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.
This is delicious! And yes, bake it for the hour in the oven! Though not as gooey sweet as the stuff you get in restaurants, it was a little too sweet for my husband (it was fine for me). I am making it again tonight and will cut back on the sugar to a 1/2 cup. Very yummy and tender. Was not chewy or tough as you sometimes get in take out. Does anyone know how well it might freeze? I am thinking yes?
Hi Mel,
Do you double the sauce? Is that over a cup of sugar for one meal?
Thanks!
Over the years, I’ve cut down the sugar a bit (like I detail a bit in the post FAQ’s) – I just added a note to the recipe ingredients to help, too.
Thank you so much for responding:-) So when you double the sauce, you are using the full cup of sugar?
Yep.
Have you tried using orange/pineapple juice concentrate in place of granulated sugar?
I haven’t.
Hi Mel,
Do you double the sauce? Does that mean you use over a cup of sugar for this meal? Thanks!!!
I used 1 pd of chicken but kept the sauce amount the same. I didn’t see the note about doubling the sauce until after I dumped it in. I was just wondering if my mistake effected the crispness of the chicken. Although delicious, mine was a bit soggy.
Wow, my three kids are picky eaters and finding a meal that they all enjoy is pretty impossible. This one was a huge hit and they all cleaned their plates with rave reviews!!
This is a favorite in our house. Just curious – has anyone ever made it with pork? I happen to have a pack of boneless pork chops in the fridge and am wondering if this would work with them…
Pork worked great! And we use a deep fryer sometimes.
It works well with pork as well.
Wow!! This recipe is amazing!!!! My picky kids loved it. My husband loved it, and ate 3 plates! They all want it for dinner tomorrow too, lol. Simple to make, and tastes amazing. I doubled the sauce, and it came out perfect. Thank you for a great recipe!!!! Yum!!!
I made this dish tonight for my husband and I, oh my it was super easy and absolutely delicious The only change I made was to reduce sugar to 1/2 cup
Thank you so much for sharing
its in the oven!! 🙂 let me just say, a little tricky to prepare with two small children. the egg and oil part. my hands were a mess and not a lot i could do to tend to my kids while making this. might have to put it in the cue for another season of life. sure smells good!
I made this last night for my son, but with a few changes, since I was trying to make orange chicken for him. He proclaimed it the best ever. I used thighs. I did half of the vinegar and added 1/4c OJ concentrate. And since that is sweet, I took out 1/4c of the sugar. I don’t know what it was supposed to taste like, but what I made was fantastic. I’d make more sauce next time. The frying was a pain but doable. Now I see how they get it fluffy like that, it was tempura like. It really soaks up the sauce well. I am going to try the sauce with different things like meatballs (crockpot) and even on plain sauteed chicken (adding some cornstarch to the sauce of course). I need to be able to make something “like” this faster – a weeknight version.
I made this in university once a few years back, and obviously did something wrong because it was a hot saucy mess that smelled terrible, and got thrown into the garbage (so much money wasted to a poor student) while I cried and ordered a pizza.
HOWEVER.
I took the plunge and made it again last night, being very careful to follow all instructions. It turned out fantastically, and I’ll definitely make it again. I encourage people who are skeptical to follow the instructions. Also, I’ll mention you need the big baking pan, because otherwise, the chicken just gets covered in liquid. I think that might have been part of what I did wrong the first time.
Just wanted to thank you for a great recipe! I’m not a greatly skilled cook by any means, but this was doable! My teenage daughter helped and it turned out great! I was a tad skeptical about the ketchup, but I trusted you, and it was absolutely delicious! This is going on regular meal rotation. In fact, I can’t wait to make it again, and this I’m doubling the recipe so there are more leftovers! Really loved it!
I am a little lost on the egg part. I think I should have of shaken off some of the excess cornstarch (I will remember for next time), but I need help with the dipping in egg process. I literally put two whipped eggs in a pie baking round pan and the cornstarch was sticking to my fingers and clumping up in the eggs. when I transferred to pan, my son asked me if we were having “chicken eggs”. LOL, I guess because the egg was all around the chicken almost scrambling. Please help!!
Hi Amanda – that is the messiest part of the recipe and I think you may have already identified the problem – it helps to shake off excess cornstarch. Your fingers may still get a little messy but it won’t be so clumpy. I use the method of putting the cornstarch in a bag and dumping the chicken pieces in and shaking it all up. When I take out the chicken pieces, I lightly shake the excess (if any) cornstarch off back into the bag.
family reports that this was best. dinner. ever. 11 year old even insisted on taking left overs for lunch the next day- thanks!!!
