Sweet and Sour Chicken with crispy chicken, pineapple and bell peppers just like your favorite takeout place without the food coloring.
Sweet and Sour Chicken, A Classic
Sweet and Sour Chicken is a classic Chinese takeout option most of us are too afraid to make at home. Something about woks and cooking with pineapple make it intimidating for most, but it is so much easier to make than you would think.
Of the classic Chinese Recipes that most people ask for on my blog the one I hear about the absolute most is sweet and sour chicken. I totally get it, it isn’t even just the recipe, but THAT SAUCE. When I was a teenager and I made this sauce for the first time I also actually started learning how to use chopsticks. So for a solid month (I kid you not, my mom was not thrilled with this), I used chopsticks for every meal and had a tiny little bowl of Sweet and Sour Chicken Sauce to dip everything into it.
How to make Sweet and Sour Chicken
When it comes to making a good Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe there are a few tips I love to give out.
- Keep the breading super crispy and light. I have experimented with this recipe both in a tempura batter and a straight cornstarch coating. I prefer cornstarch for ease of use, but either way, you don’t want something doughy that will absorb your sauce like a sponge.
- Make sure you’re using GOOD pineapple chunks. I like either a super sweet fresh pineapple or the frozen chunks you get at Costco. They always have high quality frozen pineapple I’ve never been disappointed with.
- Don’t skip the onions. I know people may have aversions to them, but the onions and the bell peppers play an important role in balancing the flavors of the dish. Without them, you would have a completely sweet entree with only a sour punch from the pineapple. Adding a bit of bitter from the peppers and onions helps cut through the sweetness. Trust me, you’ll be trying to snag extra onion pieces (assuming you don’t already really hate onions).
Want more Chinese Food Recipes?
- Honey Orange Firecracker Shrimp
- Cheesecake Factory Mandarin Cashew Chicken
- PF Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken
- California Pizza Kitchen’s Kung Pao Chicken Spaghetti
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Easy Mongolian Beef
- Panda Express Recipes… every single one in fact: Panda Express Recipes Index
- Many more Chinese food options…
Tools used in this Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe:
- Wok: Great for high heat, quick cooking. This wok is a great addition to your kitchen if you love cooking Chinese food or stir fries in general.
- Large Frying Pan: I use this Cuisinart for most of my non cast iron cooking unless I am going with a stainless steel option, then I choose my All Clad.
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce: I find regular soy sauce much too salty, remember you can always add salt but you can’t subtract it. Starting with low sodium allows you to alter to your tastes if necessary.
- Frying Spider Strainer: This frying spider strainer is the quickest and easiest way to scoop out items that are fried without wasting too much time or getting too much oil out of the pan. You won’t have pieces burning like you would with a smaller strainer, plus it is SO inexpensive. I use it for almost all of my small fried items.
Recipe

Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Course: Main Course
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Author: Sabrina
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts cut into 1” chunks
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup flour
- canola oil for frying
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 1 red bell pepper cut into 1” chunks
- 1 green bell pepper cut into 1” chunks
- 1/2 yellow onion cut into 1” chunks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 4 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
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To make the sauce, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and garlic into a small bowl.
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Pour enough canola oil into a dutch oven or frying pan that is comes up from the bottom about an inch to an inch and a half.
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Heat the oil on medium high to high heat, you’re looking for the chicken to cook and brown in about 2-3 minutes.
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Add the cornstarch to a large ziplock bag.
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Add the chicken pieces to the large ziplock bag and shake until all the pieces are well coated.
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Dip the pieces into the egg, then into the flour before adding to the hot oil.
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Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes, until cooked through and crispy.
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Remove to a cookie sheet (no paper towels!) and continue cooking all the chicken pieces.
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When done cooking remove all but a tablespoon of the oil.
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Add the bell peppers, onion and pineapple and cook for 1-2 minutes, until crisp-tender.
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Add the sauce back in and stir to coat the pieces and cook for 30 seconds to help the garlic warm through.
