Sweet and Sour Chicken – Nicky’s Kitchen Sanctuary

This Sweet and Sour Chicken has been one of our reader favourites for years!
We’ve got crispy yet juicy chicken with a tangy sauce that’s perfectly balanced with just the right amount of sweetness. Want to know the secret to that irresistible crispy coating and the sauce that will have everyone asking for seconds? This is my homemade crispy sweet and sour chicken with a sweet and tangy sauce made from scratch using store cupboard ingredients!

Close up of sweet and sour chicken in a bowl

“The best sweet and sour, always a winner in my house, super tasty” – Jacqui Reeves

🧾 Ingredients

What ingredients give you that sweet and sour chicken with tangy, sweet and well, sour flavour?

The sauce is actually quite a bizarre combination:

Ketchup – and plenty of it – for a tanginess and colour. I don’t eat a lot of ketchup, but it’s a must for this dish.
Malt vinegar – it’s the best type of vinegar I’ve found for getting the ‘right’ touch of sourness.
Brown sugar – for rounded sweetness, and to counteract any bitterness in the vinegar.
Pineapple chunks in pineapple juice – yep, rather than chopping up a fresh pineapple, I find pineapple chunks actually work better, and the juice is an all-important element to the sweet–tangy flavour of the sauce.

And of course we’re doing this sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style – which means the chicken is chopped into bite-sized pieces, dredged in a flavourful coating then fried to crisp perfection, before being coated in that sweet and sour sauce.

📺 Watch how to make it

***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post***

👩‍🍳 How to make sweet & sour chicken

We start by coating the chicken in cornflour (cornstarch), then egg and then seasoned flour. Then fry in oil until crispy. You can do this in two batches if your pan is on the small side. I can just about do it in one batch in my wok. Then remove the crispy chicken from the wok.

Collage showing steps for making crispy chicken for sweet and sour chicken

Pro Tip

Check the chicken is fully cooked:

Now onto the sweet and sour sauce. We fry onions and bell peppers in a wok until very lightly softened (just a couple of minutes), then add garlic and ginger, followed by those all-important bizarre ingredients: ketchup, malt vinegar, brown sugar and tinned pineapple (including the juice). Bring it to a gentle boil.

Collage of steps fro making sweet and sour chicken

Let the sauce bubble for a few minutes, so it thickens slightly like this (it will thicken a little more when you add the chicken back in).

Sweet and sour sauce with vegetables bubbling in a wok

Then add in that crispy chicken and carefully toss in the sauce. So tasty!!

Close up image of sweet and sour chicken in a wok

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I love take out sweet and sour chicken, but there are a couple of things I don’t love:

The sauce is too bright orange – like glow in the dark orange. I’ve heard they use food colouring to get it that vivid (does anyone know for sure? let me know in the comments). Mine’s very red (from the ketchup) but the colour is toned down by the addition of dark brown sugar.
The crisp coating is often flavourless. It’s more there for crunch, rather than to add additional flavour. I add extra seasoning and spices into my coating, so even without the sauce, it tastes delicious.

Can bake the chicken instead of frying it?

Yep! I have a recipe for baked sweet and sour chicken on the blog too.

🥡 More takeaway inspired recipes

Sweet and sour chicken in a bowl with rice — Sweet & Sour Chicken

🍽️ What to serve it with

Boiled rice – check out my full post on how to boil rice.
Egg Fried Rice – my personal favourite side for this sweet & sour
Special Fried Rice – masterclass post on getting it perfect!
Some Stir Fried Noodles with beansprouts for a lovely noodle side dish.
How about Salt & Pepper Chips – Chris loves to pour the sauce over these!
Maybe add a side of spare ribs? These are Asian style ribs topped with crispy onions, inspired by a restaurant we went to in China town in London.

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Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan until very hot.

5 tbsp vegetable oil
Whilst the oil is heating, place the egg in one shallow bowl and the cornflour in another shallow bowl. Add the flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt and paprika to another shallow bowl and mix together.

2 eggs lightly beaten, 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch), 90 g (3/4 cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour), ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, ½ tsp garlic salt, 2 tsp paprika
Dredge the chicken in the cornflour, then dip it in the egg (make sure all of the chicken is covered in egg wash), and finally dredge it in the seasoned flour. Repeat until you’ve coated all the chicken.

3 skinless chicken breast fillets
Add to the wok and cook on a high heat for 6-7 minutes, turning two or three times during cooking, until well browned. You may need to cook in two batches (I find I can do it in one batch so long as it’s no more than 3 chicken breasts).
Check the chicken is cooked (see notes) and remove from the pan and place in a bowl lined with kitchen towels.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, you can start on your sauce.
Add the oil to a large frying pan/skillet, heat it up on a medium-to-high heat and add in the onions and the peppers . Cook for 3 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the onions start to go translucent.

1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 large onion, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper
Add in the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.

2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger
Add the tomato ketchup, vinegar, dark brown sugar, and the tinned pineapple (including the juice) and stir. Bring to the boil, and then turn down the heat and let it bubble, stirring every so often, until slightly thickened, should take 3-5 minutes.

150 ml (2/3 cup) tomato ketchup, 2 tbsp malt vinegar, 6 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar, 475 g (17 oz) canned pineapple chunks in juice
Transfer the cooked crispy chicken to the pan with the sauce and gently toss to coat.
Serve with boiled or fried rice and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

egg fried rice or boiled rice, 1 tsp sesame seeds

Check the chicken is cooked

You want to ensure the chicken is fully cooked before serving. Slice open one of the larger pieces you can find, and make sure it’s no longer pink in the middle. If it’s white with no pink areas, it’s cooked

Nutritional Information is per serving including sesame seeds, but not rice (I don’t know how much rice you’re going to serve this with :-))

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

This recipe was first published in September 2019. Updated in September 2024 with extra FAQs and housekeeping.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.