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My sister Anna shared this sweet and sour chicken recipe with me because her family absolutely loved it. It’s a winner indeed; the best orange chicken I’ve ever tried! Anyway, I pinned it for safe keeping and finally whipped it out.
My son’s eyes lit up when he realized he was having “Panda” for dinner – in his world, all Asian food is “Panda.” Except, this is way way WAY better than takeout! I’m super thrilled that I know exactly what went into this sweet and sour chicken; no preservatives and I even used organic chicken. #patontheback for Mom :).
I tracked down the original recipe source and it was the talented Mel of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe who said it was easily the most popular recipe on her blog (yeah – I can see why!). The only thing I changed was adding an extra egg for easier coating.
This really is quite a treat. Make it tonight!
Ingredients for Orange Chicken:
2 lbs (about 4 Medium) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup cornstarch
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup extra light olive oil, canola or vegetable oil to saute, plus more as needed
Ingredients for the Sweet and Sour Sauce:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp garlic salt
How to Make Sweet and Sour Chicken:
1. Preheat oven to 325˚F. Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces and season with salt and pepper.
2. Place 1 cup cornstarch into a gallon-sized ziploc bag, add chicken and toss to coat (go on, toss it up, just make sure the bag is closed; that part is important).
3. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large, heavy bottom pot (I used my French oven with nice tall walls to reduce splatterage on the stove).
4. In a shallow dish, whisk together 3 eggs. Dip the cornstarch-dredged chicken pieces into the beaten egg, coating both sides then transfer the chicken to the very hot oil.
5. Cook chicken in hot oil about 30 seconds per side or until golden. Having very hot oil is key. You don’t want to cook the chicken through, but just until golden. Transfer chicken to a 9×13 baking dish and continue dipping and sautéing remaining chicken, adding more oil as necessary.
Cooking tip: if you add oil to the pot, let it heat up a little before you add more chicken.
6. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the sauce ingredients: 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 4 Tbsp ketchup, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp garlic salt.
7. Pour sauce over your sauteed chicken pieces and toss to coat. Bake uncovered at 325˚F for 1 hour, turning the chicken twice while baking to coat with sauce.
Serve warm or hot over steamy white rice, and crisp tender broccoli for a balanced meal.
My son spotted this photo as I was putting the post together and the first words out of his mouth, “Can you make that for me?” :). Mel, thank you so much for sharing this goodness! It’s music to my ears when my son makes requests like that.
Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs about 4 Medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 cup corn starch
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup extra light olive oil, canola or vegetable oil to saute, plus more as needed
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 4 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp garlic salt
Instructions
How to Make Sweet and Sour Chicken: Preheat oven to 325˚F.
- Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces and season with salt and pepper.
- Place 1 cup cornstarch into a gallon-sized ziploc bag, add chicken and toss to coat.
- Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large, heavy bottom pot (I used my French oven with nice tall walls to reduce splatterage on the stove).
- In a shallow dish, whisk together 3 eggs. Dip the cornstarch-dredged chicken pieces into the beaten egg, coating both sides then transfer chicken to the very hot oil.
- Cook chicken in hot oil about 30 seconds per side or until golden. Having very hot oil is key. You don't want to cook the chicken through, but just until golden. Transfer chicken to a 9x13 baking dish and continue dipping and sautéing remaining chicken, adding more oil as necessary. Cooking tip: if you add oil to the pot, let it heat up a little before you add more chicken.
- In a medium bowl, stir together sauce ingredients: 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 4 Tbsp ketchup, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp garlic salt.
- Pour sauce over your sautéed chicken pieces and toss to coat. Bake uncovered at 325˚F for 1 hour, turning the chicken twice while baking to coat with sauce. Serve warm or hot over steamy white rice, and crisp tender broccoli for a balanced meal.
♥ FAVORITE THINGS ♥
Shown in this post: (nope, no one paid us to write this; just stuff we love):
*My favorite French oven – somehow food just tastes better when you use it 😉
*This covered 9×12 baking dish comes with a lid, reducing foil waste; and it’s perdy.
*My glass mixing bowls are so versatile; everything from this sauce to your morning cereal 😉
*These cooking utensils are next to my stove always in reach on their little caddy.
I tried this the other day – it turned out pretty well and was tasty. I did feel like it needed some chopped onion, bell pepper, and either chopped pineapple or Mandarin oranges cooked and served intermixed with the chicken, but that’s just my preference. I appreciated all the photos for the steps along the way, especially the chicken prep and frying. I will make this again.
I love the idea of adding the vegetables! I’m so glad you liked the recipe 🙂
So I tried this recipe and followed it to a tee. It tasted good, but the chicken wasn’t crispy/ crunchy like I was hoping it would be. Does your turn chicken turn out crispy?