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Add the chicken pieces back in and stir until the sauce has thickened and bubbling.
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Serve immediately, with optional garnishes of sesame seeds or green onions.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 0 , Amount per serving: 2411 calories, Calories: 2411g, Carbohydrates: 368g, Protein: 167g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 762mg, Sodium: 2352mg, Potassium: 4328mg, Fiber: 14g, Sugar: 262g, Vitamin A: 110.8g, Vitamin C: 385.7g, Calcium: 26.8g, Iron: 53.7g
All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert.
Girl! One of my all time favorites! This looks so saucy too, which means it’s my kinda sweet sour chicken! Bring it on!
Thanks Krista!!
It came out fantastic. The only thing I added was thinly Sliced carrots and zucchini. I would recommend making this for sure. The chicken was very tender and moist in the coating. Thanks!
I made this dish today and was really great.
Thank you so much for coming back to let me know how much you enjoyed it!
Made it love it, a little more chicken or less sauce, but yummy!
I love chicken recipes! Thanks.
You’re welcome Bea! Enjoy!
This looks SO good! I can’t wait to try this! I’m sure my family will love this!!
This is my son’s and my daughter’s favorite thing to order from Chinese takeout! 🙂 Going to have to make this for them soon.
You can’t beat a great sweet ‘n sour recipe, and homemade is often so much better takeout. This looks fantastic!
Thanks!
Currently drooling over these photos, and I wish I were kidding. Looks even better than takeout! Gotta try it soon!
I just made this just like the recipe said. And it was absolutely DELICIOUS. Thank you for this recipe. I will never eat at a restaurant again. Even cheaper at home because I had all the ingredients at home except chicken. ???
Awesome!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know how much you enjoyed it!
Yummy! Such a finger licking dish, Sabrina! I will have to give it a try!
Thanks!
Could i use, balsamic vinegar instead of apple vinager?
You can but it will product a different taste. Balsamic is slightly sweet where apple cider vinegar is more tart and acidic.
Wow I just made this dish. It looks and smells fantastic. My 7,8 and 4 yr old are excited to taste it too. Thank you ?
Thanks Mel! Hope you all enjoyed it!
AMAZING and so easy
Thank you for the 5 star rating Lisa! Glad you enjoyed it!
Made this last night for my mother in law. It was suuuuper delicious! Looked just like the pictures too
Love it! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know how much you enjoyed it!
This recipe is 5 star! Way better than take-out. Thank you for the recipe.
Thanks Harmony!
Do you think it would taste the same if you used tomato sauce instead of ketchup?
If you decide to substitute the ketchup for tomato sauce, you may need to adjust the amount of brown sugar and apple cider vinegar because tomato sauce isn’t as sweet as ketchup. I’d love to know how it turns out for you after trying it though. Enjoy!
Best sweet and sour chicken recipe I’ve made yet. I added more of the veggies and also shredded carrots.
Thanks, Alane! So glad you enjoyed it!
Can I throw the pineapple in frozen or should I defrost it
You’ll want to have it thawed out. If it’s frozen, it will produce extra liquid. Enjoy!!
Made this yesterday and it was a real hit. Thank you so much for the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
This recipe is awesome, I made it for lunch on Newyear. Happy new year with love from Nigeria and thank you so much for the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know! Happy new year to you as well!
Just made this, I really loved it. Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Can you tell me what is OJ concentrating it’s in the orange chicken
I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking. Can you clarify please?
This tasted better than the chinese restaurant, everyone in my house loved it , I added a little sesame oil , fantastic , ??
Thanks so much! So glad you all enjoyed it! Now you can ditch the take out 🙂
Adding the onions is missing from the instructions, however, great recipe!
Thanks for catching that Allison! So glad you enjoyed it!
Can I use white vinegar instead of apple vinegar?
You can but it will produce a different taste.
Would red wine vinegar be a good replacement? This looks so yummy.
It will change the flavor but if you’re ok with that, go for it 🙂
Recently made this and it was awesome, thanks for the recipe. It has been requested again and again.
