10
Jun
Posted as Poultry
I am about to tell you something that you just may not believe. You will accuse me of lying. But I swear it’s the truth. Are you ready?
I ate Chinese food for the first time last month.
Crazy, isn’t it? I had gone through 29+ years without ever having tried it. I went to college, lived in a dorm, lived in an apartment, and yet never did a morsel of Chinese food touch my lips. I’m not exactly sure how this happened – we did our fair share of take out, but it seemed to always be pizza or hoagies (yes, in Pittsburgh they are hoagies, not subs or heroes). So about a month ago after my Chief Culinary Consultant and I hiked a trail around a lake in the D.C. heat and humidity and decided we needed dinner to come to us, he suggested getting Chinese delivered. I said sure and I’d get whatever he was having since I’d never tried it. He couldn’t believe it. We had General Tso’s and egg rolls and I’ve been craving Chinese ever since.
This recipe, although it takes awhile to get from the stove to your plate, is well worth the effort. The flavor of the sauce is perfect, the texture of the chicken is wonderful and all together, you’d think you ordered this from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant. I served this with basic brown rice and a mix of frozen vegetables that included broccoli, sugar snap peas, carrots, and water chestnuts. It all went together wonderfully and it’s a dinner I plan on making more often than not.
What’s your favorite Chinese take out dish? I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of experimenting in the future, both ordering in and creating things in the kitchen. I would love to try homemade egg rolls!
One Year Ago: Chicken & Pasta with Spinach-Basil Pesto
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Sweet and Sour Chicken
Serves: 3-4
For the Chicken:
3-4 boneless,skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
For the Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar (preferably rice or white)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Working in two batches, toss the chicken pieces in cornstarch and then coat with the egg. Heat the oil over medium-high heat and again in two batches, brown the chicken, turning it so that all sides are browned.
4. Place the chicken in a single layer in a 9×13 baking dish.
5. Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and pour evenly over the chicken. Turn the chicken to ensure each piece is coated.
6. Bake for 1 hour, turning the chicken every 15 minutes.
(Adapted from Amber’s Delectable Delights)
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Oooh! That looks so mouthwatering. Chinese is one of our favourite cuisines.
You’re right – I can’t believe you had never had Chinese! I LOVE Chinese food. My favorites are General Tso’s, orange chicken, hot braised chicken, chicken potstickers, and lo mein. Your pictures are gorgeous – I really like these. I love that this recipe only uses 1/4 cup of oil, because so many recipes call for cups and cups of oil for deep frying. Cant’ wait to try this!!
Nope. can’t believe you’ve never had Chinese before. Next up – I think you should branch out to Thai!
There’s a whole world out there!!!
Great pix by the way!
Chris – I actually tried Thai for the first time back in February (I’m so lame, I know), and I loved it!!
How on earth did you get through college without Chinese food?
I would have STARVED.
This looks great!! I made a variation of it this year and I was amazed at how yummy it was. And no take-out-induced finger swelling! Thumbs up!
Wow! That’s a long time without Chinese. Great pictures and recipe. Well done.
I love this recipe, thanks for posting I need to make it again soon!
Congrats! Chinese is great. I love wonton soup, chicken low mein, and crab ragoons. The kids love S&S chicken. Looks like an easy recipe. I ought to give it a try.
You don’t know what you’ve been missing!!! I loove chow fun, sesame chicken, egg drop/wonton mix soup, spring rolls, chicken or beef with brocoli, beef with oyster sauce, moo shu chicken…i can keep going. Your chicken looks perfect!!!
My husband’s favorite take-out is sweet and sour chicken. I can’t wait to try this recipe!! Now, could you post a recipe for moo shu vegetable?
You definitely have to try pan fried dumplings (or steamed). You could easily make a meal out of those (even though it’s an appetizer).
Thanks everyone, for all of the great suggestions! Keep ‘em coming!
YUM! This looks delicious; I cannot wait to try it!!
I hope your newfound love of Chinese takeout leads you to discover some more clone recipes, and that you will share them. We have been trying to duplicate Steamed Pork Dumplings for years with limited to no success.
Well check you out! Just what we all need. Sweet & sour chicken better than take out? fun post, thanks, s
wow, i can’t imagine living 29 years without chinese food! you definitely have to try dim sum and for greasy takeout, orange chicken and eggplant tofu are my favorites. your sweet and sour looks great, thanks for the recipe!
mm! that just looks divine.
Love this!
I can’t believe someone managed to live her life without Chinese food! I’m bookmarking this. It looks scrumptious, as does your delicious photography. Love your colorful picture.
I love wonton soup. . . the broth is so clear, the wontons so rich, and the container so reusable.
Oooh yes, I believed you. There’s always new things we haven’t tried since its existent but better late than never! I never tasted Blue cheeses, goat cheese or Camembert (au lait cru) even though it’s available in my local supermarkets until 11 years ago. Now, everyone has to fight with me
You can count me in your group!
Oh no, you’ve been missing out – Chinese is soo good! I’ve never had Taco Bell, which seems to shock people for some reason.
Lovely sweet and sour chicken, it’s making my tummy grumble!
Kerstin – It is surprising that someone hasn’t had Taco Bell! I guess I’m not completely alone in missing out on some things. But really, you’re not missing out, Taco Bell is pretty bleh
Your dish looks great. Going to prepare it next weekend.
wow
Elinoar – Israeli food blog
I’m glad you like Chinese Food! Your dish looks so delicious! I can’t wait to have some with rice!
