Children seem to love sweet and sour chicken but the takeaway classic is usually deep-fried and packed with sugar. Although this recipe is not sugar-free, the sugar content is greatly reduced with the sweetness coming from the pineapple juice and ketchup.
My homemade sauce recipes start with simple ingredients you may already have in your pantry. Which brings me to this homemade sweet and sour sauce recipe today. This version is better for you, made with less sugar. Even better news is that the sauce is dairy free, and has no MSG or artificial colors!
low sugar sweet and sour chicken recipe
Download: https://urluso.com/2vAEV8
The problem with many of the store-bought condiments and sauces are the excess sugar and artificial ingredients. Most of the store brand sweet and sour sauces include red food coloring and a lot of sodium, too.
Our last attempt at Sweet and Sour sauce was done the traditional way: brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch. These are the typical ingredients you will find if you search for a homemade sweet and sour sauce recipe.
I am doing a 40 day 'no flour no sugar' challenge; I knew I would really miss sweet and sour sauce and looked for a home made alternative. I put a tiny bit of coconut sugar in, so I won't be 100% sugar free, still it will be a lot less sugar than a packet sauce, and much healthier altogether. It works really well; I am impressed.
OH MY WORD!!!!! I am an amateur foodie...(Very amateur) that tries to eat healthy, this hits the nail right on the head. I had too adjust a few things based on pantry stock. I had no red pepper so I used apple sauce (sugar free). Sugar free concord jelly, 1/2tsp of hot Chinese mustard and a TBL of ketchup. I will make the recipe as is next time, I am sure it is better your way! LOL....But dang girl...,
If desired, you could dice the chicken a day or two ahead of time and you can also whisk together the sweet and sour sauce beforehand. That way, all you have to do is quickly throw everything in a pan the day you plan on making the recipe.
Thanks for a great recipe. This was SO good! I was out of apple cider vinegar so substituted with unseasoned rice vinegar. I was a little skeptical about all the sugar but went ahead with the full amount and I was not disappointed. I added steamed fresh stir fry veggies and served over rice to complete the meal. YuM !
Hi, this is a great recipe. However, I had a hard time with the cornstarch. I have never worked with cornstarch and I was not sure what the consistency should look like. The cornstarch did not stick to the chicken. Any advice?
This is a delicious recipe! I added orange juice to the sauce. I also removed the chicken from the pan and sauteed red and yellow pepper, returned the chicken to the pan and then added the sauce. It is definitely a keeper!!!
If you want to reduce the amount of sugar, I recommend 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of honey. The granulated sugar does help thicken the sauce, but 100% honey can also be used if you prefer natural sweeteners.
So glad you liked it! For anyone reading this who is concerned about the sweetness, while this recipe is supposed to be pretty sweet, you can definitely take it down a notch by omitting the brown sugar, or by reducing the brown sugar and honey to half the amount. Hope that helps!
This recipe is a keeper. Easy to make and super great tasting. I doubled the sauce, as I love sauce on my rice and veggies along with my chicken. . I added steamed carrot strips and broccoli for my veggies. Will definitely be making this again.
I tried this recipe and my family and I love it!!! I made some changes, I fried the chicken with olive oil to cut down on the fat, and cut on the sugar from 1 cup to 1/2 cup, and I added 1/4 cup of orange juice. At the end when the chicken was done in the oven, I added some sesame seeds. I cooked 4 pounds, and it was almost done in one night.
This was terrific! My husband said this recipe is a keeper. It was sticky and the chicken was not dried out. I admit I was skeptical. I did not have Apple Cider Vinegar but Red Wine Vinegar worked just fine. Great meal or appetizer.
I discovered this recipe about a year ago and have made it 5 or 6 times. It is soooo good and easy! My changes: I cut the chicken a little larger than bite size. This reduces the possibility of the chicken drying out during the oven time. I am cooking for two so, I cut the amount of chicken in half but, keep the sauce amounts the same because we love the sauce over rice! I also garnish with uncooked green onions. Restaurant quality dish, to quote my grateful husband.
I made this last night & what a treat!! Delicious!! I tweaked it a little by using sesame oil with a little shaved ginger root to brown the chicken. When it came out of the oven I sprinkled sesame seeds on top.This recipe by will be a regular!Thanks !!
