Sweet and Sour Chicken
Crispy fried chicken pieces in a glossy sweet and sour sauce with pineapple and bell peppers.
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cook/bake time
- 20 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
Crispy fried chicken pieces in a glossy sweet and sour sauce with pineapple and bell peppers. The trick is to pour the sauce over the chicken right at the very end so the breading stays crispy and doesn't get soggy. This is how you get exactly the texture at home that made this dish famous.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Bread the chicken
Mix the cornstarch, flour, and salt in a shallow dish. Toss the chicken cubes first in the beaten egg and then thoroughly in the flour mixture so they look dry and slightly rough all over. Exactly this rough surface will become crispy later. Place the breaded pieces loosely next to each other on a board and let them rest for five minutes so the breading adheres properly.
- 2
Fry
Heat the oil in a deep pot to 175 °C. A wooden skewer should immediately draw fine bubbles when you hold it in. Fry the chicken pieces in batches for about four minutes until golden brown and place them on a wire rack to drain, not on paper towels, otherwise the underside will get soggy. For extra crispiness, fry them again for one minute at 190 °C just before serving.
- 3
Prepare the sauce
Stir the ketchup, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and pineapple juice together in a pot and bring everything to a boil once. Taste the sauce now: it should taste distinctly sweet and distinctly sour, because the chicken will absorb a lot of it later. Add a little more vinegar or sugar if necessary until the balance is right for you.
- 4
Cook vegetables and thicken sauce
Sauté the onion and bell peppers in a pan with one tablespoon of oil over high heat for two minutes, they should absolutely remain firm to the bite. Add the garlic and pineapple and sauté for half a minute. Now pour in the sauce, stir in the mixed cornstarch, and let everything simmer while stirring for one minute until the sauce is glossy and coats the back of a spoon.
- 5
Serve
Only now add the crispy chicken pieces to the pan and toss them very briefly, just long enough until they are coated with sauce. The longer they sit in the sauce, the more crispiness you lose, so from here it goes straight to the plate. Serve with fragrant jasmine rice.