I used 3 chicken breasts and ended up needing 3 eggs (instead of 2). I used 2 9×13 pans, and I think an hour was too long–maybe my chicken pieces were smaller, because some of hte pieces were a bit dry. I used rice vinegar, and the flavor was good. Next time I’ll probably try white vinegar because it seemed like it could use a little more tanginess. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Mel! Can I use a deep fryer for the frying part of this recipe? Can’t wait to try this!!!
Sure!
Made these the other night and they were amazing!! Will become a regular in our household! Thank you!
OMG – This recipe had my boyfriend coming back for seconds. No thirds because I ate the rest lol! He was upset, oh well. Thanks for sharing this delicious dish! It was WONDERFUL! And I will make it again! 🙂
so good! SOOO SOOOO VERY GOOD!
This recipe does NOT disappoint! I made it for Father’s Day Saturday (yes, ‘Dad’ likes to claim the entire weekend!). Although Sweet and Sour Chicken is his favorite and not mine, I did find myself devouring the remaining sauce and sticky bits left in the pan before washing…that good! (FYI: while the smell of vinegar had me worried during most of the baking time, it seemed to disappear the last 15-20 min)
Well, my oven is broken so I am trying it in my slow cooker/crockpot. It looks promising and when hubby got home he said it smelled good. I will report back!
Totally forgot to report back! It turned out really good in my crockpot but now that I’m making it again today, I don’t remember how long it took! My crockpot gets reallllly hot and with the small pieces I am thinking no more than an hour or two on low. I plan to check it after an hour. Also, it was a tad too vinegary for my preference so I will reduce that a bit.
I LOVE this meal but I reverted back to being a vegetarian last fall. I was bummed that I couldn’t make it anymore but then I tried it with firm tofu and it was AMAZING. Followed all the instructions exactly, just cut it in half for 1lb of tofu and put in 8X8 pan instead. Worked like a dream in case anyone else is trying to eat this meatless!
Mm mm mm! I knew it would be good cuz this many people can’t be wrong! I’ve been making to make this for a very long time and wasn’t disappointed! you for a winner. I didn’t double the sauce but will take your advice and do that next time. Our maybe just one and a half it.
Just wanted to thank you Mel for the delicious recipes….I have tried several over the past year including this Sweet and Sour Chicken and your Bourbon Chicken. I actually made them exactly to recipe (which I recommend doing, and I don’t often do as I am not young :); and they were both wonderful! I wouldn’t change a thing, and both are so much better tasting and better for you than take-out Chinese food. And my family loves them.
Love your blog the best of any I’ve seen! You do a great job and I appreciate everything on your site; thanks again!
Thank you so much, Terry!
This was delicious. My husband gave rave reviews after first bite. I will definitely double the sauce recipe when I make it again and try with the pineapple.
To make it easier for cooking, I put the chicken in the bag with the corn starch then took all the chicken out and placed on a dish before adding to oil. This way you can grab your pieces easier to place in oil.
So Yummy. I put some in the freezer, so I will see how well they are for a later meal.
I’ve made this alot of times ,
one of my favorite recipes , I use brown sugar instead of white sugar, my family loves this dish.
The sauce should have reduced a little in the oven, but the cornstarch is what really helps it thicken up in the oven. My suggestion is to just follow as-is and go from there to change for your taste.
I tried this last night and it did not work out at all! Here’s what I did: following recommendations of others I cut the sugar down to a half cup, I only had white vinegar on hand so that’s what I used and I skipped the breading and just put the chicken with the sauce in the oven. The sauce never caramelized. It was like chicken in liquid so I had doubled the sauce recipe and had some simmering on the stove. I added the chicken to that pot and turned it up a little and it still never caramelized. Was it because I cut the sugar? Or all of the things combined?
Hi Laura – I can’t guarantee the results of the recipe if there are a lot of variations (not that changing a recipe is bad – it’s just that I haven’t made it all those different ways so I can’t say for sure what will work and what won’t). I agree with Lien, though, the cornstarch from the chicken coating helps to thicken the sauce a little.
Thank you! I’ll give it another try when I have time and the right ingredients on hand! It was still good, just not what I wanted!
I’m attempting your baked sweet & sour chicken recipe tonight, using egg replacer as our 3yo daughter has severe allergies to eggs, amongst others, shall let u know how it goes!
I just cut down some of the sugar and added chilli powder…. delicious!!!! 😀
Thank you so much for this recipe! This is a keeper!! I love cooking Chinese food but have never tried sweet and sour which is one of my favorites! I used Rice Vinegar instead of Cider. This was so easy. Messy but easy!!
