Sweet and Sour Chicken in Chinese

If you want to cook proper Chinese takeout style sweet and sour chicken, this is THE recipe. I included a tutorial video and step-by-step pictures, so you can easily follow the process of cooking with a wok.

Like many American takeout dishes, you won’t find sweet and sour chicken on the menu of most restaurants in China. But we do have a sweet and sour pork dish (糖醋里脊) and it’s wildly popular.

Sweet and sour sauce

Authentic sweet and sour sauce uses ketchup as a main ingredient. But each restaurant uses its own secret ingredients to add flavor and make the sauce more interesting. I’d say there are thousands of ways to create this sauce. For example, you can find three other different versions of sweet and sour sauce on my blog:

Each recipe uses a different combination of ingredients to create a pungent and rich sauce. They are all very delicious.

For the sweet and sour sauce in today’s recipe, I used a lighter sauce that is closer to the American takeout style. We seldom use processed sauces at home (except mayonnaise!). So I used tomato paste (or you can use tomato sauce) to replace katchup. In addition, I used rice vinegar and orange juice to make the sauce fruitier.

The cooking process

I know that many of you do not like frying food at home because it requires a lot of oil and it makes your stovetop and counter messy. But it is the only way, if you want a real-deal takeout style dish.

You can cook this dish in a wok or a flat skillet. I chose to use a wok because the smaller bottom means it requires less oil to fry the chicken. Instead of deep frying, we use just enough oil to cover the chicken halfway. By using high heat, it crisps up the surface nicely, just as good as deep frying. After frying the chicken, you’ll remove the extra oil. So the total oil consumption of the dish is only 2 to 3 tablespoons.

If you have been following my blog, you know that I’ve been teaching stir fried dishes using a nonstick skillet. It is an easier way for beginners and you don’t need to buy extra cookware. However I’ve had quite a few reader request recipes that using a wok. So today I’m sharing the wok cooking process with you.