Looks delicious Chelle. I am glad you finally ate some Chinese food.
For someone who is a virgin to Chinese food, this recipe rocks! I have lots of firsts to conquer myself… one bite at a time. I am SO making this. Thanks! I’ve been looking for a simple recipe and this one sounds wonderful.
Just found your site while touring food blogs. Totally trying this recipe first of all. Second of all. Egg rolls are totally not as tricky as they seem. I haven’t made traditional chinese style yet, but make southwestern ones all the time. They’re a snap!
Hi Mary Teresa, thanks for the encouragement on egg rolls. I can’t wait to give them a try!
We made this for a family gathering over the weekend and it was a HUGE hit! It is delicious! Thanks so much for all these amazing recipes, our family is eating very well these days
Hi Eileen,
So happy to hear that your family enjoyed this dish. Thanks for coming back and letting me know! So glad that you’re enjoying the blog
-Michelle
You’re just now trying chinese food! It’s one of my favorites…your version looking tasty! The sauce looks rich and the texture of the chicken (though in sauce) looks crisp. What a plus! I’m very impressed that you chose to use brown rice instead of white rice in your recipe. My daughter and I make chinese food at home and let me tell ya…it’s a winner! We use Kikkoman soy sauce and LaChoy sweet and sour sauce from our local grocery for an authentic chinese food flavor. Would you happen to have a recipe for Hot Braised Chicken sauce? Thanks!
I just made this for dinner and it was absolutly delish! Just like chinese takeout! I wanted a short cut, so I cooked the chicken at 400 degrees for 30 min and they turned out great. Thanks for the great recipe!!
You’re right, I don’t believe it. Chinese food is my favourite and anyone who knows my blog also knows I cook it regularly and could eat it every day. As chinese food is new to you, why not take a look. If you like sweet & sour, you’ll love my crispy shredded beef recipe. Love your blog BTW, I’m just starting to get to grips with bread baking and hoping to take inspiration from you, Debs.
This is so good. makes me wonder why I never made sweet and sour myself before. A co-worker shared your blog with me and this recipe but I didn’t know it was yours until I was scrambling trying to remember the sauce and your blog came up in a google search. I know she got the recipe here!!! My husband thanks you
What an amazing discovery, eating Chinese for the 1st time! Recipe looks great, and although it’s not Chinese, but Japanese, if you’re looking for a quick and easy fix for the weeknight, check out my blog for a simple Chicken Teriyaki recipe!
Thank you SO much for this recipe. I’ve made it 2 times now, and it is a rare “5/5″ (5 people in the 5 people of my family enjoy the same meal). Now the problem is doubling, quadroupling, etc.-ing my batch next time…
Hi Luke – I’m so thrilled that this is a winning recipe with your family! I think that doubling or quadrupling should be relatively easy and can’t see that it would cause any issues with the ingredients. Let me know how it turns out!
I just posted about this recipe! Absolutely loved it!!! Thanks for sharing!!
OOo that looks great. You should try crab meat rangoons and chicken and broccoli. I have been trying to find good recipes for these for years!
Fantastic recipe!!! Thanks for sharing!! This was an absolute hit with the family.
) No more take-out Chinese when I can make just as good if not better here at home for super cheap!
Next time, I’m going to lessen the sugar by a bit and add a 1/2 cup or so of fresh squeezed orange juice and zest so that we can have orange chicken!
Tried this last night and loved it! Always a good thing when the hubby approves!
Can’t wait to try it with orange juice!
I ended up with scrambled-eggs chicken. : (
We made this for New Year’s Eve, and it was wonderful – so good that we couldn’t eat more until the next year came
We ended up doubling the sauce after seeing the first batch of sauce, though, and the next time we’ll probably triple it. We added a bit less vinegar and a bit more sugar, to the second batch, as the first turned out a bit too sour for our taste.
It was yummy, though, and a shame there were so few leftovers.
Wow! I made this tonight for my dear husband, a man who did grow up on fast food because his dear Mother didn’t cook, and guess what he said? He said it was better than LeeAnn Chin, our local Chinese, and also that he could eat it EVERY DAY because its that good. What praise!
I would agree with others that I would at least 1 1/2 or DOUBLE the sauce. I was scraping the bottom to get a few last drips of sauce.
The cornstarch coating scares me and a lot of it fell off in the oven, but I think it was due to my technique and I’ll be more careful next time!
Thanks so much for a great recipe! I can’t wait to try the others from your Top 20 of 2009!
this is incredible! i couldn’t believe how easy it was to make. i can’t wait to change it up and make it orange or lemon chicken. thank you for the recipe!!!
Thanks so much for this recipe. It came out perfectly. The other thing I wish I could have done was make extra sauce. It’s perfect the it is and was a hit with my family they couldn’t believe I made something like this and I will make it again it was simple and easy
I had this recipe bookmarked and just got around to making it. My whole family absolutely loved it! The sauce was perfect. Thank you so much!
Tried this tonight to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We loved it. thanks for the easy, great tasting recipe!
This was so awesome. even my 15 yr old cousin asked if I could cook this atleast once a week. A big hit in our house thanks to you.,