Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
No need to order take-out anymore – this homemade version is so much healthier and a million times tastier!
I am a complete sucker for sweet and sour chicken when it comes to take-out. But it’s been hard to find a place that has it down perfectly – crisp on the outside yet completely juicy and flavorful with a sweet and sour punch. Thankfully, I found a homemade version from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe that has it down to a tee.
What makes this recipe so perfect is that the chicken is first fried to get that crisp exterior. Then it gets baked in a low temperature for an hour, really letting the sweet and sour flavors meld right into the chicken. I was worried that the chicken would get overcooked but it was actually so unbelievably tender. And the flavor packs in quite a punch!
The cooking time takes a little over an hour but I promise you – this version is well worth the effort!
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
For the sweet and sour sauce
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- To make the sauce, whisk together sugar, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and garlic powder in a large bowl; set aside.
- In a large bowl, season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornstarch and gently toss to combine. Working one at a time, dip the chicken into the eggs.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Add chicken and cook until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; discard excess oil.
- Add chicken to prepared baking dish. Top with sweet and sour sauce. Place into oven and bake until the sauce has thickened, about 55 minutes, turning over every 15 minutes to evenly coat the chicken.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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Great recipe! Only changes I made were adding minced garlic (3 cloves) to the sauce and doubling the ketchup (to 1/2 cup) and soy sauce (to 2 tbsp) quantities.
I make recipes with wild game. I used pheasant in substitute for chicken. This maybe the best, simple recipe I have found to turn friends and family onto wild hunted game. It was easy and turned out great, definitely using it more when I need to make something from the hunt. I feel I can use this for also wild Turkey will update when I try it.
Absolutely delicious!! Love this recipe thank you for sharing it! I would personally add pineapple chunks and some red and yellow peppers to this and possibly homemade fried rice (I put bacon in mine with the bacon grease to season it) but that is a lot of meat together-maybe for a special occasion!
Could we add vegetables/fruits like green peppers and pineapple chunks to the chicken when we bake it? Thanks!
I always add drained pineapple tidbits to mine, delicious!
I love Pinterest I just found it and I am amazed and I can’t stop looking at everything that is offered here so wonderful made a new world open up for me thank you so much
10 points. This recipe was easy to prepare. The results, ohhh so tasty. Perfect. I served it with rice and peas and vegetables.
Thank you.
Absolutely love this recipe, however whenever i make it, the smell is very over powering and it can be difficult to enjoy is some times. Its a very harsh smell of the vinegar so im curious as to what i can do to alter the recipe to change the smell of it. Anyone got any suggestions?
Hi Mia,
I mix the sauce ingredients and add some other stuff and then bring to a very gentle boil in a pot for a bit to combine to the flavours. While I do this I can smell the vinegar evaporating so maybe you could try combining the sauce ingredients and gently simmering in a pot to evaporate some of the vinegar before mixing with the chicken and baking. This might reduce the smell of vinegar…maybe I am just guessing!
Delicious. Will be making this a lot.
Was wondering what I could serve along with this as a side dish to guests. Does anybody have any suggestions?
You can never go wrong with rice! I normally do jasmine or plain basmatti rice. However, you can do fancier & serve woth Egg fried rice.
Messy to make but so delicious! This recipe is a keeper!
Surprisingly freaking amazing!! I added a bit of hoisin sauce and it was so good! The chicken does take a bit of time to crisp up in batches but sooo worth it! I added long slices of carrots to the baking pan and it gave it a nice crunch! Will definitely be making again!!
Winner winner chicken dinner!
It seems like a long time to bake but this comes out perfect, and makes great leftovers for husbands lunch. I like to roast a sheet pan of Vegetables to mix in at the end.
My 9year old regularly asks for this meal.
This recipe is great I have also used it with shrimp, and it is delicious. Rather than baking this dish, I usually cook it in a wok, also sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top when serving it. Yum!
Absolutely delicious! My 10yo son and husband couldn’t get enough. Very easy to make. Making it for my mom’s birthday this week!
My family devoured this chicken tonight – it was delicious! We will definitely be having this again soon. I substituted peanut oil because I was out of veg oil and it was great. Thanks for the great recipe!
This has been my go to dish for the past 6 years (im not even kidding, ive been making it that long!) and this is the first time I’m actually submitting a review. It’s easy to prepare and it tastes SOOOOO good.
My family just loves this recipe! Been making for years. They would rather we make this than go out to eat at a restaurant serving it. Even when I tell them I’m paying.
Yasssss sooooo goood
Hi! I wanted to make this tonight but dont want to use sugar. Do you know a good substitute that others have tried and went well? Thank you!! Love your stuff!
Depending on your preferences, you could use coconut sugar.
This was amazing! So tender! Best recipe I’ve found
Made this for dinner today but reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup and made extra sauce at the end and reheated as the sauce reduced too much. I baked at 400F for 30 mins so the sauce got thick fast, so i reheated another 10 minutes with the extra sauce. I also used white vinegar as that’s what i have.
It came out shiny and sticky as promised!
It was very tasty! Will definitely make again! Thank you!