The BEST Sweet and Sour Chicken
The BEST sweet and sour chicken from scratch with ginger and garlic and a sweet and tart sauce
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1-2 lbs boneless chicken breasts or thighs cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 tbsp cornstarch plus 2 cups for the coating
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- oil for frying
- cooked rice for serving see my post on cooking rice
For the sauce:
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup orange juice or pineapple juice
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- dash of ground white pepper
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 4 tbsp minced scallions
- 1 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and combine in a bowl or ziploc with the soy sauce and cornstarch (it should look like runny peanut butter, add more soy if you need to) and set aside to marinate for 30 min – 1 hour.
- To make the sauce, heat the 1 tbsp oil in a sauce pan and add the garlic, ginger, and onion. Stir fry until fragrant. Add the the ketchup, citrus, soy, vinegar, sugar, and white pepper, along with 1/4 cup or so of water. Let simmer a little while you finish the chicken, adjusting the seasoning and adding more water as needed.
- Heat a deep pot of canola oil to 350. Put some more corn starch into a bowl. Remove chicken pieces from the marinade a few at a time and coat in cornstarch and add to hot oil. Don’t add too much to the pan so the oil stays hot and you get really crispy chicken. Once the chicken is cooked through and golden (about 5-6 min but depends on the size of the pieces and the temperature of your chicken), drain onto paper towels.Once all the chicken is fried, toss it in the fabulous sauce and serve with hot rice. Yum! Try to stop eating it :)
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!