Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast (Copycat)

6
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce.

This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!I’ve been saving this Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast recipe for a couple of months and let a couple of other Panda Express Recipes leapfrog it because I’m a total sap and thought it would be cute to save it for the Valentine’s Day lead up posts! I know, I know, I’m a total cheeseball.

This recipe is simple and leans pretty heavily on sweet chili sauce (I love this Trader Joe’s option for it) and is a pretty simple and straightforward recipe. The only thing I wanted to note in case you miss the note in the recipe section is that if you want it to be a true copycat don’t dice the chicken into cubes. You need to cut the chicken into thinner squares, so like a 1 inch by 1 inch square that is maybe ¼ inch thick. Think of it like the shape of a matchbook a thin square.

This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!

So if you’ve been following along you know that I’ve been on a mission to recreate the entire Panda Express menu. Why you ask? Well, as a general rule if I go out for fast food my default options I usually pick are In-N-Out (I made the Animal Style Double Double Cheeseburger and the Animal Style French Fries) and Panda Express. So if you would like to take a trip down Chinese food memory lane, here are all the other recipes we have so far so you can build your two or three item plates at home.

Also it is worth noting that even though the recipe uses white meat, this recipe is only marginally healthier than orange chicken. Just wanted to be up front about that with you guys. In the past I’ve seen the ads that highlight the healthier white meat in the recipe but a quick glance at the nutrition facts says it all. As cookie monster puts it (or at least did for a season or two when he ate veggies), we consider this a sometimes food. Haha. For Panda Express recipes I make all the time, I would stick to the Mushroom Chicken, Black Pepper Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken which are all pretty darn healthy.

This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!

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Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast (Copycat)

This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!
Yield 6
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil , divided
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts , cut into 1-inch squares, but thinly*
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 2 large eggs , beaten
  • 2 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1 red bell pepper , chopped into 1 inch cubes
  • 1/4 white onion , sliced into 1 inch thick wedges
  • 2 cups pineapple , cubed into 1 inch cubes
  • 1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
  • 3 tablespoons green onions , chopped for garnish
  • sesame seeds , for garnish

Instructions

  • Heat ½ cup of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
  • In a large ziploc bag add the chicken and cornstarch, seal and shake until totally covered.
  • Dip each piece into the egg to cover, then dregde into the flour (to be honest I usually just add flour back into the original ziploc bag and add the chicken back into it and shake it a little each time so the chicken doesn't stick to each other.)
  • Working in batches, cook for 2 minutes on the first side and one minute on the second side or until golden brown and crispy.
  • Remove from the pan.
  • Heat the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil in your skillet over medium high heat.
  • Add bell pepper, onion, garlic and pineapple
  • Cook until the bell pepper and pineapple just starts to wilt a little and is warm throughout (about 2-3 minutes)
  • Add the chicken back in and add in the sweet chili sauce.
  • Stir to combine everything and serve immediately.
  • If using the green onions and sesame seeds, sprinkle them on top as a garnish.

Notes

* Don't dice the chicken into cubes. You need to cut the chicken into thinner squares, so like a 1 inch by 1 inch square that is maybe ¼ inch thick. Think of it like the shape of a matchbook a thin square.

Nutrition

Calories: 403kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 323mg | Potassium: 427mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 785IU | Vitamin C: 53.7mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1.3mg
Keyword: Panda Express recipes, Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast (Copycat)

This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!

This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!
This copycat Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken Breast dish is made with crispy chicken with garlic, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet and spicy chili sauce. A spot on copy!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. This recipe is AMAZING. I messed up the first time I made it by quadrupling the recipe (we like to meal prep) but it made so much! Double this recipe is perfect for my family of 4, and we can still have it for lunch the next day. This recipe is a new favorite in our home, and it made it into my recipe book. I didn’t change a single thing. I prefer the P.F. Chang’s sweet chili sauce, but that’s just personal preference! I repeat myself again- AMAZING RECIPE!!!! Thank you so much!!

  2. Excellent! Just made this last night, doubled the recipe and it turned out fantastic! Thank you!!

  3. Thank you for this Sweet Fire recipe. I am not sure if Panda Express is going to continue serving this recipe. Our Panda just quit having this on the Drive-Thru menu and has swapped it out with (something called) “Sweet & Sour Chicken Breasts”. I think it is similar to their Teriyaki Chicken, which is strips and not pieces. Or, that’s what they said that they’re not going to have it locally to us in Houston, Texas. So, it’s good that you are providing this recipe to all of us.

  4. This is a fantastic recipe identical to the Panda Express version. I’ve made it 4 or 5 times; the flavors and textures are spot on. And since it’s homemade, of course it’s far superior to what you get from Panda.

    I haven’t had fresh pineapple available, so I’ve used canned pineapple chunks and canned pineapple rings chopped into bitesize chunks, both of which work just fine. Finishing a plate with a drizzle of sriracha adds a nice touch of extra heat too. So good.

    Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I’ll be making this for years.

    1. You made my day! I’m so happy to know this is a recipe that you’ll use over and over again. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.