I tried this today. I first heated the oil, then dipped a few bite sized pieces of chicken into cornstarch mix then egg and fried. I realized this might take forever so I put the egg mixture on my seasoned chicken, mixed it up. The I put the cornstarch mixture with a little self rising flour, (Used for chicken fingers) in a paper bag. Like frying chicken. Shook it up fried it up. Did the rest as follows. I added a little fish oil, and sesame oil. Delish. Fish oil always seems to give me the missing *Something is missing* from online recipes. It works miracles for fried rice. I thought it was gross at first, But trust me. Make a stir fried rice with it, and you will know automatically that is what has been missing. Any hoo. This is great. Only issue I had was the color of the chicken. I was expecting golden. It was fairly white. I might have over cooked the first batch. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It was great.
We enjoyed this recipe very much. Only problem is that it was a little dry. we are having leftovers of it tonight. I am making the sauce again. When I make this again I am doubling the sauce. I am cutting down on the sugar as well.
The recipe was easy and great! My husband really enjoyed it! I have tried other sweet and sour recipes, this is the best! Like eating at a fine dining Chinese restaurant! I hallowed out a pineapple and served it in the hull. Very good. I also made the pineapple chicken. Both recipes were great!
I made this recipe and then shared leftovers with my daughter and family. Everyone loved it. Next time will try adding sweet peppers, pineapple and water chestnuts. Requested by the kids. Thank you for a great recipe!
This recipe came out great! I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and it was plenty sweet. I used less than 1.5lb of chicken so I was able to reduce the corn starch to 1/2 cup and the eggs to 2. The flavor of the sweet and sour sauce was spot on and family loved it served over rice and veggies on the side. This is a keeper.NOTE that I sautéed and cooked this in the Instant Pot. After sautéing the breaded chicken, I poured the sauce over it and cooked it on high pressure for 3 minutes. Came out PERFECT in less than 30 minutes.
I completely skipped the whole oven part and just fried the chicken on a lower heat until the chicken was cooked on the inside and they came out perfectly tender and delicious. So if you dont have time to use the oven or want to save electricity I recommend doing the same! Loved the recipe!
Hi Deborah-was looking for something different for dinner-said to my husband how about sweet & sour chicken? Chose your recipe and sooo glad i did!! It was delicious And i know i will hear the microwave tonight as my husband has more sweet & sour chicken for a late night snack!! This is an awesome recipe and will be a regular at our house- will have to surprise my grandkids-can hardly wait!!!!
I did not follow cornstarch egg. I did egg cornstarch and it seemed to brown more nicely. You could also forgo the egg and just wet the chicken with water. I found this recipe to be delicious but I made some extra sauce using regular vinegar, pineapple juice and I put in ginger. I also wanted more sauce so I but the extra in and covered it for the first half hour. It came out wonderful. I find recipes using all these pots and pans and frying tedious and stressful. I am going to try to find ways to simplify.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was very good. Usually make my chicken balls a little different but these were quite tasty. Sauce is quite sweet but these were a bit easier to do than mine and will use this recipe again. My husband even liked them and he is hard to please. (Meat and potato man) thanks for the great recipe.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit! My kiddos helped me make this and they thought the sauce was going to be horrible since it had sugar, ketchup and vinegar in it (they prepared that part of the recipe). Anyways, both kids had 2 servings of this and the hubs had 2 1/2 servings. Thanks for a great recipe!!
Sweet and sour chicken is the one Chinese dish my oldest daughter will eat. I love what you did here. And, I had to muffle a cheer because your recipe is gluten free, too! Yipee! Great post! This will get made in my kitchen! YUM!
And when it comes to good health in the New Year, well, there is no comparison. A single SMALL take-out order of Sweet and Sour Chicken at Pei delivers a not-so-sweet 810 calories, 44 grams of added sugar, and 28 Smart points! Grab that PF Chang bag of Sweet and Sour Chicken from the frozen food department of your grocery store and you are looking at only 350 calories, but you are also looking at just 2-ounces of chicken, over 800 mg of sodium, and 34 grams of sugar (and a hefty 14 Weight Watchers Smart Points).
You could also go with a non-breaded chicken option. Check out my sweet chili air fryer chicken and brussels or air fried Greek chicken and veggies recipes for examples of air frying everything together.
Traditional sweet and sour sauce is essentially a 1:1 blend of granulated white sugar and vinegar. Coloring or other added ingredients lend the deep red flavor you see in most Chinese American sweet and sour chicken dishes. 2ff7e9595c
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