Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Easily the most popular recipe on my blog, this baked sweet and sour chicken is a miracle of a dish. Baked, not fried, it has been a family favorite for over a decade!
Invented on a college budget almost 20 years ago, this baked sweet and sour chicken is the most popular recipe on my blog. And even better, it still remains one of our family favorites.
You may have seen this recipe floating around the internet; it’s everywhere! And for good reason. It’s crazy delicious.
I’m happy (and yes, a little proud) to acknowledge that the delectable sweet and sour chicken recipe originated here (posted way back in 2008, it was one of the first recipes I ever shared on my blog!).
With over 800 comments, 50+ 5-star reviews, and almost half a million pins/shares, that quick glance will tell you there is something special about this recipe.
How to Make Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
The chicken for this recipe is flash-fried in a little bit of oil before going into a pan and into the oven to be baked fully.
There’s a good reason for this process:
- It gives a delicious browned “crust” on the chicken pieces
- The sweet and sour sauce is poured onto the par-baked chicken and everything bakes together in the oven – this fully cooks the chicken AND thickens and develops the flavors of the sauce
I have streamlined the chicken coating-and-cooking process to make it ultra-simple.
First, place the chicken pieces in a ziploc-style bag and toss with a bit of salt and pepper.
Second, add the cornstarch, seal the bag, and shake until the chicken pieces are evenly coated.
It might seem strange to coat the chicken pieces in cornstarch before dipping in egg, but it’s the preferred method here, and it works – I promise!
Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces into the egg mixture.
Instead of doing this one little piece at a time, I dump several pieces of chicken in at once, toss around with a fork until the egg mixture fully coats the chicken and then replenish with more chicken as they go into the hot pan.
A Key to Making Sweet and Sour Chicken
Remember that the chicken pieces are just getting a quick minute in the hot pan so they are golden on the outside.
You don’t need very much oil, but you DO need to make sure the pan is hot and rippling before adding the chicken.
Here are a few things that will help:
- Use a nonstick pan – this means you can use less oil and still get beautifully golden chicken pieces.
- Heat the oil in the pan until it is hot enough that the chicken sizzles immediately when added to the pan.
- Cook for just a few seconds on each side until the “crust” is golden brown – you don’t want to cook the chicken completely in this step!
Sweet and Sour Sauce
The sauce for this baked sweet and sour chicken consists of:
- sugar
- ketchup
- vinegar
- soy sauce
- garlic powder
There is just the right amount of sauce for the breaded chicken pieces to bake in without becoming saturated and soggy. As the sauce simmers in the oven with the chicken, it thickens and coats the chicken with a caramelized sweet and sour glaze.
If you like extra sauce, simply whisk together another batch of sauce and simmer it on the stovetop for 8 to 10 minutes to serve alongside the baked sweet and chicken.
A Very Popular Recipe
There are over 500 5-star reviews for this amazing recipe; I’ll highlight just a few:
Stephanie: Amazing! My whole family loved this recipe! Tasted like it was from a restaurant and it was SO easy to make! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Erin: First time poster – this was FANTASTIC. I doubled the sauce, threw in a can of pineapple chunks and used rice vinegar. Thank you – this is going in the rotation. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kimberly: I was worried about the one hour cooking time drying out the chicken but every bite was tender. Will make again. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vicki: Oh my- officially a fav in our house. It’s been requested 3 times in as many weeks. I add peppers and onion to mine over rice. So good! Thanks for sharing it!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions for this recipe – and if you scroll through the comments, you can see many, many variations!
Sweet and Sour FAQ:
Many people have commented that they have reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and I’ve done the same (if not more) over the years, too.
Yes. Vinegar, while baking, gives off a strong aroma, but the strong aroma/taste bakes off during the recommended time in the recipe leaving a delicious sweet and sour taste.
That’s up to you. Many people in the comments have adapted the recipe ingredients; however, other than sometimes reducing the sugar to 1/2 cup and using a different type of vinegar (see the question below), I make the recipe as written and can’t vouch for results for other adaptations. I have made this sweet and sour chicken recipe at least 50 times (probably more) and even though the vinegar seems overpowering, the recipe works. Promise. If you are determined to adapt the vinegar, several others have used half vinegar and half pineapple juice for a milder taste (but you’ll lose a bit of the sweet and sour punch).
Why yes! I often substitute rice vinegar which has a slightly milder/sweeter taste and many others in the comments have substituted the same or even used white vinegar. Feel free to experiment.
All-purpose flour will not give the same light coating as the cornstarch. The only decent substitute I’ve found is tapioca flour/starch. Works great!