Thank you!!! 🙂
I just made this for dinner and it’s wonderful! Even my chicken-hating husband liked it! I sure didn’t expect that! I found I was out of cidar vinegar (I was sure I had some!) so used the rice vinegar substitution and it turned out great-I’ll be using this one often! Thanks for much for your great site!
Just wanted to let you know that this recipe has become part of my regular rotation. I make it at least monthly, my family loves it!
Made this for the first time last night – TERRIFIC! I loved it; my wife liked it but said she would like less vinegar next time. (When my wife says ‘next time’, I know I’ve found something good even if I am requested to modify it a little.) In the future I’ll try 1/4 cup cider and 1/4 cup pineapple juice. That will reduce the vinegar and add a little more tart/sweet flavor.
Hi Mel! I’m a college student and both my mom and I use your website as a go to for dinner, I freeze my leftovers and at home the food is gone before it makes it on the table! I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for a while, but couldn’t find anything in the comment section about freezing it. Do you or anyone else have any advice? Thanks again for your fantastic recipes!
Hi Alex – I’ve never frozen this so I’m not sure how it would fare but I do remember someone else commenting that they had frozen it and they said it worked out ok.
I usually have a lot of people to feed at Christmas and start cooking in November. I fried up the chicken, let it cool and put it in a ziplock freezer bag. Then when I was ready to make it I just whipped up the sauce, put it all in a baking pan and baked it. Saves a lot of time and mess when you don’t have time for it. I would imagine you could make the sauce and freeze it also and then just thaw it out and bake as normal later.
I LOVE your recipes, and I use them almost every night.
I LOVE your recipes, and I use them almost every night.
I LOVE your recipes, and I use them almost every night.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!!! My picky 5 year old even had seconds. This recipe is definitely a keeper!! Thanks!!!
Thank you for this recipe Mel, it is delicious. I added a tin of drained pineapple tidbits to the sauce/chicken 20 minutes before the end as someone else suggested and served it over long grain white rice and stir-fry vegetables on the side.
This recipe is really good and easy.I add pineapples and diced red and green peppers to the sauce.this was the first time I made it and I’m sure we will have it often
I was skeptical of this recipe–seemed like too much sugar, too much vinegar– but it was perfect. I was out of cider vinegar so I used rice vinegar, chicken thighs, dumped a bag of frozen pineapple chunks on the pan to bake with the chicken. Sooooo good. Addictively good. I think it really does need the hour for the vinegar and ketchup to bake off and it to become “sweet and soury.”
Having noticed this recipe a while ago, I kind of tiptoed around it because my toddler hates chicken. It is the only thing (and I am talking very mature cheese and things like that here!) that she won’t eat. But it just looked too good, so I made an “emergency rice pudding” for her and this for lunch today – and guess what, she loooved it! And so did my husband and I. I added pineapple chunks to the baking dish for the final 20 min. It was sooo good – thank you very much for sharing this great recipe!
Can is meal be frozen?
I’ve never frozen it but I believe others have in the comment thread.
Made this last week, and it was excellent.
Oops…forgot to say I also used Stevia instead of granulated white sugar. Again, absolutely delicious!
Wow! This is now our favorite chicken recipe. It was absolutely delicious and so easy to make. I used arrowroot powder instead of corn starch because I didn’t have corn starch. I used Braggs Aminos instead of soy sauce (didn’t have soy). Thank you so much for sharing your recipes! Can’t wait to try more of them.
I know there are already tons of comments on this recipe, but I just had to add mine. I finally got around to making this dish and I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when it came out of the oven. But, was I ever wrong! It was so good! My boyfriend and I both loved it and we both had seconds. I can’t wait to make it again.
Do you know you have here? A MIRACLE! So MANY recipes, especially with something that has a “breading” type coating on it have some sort of gluten or wheat, this doesn’t. As long as the individual uses a gluten-free soy sauce (which are on the market) then this is a gluten free main dish AND without a boat load of odd products which are outrageously expensive and/or hard to find. Well done!
I made a half recipe and baked it about 45 minutes. The sauce looked right but was really drying up and the chicken was browned. When I bit into it, it seemed chewy and pretty flavorless. Not sweet at all. I was really careful to measure everything out (halved). Not sure what I did wrong. I never really make Asian food but I’m trying lol. Could you provide tips on what I might’ve done wrong? Too much egg? Too little time in the oven? Double the sauce? I’m not sure :-/
If the chicken and sauce was halved, sounds like it might have baked too long. Try a smaller baking dish or cut the baking time down a bit. Hope that works!