You’re welcome! So glad you love it so much to put it into rotation!
I’m excited to try this recipe, but I notice it’s got a high concentration of vinegar in regards to the rest of the ingredients in the sauce, and that worries me. I’m really not a fan of vinegar and I’d like to cut down the amount used. Do you have any suggestions for substitute ingredients?
Unfortunately that is one of the prominent flavors in sweet and sour chicken (as well as orange chicken). Perhaps a different recipe? Have you considered maybe a General tso’s chicken or sesame chicken? Both are available on the blog.
This was absolutely Great! It will be on my dinner rotation of favorites! Thanks! I always made sweet and sour pork from a cook book but now I go to Pinterest and so glad it’s here! Delicious! Happy family!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it!
This was a huge hit with my family! Easy to make and definitely better than take out.
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it!
Do you know, roughly, how many this recipe serves? I would love to make this for a family get together but need to feed quite a few mouths.
This recipe yields 6 servings. Enjoy!
I made this tonight. It was delious! When I made the sauce it was so good I doubled it because I knew I was not going to keep my spoon out of it til dinner. Thanks.
It’s so dangerouly delicious!! Smart thinking!!
I prepared it today. Great dish, easy, very tasty
I felt like a real chef after making this. It came out perfect!
Awesome, Mila!
Question..when you say cookie sheet, does that mean it needs to go into the oven?
No, the cookie sheet is only meant to give you enough space to spread them out so that they cool evenly.
Excellent! I used honey rather than white sugar for the sauce, adding some pineapple juice from the canned pineapples.
Thanks for the substitution suggestion. So glad you enjoyed it!
Wonderful recipe. I’ve tried lots of sweet n sour recipes and this one is the best. Thanks for sharing. Deb
Thanks Deb!
About how many adults would this serve?
4-6 depending on the serving size
I love this!! I made it today and it is wwwaaaaayyyy better than take out!!! It is delish!!! I can’t wait to have it at lunch at school !!!
So glad you enjoyed it Lisa!
Lots of ingredients, however it was worth it! Glad I didn’t use the jar sauce! Lol
Made this tonight for dinner. It was amazing! I would not have thought that sauce would taste as good as it did. Just the right amount of sweetness. Lots of flavor.
The only thing I changed is the type of oil. I used avocado oil with a little grapeseed oil to fry the chicken.
Thanks for the 5 star rating, Donna!
Sabrina, I have some leftover fresh pineapple so went looking for a sweet/sour recipe and this one looks great. But…I also have a couple of ripe peaches that I need to do something with. Do you think I could incorporate them into this recipe? I noticed below that you’re pretty good with offering suggestions for substitutions and additions. Thanks so much.
I think the pineapple would work great but I think the peaches would’t hold up as well and would get mushy. Hope this helps!
This was super easy for me to make & it was very DELICIOUS! I will make this dish apart of my family’s dinner choices!
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Turned out great. Hubby loved it <3
But to make 5 stars will add seasoning to the flour of the chicken before deep frying.
Will definitely make it again
Thank you for a great recipe!!
This sweet and sour chicken is ??
I haven’t made this yet but in the directions it says to move the chicken to a cookie sheet, then continue cooking until done. Does it go back into the oil or the oven? Thanks for your response
Sorry for the confusion. After you’ve cooked each batch of chicken, place them on a cookie sheet to rest. You’ll add all of the chicken back in once the sauce is complete. Hope this clears things up! Enjoy!!
Hi,
I am presently in the process of trying this recipe. Looks soo yum!
However, do you think the texture or taste will change if i eliminate the flour and do a double coating of cornstarch?
Trying to stay away from the flour.
Thanks much
How did it turn out changing it up?
I hope you enjoyed it!
Too much sour not enough sweet. Too much apple cider vinegar, a quarter cup would have been just fine. It’s a strong taste and overpowers all the other ingredients. It’s a strong flavor. Other than that it’s okay.