I encourage you to make the recipe as written. Like I said above, I’ve made this recipe many times and the hour baking time is not a typo. Keep in mind that you don’t want to cook the chicken through while browning it. That step should be a quick flash in the pan in hot oil in order to give the chicken a crispy outer layer, but the pieces should still be raw in the center. Many have commented that they have cut the baking time down to 30 minutes. You can try that; the sauce won’t thicken as much as if baking for the full hour.
I’m not often right, but in the case of cornstarch and egg, I am. The chicken is coated with cornstarch and then dipped in egg.
I don’t see why not! Many commenters have tried that with good results.
I prefer the Heinz Natural brand (without HCFS) but when I can’t find it, I go with regular Heinz.
What to Serve With This:
Baked Brown Rice
Steamed Broccoli
Creamy 5-Cup Fruit Salad or fresh, seasonal fruit
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup canola, vegetable or coconut oil
Sauce:
- ½ to ¾ cup granulated sugar, depending on how sweet you want the sauce
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar (see note)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch or slightly larger pieces. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken.
- Whisk the eggs together in a shallow pie plate. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until very hot and rippling. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg and place them carefully in a single layer in the hot skillet.
- Cook for 20-30 seconds on each side until the crust is golden but the chicken is not all the way cooked through (this is where it’s really important to have a hot skillet/oil). Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in a 9X13-inch baking dish and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken. Bake for one hour, turning the chicken once or twice while cooking to coat evenly with sauce. Serve over hot, steamed rice.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe original recipe
Recipe originally published July 2008; updated Sept 2018 with new pictures, recipe notes, etc.
I made this dish last night and it was a HUGE hit! We LOVED it! I would highly recommend making this dish as a weekly meal! It was so delicious! Thanks for sharing this on Pinterest! I’m soooooo glad I found it!
Tried it again, this time with the full amount of vinegar…much better! It still got REALLY sticky at the end….and I put my timer on 50 minutes instead of an hour…glad I did, because I definitely took it out at 50 minutes! Any longer it would have probably burned my sauce….so I’m thinking my oven may be getting hotter than its supposed to 🙂 Next time I’ll just do 45 minutes and I’m sure it will be PERFECT~ Thanks for the recipe 🙂
can you substitute sugar with honey or other sweetner?
please email me back please, rpn@mail.usf.edu.
Ryan – I’ve never subbed honey for the sugar but if you read through the comments on this recipe, there might be someone that has. Good luck!
This looks super yummy and I hope to make it this week. I plan on adding some fresh pineapple chunks to mine in the last 20 minutes or so of baking. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!! Can’t wait!
Make this regularly and get high praise from everyone! Even handed the recipe out to my dad – who LOVES it. Thanks for your website, i use it frequently to make all my dinners/sweets etc as i am new to cooking! 🙂
My whole family loves this meal. After one bite my husband was giving this two thumbs up and please make again soon comments! Thank you for all of the great recipes!! You make finding what to make for dinner easy. I know I can’t go wrong on this website.
OK, so I am not the only person who just made this. Since our “Empty nest” became full again (at least for supper), I have been cooking much more. I found a similar recipe on Pinterest and googled it and then found yours – yours seemed more complete in the instructions. I used 4 good sized breasts and your portions on the sauce.
Our 4 year old grand daughter ate some nuggets without sauce, and the rest of the crew including my daughter and niece ate almost every piece I had. I confess I finished the three pieces left. Best chicken in a while – guess I need to check your blog for more recipes. Tonight is Ed’s Chili in the crockpot from “Fixit and Forget It”. Thanks for a great and easy recipe, we will make it many times over.
Kristin – well, to be perfectly honest, I think you needed the extra 1/2 cup vinegar. To cut out 1/2 cup of liquid from the sauce will definitely make a huge impact on how quickly the liquid cooks down in the sauce so it doesn’t surprise me that after 40 minutes your sauce was too sticky. If you follow the recipe as written, you’ll be able to bake it the full amount of time without burning. Even though 1/2 cup vinegar seems like a lot, it works in this recipe. There is a definite tangy, vinegar smell as it’s baking and that may scare people, but hundreds of others have loved it that way. I’d encourage you to try it with 1/2 cup vinegar, otherwise you’ll have to play around with baking times since I’ve never made it with 1/4 cup.
