by Alyssa RiversBaked Sweet and Sour Chicken is 1000x better than any takeout! There is a reason why this is our favorite recipe on the blog. This meal is going to blow your family away!
We love to complete this meal with this Easy Fried Rice. Also be sure to try this Firecracker Chicken and this Baked Kung Pao Chicken! These are all so much better than takeout!
Sweet and Sour Chicken
I am going to keep this as short and simple as possible…you NEED to make this Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe. This became our number one favorite meal last night! I love Chinese food and this baked sweet and sour chicken blew my mind. If there is one recipe that you need to try on my website, it is this one. It is absolutely incredible. We have yet to find any takeout restaurant beat this recipe.
The breading on the chicken was exactly the same as from an amazing restaurant. I usually use flour to bread my chicken, but I think the difference in this one was cornstarch and eggs. The flavor of the sauce was incredible and it was even thick on top of the chicken.
One of the best parts of this meal is the picky eater asked for seconds! We all couldn’t get enough of it. Including the 5 guys that came over to eat later that night. They said it was even better than a restaurant. We decided that this has to be made weekly. We now have Chinese Wednesdays and this will be made every week! It is just that amazing!
How do you make baked sweet and sour chicken?
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. In separate bowls, place the cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip the chicken FIRST in the cornstarch and then coat in the egg mixture.
- Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and cook chicken until brown but not fully cooked throughout. Place the chicken in a 9×13 inch dish.
- In a medium sized mixing cowl, combine sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce and garlic salt. Pour over the chicken and bake for an hour. Stir every 15 minutes to coat them in the sauce.
Tips and tricks for making baked sweet and sour chicken:
- Make sure you first coat your chicken in the cornstarch and then the egg. This method makes the perfect breading for the chicken.
- Do not cook the chicken all the way through before baking. You just want to get the chicken lightly brown on the outside, and then it bakes to perfection.
- Baking the chicken at a low temperature will not over cook the chicken. This helps to cook the chicken all the way through and thicken up the sauce.
Looking for even more delicious baked chicken recipes? Try these!
- Baked Honey Sesame Chicken
- Baked Orange Chicken
- Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with peppers and pineapple
Watch a Video on How To Make Sweet And Sour Chicken
- 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1½ cup cornstarch
- 3 eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
- In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture.
- Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic salt. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour.
- I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.
Oh neato, thanks!
4 tbsp (of ketchup) also equals 1/4 cup, by the way. 🙂
Hi there! I have made this before, really good! I was wondering if I could coat and fry the chicken the night before, store in fridge and then bake it the next day with the sauce to save on prep time the day of? Do you think it will mess it up? Thanks!
EXCELLENT RECIPE. WE LOVE IT.
I made this 3 weeks ago for the first time. I added a little less sugar and added maybe 2 TBSP sriraca hot chili sauce. My husband and 2 boys loved it. We had it again tonight. Thank you
Made this tonight and it was awesome!!! My husband who doesn’t typically eat Asian even loved it. Thanks!
I’ve recently retired and have always enjoyed cooking but have never really had time. l made your sweet and sour chicken and it was very delicious. One question. Do you mix the sweet and sour ingredients by hand or with a mixer? thank you. I plan to try all of your recipes.
Very, very tasty! My family loves this (I’ve made it multiple times). It is definitely a labor of love though. Has anyone figured out a system to cut down on the prep time? Pinned, shared and recommended!
I don’t usually post comments but had to with this. I cooked this last night and it was FABULOUS! We were all skeptical, but the taste was wonderful. So much so that my picky daughter went back for seconds and asked for the leftovers to be packed in her lunch. While the chicken was not crispy, the flavor was very good and the outside breading stayed intact as I stirred it. I didn’t cook for a full hour – about 40 minutes but I think my chicken pieces might have been smaller that the recipe directed. I also only used about 3/4 cup of sugar as I was just afraid of using a whole cup and it turning out too sweet. Thank you for this yummy recipe!
In a word, “Wow”! My children and I love Chinese food, so over the past several weeks I have been experimenting with different recipes (Kung Pao, Sweet & Spicy, etc.). They all came out okay, but this recipe was amazing. One of my boys actually said it tastes like P.F. Changs!
The only thing I did differently was to add some water to the egg / cornstarch mixture, as the outcome following the recipe was too thick. Adding some water got it to the consistency of heavy cream, which worked perfectly for coating the chicken.
Kudos to the person who originally posted this recipe!
Excellent!!!! The only thing I would change is to make MORE!
hey! Question: I’ve never done the cornstarch then egg. Always the cornstarch, then egg, then cornstarch again to double dip. I am nervous doing the egg on the outside much make me end up with scrambled egg. I hope that’s not going to happen – I’m trying this recipe tomorrow 🙂
Yep! Its kind of backwards! Hope it turned out for you! 🙂
I just made this tonight, and I had to turn my computer back on just so I could say thank you for sharing this recipe. IT IS FABULOUS. I am usually pretty hard on myself when I make a new recipe, but I couldn’t find anything bad to say about this! SO. YUMMY.
