sweet and sour chicken { homemade }

I love good chinese food. There are few place around here that have it though, unfortunately, so I suppose it is just as well that we rarely eat out. When I saw this recipe over at The Recipe Critic I just had to try it. Good chinese food at home? Yes, please!!

It was so simple and easy to make. I had it ready in about 45 minutes.....I changed a few things. Imagine that!!

I used my large cast iron skillet and cooked it on top of the stove because I didn't want to wait for it to bake in the oven. I used butter and basically fried it and it was easier to make sure all the chicken was coated in the sauce, which is the best part!

( by the way, if you don't have a cast iron skillet you need to get one! I don't know what I would do without my cast iron skillets and pots...you can check some out here. They are very inexpensive and if you take care of them right they last forever!! )

I served the chicken with rice. I almost always cook my rice with more chicken broth than water. It gives it so much more flavor! This was so, so good. Better than any sweet and sour chicken I have had at a restaurant!

sweet and sour chicken
recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil ( I used butter )
1 cup sugar
4 tbls ketchup
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbls soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 325. Cut chicken breast into bite sized pieces and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Whisk the eggs together and then in a separate bowl place the cornstarch. Coat chicken in cornstarch and then in the eggs. ( I did dipped it back into the cornstarch again after the egg before placing in the skillet ).

Heat oil ( or butter ) in large skillet and brown chicken. Place into a 9x13 pan.

In a medium bowl mix together the sugar, ketchup, both vinegar's, soy sauce and garlic salt. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour. Stir chicken every 15 minutes to evenly coat in sauce.


Note: After browning the chicken in the cast iron skillet I just left it in there and poured the sauce over it. Turned the chicken every few minutes to keep it coated in the sauce. It only took about 15 minutes to cook on top of the stove.


Enjoy,

Mary Elizabeth