Cooking with Collin: This Sweet N’ Sour Chicken is So Yum!
Craving some yum Chinese food?
Today’s Cooking with Collin should really be called Cooking with Bryn as my sister has actually taken the time to write up one of her favorite recipes: Sweet N’ Sour Chicken! Yummy! 🙂 I hope that you enjoy it as much as she does. Please note that Bryn was actually given this recipe by a good friend and so I have no source to credit.
Sweet and Sour Chicken
yield: 4 SERVINGS
Make this delicious and easy recipe with lots of flavor!
Ingredients
- 6-8 Skinless, Boneless chicken breast halves (cut into 1 inch cubes)
- Vegetable Oil
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Flour
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Pineapple Juice
- 1 20 oz. can Pineapple Chunks
- 1/4 cup White Vinegar
- 3/4 cup Ketchup
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 T Soy Sauce
Directions
1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2
Sprinkle chicken breasts with garlic salt.
3
In a frying pan on medium-high heat, add 1/2-inch vegetable oil. In a bowl, beat 2 eggs. Place flour in a shallow bowl. Dunk pieces of chicken in the egg, and allow excess to drain. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour coating thoroughly. Drop pieces into the hot oil and cook until deep golden brown. Turn as necessary to cook evenly on all sides.
4
While chicken is cooking, combine the following in a saucepan over medium-low heat: sugar, pineapple juice, white vinegar, ketchup, salt and soy sauce. Stir mixture occasionally until it comes to a low boil and then reduce heat just enough to keep the sauce warm.
5
While chicken is cooking, combine the following in a saucepan over medium-low heat: sugar, pineapple juice, white vinegar, ketchup, salt and soy sauce. Stir mixture occasionally until it comes to a low boil and then reduce heat just enough to keep the sauce warm.
6
Place cooked chicken pieces and pineapple chunks in a 9×13 pan. Pour warm sweet and sour sauce over the top.
7
Bake in oven for 30-45 minutes, and serve over rice or egg noodles.
ENJOY!
Looks yummy! Too bad I already have dinner started lol
This looks so good! I am definitely going to try it!
i love sweet and sour chicken. thanks collin
It does look wonderful and if I had pineapple and pineapple juice here I would make it tonight.
My sister-n-law who is Chinese, gave me a copy of her sweet and sour recipe, and it’s almost just like this one. It’s so yummy!!!
Collin, I have to tell you I tried your Cheese Cake recipe and it was a big hit with my family… I have actually made it several times… but never thought to take a picture of it.. 🙂 will give this one a try as well! Always looking for new and yummy dishes to make … thank you!
That looks really good! Could anyone guess what the nutritional value of that would be (at least if its good or bad)? We are having a healthy potluck at work and this dish looks delicious and would love to make it for that day if it isn’t actually full of fat 🙂 From the ingredients, it doesn’t seem like it could be too bad!
I don’t know the actual nutritional facts, but I know it’s fairly healthy, besides the oil everything else is good for you. Even the eggs, though they are a little more fatening. To help make it less fatening, I actually just cook my cubed chicken in Cooking Spray with out flower. Granted, the taste is a little different, it’s just how much of a stickler you are on lower fat.
Hi Kristen,
Well, the version my sister made (love ya sis! 🙂 ) is probably not the healthiest. If you are looking to make it a little healthier, you can tweak the recipe a little. You could substitute the sugar with a sugar substitute like Splenda. You could also use brown rice instead of white and add some steamed veggies!
I love sweet and sour chicken, and although there will be fruit in your dinner, it could never be called healthy!
add some green and red bell peppers. yum!
You could also use, as Collin said, Splenda, and brown rice, as well as some steamed veggies.
For the Ketchup, use Hunt’s (no high fructose corn syrup), and I would think that you could use Apple Cider Vinegar, much healthier, than the White Vinegar. The Soy Sauce, use a Low Sodium one ( I do for my blood pressure), For the Salt, you could use a “Salt Substitue”.
For the flour, you could use a Wheat flour, or my favorite, Spelt flour.
I love recipes! You can tweak them to make them more specific to your own family favorites, or dietary goals.
That’s what we do to add green peppers, this is making me hungry 🙂
Too bad i already started dinner for tonight 🙁 I will try this next week for sure! It looks amazing!
I’m making this tonight! still at work and don’t get home til 6 so i’m sure other readers will beat me to it!
Would this be ok over brown rice? trying to be healthy 🙂
oh yeah, actually, I prefer brown rice.
I think that’s a great idea! You could also add some steamed broccoli and you are all set! 🙂
We just had it over brown rice. The sauce turned out really good, though STRONG, so a little goes a long way in my book. Hubby REALLY enjoyed it. Too bad I didn’t make extra rice. We’re having left overs on Friday, so I’ll make double rice then. 🙂
Thank you for an awesome sweet and sour sauce, where the vinegar didn’t burn through my nostrils! 😉
This looks pretty good. Im going to have to try this sometime! thank Bryn 😉 (and collin lol)
Love, Love, Love S&S chicken, this looks so good!
