Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

Easy to make from a few store cupboard ingredients, although I would recommend  using proper Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine).  I love sweet and sour chicken in batter but sometimes you either can't be bothered to mess about.  Besides, this is better for you!

This recipe is much the same as my one for sweet and sour pork  just this is chicken and without the batter.

If you do make this please be sure to marinade the chicken - don't leave that bit out - as it really makes a difference to the chicken.

 Print Recipe

To Serve 2 quite greedy people or 4 not so greedy you will need:

a glug or two of vegetable oil for frying

2 nice fat skinless chicken breast fillets - cut into bite size pieces

1/2 green bell pepper cut into chunks

1 red bell pepper - cut into chunks

1 large onion – cut into chunks

4 or 5 pineapple rings (from a can) and cut into bite sized pieces **keep the juice for later

3 fat cloves garlic - finely chopped 

To Make the Marinade:

1/2 a tablespoon corn flour

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine)

To Make the Sweet and Sour Sauce:

3 tablespoons Heinz tomato ketchup

2 tablespoons plum sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoons of hot chilli sauce (Maggi - available from Tesco or Asda)

1 tablespoon of juice from the can of pineapple

1 tablespoon corn flour

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

2 teaspoons of rice vinegar

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

How to do it:

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl and add the cubed chicken.  Try to leave for about 30 minutes.

Mix the sweet and sour sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Drain the marinade from the chicken.  Add a glug of vegetable oil to a wok  and get it nice and hot.

Fry the chicken stirring all the time until it's only almost cooked then remove and set aside.  Wipe the wok with kitchen paper and add a little more oil.  Fry the onion, peppers, garlic, stir frying until they start to cook but are still crunchy,  then add the pineapple pieces.  Stir for a few seconds then add the sweet and sour sauce mixture.

As soon as the sauce starts to thicken, transfer the chicken back to the wok and give it a good stir to coat the chicken pieces with the sauce.  Make sure the chicken is cooked through and serve immediately with rice.