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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
hi there! this recipe looks amazing but is there a good substitute for the sugar in the sauce recipe? thank you!
You can try substituting honey.
I don’t have any Kosher salt can I substitute it for any other salt? as kosher salt is hard to find in my area.
Thanks
Table salt should work just fine.
I been wanting sweet and sour chicken for awhile but I did want to buy takeout. This is my first time making an dish like this one. My dish is in the oven now it looks and smells pretty good.
Thank you so much Chungah
PS
Do you have any other wonderful dishes?
Has anyone tried the frying part using coconut oil? or olive oil? Does that work?
Mine is in the oven. I added some fresh pineapple to mine. Can’t wait to see how it tastes. I’ll update in a little while. Smells great!
Made this for lunch today. Aaamaazing! Will definitely put this recipe in the meal plan rotation! My sauce was not as bright orange red as what yours looks in the pictures, but my husband did not know the difference and he loved it. Thanks for helping me look so good in the kitchen.
Oh-my-gosh! Made this exactly as the recipe says, and the result was heavenly delicious! It was so juicy! It was essential to just flip the chicken around in the baking dish every now and then so the saus could blend in and caramelize the chicken. *damndeliciousrecipe*
I followed this recipe exactly as it is written and my entire family loved it! My whole house smelled like the apple cider vinegar and the vinegar taste was a little strong for us. Everything else about this recipe was heavenly! Does the apple cider vinegar need to have a certain acidity? Or could I possibly reduce the amount next time?
Thank you!
Kristen, you can certainly try reducing the amount of vinegar for next time but it may be best to reduce the other ingredients as well or else the flavors may be thrown off and unbalanced.
Holy Smokes!!!! This sauce is so tasty I doubled it while making and am glad I did. Used rice vinegar bc I didn’t have apple cider like I thought I did. No worries…family flipped out anyway and RAVED about it (even while cooking….the smell is fab!)
Thank you!! This is my go to recipe and I plan to use it with meats other than the chicken drumsticks I cooked today.
Seriously….it is REALLY good!
Thanks for putting this up on the website, but I think that this was typed in wrong:
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.
Shouldn’t it be to dip the chicken into the eggs before stirring in the cornstarch? I just don’t want you to have a misunderstanding with another person. Just wanted to point it out in case it was a typo.
P.S. – The chicken was great!
Thanks for pointing that out but the recipe is correct as written.
have just made this for dinner to the recipe except I halved it as my husband’s not keen on Chinese!!! Absolutely delicious – wouldn’t change the recipe at all. It was so good I’m sharing it with family and friends – thank you.
Made this recipe last night and I must say this is one of the best chicken recipe’s I have ever made!
We love this recipe! I have made it several times and it is perfect every time. I am wondering if it might be possible to cut out a bit of prep time by dumping the egg mixture on the cornstarched chicken and mixing it by hand (to ensure each gets fully coated), rather than individually coating each and every piece of chicken. Do you think this would cause too much of a sticking problem? I’m thinking of I put them in the oil one by one, that should solve it?
No, that should work just fine!
This was absolutely delicious! I used chicken thighs instead of breasts and it came out wonderful! My boys loved it and so did I! Will make this again for sure. Thank you for this recipe. Looking forward to trying out your other Asian inspired recipes. I’m Filipino so your recipes are so enticing to me.
I was wondering if I want to add some onions ,red pepper and pineapple should I add them half way through because I guess 55 mins is too long for vegetables..or should I just stir fry them and add them at the end ?
It may be best to add them in at the halfway mark.
Just had this tonight. Was so yummy! I was skeptical because I feel like nothing I cook is good! I did an excellent job on this dinner though. I also put broccoli in the dish the last half hour it was so good! Thank you
I forgot to mention I added large pineapple chucks and a little of the juice 🙂
I made this a couple of weeks ago – absolutely THE BEST sweet & sour chicken I’ve ever eaten! I served them over noodles instead of rice – so good. This is definitely a keeper and will be making it again real soon. Thanks for such an amazing recipe!
I’ve never coated with cornstarch and then dipped in eggs, usually the other way around. Anyone know how well that works?
Thanks for those wonderfull recipes. I wonder whether I could use pork loin instead of chicken? Appreciate your answer
Pork loin should work just fine but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed.