Sweet and Sour Chicken



Sweet and Sour Chicken, fried rice, egg rolls, and extra sweet and sour sauce for dipping


We had Sweet and Sour Chicken, with egg rolls, and fried rice.  It is a time consuming dish so be prepared, it does take 1hr in the oven and probably about 30 minutes of prep and time at the stove.  Needless to say we don't make this often but it is a favorite.  If a recipe keeps me in the kitchen that long it better be exceptional or it doesn't last on our menu long. 
Also I have used just the chicken recipe without the sauce and added in a little garlic powder and onion powder to the flour mix to make chicken nuggets to keep in the freezer for the kids lunches.  It is cheaper and much better than store bought chicken nuggets.  I enlist Matthew's help and we do a whole 6 lb bag of chicken at once.  They love it, and Matthew and I even made a few for ourselves last time by adding a little Cajun seasoning to the last of the flour.  But back to the actually recipe.

 

Start off by cubing 3-4 chicken breast. Then put your flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. And your beaten egg in another shallow dish. I use 8x8 pans. I like to double dip my chicken, because of this I use about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of flour instead of the 1 cup the original recipe calls for. Start off in the flour, then egg, then flour again. While you are dredging your chicken you can start your oil heating up on the stove. When you oil is heated enough to sizzle and bubble at a pinch of flour tossed in, you can add your chicken. Now don't cook your chicken all the way just get it brown, the oven will finish where the skillet leaves off. Oh yeah on that note nows a good time to preheat your oven to 325 degrees while you finish up the chicken.   Remove your chicken from the skillet to a paper towel lined plate, drain, then transfer to a 9x13 dish. 

Now you get to mix up your sauce.  The original recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of vinegar but this is just too much for my family so we cut it down to 1/3 a cup.  If your family isn't turned off by that much vinegar, Matthew and Anthony liked it fine with 1/2 a cup, but the girls and I like it better with a little less.  Now if you don't want to take the hour for the oven, you could cook completely in the skillet, then heat your sauce in a saucepan for about 10 minutes on a low heat.  It really is worth the wait to do it in the oven though, the flavors blend so much more that way.  So with your chicken placed in the 9x13 single layered, pour your sauce over the chicken, and bake for 1 hour turning about every 15 minutes so they are coated well.



So I got distracted and this is the last picture I took till my actual plate sorry.

 We like this with fried rice and for the first time I made egg rolls.  I also doubled the sauce so we had the extra to dip our egg rolls in.

Printable Recipes:

Recipe without picture

Recipe with picture




Sweet and Sour Chicken
adapted from: Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Serves 4-6




Chicken:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil


Sauce:


3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/3 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt



Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. 

Mix salt and pepper into flour in a shallow dish I use a 8x8 glass pan.

Dip chicken in flour and then in egg then back in flour.

Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through.

Place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken.

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes so it is evenly coated with the sauce.