recipe calls for. Â So, that being said, I actually tried this recipe just as it is stated, and it was so delicious, just like I was sitting in Panda Express. Â I had leftovers, and it was just as good the next day. Â So please try this recipe!
And for those of you who don’t want to fry your own chicken pieces, I did try it also with Tyson’s  breaded chicken tenders, cut them in  1″ pieces after they were cooked, and it was just as delicious!  Yummy recipe too!
This was so good! We LOVED it and it will certainly go in our meal rotation. I used unflavored protein powder to coat chicken for less carbs and added a whole can of pineapple chunks with juice and the whole 13.5 oz bottle sweet chili sauce
This did not taste exactly like Sweet Fire chicken to us, but that could be because we chose to use frozen nuggets to make it quicker. We also added some chopped regular onions to the pepper/pineapple mix since those are included in the Panda Express version. Overall, it was still very good, we ended up adding almost the entire bottle of Thai Sweet Chili sauce to get full coverage, and both kids ate it, we are happy campers.
I made this for my family awhile back and they loved it!! It was super delicious, I will definitely be making this again! 🙂
My mouth is watering…  cannot wait to make this!  I’ll write back once made!Â
Could u make this without dredging the chicken just chicken breast/thigh meat? Trying to save calories.Â
Sure!
Made this for dinner last night and it’s an instant favorite! Super easy, and ingredients can be altered based on what we have on hand. I usually throw together a thai-style curry to use up extra veggies, and I’m happy to add the sweet-chili stir fry into the rotation!
You forgot to add onion! Other than that perfect!!!
Yessss Sweet Fire Chicken is my favorite thing at Panda Express but it’s so expensive. I’m going to try this. Thanks!
This was amazing! I added normal onion when i added the pineapple and red pepper because I didnt have green onion, but it still tasted spot on.
I used Trader Joes Sweet Chili sauce!
This recipe is AMAZING! Thank you so much for posting it. My family loved it! I added a little red onion and cooked it with the bell pepper for a little extra flavor. It was amazing. Definitely making this again in the future.
I love your recipes!
Not gonna lie though, I hated making the chicken. It took forever and was incredibly messy.
But, the end product was delicious! I had to stop my pregnant self from eating it up! Yum. I did not drain the pineapple which I thought could have helped ease the spiciness everyone is talking about. I also added some cut up fresh pineapple I had in the fridge.
Loved it! Another great recipe that our family loved. Thanks.
Their recipe has a white onion in it; none listed here.
There is no onion in this recipe, but please feel free to add it in! 🙂
Hello from Germany! Â I found your recipe for sweet fire chicken about three months ago. Â It is the easiest and best tasting new option for chicken that I have made in years. I highly recommend! Â Frying the chicken takes some additional time but worth it. Keep the great recipes coming. Â
We buy Sweet fire at Panda often. I was disappointed when I made this. It was much spicier that theirs is. I don’t know if it was the brand of sweet chili, I could only find 2 locally, but it had a very off flavor.
My husband threw his away. I may try again, using 1/2 the amount and the other brand of sweet chili
I’m so sorry that this recipe did not turn out for you! May I ask which brand you used?
I love this recipe.
This is the second dish that I have made from your recipes.  The first one was good but this one was over the top perfect.  The flavors were great.  Frying the chicken took some time  but the rest was super fast. Thanke!
I made this just as directed and it was very, very good buuuuut it did take me longer than the time frame that you have. That’s okay, it was worth it.
This chicken was to die for!! Supremely crispy, held the breading  perfectly and the sauce was outrageously yummy! My husband would not complain if I made this several times a week lol. All the recipes I’ve tried from your blog are incredible.  Keep up the awesome work Chunga. So glad I discovered you! 🙂
This is so yummy! I am making it for the second time tonight. I wonder if there is anyway to bake the chicken nuggets?
Yes, absolutely.
I’m making it right now. I just saw the recipe an hour ago..lol
Awww I hope I’m not on the bottom of the comments…I’ve lots good to say. This was yet another wonderful dish. If you’ve never seen four men gather at the table and walk away 10 seconds later with nothing left….well, I’d call them RUDE. My guys took a little longer but the results were no less! What a yummy easy dish…I really also enjoyed making it. Thank you for another favourite 🙂
This was AMAZING!!! We paired it with your Shirmp Fried Rice (minus the shrimp) and added some scrambled egg into the rice and everything was delish! It was far better then any take out we could have ordered! We were practically licking the plates clean! Bravo on this one. We will make this for years to come!
Could this recipe be altered by not breading the chicken, just cooking the chunks of chicken “naked” in a small amount of oil, then completing your recipe as shown?
Yes, of course!
I made this without the breading and it was delicious…. also bought the panda Express sweet chili sauce
I made this recipe last night for dinner, it was delicious! I am not an expert in the kitchen but I love your recipes because they are easy and delicious. Thank you!
10 out of 10! Love this. Excellent.
