This takeaway classic is irresistible even when done badly. It’s sometimes demoted to a simple stir-fry, but at its best (Hong Kong-style), it should contain crisp, battered chicken in a sharp, sweet and fruity sauce.
We’ve based the sauce on a vinegar reduction chicken, we’ve marinated it and then used the marinade as the base for the batter – this brings a huge amount of flavour.
8 top tips for a next level sweet & sour chicken
1. Pick your protein
This is often made with pork, but the version we’re asked for most at Good Food is chicken. If you like, use 600g sliced pork fillet instead of the chicken.
2. Opt for chicken thighs
Chicken breasts might be leaner, but chicken thighs have more flavour and stand up better to being marinated for longer. They also won’t dry out when cooked at the high temperatures needed for deep-fat frying.
3. Finely slice your chicken
We’ve finely sliced the chicken rather than cut it into chunks. This means the marinade permeates it more easily, and the chicken cooks quicker in the fryer – making it easier to ensure it’s cooked all the way through.
4. Marinate chicken in complementary ingredients
We’ve marinated the chicken in complementary ingredients to give it more flavour and tenderise it slightly. This isn’t essential, but it does add a new dimension to the dish.
5. Make a punchy sauce with lots of vinegar
Some sauces are based on pineapple juice or stock with a splash of vinegar added at the end. We’ve gone for a big, punchy sauce that uses lots of vinegar as its base.
6. Make a feature of the ginger
We’ve made a feature of the ginger in the sauce and thinly sliced it instead of cutting it into matchsticks or crushing it to a paste. This makes
more of it as a vegetable, bringing texture and giving a hit of fresh ginger flavour with every bite.
7. Swap canned pineapple for fresh
Canned pineapple is often used in the sauce, but we’ve swapped it for fresh, which has more fragrance and texture. Feel free to use canned if fresh isn’t available.
8. Add coriander and spring onion for freshness
It’s not authentic, but the coriander and spring onion we’ve added brings a touch of freshness, along with a bit of peppery heat from a salt and Sichuan pepper mix.
How to make it
Sweet & sour chicken
Serves: 4
Prep: 30 mins plus marinating
Cook: 30 mins
More effort
Good to know
Per serving:
- 518 kcals
- fat 18g
- saturates 4g
- carbs 57g
- sugars 30g
- fibre 3g
- protein 30g
- salt 3g
Ingredients
- 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, fat trimmed, sliced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
- thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 1 egg, beaten
- 100g cornflour
- ½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- boiled rice, to serve
For the sauce
- 5 tbsp Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
- 150ml malt vinegar
- 60g caster sugar
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ chicken stock pot or stock cube
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- ½ small pineapple, chopped into chunks
- large piece of ginger, peeled and very thinly sliced
For the toppings
- small handful of coriander sprigs
- 4 spring onions, shredded
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns (optional)
Method
1. Mix the chicken with the soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, garlic and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Put in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least 1 hr or ideally overnight. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Tip the rice wine, vinegar and sugar into a saucepan with a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then add the garlic and ketchup. Continue to cook for 10 mins until syrupy, then remove from the heat and set aside. To prepare the toppings, put the coriander and spring onion in a bowl of iced water to perk them up. Toast the peppercorns in a dry frying pan, if using, then crush using a pestle and mortar. Mix with 1 tbsp sea salt and set aside.
2. Mix the beaten egg into the chicken mix, then stir in the cornflour and five-spice powder until the chicken is coated. Set aside. Pour the oil into a wok until it’s no more than a third full and heat to 170C, or heat a deep-fat fryer to the same temperature. If you don’t have a thermometer, drop a bit of the batter into the oil; when the batter sizzles and turns golden within 1 min, it’s ready. Fry the chicken in batches for 4-5 mins until golden and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in a low oven.
3. Meanwhile, gently reheat the sauce and add the soy sauce, stock pot or cube, vegetables, pineapple and ginger. Simmer for 3 mins until the veg is slightly softened. Mix the chicken with the sauce and serve with the coriander and spring onions, salt and pepper mix and some rice on the side.
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