Found this recipe on Pinterest. I want to make tonight for a large group but im considering skipping the first few steps and just baking with sauce ingredients. Thoughts?
OMG! ALYSSA! OMG! First time in but def not last! I was craving fried rice and on most nights, I can usually pop over to my awesome Asian mama’s house for a crack at the “authentic” stuff. I am by NO MEANS being discriminative or racially motivated here when I say authentic. There is a lot of salty deliciousness used from bottles that I can’t read and that makes it authentic to me. It does not by any means make it taste any better but oftentimes, it is hard to get the “like home” taste. In any case, after a quick google led to your fried rice recipe, I had to check out this chicken recipe. Lo and behold! I even had all the ingredients! Granted, I only had boneless skinless thighs so cooking it took just a little longer but BY GOLLY, it was still ROCKIN AWESOME, Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I was satisfied with the chicken without baking it in the sauce.
I cant figure out if you mean 4 whole chicken breasts (2 halves each) or 4 split breasts —please clarify —-a whole breast is awfully huge!
We thought the recipe was delicious….and my husband is really picky. He says this is his favorite thing to have for dinner. We both enjoyed it very much.
Thanks for sharing.
We thought the recipe was delicious….and my husband is really picky. He says this is his favorite thing to have for dinner. We both enjoyed it very much.
Thanks for sharing.
Did it 2 times and it was a hit both times. I did use a tiny less sugar on 2 time cooking. Kids loved it it said it was better than the chinese restaurant we get from. Making it again this week. Got all the ingredients ready. Thanks for sharing.
Made this for supper last night, and as others stated, a little too sweet for my husband and I. I will cut down on the sugar (maybe 1/2 c) and add pineapple next time. I used gluten free corn starch, which makes it a gluten free meal! Other than a bit sweet, it was delicious and will make again!
dumb question it says 3 to 4 chicken breasts is that whole or half?
So I make this recipe ALL the time and think I have found the perfect alterations for our family: I double the sauce and add half at the 30 minute mark. I also add about 1/2 cup of Franks Hot Sauce to give it a little spice and smokey flavor. Then I add a can of pineapple tidbits and 1-2 cubed bell peppers. MMMMMmmmm…soooo tasty 🙂 The hot sauce cuts down on the sweetness, too, without giving it too much spice. I use the original buffalo wing flavor.
We had this for dinner tonight. It was amazing. I don’t like things real sweet, but I thought this was just right. I did add veggies after it had baked 1/2 hr. and served it over brown rice. I’m definitely trying more of your recipes. Thanks. I give it 5 stars but they won’t fill in on my iPad.
In this recipe you skinless boneless chicken breasts, why does it take 45 minutes to cook? Can I cook it for less time? Thank you.
It cooks at a lower temperature. But it browns the chicken up perfectly and makes it so tender. You could possibly cut the time to 30, just make sure it is cooked throughout.
I like to use Tyson’s chicken cutlets. They’re already breaded but not cooked. Instead of frying them, I bake them, cut into chunks and add sauce and bake for about 20 minutes or so. I’ve done it both ways & prefer my way – less mess. Great sauce recipe!!!!!
This is a quick and easy option as well! I am glad you liked it! 🙂
Do you really coat in corn starch first, then egg? It seems like the egg would not stick once chicken is coated in corn starch. Usually it’s the other way around. ?
Yes. It is opposite. But make sure you do it that way because the egg on the outside is needed for the delicious take out like breading. 🙂
I just finished cooking this for dinner and as a 14 year-old girl and it only taking me 2 hours I absolutely loved it! So does the family! I mixed this with the Easy fried rice and will definitely be making it more often!
This recipe is a great jumping-off point. If you want it to be slightly healthier, you can reconsider the ketchup. If you think about it, ketchup is essentially just tomatoes, vinagre, sugar, and salt. So I just used a bit of tomato paste, since the recipe already has so much sugar, vinagre, and salt (in the soy sauce). You can use less sugar and consider using brown sugar and/or honey. Soy sauce has such a strong flavor that the only function of all that sugar is to make the sugar stand out. So you can consider using some water rather than that amount of soy sauce.
Wow, this sweet and sour chicken was awesome. My husband just loved it! The coating stayed on the chicken and was just like she said in the video “better than take out”. Thank you for this recipe, it will be a keeper in my recipe file. He has already asked for it again this week. I may work with the recipe sauce to make it more suitable for diabetics. Thank for the great recipe. Also so easy to make. I buy chicken tenders instead of breasts. They worked wonderfully for this, just cut them in bite size pieces and that was it. Don’t do many reviews on recipes, but this one was certainly worthy of my time to let you know it was delicious!