Best meal I’ve ever made .. it taste better than panda
I made this tonight. Very delicious! I dredged the chicken in a mixture of flour and cornstarch and it gave it a great crispy texture. Thank you for the recipe!
I made this last night. Gorgeous and so professional looking. I used Franks sweet chili sauce and it was a little bit too hot for us so next time I will use less.
amazing 🙂 really easy and so yummy 🙂
Just made this and added some fresh green beans as well! Absolutely delicious. I find myself pinning an obscene amount of your recipes and all that I have tried have been phenomenal! Thanks so much
If using the frozen chicken nuggets, do you cook as directed on package then just mix with sauce?
Yes, that should work just fine.
Thank you!! This is a fantastic recipe. Its delicious and Is probably one of the most visually attractive meals I have ever cooked! It is a very IMPRESSIVE dish. I can imagine this would also lend itself to a great amount of variations if one chose to…
I have never had Panda Express and with your recipes, I really feel no need to. This is definitely an automatic FAVORITE!! and as a matter of fact I am going to find my next meal from your site right now!
To other readers:
If you want to be a hero in the kitchen you have come to the right place!!!
Very good!! My Husband and I cooked it 2 nights in a row!. Thank you
Made this tonight, it was excellent. Made my own sweet thai chili sauce too!
Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks so much for a perfect week night meal idea!
Made this last night. It was DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing.
I made this for dinner last night, and it was delicious and so easy! My husband said it was some of the BEST Chinese he’d ever had. I used Trader Joe’s brand of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, and since we like spicy foods, gave it a couple of squirts of Sriracha, too. Definitely a keeper for the Favorites file. Thanks for sharing.
YUMMY!! Another hit 🙂
I had this dish at Panda Express yesterday and liked it so much, I was already looking for a copycat recipe today. I just made this for lunch (I know. Don’t judge me. Haha) and it was DELICIOUS!!!! Every bit as good as PE. Thank you for sharing!!!
We made this last week and all loved it!! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Where do you buy the thai sweet chili sauce? This will be a huge hit with my husband because he always picks this when we eat at Panda Express. I’m going to surprise him and make this and the copycat chow mein noodles for our anniversary dinner. 🙂
What a perfect anniversary dinner! As for the thai sweet chili sauce, any of the major local grocery stores should carry it.
Hi Chungah, can you please share what brand you use? Also, can you recommend the best way to get that fat mouth feel without so much fat? For example, Can you recommend an air fryer and/or air fryer recipe for the chicken? and/or some other way, just without so much fat? Thank you …can’t wait to try this!!
Made this one..so good! Thanks for your fun blog site. I am loving it.
This was delectable! I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
We give this recipe A for awesome!
Good lord. My husband and I could eat this every day. We made it with shrimp instead of chicken and it was just divine!
I have enjoyed trying several recipes from your blog, and they have all come out very well. I made this the other day for my husband. Even though he is not a big fan of Asian food, he agreed I could make this again.
I have to try this one next week ! seems easy and tasty
Oh, girl, I want to come over for dinner every day!! I can practically smell this awesome chicken 🙂 Yum!
I love you so much for this!!!!!!!
Just made this tonight and it was AWESOME! Thank you for this recipe…it’s definitely added to the top of my rotation, Looking forward to trying more of your recipes..Thanks again!!!
I don’t know what it is about Asian cuisine that makes me crave more and more after each and every bite. Now I have one more dish I can make at home instead of ordering out . Thanks for the recipe! The pictures look delish~
I can not wait to try this dish! This is my panda express go to!!!
This looks great. The sweetfire chicken was one of my favorite things at Panda Express and since I don’t eat there anymore, it’ll be great to make it at home. One question, do you drain the pineapple if using canned?
Yes, the pineapple should be drained prior to using.
Yummy! So easy and so very good!! Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe.
This is one of my favorites! I’m so glad I can make it whenever I want now! YUM!
I haven’t tried the Panda Express version but I already know yours is much better! Can’t wait to try this!
This looks delicious! I don’t know about Panda Express’s version, but this looks awesome…thanks for sharing!
Just made this tonight. My husband and I LOVED it! Thanks for the recipe Chungah!
I think I just found tonight’s dinner, love that chili sauce!
Mmm! Sweet and hot is the best, this looks amazing!
okay. this looks incredible. i am so making this during the week 🙂
I love the sweet and spicy combination! I’m adding this to my meal plan for the week. Can’t wait to try it!
Another nice recipe. Thank you.
I love Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, so this is definitely going to be on the table very soon!!
Hi Susan! It sounds like you’re a connoisseur :)) …can you recommend a brand please?
The Sweet Fire Chicken recipe looks amazing, must try it this week
I love how tender the meat becomes when you lightly coat it like that, only a few minutes extra of prepping but SO worth it, and sweet chilli sauce – yum! Fantastic recipe 🙂 x
I love your copycat recipes! They are the best (: I can’t wait to try this one!!
I love all your copycat recipes – this one looks particularly delicious! Love how easy it is too! Pinned 🙂