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.
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i havent tried this yet but i want to make it tonight but i dont have applecider vinegar, will white vinegar work in its place?
I find that apple cider vinegar is truly best in this recipe. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Thank you so much!! This recipe is amazing!! I will have to try it with apple cider vinegar!
I’m sure you have made this by now, but it’s also good with plain white vinegar (I have made it that way before). I prefer the fruitiness the apple cider vinegar gives it, but if you don’t have any, plain old distilled white vinegar is the way to go!
Our family LOVES this, it is a bit labor intensive esp when you make homemade fried rice but it is one of our faves for a special dinner! Two tips-don’t overcook the chicken when you fry it-I will come up to temperature when it bakes in the oven for an hour and it will not be as tough, and also always double the delicious sauce recipe!!
Ive been living in Amsterdam, NL. for about a year now… and finding decent Chinese here has been a bit of a struggle. I’m from San Francisco, and you can throw a rock a find amazing Asian food ANYWHERE!….
Anywho…I made this last night for dinner…. TOTALLY WORTH IT! I was surprised I even cooked it tasted so amazing.
It took me about an hour and a half to make…and I would say the most difficult part about it was dipping each individually cut piece of battered chicken into the egg for frying… but as I mentioned earlier…WORTH IT!
Also…I like my food with a little kick, so I added cayenne pepper to the chicken seasoning… and added siracha to the sauce.
last night was a beautiful dinner. THANK YOU FOR THIS RECIPE!!!!!
I have made this a number of times now and it comes out perfect every time! I usually make extra sauce – about 1 1/2 times the recipe because we love to drizzle it over rice and it still thickens up nicely. In fact, last time I actually had to add some boiling water to thin it out a bit because it got TOO thick lol. And with a simple switch of using tamari instead of the soy sauce it even makes a great gluten free dinner – my daughter in law is gluten intolerant and she practically inhaled this the last time I made it for her. She’s leery of ordering it in the restaurants because you just never kmow what they coat the chicken in so she was a very happy girl to be able to eat this again! Thank you!
hello
do you have a rice recipe to go with this?
You can try this fried rice recipe – it’s a favorite of mine!
https://damndelicious.net/2014/04/05/shrimp-fried-rice/
Great recipe! My five kids and I absolutely loved it. We made it for our annual family bingo tournament and everyone there loved it too.
Can the egg be replaced for something else?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Making this for the third time. I bake in a glass dish/tray, no need for more oil!
Thank you for the recipe! Mine didn’t turn out as bright and beautiful as yours, but was delicious!! I also had trouble with the cornstarch – egg – frying part, the chicken didn’t coat well and everything just slipped off. The sauce was perfect, so with a few adjustments I’ll be making this again and again.
I’ve tried a lot of recipes… this one is amazing! I added chopped red and green bell peppers after the first 30 minutes. Incredible! Definitely making this again!
Best damn sweet and sour chicken ive made. I used raw honey instead of sugar. Also, my son had thirds and he rarely gets seconds with food.
This is phenomenal! I doubled the sauce and added chopped red onion, red peppers and pineapple chunks. Because of these additional ingredients I had to pump up the oven temperature and allow for extra cooking time. It was worth it. Thank you so much!
Can you use just regular vinegar instead of the apple-cider vinegar ? Wanted to make this tonight but I don’t have apple-cider vinegar
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Love Chinese food, but hate all the “last minute” work that goes into it. I prefer dishes where you do the prep work & then slide it in oven or crock pot so you have 30 minutes to clean up the kitchen BEFORE dinner. This Recipe takes all the last minute work out of Sweet & Sour Chicken!! THANK YOU!!! I used 5 lbs of chicken & made 6 recipes of sauce to feed a group of 10. My DH prefers spicy over sweet, so I halved the sugar & added a little bit of Sriracha sauce. He LOVED it!! An because it used cornstarch it was Gluten Free, which is a need for our family!! Great Recipe!!
Never have to get take out again! This is our family fav. I follow the recipe as written except doubling it so we have left overs for the next day. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Oh boy this is so good; made it tonight with a couple of change ups. My guys aren’t big fans of the sauce so I put it on the stove top and added fresh pineapple, onion and red peppers. Sauce served on the side, this was pretty darn close takeout. Husband is still raving about the chicken.
Made this for lunch today (just made the portions smaller) and it was awesome! Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
the sauce never thickened and I followed the recipe perfectly. wont be n=making his again
Wow!! Just made this for dinner…it was amazing. My husband thought it was take out. I followed the directions to a T and it was well worth it. The cooking time was mostly taken up by the chicken in the oven. Gave me time to make sides, clean the kitchen, feed the baby and then sit down to an awesome dinner. You are a recipe goddess!!! Can’t wait to try more!!
Hi. Pardon me. But why do I need to bake it in the oven for an hour?
Can I just mix and heat up the sauce in the pan, then toss in the golden brown cooked chicken?
Yes, if that is what you prefer.