Thanks for noting this. I tried the General Tso’s eecipe from this site and that also had overpowering vinegar taste even after using half of the amount in the recipe. May try with a tablespoon and work my way up.
I made this dish last night and it was absolutely delicious. I started by breaking down a fresh ripe pineapple, it was super sweet and juicy, yet perfectly tangy, so I think that really helped enhance the dish. I did cut my chicken a little too large, and qith the AP dredge left my chicken just a touch on the bland side but still very yummy. I went with low sodium soy sauce and the sauce seemed perfectly balanced so the is room for a dash of salt in the AP final dredge. I served this over a bed of Jasmine rice with siracha sauce. Thank you so much for such an awesome, easy to make recipe, that I will certainly make again.
You’re welcome, Richard! Sounds delicious!
Soooooo good!! Will definitely be making this often! All of your recipes I’ve tried have been super. Thank you for sharing!!
You’re welcome, Carmen!
I have made this tonight and it came out fantastic! So delishious and tender, definitely family’s new favourite. Thank you for the receipe.
I doubled the sauce because i like extra but don’t double the apple cider vinegar. Way too vinegary. Otherwise, really good
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Made this the other night for the family. I make a lot of Chinese dish’s of my own, but I must say this was the biggest hit so far.
I’m so glad everyone loved it, Phil!
This recipe looks fab. How many adults does this serve?
Thanks, Charley!
This recipe serves 6. Enjoy!
Awesome, loved it.
My bf told me there was no need for take out anymore! This was so good-the only change I made was to add broccoli instead of peppers because that’s what I had on hand. Delicious!
So glad you both loved it, Alison!
This isn’t a bad recipe, but I didn’t like the taste of the sauce.
Well, this was a pleasant surprise! It was a lot of work…because the chicken must be cut, cornstarched, egged and then floured, and after all of that…..FRIED! But, it comes out really good. I thought the sauce was smelled very vinegary, but it was really good. Also, I used fresh pineapple, omitted the peppers, because they make me sick, but added steamed carrots to have some color and it was great. I would definitely make it again.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Great recipe family favorite
This was incredibly delicious as are all of your Chinese recipes! I’ll never eat out again especially recognizing how many additives & chemicals are in restaurant foods in comparison to the simple and fresh ingredient list here. You are amazing- how did you master these so well?! Will be added as a new favorite go-to dinner for me, with some steamed Janine rice, hot jasmine tea, and fortune cookie of course! ? ?? ?
You’re so sweet! Thank you so much for the kind words.
Oh my goodness, the English major/master in me has to correct my typos of ‘jasmine rice’ and def no ‘????’ with this recipe, only ‘??????‘ Again, incredible!??
So I made this chicken. I’m sorry to tell you that, but in my entire life I never had such a sweet chicken. The amount of sugar is wayyyyy too much, it’s simply crazy sweet (like hurting your brain and teeth sweet)… I like the recipe, but next time, I’ll try to reduce the amount of sugar and vinegar at least in half or use just a third of it…
Feel free to adjust to your liking. 🙂
This was so easy and very good. I would recommend this for a great meal.
This is truly one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever made. I had to use canned pineapple and frozen stir fry veggies because that is what I had in the house, but I followed the chicken and sauce recipes exactly. Some of the reviews suggested less vinegar or less sugar, but I thought it was perfect. Thank you!
Excellent recipe. We give it 5 stars.
Wow this was so good. The sauce is to die for. Tastes better than the restaurants. Chicken was tender and moist. Veggies were perfect and that sauce. Yum. We will be having this again.
I made this today and it is so good. Mine looked just like the picture. This recipe will be filed in my permanent recipe folder. Thanks.
That’s such an honor, Myrtle! Thanks for coming back to let me know.
I cant wait to try this! Do you think I could use my air fryer for the chicken?
I’ve never tested it using one so I’m not sure it would work. If you decided to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
This is better than restaurant quality sweet and sour chicken…absolutely perfect without any changes. All of my kids enjoyed it too, which is bonus!!!