Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipes

Sweet and sour chicken is probably one of the most popular Chinese style dishes in the Western world. While this can partly be explained by the popularity of chicken in general, it must also be attributed to the unique flavours of the sweet and sour sauce. The problem often encountered by home cooks hoping to prepare this dish is that the variety of recipes published for sweet and sour sauce are so numerous and so diverse that determining which one to follow can be mind blowing.

The sweet and sour sauce recipe on this page came about following several hours' experimentation with a variety of ingredients and quantities until a satisfactory combination was achieved. The recipe for this basic sweet and sour sauce is immediately below but the page then goes on to explore different ways of embellishing this sauce as well as different ways of preparing and serving sweet and sour chicken in general.

People's tastes very when it comes to food in general and perhaps sauces like sweet and sour in particular. For this reason, it is important to remember to taste the sauce as you prepare it and make the necessary adjustments to suit your own requirements. By doing this and recording the precise ingredients you include - in their specific quantities - you can quickly develop your perfect sweet and sour sauce. Similarly, try experimenting with the additions suggested further down this page. The effort will more than repay itself in the longer term.

This dish is in a sense Middle East meets Far East. A Turkish doner kebab is usually a meat such as lamb packed around a large metal skewer and cooked as the skewer revolves around a heat source. The meat is then thinly sliced and served in a pitta bread pocket with optional salad and spicy kebab sauce. This alternative idea sees marinated chicken and vegetables cooked on a wooden skewer under an overhead grill/broiler, before being added to the pitta bread pocket with some sweet and sour sauce. The idea would of course work equally well on an outdoor grill or barbecue.

Prep time: 40 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ready in: 50 min

Yields: One kebab

• 6 1" chicken breast meat cubes
• 2 tbsp light sauce sauce
• 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
• 3 button mushrooms, stalks trimmed
• 3 ½" cross slices from a sweet pointed pepper, seeded
• OIl for greasing cooking tray
• 1 pitta bread
• 2 tbsp sweet and sour sauce
• 2 torn basil leaves to garnish (optional)

1. Combine the light soy sauce and 5 spice in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces, stir and cover with clingfilm. Set aside for half an hour to marinate. (Note: do not put the bowl in the fridge. The chicken should be cooked from room temperature.)
2. Put the skewer(s) in to a dish of cold water. If you fail to soak wooden skewers before cooking with them they will burn on or under the heat source, potentially causing a fire and certainly affecting the taste of the food.
3. After half an hour, put your grill/broiler on to reach a very high heat. Drain the chicken from the marinade and shake the excess water off the skewer. Lightly oil the cooking tray. You will see in the relevant picture above that the tray in this instance was firstly covered in foil. This is not necessary - it is simply the lazy man's way of cleaning up afterwards...
4. Skewer a piece of chicken, followed by a mushroom, a second piece of chicken and a pepper. Repeat until only about an inch of wood remains at each end of the skewer. The different components should be flush against one another but not too tightly compacted or this will affect the cooking time.
5. Lay the skewer on the tray and cook under the heat for three minutes on each side. Check with a second skewer that the chicken is fully cooked. Holding one end of the skewer with an oven glove, slide the meat and vegetables off with a fork and in to a small bowl or on to a plate.
6. Gently heat the sweet and sour sauce in a small saucepan.
7. Put the pitta bread under the heat for around thirty seconds each side until you see it noticeably puff up. Remove from the heat and hold it vertically in one hand (using paper towels to cover your hand makes this easier). Carefully make a slit along the upper edge to form a pocket, ensuring you don't go all the way through.
8. Add the chicken and vegetables to the pitta bread pocket and spoon over the sweet and sour sauce. Finally, add the basil leaves if desired and eat immediately.

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 15 min

Ready in: 20 min

Yields: One serving

• One small nest of dried tagliatelle pasta (approx 3oz)
• Salt
• 6 1" cubes of chicken breast meat
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 portion of sweet and sour sauce as prepared at top of this page

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Add the tagliatelle and simmer for about twelve minutes or until al dente.
2. When the pasta is in the pot, lay the chicken pieces between two sheets of clingfilm on a chopping board. Very gently, pound with a rolling pin or similar until they are evenly about ¼" thick.
3. Fry the chicken for a couple of minutes on each side in vegetable oil over a medium heat and remove to a plate.
4. Drain the tagliatelle and heat the sweet and sour sauce in a saucepan.
5. Add the chicken and tagliatelle to the sweet and sour sauce. Using cooking tongs, lift and gently stir the tagliatelle to evenly coat with the sauce before serving.

This familiar sweet and sour chicken recipe sees the sweet and sour sauce used exactly as prepared further up this page. Further additions as suggested below can of course be made if desired.