A couple things I found about this recipe…. I completely agree with a lot of the other posts, 1/2 c of vinegar seemed way too much so I only used 1/4 cup instead. But when I left mine in the oven and set the timer for an hour, i came back to check around the 40 minute mark and the sauce was SO sticky and gooey I had to take it out of the oven. What do you think happened? It still tasted really good but the sauce was almost burned…if I had left it in another 10 minutes I think it would have been ruined. Do you think I should cut down on the oven time next time??
Allie – yes the amount of sauce is for the 9X13 pan and it does thicken up while baking. I can see how in a smaller pan it wouldn’t thicken up as well.
This dish was amazing!! The sauce really did taste like take out sweet and sour chicken and thankfully I couldnt tell there was ketchup in the sauce!
One quick question, is the amount of sauce given in the recipe supposed to be for a 9×13 pan? I made less chicken but not exactly halved so I made the full amount of sauce and put it in an 8×8 pan and after just 40min the chicken was done but there was still a lot of liquid in the pan. I drained the chicken before putting on top of rice and it tasted wonderfully but I wondered if the sauce was supposed to be thickened throughout the pan instead of soupy.
I stumbled upon your website via Pinterest. The photos of your food drew me to your actual site. So far, we’ve made 3 of your recipes.. The Sweet & Sour Chicken, Honey Glazed Chicken and The Best Fajitas. I have a fairly finicky group but they all gobbled these up and definitely will be made again.
Also, as a fellow Wisconsinite, in De Pere, GO PACK GO!
We love this recipe..we added red bell peppers and some chopped pineapple..it was so good. We left the second sauce thin and kids put it over rice//huge hit..thank you
I can see how this would be your most popular recipe! It was delicious. My husband and I devoured it. I also added some frozen broccoli halfway through the cooking time. You have a new fan in me!
I am in love! I make this about once/week, and I can’t wait to make it tonight! This is one of our favorite meals. I made a few additions to the sauce (although it’s also great as is!) — I like to add 3 cloves of chopped garlic, 3 thin sliced green onions, and 1 Tbs of grated ginger. It is so amazing. I also mix pineapple, pea pods and carrots in with my cooked rice! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I made this the other night for my family . My brother and sister usually are very & hate ketchup they didnt even want to try it at first because of the vinegar and ketchup in the sauce . I didnt follow the recipe completely i coated the chicken in egg first then cornstarch and cooked it then we dipped the chicken in the sauce and ate it just like that with garlic broccoli and rice . It was so good my sister and brother loved it my mom and grandma too it was a big hit definitely going to be making it again when were not completely starving so I can bake it in the oven .
Delicious!!!! A tried and tested recipe that is absolutely awesome!!! Thank you so much for sharing! It’s nice to have something different to make that is sooooo easy to make.
Thx again 🙂
I made this tonight for my family & it was a BIG hit!! WE LOVED IT!!! I used the asian sides chicken fried rice instead of white rice and it was awesome!!! Thanks so much for this recipe!!!!!
I am making this right now and I’m a little worried since there is katsup in the recipe and I don’t like katsup but the rest of my family does…so we will see how it turns out.
I know you get hundreds of comments but I wanted to add one. This was so excellent! My husband and I will be repeating this recipe many times I’m sure. Yum!
I just tried this, and it turned out surprisingly delicious! I tweaked the sauce just a bit by adding a dash of honey and an extra pinch of sugar to tone down the vinegar and soy sauce. I also bumped the temp up to 350 for the last 15 minutes just to make sure it cooked all the way. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Sweet and sour chicken. Yummmmmmmmmy!
My husband doesn’t like fried or breaded foods, so I made only the sauce and it was amazing! Will store but in my recipe book 🙂 thanks!
A hit with every member of the family!! YUM! this one’s going in the keeper file!!
This was SOOOOO good!!! If it wasn’t for all the carbs from the cornstarch and sugar, I’d add it to our regular rotation. 😉 As is though, it will be on our “occasional splurge” rotation! Yumm! (P.S. The 3 year old asked for THIRDS!)
Just made this for dinner and it was GREAT!! While we were eating, I was planning a time that I could have people over to try it. So good and not difficult at all to make!
Love this recipe I added some Pineapple and put some broccoli on top the last 15 minutes of cooking time, it was great. Thanks
What happened??
I am feeling so bad. What did I do wrong ?…?
I tripled the sauce and it only tasted like vinegar.. .. Guest over and 6 breast.
Any ideas ??? Check and rechecked. Perhaps it was the triple?!
Tried this this weekend and it is every bit as good as all your loyal followers said. Only because of health issues, I cut the sugar down in the sauce, using a total of 1/4 cup regular sugar and 1/4 cup Splenda. It turned out great. After the first bite my husband said, “This is a keeper!” Thank you for sharing this easy and wonderful recipe.
