Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and sour chicken is always a take-out favorite but you can make a delicious version at home. The best part about this recipe is the chicken – it’s very crunchy and stays that way even after it’s been coated in the sweet and sour sauce. It’s so delicious!
Growing up, we ate various sweet and sour dishes: fish, pork, beef and, of course, sweet and sour chicken. It was never my favorite dish so I was very surprised when I got a serious craving for it recently. How weird, right? I’m not sure why I started craving it, but I figured I might as well make it!
When I started thinking about it, I realized one reason I never liked it was because it would often get soggy. I don’t understand why you would bread and cook the chicken so it’s nice and crispy only to douse it in a sauce which can turn it soggy pretty quick. So, I thought I would try making a version that would stay crispy even after being coated in sauce.
After experimenting I finally figured it out after doing a little research and what a difference it makes. This homemade sweet and sour chicken is crispy with the perfect amount of sauce. And the chicken stays crispy!
The Secret Ingredient for the Best Sweet and Sour Chicken
It might be surprising, but vodka is what makes the breading super crunchy. Serious Eats recently experimented with General Tso’s chicken in its latest Food Lab edition. Kenji discussed that adding vodka to the breading would make the chicken pieces crunchier. He actually did more than add vodka, but I thought I’d try only adding vodka to my egg whites and see if it helped and it did.
So, now I’m obsessed with making crunchy chicken. It tastes so good and it works every time. I used this trick to make crunchy chicken tenders, too.
This sweet and sour chicken is pretty easy to make. All you do is coat the chicken pieces in a mixture of egg white and vodka and then dredge them in cornstarch. Then just fry them and drain them on paper towels while you make the sauce.
What I love about this recipe is that the chicken actually stays crunchy for a while even after you’ve tossed the chicken pieces in the sauce. I can’t wait to use this vodka trick in other recipes.
More Chinese Take-Out Recipes
If you like this sweet and sour recipe you might like to try some of these other homemade take-out recipes, too. Or learn more about common Chinese cooking ingredients and browse some more of my favorite recipes!
- Spicy Hunan Beef
- Hot and Sour Soup
- Short-Cut Chinese Scallion Pancakes
- Beef with Broccoli
- Kung Pao Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- egg white of 1 extra large egg
- 2 tbsp vodka
- vegetable oil for frying
for the sauce:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 Tbsp light sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Heat oil in wok or other pot being used for frying to medium-high heat. Make sure you have at least 1 inch of oil in your pot. Whisk vodka and egg white in a small bowl. Place cornstarch in a separate small bowl. Dip chicken pieces in egg white and then coat in cornstarch. Gently place into heated oil and fry until golden brown. Work in small batches until all of the chicken is fried. Place finished chicken pieces on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil.
- In a small saucepan, heat all sauce ingredient except cornstarch and water and bring to a low boil, stirring constantly with a large wooden spoon. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Pour into boiling mixture and stir until sauce boils and thickens. Add chicken pieces into saucepan, until they are all coated. Remove and serve on plate, pouring on top any extra remaining sauce. Garnish with fresh scallions if desired.
I would love to try your sweet and sour chicken recipe but I am allergic to eggs. What can I use in place of the egg whites???
There really isn’t a substitute we can think of – the egg white acts as a binder for the breading. You can try leaving it out, but not sure how the breading will hold together.
Any chance of coming up with a keto version of this?? Super Crispy coating that STAYS crisp… and Sweet and Sour Sauce for coating or dipping?? A friend and I have searched and searched for sweet and sour sauce like the red stuff they serve in Chinese restaurants… to no avail. I’ll say “thanks in advance” for your reply ;-D
She and I BOTH enjoy all the good things that you share with all of us – Thank you SO MUCH! ;-D
I don’t have one yet but I will try to make one. I do have a keto orange chicken. The coating doesn’t stay crispy as long as I would like but the sauce is pretty darn close to the original. https://kirbiecravings.com/keto-orange-chicken/
I made this today and it was so so good! wonderful! THANK YOU!Â
yay! so glad you like it. Hope you enjoy my other recipes!
does seem similar indeed! gonna try that next time, add a little cornstarch to it as well! and that next time will be soon, i know that! yumm!
I think the little bit of cornstarch should make it even crunchier! good luck!
had to come back and comment on this, this was truly delicious!!!
i didn’t think i would like the sauce since i can’t stand the smell of cidervinegar, and when it was bubbling in the pan i didn’t like the smell either, so i was worried, but when it came together all the flavors just worked so well together!
will defintely make this over and over, so thank you!
i will however use my own way to coat the chicken, taught to me by an indonesian woman, add some water to plain flour and mix it till it is a yoghurt like consistency, not too runny, not too thick, mix chicken in it and fry the pieaces, easy and for my personal taste i like those better. as crispy, or even more so
allthough my boyfriend is Russian and he could appreciate the vodka part haha……
i love it when people come back to comment! Your slurry sounds similar to something I’ve used before for my salt and pepper chicken wings, except that I use a little cornstarch in there too. https://kirbiecravings.com/2014/01/salt-and-pepper-wings.html
I would never think of using vodka for breading chicken, that’s so cool! I would expect this to apply for fried chicken wings, other fried meats, seafood & veggies too?
I haven’t tried, but I imagine so! I definitely will be experimenting some more with vodka in breading
Huh, vodka! Imagine that! Makes sense with the explanation about the gluten though. Great, now I need to buy some vodka… haha.
haha, I had a hard time finding vodka in my house too! I actually ended up using this expensive bottle someone had gifted me.