Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

By Foodiewife

I found this recipe on the food blog "Carlsbad Cravings". There's a bit of prep work involved-- cutting up the chicken, onion, garlic, bell peppers and carrots. The sauce isn't too fussy to make, and uses common household ingredients. There is a bit of frying involved, once the chicken is coated in a seasoned flour/cornstarch ...but, just enough to brown the chicken. Once all the veggies and pineapple are combined into the sauce, you pour it over the chicken and bake it for about 50 minutes. We served it with rice, and we both agreed that this is as delicious (if not more) than take-out. Best of all I know what ingredients went it. I'll make this one again.

Ingredients

• CHICKEN BREADING:
• 3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 1/2 pounds, cut in bite-size pieces)
• 3 eggs (I used two)
• 1/2 cup flour
• CORNSTARCH MIXTURE:
• 1 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE:
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice (from 20 ounce pineapple tidbits can below)
• 1 cup red wine vinegar (reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons ketchup (6-tablespoons)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• VEGETABLE/PINEAPPLES:
• 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple tidbits
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped (we prefer larger chunks and all red bell pepper)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, sliced as THIN as possible (2 to 3 carrots)

Details

Servings 4
Preparation time 40mins
Cooking time 90mins
Adapted from afeastfortheeyes.net

Preparation

Step 1

Add "Sweet and Sour Sauce" ingredients to a medium/large saucepan, stir and bring to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer. Allow to simmer while you prepare the chicken and dice the vegetables, stirring occasionally (turn off if longer than 20 minutes). Note, the sauce will not thicken, simmering is to soften the onions and blend flavors.

Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9x13- inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Whisk eggs together in a large bowl, set aside.

Add 1/2 cup flour to a large freezer bag; set aside next to eggs.

Whisk cornstarch, garlic powder, salt, pepper, ginger powder and onion powder in medium bowl; set aside next to flour.

Add chicken to eggs and coat, then remove, allowing excess to drip off, then add to freezer bag with flour.

Toss until evenly coated then discard any extra flour.

Add cornstarch/spices to the chicken in the freezer bag and shake until evenly coated.

Over high heat, heat enough oil (any kind) to generously cover the bottom of a large skillet until hot and rippling.

Add chicken and cook 1-2 minutes per side, or until browned but not cooked through. (You may need to cook in 2 batches depending on size of your skillet). Transfer chicken to prepared 9x13-inch baking dish.

Add carrots pineapple and peppers to the sweet and sauce and mix until well combined.

Pour sauce over chicken and stir until sauce/chicken/vegetables are evenly combined. Cook, uncovered for 50 minutes or until sauce is thickened*, stirring occasionally.

Serve over rice. Enjoy!

*NOTE: My sauce never thickened, so I carefully drained it back into a pot. I made a fast slurry of 3 Tablespoons cornstarch and a generous splash of water to remove the lumps until it was smooth. I added it to the sauce on medium-high heat. It thickened up within 30 seconds. It was perfect.