I was just writing out my grocery list for next week~perfect timing~this looks great! Thank you:)
I have all of the ingredients & could make this for dinner tonight….except I am babysitting 2 kids right now. If I just had my own 2 kids I would try it, but I’m not willing to try a new recipe with 4 kids under 5 in the house.
We just had sweet and sour chicken last night! Hubby hates pineapple with a passion so I could never use it in recipes without him refusing. However, World Harbors Maui Mountain Hawaiian Style Sweet & Sour is AMAZING. Sadly I’ve never once seen a coupon for it.
This looks delicious! I plan on adapting so that it’s vegetarian with gardein’s fake chicken cutlets 😀
awesome idea!
i am copying and pasting to print and put in my recipe box. I just may make this for dinner tonight instead of spaghetti … again.
ummmm wendys, papa johns, or pizza hut…..ummm so many choices….so dont feel like cooking again tonight….lol looks good ,,,,,
Pix make it so user-friendly ,even for beginner cooks. Thanks for these great recipes.
I think that’s one of the reasons Pioneer Woman’s recipes are so well received-easy to follow pictured steps. Makes cooking a breeze!
I’d love to make this with Tofu. Any ideas on what type or suggestions? My last tofu attempt did not turn out well but I love Sweet and Sour and Fake Chicken and this recipe is stuff I have on hand.
Freezing tofu and then thawing it gives tofu a firmer texture. I just pull it out in the morning an it is thawed by dinner! I would definitely use extra-firm tofu. Silken tofu is really just for baking and smoothies…
I totally agree with Jess about the firm tofu. I love to use the water packed refrigerated firm or extra firm. I open the package, squeeze out all the water by wrapping many paper towels around the tofu brick, You may cut the tofu into squares/bite size pieces now if you like. It takes less time to thaw if you cut tofu before freezing. Put the tofu in a ziplock baggie with all the air removed, then freeze. The freezing results in a “meatier” texture with the final product. Meat eaters usually love this too! This would actually be perfect for this recipe. I used vegetarian chicken tonight, but I think I will use tofu next time. Great idea!
believe it or not I have ALL the ingredients to make this in my kitchen right now. YAY! i don’t have to make a trip to the store for missing ingredients.
You could skip the batter and brown the chicken before adding the sauce. I do this with the panda express sauce a lot!
Do you think I can use the juice from the pineapples (in the can) for the sauce or should I buy a can of juice? Thanks!
I would think that you could use the juice from the can of pineapples. At least, that’s what I would do. 🙂
That is the juice I used. It smells great!
Yep, my sis uses the juice from the can.
THANKS! This looks delish! I will love it, my hubby not so much….but too bad for him! HA!
I LOVE-heart- Cookin’ with Collin videos! I made a stir-fry a couple days ago with a bag of stir-fry veggies (bought on sale for 98 cents), added in some fresh broccoli, garlic, onion, carrots (from my garden), chives (from my garden), with some shrimp, chicken, and dry roasted peanuts, as well as some frozen snap peas from my freezer that was left over. Used some Lite Soy Sauce as well as Szechuan Sauce (love spicy)…. Had it for dinner again last night. Yum-mOOO!. I also made a brown stir-fried rice to go with it. Cooked the rice first with many of my own garden “greens” (swiss chard, chives, green onion & arugala). When I stir fried it, I added a beaten egg, garlic powder, & a few other seasonings. (You could add some peas, shredded carrots, etc. to the rice if desired)
Love sweet & sour chicken! I’m going to try Bryn’s recipe soon. I would think that you could also do an Orange Chicken, with Orange Juice, for those that don’t like pineapple. Love a Stir-fry. It’s so versatile, and you can add veggies that you love, and leave out those you don’t.
I’ve froze 3 bags of the stir-fry with the rice, for a few future lunches or dinners.
I made your Cream Cheese Squares for church 2 weeks ago and everyone loved them so much I just made them to take to church again tonight! I’ll have to try this recipe too.
Thanks!
I made the cream cheese squares a couple weeks ago too, and OMG so, so, so good. Just to die for. It’s one of those recipes that I’ll be sure to make for my in-laws to impress them 😉
Do you think you could freeze the chicken and sauce to use later?
I would say most definitely. Chicken and a sauce freeze well.