That is so great to hear!! Thank you for all these great comments you are sharing! I really appreciate you taking the time to share this review! It means a lot to me! I am so happy that your husband loved it and you wants more!! Thank you for sharing! XOXO
Amazing. Kids all loved it and my husband had thirds while telling me it was amazing. Prep time took longer but it will be way quicker the second time knowing to dredge them all first (and in groups) before starting frying. Definitely a new family fave!
That is perfect! That is a win-win kind of night!! I am glad it was a favorite! Thanks for sharing! XOXO
This was absolutely EXCELLENT! Taking a cue from other reviewers, I used 1/2 cup sugar and added sweet red pepper, carrots and fresh pineapple. Also, I used boneless, skinless thighs as I think they have more flavor than breasts. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Fourth time making this dish, my family loves it! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
YES! That is what I LOVE to hear! I am so glad that you have found a favorite!! XOXO
As a mom of seven, it can be quite the challenge to make something that everyone likes. This recipe was a hit! Everyone cleaned their plates!! Big dinner win tonight,will definitely make this again…thanks.
Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken
Oh my gosh!!! What an Easy & a very Delicious recipe!!! Thank you, thank you..
Hello, I have to say of all the recipes I have made from internet sites this is definitely the best I have ever made. I first made them with chicken thighs and then the second time I made them with chicken breast. Both were absolutely delicious.
We loved it! Followed the recipe without any changes, and even though I was worried about most the corn starch coming off when dipping the chicken in the egg it didn’t seem to matter. Next time I’ll use the gallon bag for the corn starch to mix the chicken pieces like in the video for less mess/easier clean up. We used about 2 lbs chicken (3 pieces) and the amount of sauce was perfect. Only needed to bake 45 min.
This looks so good. Can it be coated in something other than egg? My son has an egg allergy and breading things has become my nemesis.
You can just try flour and water. I have not tried that yet. Let me know how it turns out! XOXO
My husband and I LOVE this recipe! It’s pretty easy to make if you don’t have a ton of skills in the kitchen, it just takes some time. This recipe always turns out and we LOVE it! One thing we do, though, is double the sauce portion to go on top of the chicken in the oven. We really like to have extra sauce to put over our rice and drench our chicken so if you’re into that, I’d make sure I double it!
This recipe was perfect. I was skeptical about using the cornstarch first and egg last, but it works.
When I buy the bulk pack chicken breasts, I usually take one or two of the breasts and cut them up for tenders and put them in the freezer. Now I will cut some up for this recipe. This is easier to make than getting take out and tastes better.
Hi Sheila!
I am so happy that this worked for you. This is one of my favorites also. Thanks for following along with me! xoxo
This was great! I doubled it and it was perfect! Fed my family of 8 [4 of which are teens] with leftovers. Served over rice with broccoli. Everyone loved it, super easy to make, will add it to my rotation from now on. Thank you so much 🙂
It was really good and like a better, fuller, fresher version of sweet and sour chicken from a fast food restaurant! I would say like Panda Express’ sweet and sour chicken, but it didn’t crisp up as much. I wish it had crisped up a bit more, but was glad it wasn’t overly crispy, like Panda Express’ sweet and sour chicken sometimes is.
Always on the hunt for recipes where I don’t have to go to the grocery store. I made the Sweet and Sour Chicken and it was easy and delicious. Recipe is a keeper!
Wow, this meal is DELICIOUS and so easy to make. We paired it with the fried rice and everyone had seconds! Thanks so much!
Soaked 1 lb of chopped skinless boneless thighs in salt and water for an hour. Used 2x peanut oil. Added tsp+ of chinese chili garlic paste. Added chunks of pineapple and orange last 15 min. Think it needs a double ration of sauce using the extra as a reserved sauce. Served with steamed rice, broccoli and cauliflower.
Why does My breading fall apart when I start mixing in the oven?!
I am out of eggs! Can i use milk or something else for the batter?
Yes, milk will work in this recipe. Enjoy!
Hi what can I use to coat chicken instead of eggs. My kids & I eat eggs….but I dont want to use it for coating. I dont mind using the cornstarch
I loved this recipe idea. I cooked the chicken as directed and baked it as directed. I only changed the proportions of the ketchup, vinegar etc. Since we love spicy food, I added very hot chilies and fresh garlic. But the basic idea of the recipe is awesome! My family loves chinese food and this one became an instant favorite.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Love this recipe!! Making for second time, has anyone tried to make it in crock pot after frying?
I haven’t tried that yet. Let me know how it turns out!
Oh Girlfriend you are on to something with this one. I was skeptical about this at first, not because of the egg/cornstarch mix, I was worried it would be too vinegar-y and it smells the whole house lol but I couldn’t stop tasting them as I basted them and found small pieces that were done. It was amazing! My husband had two full plates. He would have had more if we had more rice left. Good stuff! Will definitely make this one again and I know im going to have to triple the sauce. Thank You!