Sweet & sour chicken

Sweet & sour chicken

Try an authentic version of this classic Chinese takeaway dish, with natural sweetness and a warm chilli flavour to spice things up

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 45 mins

Freezable

Sauce can be frozen

Method

  1. For the sauce, put the red pepper, chunks of chilli and pineapple juice in a pan and bring to the boil. Cover and cook for 10 mins, then purée in a food processor. Return to the pan with the pineapple chunks, chilli halves, star anise, tamarind, sugar and vinegar. Gently simmer for 20-30 mins until reduced and sticky. Keep warm, or reheat to serve.
  2. Fill a large pan 1cm deep with oil and heat until shimmering. Whisk the soda water and 100ml cold water into the self-raising flour with a little salt. Tip the cornflour onto a plate, line a tray with kitchen paper and turn on the oven to low.
  3. Stir the batter well. Dust the chicken with cornflour, then dip into the batter. One at a time, lower into the hot oil (about 5-6 every batch). Turn up the heat to keep the chicken frying, if needed, and cook for 5-6 mins, turning once. When cooked, drain on the tray, and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Stack onto a plate with the warm sauce on the side, and scatter with shredded spring onions.
Try

Variations

To serve as a main dish, add rice. For any vegetarians, thinly slice some sweet potatoes, then batter and fry these before you cook the chicken.

654 kcalories, protein 38g, carbohydrate 82g, fat 20 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 2g, sugar 50g, salt 0.57 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, March 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-40

  • Binder photo Daz

    03 May 2011

    Daz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely brilliant recipe! I didn't have any tamarind paste, but apparently lemon juice is an okay alternative, and it turned out lovely. The chicken came out really moist and tender - recommend this!

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  • Binder photo Penny

    18 June 2011

    Penny commented on this recipe

    Only used 1 chilli and doubled quantities as feeding kids. Was amazing will defo make again

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  • Binder photo peterf1061

    07 July 2011

    peterf1061 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this a few times now. Used one chilli, left out tamarind and star anise. Added orange juice and shaoxing wine, absolutely amazing! Thanks John!

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  • Binder photo zhagan

    12 August 2011

    zhagan rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    yummy, will be making again and again

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  • Binder photo supercook69

    23 August 2011

    supercook69 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Im not a big fan of chinese, but I thought I'd have a go at this. It was REALLY nice, I like the chicken balls. The sauce was good, thou my son struggled with it. I didn't use 3 chillies, as I knew my son wouldn't eat it. It definitely didn't need 3, just 1 is enough. I also think 4 star anise was to much too!!!

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  • Binder photo Di

    11 September 2011

    Di rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I also thought that 4 star anise and 3 chilies made it too hot which was a shame, as the basic taste was lovely. Chicken was excellent. Will leave out at least 1 star anise and maybe only use 1 chili next time.

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  • Binder photo marcie88

    05 October 2011

    marcie88 rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Jo. x

    21 October 2011

    Jo. x rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I love this recipe, I never do Sweet and Sour Chicken another way now. You must try this recipe! 5 stars all the way.

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  • Binder photo south63

    22 November 2011

    south63 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    A very nice Sweet & Sour. I made it with prawns instead of chicken though. The star anise is quite a strong flavour and I only used 3. If I cook it again I will use only 2 star anise. It needed a larger water to flour ratio but my main criticism is that there was a lot of pineapple but not enough sauce, especially as I served it with rice.

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  • Binder photo lislec

    14 January 2012

    lislec rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely lovely recipe, me and my fiance loved it! Sauce was spicy, but we love spicy so that was great. I did struggle to reduce it by much in 20 minutes, it needed a higher heat than I had it on and another 20 minutes, but that's probably my error!

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  • Binder photo sal

    01 February 2012

    sal rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This has become a family favourite! Really easy to make and delicious.

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  • Binder photo alizon

    01 March 2012

    alizon rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was awesome, bf loved it! I used the sauce recipe but I velveted the chicken for an hour before flash frying it to lower the fat content. Is now on our ever expanding try again list!

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  • Binder photo pixieden

    08 March 2012

    pixieden commented on this recipe

    Can anyone suggest an alternative to pineapple for the sauce as I have a bit of an allergic reaction to it. Would love to do sweet and sour but stuck on what to substitute thanks

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  • Binder photo wendy

    20 March 2012

    wendy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fabby! Can't believe how well this turned out - even hubby who apparently doesn't like sweet and sour liked this. Going to try with pork next time. Only used 2 chillis and 2 star anise for sauce as hubby not great with really spicy food and he still thought it had a bit of a kick!

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  • Binder photo Ulster Rugby

    24 March 2012

    Ulster Rugby rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Excellent, we love the tangy flavour from the star anice & if I could get away with it I'd add more chilli. Regular meal in our house now. Good man John.

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  • Binder photo sarah

    13 August 2012

    sarah rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely amazing. Family loved it and will be making it again and again.

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  • Binder photo jan foweraker

    15 August 2012

    jan foweraker rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I absolutely loved this although my husband found the sauce a bit too hot! The chicken was delicious so perhaps next time I will use a sweet chili dipping sauce. This would probably work really well with pollack or monkfish and a tartare sauce.

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  • Binder photo Dory

    19 September 2012

    Dory rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This was really, really good.

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  • Binder photo Carol

    01 October 2012

    Carol rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Very very nice, although I adapted it quite a bit. I didnt have red pepper or red chillies, so used green (out of the garden). No star anise or tamarind paste, so left those out. And used beer in the batter instead of soda water. But really successful. And delicious.

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  • Binder photo Willow

    31 October 2012

    Willow rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Amazing!! Will be making this again for sure but next time I might make the sauce in advance so I only have the chicken and rice to worry about.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 45 mins

Freezable

Sauce can be frozen

Ingredients

  • sunflower or vegetable oil , for frying
  • 100ml soda water , chilled
  • 140g self-raising flour
  • 25g cornflour
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts , cut into chunks
  • spring onions , finely shredded, to serve

FOR THE SAUCE

  • 1 red pepper , deseeded and chopped into chunks
  • 3 red chillies , 1 cut into chunks, 2 halved and deseeded
  • 425g can pineapple chunks, drained and juice reserved
  • 4 star anise
  • 50g tamarind paste
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 100ml rice wine vinegar or Chinese vinegar
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654 kcalories, protein 38g, carbohydrate 82g, fat 20 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 2g, sugar 50g, salt 0.57 g

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