The sauce for me had a little more of a vinegar bite than I would have liked and it lost its Asian roots. To compensate I added a touch more (1 to 2 tsp.) soy sauce and ketchup, about 1/4 tsp sesame oil, and about 1 tsp honey and it really toned down the acidity and woke this sauce up!!
I absolutely love you for posting this.
This is now a weekly dish we make in my house! Everyone is obsessed with it, & it is 10x better than Chinese Take-out! Since it’s baked, it doesn’t leave that icky feeling in your tummy when you’re done stuffing your face.
Thank you, thank you!
Just had to add that we LOVE this chicken! I have a VERY picky eater and he hardly eats anything. Because of this, I’ve started adding 1/4 c of pureed sweet potatoes or carrots or even butternut squash to the sauce (sometimes 1/4 c of 2 of them!) just to up the veggies. Could you do this without the coating on the chicken or is it the cornstarch that helps it thicken up as it cooks? We’re just watching calories and I never can get the crispy outside so I just figured maybe it could be done without it! Maybe I’ll try that tonight since that’s what we’re having for dinner tonight! Thanks again for a fabulous recipe!
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!!This was the very best sweet and sour chicken I have ever had.My husband told me how great it was a bunch of times.I love your blog!!Thank you! 🙂
REALLY went in with lowered expectations, thinking that all the rave reviews COULDN’T be accurate. This is WONDERFUL! Used chicken thighs and added half a small can of pineapple after cooking (because that’s what I had in the pantry) and this was just AMAZING! Thank you so much!
Made this tonight and it was so delicious!!! It was too hot to turn the oven on so I put it in the crock pot on low and it turned out awesome. Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this tonight with some modifications to lighten it and it still came out delicious. I used less than 1/2 a cup of cornstarch (I had 3 oz in the bag but only 2 landed on the chicken). I used egg beaters instead of eggs. And no oil – just sprayed the pan with canola oil cooking spray. I halved the specified amount of sugar. Altogether, it looks like 1230 calories for the complete recipe – so about 300 each if it’s four servings. Not bad!
Thank you so much for this recipe, it’s absolutely amazing!! I made it yesterday for dinner and that will definitely NOT be the last time… Wow, I wish I had some left overs right now!
If anyone’s interested, I blogged about my experience with this amazing recipe:
http://dontforgetrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/06/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken.html
If you think the vinegar is too strong, substitute it with 1/4 c vinegar and 1/4 c chicken broth and it should do the trick.
Made this, loved it, blogged it! Found it over at Six Sisters Stuff, but traced it back to you! Thanks for an awesome recipe. http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2012/06/chinese-sweet-sour-chicken-twc-86-linky.html
This is really good. I don’t usually care for S&S chicken, but this had a wonderful flavor. Definitely will make again!
Oh my goodness this was good! I made this for my family tonight and we just loved it. My husband doesn’t even like sweet and sour chicken and he went back for seconds and then thirds! Thank you so much for this recipe. We will definitely be making this again.
This was a big hit at my house — everyone deemed it a “keeper”! I should have made the extra sauce to pour over the rice, and will do so next time.
Fantastic! I have 5 boys 4 of them 7-17 years old and then the hubby lol. I had zero leftovers. Everyone had seconds. I followed recipe exactly as written and it came out perfect. Well done!!!
My kids love this! They said it was like chicken nuggets but WAY better because its made by mom (therefore healthier). They are even asking when they can have this again. I’ve made this twice in the last two weeks =) I love that the sauce sticks to the chicken. I just cut back a bit on the vinegar because hubby is not a fan of it, but just a little bit though. Thanks for this yummy recipe! =)
I was introduced to your blog by a friend, since then I have tried 6 recipes from your blog for the past week and they all turned out superbly that I’m adding them to my rotations. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! =) You’ve made it a lot easier for me to cook healthy and delicious meals for my family that are easy to prepare. Now I don’t have to scramble my brains thinking of what to cook for dinner. I just make your blog my go-to and voila! I have a delicious dinner for my family. Thank you Melanie! =)
I just finished licking the plate after eating this delicious chicken! 😉 Thanks for the recipe!
I made this during spring break because I really wanted some Chinese but was unable to go to a restaurant. Family loved it; thank you!
They make those fine mesh splatter covers. It’s a round mesh disc with a handle. You put your food in and cover, it saves a lot of cleanup time 🙂
Another winner recipe. I am definitely drinking the “Mel” kool aid.