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Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sink your teeth in these crispy and juicy deep-fried chicken pieces, pineapple, bell pepper, scallion, and glazed with deliciously thick sweet and sour sauce.
Everyone loves sweet and sour chicken, especially children. In Indonesia, this dish is called ayam kuluyuk, or ayam asam manis. You can actually make a sweet and sour chicken without the bell pepper and pineapple since the sauce contributes the most to the taste of this dish, but I really love seeing vegetables, fruits, and meats all in one dish.
Recently, I went to a Chinese restaurant here that use fresh strawberries instead of pineapples, it looks so lovely and the taste is surprisingly good. So, if you live in a place where strawberries are plentiful and much easier to get instead of a pineapple, I highly recommend using those.
How to prepare deep-fried chicken?
First, mix together 450 gram (1 lb.) skinless boneless chicken thigh/breast, cut into bite-size pieces, with 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine. Marinate the chicken for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, let’s prepare deep-frying batter by mixing together 4 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 4 tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 cup water.
Finally, deep-fry the chicken. Heat a pot of oil, and once the oil is hot (about 170 Celsius / 340 Fahrenheit), dip chicken pieces in the batter, and deep-fry in the hot oil until golden brown. Set aside over a wire rack to remove excess oil.
What goes into the sweet and sour sauce?
For the sweet and sour sauce, mix together the following:
- 3 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- 3 tablespoon chili sauce. You can use sambal oelek, sriracha, or your favorite Asian bottled chili sauce.
- 3 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon plum sauce. You can also use apricot jam or marmalade.
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
You will also need:
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper (~ 150 gram / 5 oz.), cut into 1" squares. Feel free to use green, orange, or yellow bell pepper.
- 1 small pineapple (~ 150 gram / 5 oz.), cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 scallions, cut into 1-inch sections
How to cook sweet and sour chicken
Once you have deep-fried the chicken, and mix together the sauce, this sweet and sour chicken dish comes together in minutes.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok/frying pan. Sauté garlic until fragrant, then add green bell pepper and pineapple and stir fry until fragrant.
Pour the sweet and sour sauce into the pan, stir to mix well, and bring to a boil.
Return the fried chicken along with chopped scallions into the pan, toss gently so the sauce fully coats all the chicken pieces.
Turn off heat, transfer to a serving plate, and serve immediately.
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 450 gram (1 lb.) skinless boneless chicken thigh/breast, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih), minced
- 1 bell pepper (any color), seeded and cut into 1-inch squares, about 150 gram
- 1 small pineapple (Indonesian: nenas), cut into bite-size pieces, about 150 gram
- 2 scallions (Indonesian: daun bawang), cut into 1-inch sections
- Deep-frying batter
- 4 tablespoon all-purpose flour (Indonesian: tepung terigu)
- 4 tablespoon cornstarch (Indonesian: tepung maizena)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (Indonesian: soda kue)
- 1/2 cup water
- Sweet and sour sauce
- 3 tablespoon tomato ketchup (Indonesian: saus tomat)
- 3 tablespoon chili sauce. You can use sambal oelek, sriracha, or your favorite Asian bottled chili sauce.
- 3 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon plum sauce (Indonesian: saus plum). You can also use apricot jam or marmalade.
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (Indonesian: kecap Inggris)
- 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar (Indonesian: cuka beras)
- 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce (Indonesian: saus tiram)
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch (Indonesian: tepung maizena)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (Indonesian: bubuk lada putih)
Instructions
- Marinate chicken breast cubes with Shaoxing wine for 10 minutes.
- Mix batter ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- Mix all sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Prepare enough hot oil for deep frying. Add chicken cubes into the batter, then deep fry until golden brown, set aside on a wire rack or paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok/frying pan. Sauté garlic until fragrant, then add green bell pepper and pineapple and stir fry until fragrant.
- Pour the sweet and sour sauce into the pan, stir to mix well, and bring to a boil. Return the fried chicken along with chopped scallions into the pan, toss gently so the sauce fully coats all the chicken pieces. Turn off heat, transfer to a serving plate, and serve immediately.
Comments
Anita, I really love your page, and almost all of your recipes make me want to cook (which I barely did), I always love sweet and sour either with chicken or fish (but never cook it myself), can't wait to try out your recipe, thanks a bunch! Btw, love all of your pictures too, great shots!
Thanks for your lovely comment Ira. I am so excited when my recipes inspire people to cook :)
is there a possible substitute for shaoxing wine? i can't seem to find them on my country. also, Awesome Recipe!
Hi Bruce, the best substitute for Shaoxing wine would be Chinese yellow wine, Chinese white wine, or Japanese cooking sake, in that order :)
Dear Anita I tried this today and it was good! Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes in such a user-friendly site. Love your recipes and website!
Hi Chris, thanks for trying and the feedback. I am glad you like the recipe. ♥
Or use Mirin :)
I grew up eating sweet and sour chicken and still love it to this day. I enjoy making meals that I grew up eating for my kids to experience now.
This is my kind of recipe! It's so good, I don't ever order it from my local Chinese food restaurant, I make this instead!
This looks so lovely. I've made sweet and sour chicken in the past, but never with fried chicken. Can't wait to try this!
This looks so much better than takeout! Going to have to try this recipe asap. :)
I always get excited finding your recipes! I love this version of the sweet and sour dishes because you just can't go wrong with fish! Thanks for sharing!
Made this for the family and it was a hit!
We love making our own sweet and sour sauce. It's so easy.
I am so ready to make a big bowl of this delicious chicken now. The only thing missing is the main ingredient, so I should better get going - the grocery store closes soon :-)
I love sweet and sour chicken but there's no good chinese restaurants near me so I am so happy I can try this out at home! Looks too good!
I'm always on the lookout for new chicken recipes and this one sounds scrumptious! Love the addition of pineapples. Thanks for sharing!
Whew! I was surprised to see 3 T of Sriacha go into a Sweet and Sour sauce- but it gave it a great kick that I've never had in a restaurant dish.
The only thing to improve (per my own cooking) would be to cut the chicken smaller. The superlean breast meat needs to be well sauced, so next time I'll try to keep it around the size of a quarter. The recipe was right- but just a reminder for those cooks who tend to go big, lol!
(Maybe someday I'll try it with strawberries... It could be a good use of under-ripe fruit that aren't sweet enough to enjoy on their own, too.)
I've been wanting homemade Chinese food for dinner so this is perfect! Cannot wait!
All-time favorite dish.
One of my absolute favorite recipes! This is so much better than what I get for takeout. Thanks for the great recipe!
This is definitely my weekend side dish. Sweet and Sour sounds interesting to make. I am drooling with the Pineapple topping. Yum
I have to admit that I tried a handful of sweet and sour chicken recipes before and always found many of them either too sweet or not sour enough, but this recipe hit the bull's eye! Perfect balance of flavours and the chicken - oh my - so crispy! Thanks!
The flavors were perfect better than going to any restaurant everyone loved the sweet and sour flavors.
I've only had sweet and sour chicken at restaurants so I'm happy to have stumbled upon this recipe to make it at home. So much fresher!
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