I’m no expert though. Right now, I’ve given myself my “own challenge”. My freezer is full. (Thank you Lord). I literally need to clean it out (I know some of the stuff is about 3 years old.)….I need to USE up the the items I’ve frozen, many of it from my garden (yay!), and eat that up before I start freezing from my garden this year. 😉 I’ve given myself a budget of $20 for fresh milk, eggs, & bread to spend for the rest of the month, to eat on; and start using up my freezer stuff, as well as the pantry.. I’ve spent $11 thus far, and now I need cooking oil. I really do need to use up the sauteed tomatoes, chives, garlic, okra, herbs, that I’ve frozen the past couple years. Wish me luck. 🙂
I hope it is O.K that I did a healthy (non batter fried) version…. It smells really yummy and I plan to add a few fresh sliced peppers before I cook it. Thanks for the great dinner idea!
My sister-in-law makes this!! It is SOOO good!
Just pulled it out of the oven, my twins are devouring it! Love it!!! Always looking for new food that my kids will actually try! Early dinner tonight! I was going to wait and cook it but my kids were starving with the aroma!
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Cooking with Collin contest. We already have 5 winners…you guys are fast! 😀
Dang! I thought for sure I had this one! I started right after the post! LOL peeps are lightning around here.
We just pulled ours out of the oven and my kids are devouring it! I was going to wait to bake it but the kids loved the smell so much they were having a meltdown as it was cooking, I used tyson chicken strips from the freezer (had a killer coupon) and it cut the time and is super yummy! Im trying to wait for my hubbs to get home but im starving watching them eating! LOL
ooh… great idea on the chicken strips. i think we have some left in our freezer.
I just sent in our picture a few minutes ago, I hope we made it in time!!!
Me too! 🙂
🙂
JUst missed it! I’m almost done with frying the chicken now, so I only needed about 5 more minutes and I could have mailed a pic to you… Maybe next time!
Yes, please try again next time, Maria! I will have many more upcoming Cooking with Collin contests! 🙂
i just sent mine=(
it is amazing!!!
i was going to wait for my husband to come home but i cant this is so yummy=)
Thanks for the yummy but simple ideas!! I like things that are simple and items I have already around. Can’t wait for dinner tonight!!!
I sent my picture too fast because I pushed the wrong button on my phone but didn’t write anything… hopefully you got it!! It smells good and everyone keeps telling me that they want to come over and try it! I can’t wait for it to be done 🙂
THANK YOU Collin I got my Dr. Scholl’s health stride sox today 2 pair. Thank you they will be on my feet for work on thursday and i am sure thet will be thanking you too.
LOVE THIS! Making mine now. I love recipees where I have all the ingredients at hand. (Don’t judge: I had to use soy and ketchup packets) My kids dress every meal with ketchup… When is there going to be a deal on ketchup???! LOL!!
Wishing I had that in the oven right now instead of fish!
To make this a little healthier, just cube the chicken and “wok” it in a little oil without the egg and flour until browned. Still tastes terrific! And much quicker and easier!
This looks soooo good!! Too bad I already have pork in the slow cooker for pulled pork sandwiches… Definitely going to try this one! 🙂
I’m going to make this for my wife this weekend. It sounds GREAT!!! We just had dinner, but this is making me hungry again!
How about adding a tab at the top of your home page for just your recipes!!!
OOps just found it under all categories and cooking with collin:)
thanks.
Collin,
Thanks you have saved the day once again! This morning I took out a pack of chicken breasts and I didnt know what I was going to do with it. And then you posted this recipe and I love sweet sour chicken I have never made it. I just finished dinner and it was fabulous. I also had a box of rice a roni fried rice (free of course) and I had some stir fry veggies and what a meal. This was honestly the deal of the week well if you dont count the crayola deal at wags this week (thanks for posting)
Do you have to bake it? Or can you just stop after you pour the sauce over the browned chicken?
My kids LOVED it, surprisingly my 4yo daughter, who is one of the pickiest eaters alive, ate EVERYTHING on her plate! I was amazed 🙂
Thanks for posting!!
How many people will this feed? What if we wanted to make it for just 2 adults? Is there a break down to the amounts of each item?
Thank you.
This feeds my sisters family of 5 with lots of great leftovers.
Actually, I cheated a little bit. I made the sauce recipe and the soy seemed a little strong for my taste, so I doubled the recipe minus the additional soy sauce and it was perfect! My husband loved the sauce. Instead of doing the stir fry thing, I heated up the fryer and made tempura and stir fried some peppers, onions and the pineapple. Then, I made some basmati rice (which is our favorite type of rice) and what a meal!! Thank you for the great recipe.
Funny, I just cut up a fresh pineapple yesterday & defrosted some chicken breast overnight. Had planned on making two separate things like pineapple salsa, and then had no idea what to do with the chicken…well, now I know! Looks great and I will make it a bit healthier w/ some brown rice. Thanks for posting-dinner will be a no-brainer now!
Perfect timing! I’ve been lamenting not being able to eat out at Chinese anymore since being diagnosed with celiac disease. I am goind to make this recipe with gluten free flour, olive oil, gluten free soy sauce, and apple cider vinegar and see how it goes- thanks for sharing!