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Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken is 1000x better than any takeout! It’s crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and exploding with flavor. There is a reason why this is our favorite recipe on the blog!
This meal is going to blow your family away! I love to complete this meal with this dishes like Homemade Egg Rolls, Cream Cheese Wontons or Easy Fried Rice.
The BEST 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 recipe is number one for a reason, it’s absolutely incredible. We have yet to find any takeout restaurant beat this recipe. (And that’s saying something, because I love Chinese takeout!)
A simple cornstarch batter makes each piece of chicken nice and crispy, and the sauce is to die for! It’s savory and sweet with the best hint of tang. The sauce thickens as it cooks, coating the chicken perfectly. Everything is super simple to make, so prepare for this sweet and sour chicken to be a regular in your weekly dinner rotation. Easy takeout at home, what could be better than that? (Find more “better than takeout” recipes here!)
Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken Ingredients
Restaurant-quality sweet and sour chicken, but from the comfort of your home! These are all the ingredients you’ll need to make the perfect crispy chicken smothered in a mouthwatering, savory glaze. All measurements can be found below in the recipe card.
- Chicken Breasts: Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for easy prep. This recipe also works really well with skinless chicken thighs or pork if you want to switch things up!
- Salt and Black Pepper: Give the chicken its first layer of flavor. Add to taste!
- Cornstarch: Creates a superb crunch.
- Eggs: Helps the coating stick to each piece of chicken.
- Canola Oil: Just enough to give the chicken a quick fry for crispiness.
- Granulated Sugar: Gives the sauce a touch of sweetness. You can also use brown sugar if you’d like! It will give your chicken a deeper, more caramel-like flavor.
- Ketchup: Adds some extra flavor to the sauce.
- White Vinegar and Apple Cider Vinegar: I love adding a combination of both because it gives the sauce a tangy flavor, but a bit of sweetness too!
- Soy Sauce: A must-add for any savory Asian dish! I used low-sodium soy sauce, but whatever you have on hand works great!
- Garlic Salt: Adds the perfect punch of savory flavor.
Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken Recipe
Making this sweet and sour chicken doesn’t take much effort at all! Once you get a taste, you’ll be happy you didn’t order takeout! The crispy breading and flavor of the sweet and sour sauce is seriously the best. You can’t beat the fresh flavor of making Chinese takeout from scratch!
- Prep: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and then season with salt and pepper.
- Dip: Add cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs to separate bowls. Dip the chicken FIRST in the cornstarch and then coat in the egg mixture.
- Flash Fry: Heat canola oil in a large pan over medium high heat and cook chicken until brown but not fully cooked throughout. Place the chicken in a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Prepare Sauce: In a medium sized mixing cowl, whisk together sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce and garlic salt.
- Bake: Pour over the chicken and bake for an hour. Stir every 15 minutes to coat them in the sauce.
Tips and Tricks
These are a few tips to keep in mind so your chicken turns out as delicious as possible! I’ve also included a few ways to switch things up. That’s the beauty of making sweet and sour chicken at home instead of ordering takeout. You can customize it however you want!
- Method to the Madness: Make sure you first coat your chicken in the cornstarch and then the egg. This method makes the perfect breading for the chicken.
- Flash Frying: Don’t 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.
- Vinegar: You can use all apple cider vinegar, but I wouldn’t use all white vinegar, the flavor and zing will be different. If you want a lighter flavor you can also use rice vinegar, it’s still tangy but a little milder.
- Make it Saucy: If you like your dish saucy, double the sauce recipe and place half on the chicken and another half on the stove in a pot at a simmer for 8-10 minutes until thickened.
- Add Veggies: Feel free to add vegetables or pineapple chunks to the dish before baking. (You can even add a little bit of pineapple juice to your sauce!) Chopped red bell peppers, bamboo shoots, chopped onions, broccoli, or snow peas are all great options as well.
Storing Leftovers
One of the great things about Chinese takeout is that it’s super easy to store and reheat. It tastes just as good the next day! Heat up some rice and you have a quick and delicious lunch on your hands.
- In the Refrigerator: Place leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
- In the Freezer: Leftovers can be frozen too. Just place in a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze for 2-3 months. Let thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- To Reheat: Sweet and sour chicken is best reheated on the stove. Reheating it in the microwave can make the chicken rubbery and overcooked. Place leftovers in a saucepan on the stovetop and heat on medium heat, stirring often, until heated through.
More Amazingly Delicious Baked Chicken Dishes
If you have some extra chicken breasts hanging out in your freezer, here are more great ways to use them up! Not only are these recipes insanely delicious, but they’re also super easy to make and use a lot of pantry staple ingredients. Plus, my picky eaters can’t get enough of them which is the biggest win!
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Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Equipment
- Utopia Kitchen Cooking Knives
- Fine dine Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!
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.
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 🙂
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
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 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
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.
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.
Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken
Oh my gosh!!! What an Easy & a very Delicious recipe!!! Thank you, thank you..
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.
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
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.
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
I was wondering if you knew what the nutrition facts are for this recipe. Thanks!
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
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.
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!