Olga, this recipe should not turn out crispy since it is cooked in the sauce. It resembles the texture of Panda Express orange chicken.
I saw your sauce variation with less sugar and so glad I did!!! Smells amazing!! Can’t wait to dig in!!!
Monique, welcome to the site! Reading your comment is making me hungry for some sweet and sour chicken :D.
This is the BEST Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe EVER!! It was super easy to make-despite becoming extremely impatient on a famished stomach!! I served the chicken with some plain white rice, and didn’t have any broccoli available. Thank you so much for the awesome recipe, Natasha!! I’m looking forward to making favorite recipes!!!
Thank you LaTrice for such a great review and you are welcome :).
Made this for my family and they all loved it.
Kim, thank you for writing in and for the great review :).
I made this last night for dinner and it turned out amazing! everything was perfect. Thank you so much and you explained everything really well in the directions! I will be making this again here soon! 🙂
Andrea, thank you for the great review :), I’m glad you liked it.
Hi Natasha,
I was wondering if regular white flour could be used instead of the cornstarch?
Thank you! 🙂
I don’t think it would work the same way. I haven’t tested it, but I do think the cornstarch is important for the correct texture.
I want to try making these for a harvest celebration in our church, can I make the Orange chicken, the day before, cool, refrigerate, and the next day bake it in the sauce?
This tastes best when made fresh. I’m not sure about making it that way because the chicken gets partially cooked and refrigerating the breaded chicken might soften the breading and I’m not sure how it will affect the finished product. I haven’t tested it that way so I’d hate to tell you yes and have it not work out for a church potluck!
Hi Natasha,
Tried your recipe last night. It can out great. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for the great review!
I’m going to make the Sweet and Sour Chicken for dinner next week. According to the recipe, it mentioned that the chicken should bake in the oven for one hour. This is a stupid question. Do you add half of the sweet and sour sauce to the chicken before baking, and then add the rest? I’m a little bit confused. Thanks!!!
Pour all of the sauce over the chicken before it goes into the oven
All right. Thank you, Natasha!! I’ll let you know the recipe turns out. 🙂
I LOVE sweet and sour chicken!!! Can’t wait to make this recipe (I found you on Pintrest)!!!!!
Welcome to the site LaTrice and I hope to hear from you how it turns out :).
Natasha, wowwww its delicious! Just made it for dinner for tonight EXCELLENT!!!!!! Thank you again…so far all your recipes that I have tried came out fabulous 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you for the awesome review! 🙂
Is there a modification for adding green pepper and pineapple? I know that my kids love having these in there sweet and sour chicken.
Hmmm… I haven’t tried adding those so you’ll have to experiment. I’m not sure how they would turn out in the oven if they were put in raw vs sauteed.
Hi Natasha,
I am making this recipe now; just want to ask where do you usually buy your meats (Chicken and beef) and your extra light olive oil? Thanks
I usually purchase chicken and extra light olive oil at Cosco. The beef comes from Fred Meyer usually, but I do buy it in other places also. I guess with the beef, it depends more on the price. 🙂
So quick and very easy to make, we loved it ! thank you ..very tasty indeed.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
This was so great!! I had some problems with frying the chicken since they were so small, but its totally worth it. Definitely going to make again! Thanks so much!
Frying the chicken is the most tedious part. I’m happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
So I’ve made this two times exactly by your recipe & it was okay(not enough sauce & it didn’t thicken & the smell of vinegar was very strong) so today I decided to ajust it a little, I used flour instead of cornstarch used chicken tenders & doubled the sauce & added 2tbls more sugar to the sauce. Baked it for 1:20 mixed it about every 20 min & raised the temperate to 350 after 50mins. And let me tell you it turned out A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your modifications! 🙂
I am trying to make this recipe tonight for my boyfriend but we are out of cornstarch, I was wondering when subbing flour is it an exact 1:1 ratio?
I have not tried using flour as a substitute. I’m not sure it would work as well as cornstarch, but to be honest I just haven’t tested it.
I know when my husband thinks it’s good cause it all disapears…yeah it was all gone. Thanks
That’s definitely a good sign ;). Thanks Sara!
Loved this! It really tastes just like take out! I’ll definitely think twice before ordering Chinese from home now! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe!
You are welcome Liza, and thank you for the great review :).
Hi. Your recipe seemed to be quite impressive when I first saw it. However, when I tried to replicate it I found it unnecessarily complicated. I found the sauce to be oversweet. I followed all steps except baking the chicken in oven for one hour. Put it in a wok and poured the sauce all over it. This recipe is quite misleading!
HI Rashi, The flavors meld better after baking it in the oven for 1 hour. I think it would be difficult to replicate the same flavors in a wok. It’s good to know it doesn’t work well in a wok. Thanks for sharing your experience.