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 20 min

Ready in: 1 hour 20 min

Yields: One serving

• 3oz basmati or long grain rice, washed
• 2 tbsp self-raising/self-rising flour
• 4 tbsp cornflour/corn starch, half for batter and half for dusting chicken
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 chicken breast fillet, chopped in to 1" cubes
• Vegetable Oil for Frying
• 4 tbsp sweet and sour sauce, or as required

1. The rice needs firstly to be cooked by boiling it. Wash it thoroughly in a sieve under running cold water before adding it to a pot of boiling, salted water to simmer for ten minutes. Drain, spread it out on a plate, cover and leave to cool.
2. Put the flour, half the cornflour, the sugar and salt in to a bowl and carefully stir to combine. Slowly add cold water, whisking gently with a fork until you have a batter the consistency of thick cream. Put it in the fridge to rest for fifteen minutes.
3. The chicken could be deep fried in a wok but in this instance the oil is added to a deep frying pan and brought up to a fairly high heat.
4. While the oil is heating, pour the reamining cornflour in to a small bowl and take the batter from the fridge.
5. When the oil is hot, toss the chicken portions in the cornflour. Working quickly but carefully, dip each one in the batter, allow the excess to drip off for a second or two and gently deposit in the oil. Fry for around six minutes, until the batter is golden and crisp.
6. The sweet and sour sauce should be added to a small saucepan and very gently reheated.
7. Heat your wok and add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Tip in the cooled rice and stir fry for two or three minutes. Splash in some light soy sauce and stir fry for a few more seconds.
8. Use a metal slotted spoon to remove the chicken balls from the frying pan and sit them on a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain.
9. Spread the fried rice out on the base of a deep plate before laying on the chicken pieces and spooning over the sweet and sour sauce.

Prep time: 25 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ready in: 35 min

Yields: One serving

• 1 large, skinless chicken breast fillet, chopped to 1" chunks
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tsp corn flour/starch
• Generous pinch of salt
• 3oz basmati rice
• ½ green bell pepper, seeded and sliced in to strips
• ½ medium white onion, peeled and halved again
• 1 ring of pineapple canned in own juice, cut in to six segments
• Vegetable oil for stir frying
• 8 fl oz sweet and sour sauce (portion prepared earlier on this page)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put the egg white in to a bowl and stir in the cornflour/starch and salt until a smooth past is formed. Add the chicken, stir to ensure even coating, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for fifteen minutes. This is a procedure called velveting and ultimately protects the chicken from overcooking in the wok.
2. Wash the rice and add it to a large pot of salted, boiling water. Bring it back to a simmer and cook for ten minutes.
3. Take the chicken from the fridge and drain very thoroughly. Add some vegetable oil to a hot wok. Add the chicken pieces and stir fry until sealed and they have turned evenly white. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon.
4. Add a little more oil to the wok (if necessary) and fry the onion and bell pepper for about a minute to soften. Add the pineapple, re-add the chicken and stir fry briefly before pouring in the sweet and sour sauce. Cook for a further minute until the chicken is cooked and everything is piping hot.
5. Drain the rice through a sieve. Line a small glass bowl (about 3 or 4" diameter) with clingfilm and pack in the rice. Lay your serving plate on top of the bowl and carefully invert. Lift off the bowl and peel away the clingfilm.
6. Pour the sweet and sour chicken in to a heated serving dish and lay it beside the rice for service.

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 40 min

Ready in: 1 hour

Yields: One generous serving

• 4 small chicken thighs, skin on
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 1 nest of dried egg noodles (approx 3 or 4oz)
• Portion of sweet and sour sauce as prepared above
• 1 small tomato, cut in to six segments
• 1 pineapple ring canned in own juice, cut in to six segments
• 1 large, torn basil leaf, to garnish (optional)

1. Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C.
2. Lightly oil a roasting tray with olive oil.
3. Rub the chicken thighs with olive oil and lay them skin sides up on the roasting tray. Season with salt. Cook for twenty-five to thirty minutes until just done and the juices run clear.
4. Let the chicken thighs rest for fifteen minutes and until they are cool enough to handle.
5. Cook the noodles per the instructions on the packet. These noodles required only five minutes in simmering water. Drain well.
6. Peel the skin from the chicken thighs and pluck the meat from the bones in chunks.
7. Add the noodles and the chicken to the pot of hot sweet and sour sauce and fold to combine. Add the tomato and pineapple and combine in a similar way. Simmer for about a minute to ensure everything is heated through.
8. Pour the sweet and sour chicken in to a deep plate and garnish if desired with the basil.