Easy sweet & sour chicken

Easy sweet & sour chicken

By Good Food
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(213 ratings)
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Prep: 5 mins - 10 mins Cook: 15 mins

Easy

Serves 4

Ditch the takeaway and make our simple sweet and sour chicken recipe. This speedy Chinese-style rice dish is ready in under 30 minutes and packed with zingy flavours.

Nutrition and extra info

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal305
  • fat2g
  • saturates0g
  • carbs38g
  • sugars23g
  • fibre2g
  • protein36g
  • salt1.63g
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Ingredients

  • 9 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 3 tbsp malt vinegar
  • 4 tbsp dark muscovado sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 4 skinless and boneless chicken breast, cut into chunks
  • 1 small onion, roughly chopped
    Onion

    Onion

    un-yun

    Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…

  • 2 red peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
    Peppers

    Pepper

    pep-iz

    Also known as capsicums, bell peppers, sweet peppers or by their colours, for example red and…

  • 227g can pineapple pieces in juice, drained
    Pineapple

    Pineapple

    pine-ap-pel

    With its tuft of spiky, dusty green leaves and cross-hatched, golden orange skin, the pineapple…

  • 100g sugar snap peas, roughly sliced
  • handful salted, roasted cashew nuts, optional
    Cashew

    Cashew

    ka-shoo

    The seeds from the 'Cashew Apple' - a tree which bears bright orange fruit and is native…

Method

  1. In a large microwaveable dish, mix the ketchup, vinegar, sugar and garlic thoroughly with the chicken, onion and peppers. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 8-10 mins until the chicken is starting to cook and the sauce is sizzling.

  2. Stir in the pineapple pieces and sugar snap peas and return to the microwave for another 3-5 mins until the chicken is completely cooked. Leave to stand for a few minutes, then stir in the cashews, if using, and serve.

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Comments, questions and tips

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saffysue
12th May, 2013
5.05
Have cooked this a few times now both in the wok and in the microwave. Very easy, very tasty and not the yucky gloopy sauce that is standard at the local takeaway.
raven
21st Apr, 2013
1.05
THe only dud recipe I've found on this site. Was just OK - sauce tasted just like you'd expect ketchup malt vinegar and brown sugar to taste - a bit yuk!
simone12
16th Apr, 2013
5.05
Wow, so simple to make and the family loved it. Was very pleased with myself after making this.
vixtwo
10th Apr, 2013
5.05
A stunning dish, dead, dead easy, pretty much all store cupboard ingredients, and I used it with left over roast pork from the Sunday roast. Highly recommended.
joerin42
8th Apr, 2013
I also used a wok and it was fine, but I did fine the sauce very sweet, next time I'll cut down on the sugar.
angie1993
8th Apr, 2013
5.05
I cooked it in the wok too and it was delicious! So quick & easy to make. I added some chilli flakes for a little heat.
astri24
7th Apr, 2013
3.05
I didn't really like the idea of cooking it in microwave, so I cooked it in a wok. Half-cooked the chicken with a very little amount of oil. Put the chicken aside. Stirred in the garlic first and then the onion. Put back the half-cooked chicken into the wok and then add the sauce. After 5 minutes I added the other ingredients. Sauce was fantastic though. Love the combination of ketchup and malt vinegar. I used 30% more on ketchup and malt vinegar (12 tbsp of ketchup and 4 tbsp of malt vinegar).
astri24
7th Apr, 2013
3.05
I didn't really like the idea of using microwave, so I cooked it in a wok. Half-cooked the chicken with a very little oil first. Put a side the half-cooked chicken. Stirred in the garlic first and then onion. Put back into the wok the half-cooked chicken and added the sauce and the other ingredients. Sauce is fantastic though. Love the ketchup and malt vinegar combination. For this method of mine, I used 30% more of the sauce, means I used 12 tbsp of ketchup and 4 tbsp of malt vinegar.
curlycat0622
2nd Apr, 2013
Quite a lot of sugar in this recipe but it was really delicious. Both my boys ate it all up - even the one who doesn't like peppers! The peppers really soak up the sauce. I served it with brown rice.
curlycat0622
2nd Apr, 2013
Quite a lot of sugar in this recipe but it was really delicious. Both my boys ate it all up - even the one who doesn't like peppers! The peppers really soak up the sauce. I served it with brown rice.

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