China • Regional Dish • Main Course

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Crispy chicken, peppers, pineapple, and a glossy sweet-tangy sauce. A takeout favorite made more doable for real kitchens.

Servings4

Prep Time20 min

Cook Time20 min

DifficultyModerate

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Ingredients

US Metric

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp Shaoxing wine

1/3 cup cornstarch

2 tbsp neutral oil, plus more if needed

For the sauce

3 tbsp pineapple juice

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp ketchup

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

For the stir-fry

1 small onion, cut into chunks

1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks

3/4 cup pineapple chunks

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

500 g boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces

2 g salt

1 g white pepper

10 ml light soy sauce

10 ml Shaoxing wine

40 g cornstarch

30 ml neutral oil, plus more if needed

For the sauce

45 ml pineapple juice

30 ml rice vinegar

25 g sugar

15 ml ketchup

10 ml light soy sauce

5 g cornstarch

For the stir-fry

1 small onion, cut into chunks

1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks

120 g pineapple chunks

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

10 g fresh ginger, finely chopped

Instructions

In a bowl, toss the chicken with the salt, white pepper, light soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Add the cornstarch and toss until the chicken is lightly but evenly coated.
In a small bowl, whisk together the pineapple juice, rice vinegar, sugar, ketchup, light soy sauce, and cornstarch for the sauce.
Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil. Cook the chicken in batches for 5 to 7 minutes total, turning as needed, until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Pour off excess oil, leaving about 15 ml in the pan. Add the onion and bell pepper and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly softened but still bright.
Add the garlic, ginger, and pineapple. Stir-fry for 30 seconds.
Stir the sauce again and pour it into the pan. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until glossy and thickened.
Return the chicken to the pan and toss quickly until coated. Serve immediately.

Cultural Context

Sweet-and-sour flavors have deep roots in Chinese cooking, especially in Cantonese cuisine, where sweet-and-sour pork is a well-known traditional dish. But modern sweet and sour chicken, especially the battered takeout style with pineapple and peppers, is more often described by leading Chinese cooking sites as an American Chinese restaurant favorite than as a classical Chinese standard. That does not make it fake or useless. It just means it should be labeled honestly. For a country-based recipe site, this dish works best as a Chinese-inspired restaurant-style chicken dish rather than as a heritage flagship in the same lane as Peking duck or mapo tofu. Truth, as always, is more useful than sauce mythology.

Fun Fact

Traditional Cantonese sweet and sour pork originally appears to have begun as bone-in pork in a fruit-based sweet-tart sauce, which is a lot more old-school than the bright red takeout versions many people know today.

Cook’s Tip

Chicken thighs stay juicier than breasts and are more forgiving. This version pan-fries rather than deep-fries to keep it more practical for home cooks, which lines up with some home-focused Chinese recipe approaches. Pineapple and bell pepper are common in restaurant-style versions, though not essential to older Chinese sweet-and-sour traditions.

Trivia

Several respected Chinese recipe sites explicitly label sweet and sour chicken as an American Chinese takeout dish, while treating sweet and sour pork as the more traditional Chinese anchor.

About This Recipe

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

Instructions

Cultural Context

Fun Fact

Cook’s Tip

Trivia

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