This Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken is truly amazing! It’s been a family favorite for years and is better than any takeout. It’s so simple to make!
(This recipe was originally posted March 25, 2019)
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken is hands down the best sweet and sour chicken I’ve ever had. I can honestly say it’s better than takeout.
Every time I make this, my boys literally get giddy. It’s so, so good. Chicken pieces are dipped in beaten eggs, then in cornstarch and then cooked in a little hot oil to brown. Then you bake them in the most delicious sweet and sour sauce.
You can serve this with white rice, but I highly suggest our favorite yellow rice. It goes so perfectly with this chicken and is so good with some of the sweet and sour sauce drizzled over it.
I got this recipe probably over 20 years ago from my grandma. It’s been a family favorite for years and is in our family cookbook that my Aunt Debbie compiled years ago. I think my aunt is actually the one who gave the recipe to my grandma, so I’m giving her all the credit for this amazing recipe!
Our family cookbook is one of my favorite cookbooks ever. It has all of our favorite family favorites recipes that hold so many memories for all of us. My copy is in shambles — pages have fallen out, the cover is torn off, there is food spilled on the pages, pages are torn and some pages are hanging on by a thread. It’s been well-used and is priceless to me.
Here is what it looks like:
Check out these two pages, they’re taped and one corner is completely gone.
This is just a few of the pages that have fallen out. Some of the instructions are very vague and some recipes don’t even have the titles on them, but we know what they are. Like I said, it’s priceless.
Lineup of ingredients:
- chicken breasts
- eggs
- cornstarch
- sugar
- ketchup
- apple cider vinegar
- soy sauce
- garlic powder
This chicken does require a few extra steps including coating, dunking and browning the chicken pieces. But you got this . . . it’s easy peasy!
You start by coating chicken pieces in cornstarch and then dunking them in beaten eggs. Place them in a hot skillet with a little oil and brown those little babies up. Toss them into a baking dish in a single layer.
The sauce is whisked together and heated in a saucepan, poured over the chicken pieces and then baked in the oven. The sauce thickens slightly while it bakes and it’s heavenly.
Just do me a favor and make our family favorite rice with this, you won’t regret it for even a second.
Have a great Monday!
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1x
Description
This Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken is truly amazing! It’s been a family favorite for years and is better than any takeout. It’s so simple to make!
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into pieces
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup cornstarch
- canola or vegetable oil (about 3 to 4 tablespoons)
Sauce:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Put beaten egg into a pie plate or shallow dish. Pour cornstarch into another pie plate or shallow dish.
- Dip each piece of chicken into beaten egg and then into the cornstarch, covering entire piece of chicken.
- Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet. Heat the oil over medium heat until very hot.
- Place the coated chicken pieces into the hot oil, in a single layer. Cook for 20-30 seconds, on each side until the crust is golden (the chicken will not be cooked all the way through). Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in a 9X13-inch baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
- In small saucepan mix all the sauce ingredients. Stir and heat through until sugar is dissolved. Pour over browned chicken.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes, turning chicken pieces once during the baking time.
Notes
- I usually one and a half the sauce recipe because we like a lot of sauce. I usually pour all of it over the chicken and then we just scoop it out of the pan and drizzle it over our plates of chicken. Another option would be to pour about 2/3 of it over the chicken and save the remaining sauce to use for drizzling.
- We love to drizzle the sauce over our family favorite rice that I make every time I serve this chicken.
- You can also use white vinegar or even rice vinegar if you don’t have apple cider vinegar.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Chinese
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW IF YOU GIVE THIS A TRY! I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK. SHARE IT ON INSTAGRAM USING THE HASHTAG #5BOYSBAKER SO I CAN SEE WHAT YOU’RE MAKING IN YOUR KITCHEN.
Originally posted on 05/22/2012
Hi! I’m Jodi, a mom of five boys and lover of chocolate, sweets and everything in-between. Here you’ll find simple, delicious recipes that are all tried and true.
This is truly one of the best sweet and sour chicken recipes I have ever had! There is never any left overs when I make it….no matter how much of it I make!
I just made this last night and it was great!! I admit, I was skeptical…simply because I have tried other similar recipes and they were always too “sharp”. I think the amounts of vinegar and ketchup were off or something. But this turned out to be a pleasant and yummy surprise! Thanks for sharing! (I was just introduced to your blog 2 day ago and am secretly obsessed! I want to try it all and you have given me a renewed desire to cook after a crazy cross country move that almost took it out of me!!)
Thanks for your nice comment and I’m so glad you liked it. It’s one of our favorites. I’m glad you were introduced to my blog, it’s still a work in progress but it’s coming. Thanks again.
By far the family favorite, I’ve made it twice, the 2nd time I doubled everything so we could have plenty of left overs. Your the “bomb” at the Bagley House.
Thanks Corrie! What an honor to be the “bomb” at the Bagley house!
I made this for my family last night. We loved it! Yummy!!
Thanks Jody! So glad you liked it, it’s one of our very favorites! Let me know what else you try.
This is probably a crazy question but you said that you make the yellow rice with it, so I was wondering how you go about doing that since the rice is at 350 and the chicken bakes at 325? Do you cook one first and then the other? I am just curious because they both look delicious. Thanks!
Hi Erika! I will either cook the rice with the chicken and cook it for 45 minutes instead of the 30 since it’s baking at a lower temperature, or because I have double ovens, I will cook the rice in my second oven. Let me know if you give these a try. Honestly, it’s one of our favorite meals ever!
Thanks for getting back with me, and yes, I will let you know.