Sweet and sour chicken is a classic of Chinese cuisine. It suits all palates… my recipe is specially concocted for all of you who don’t necessarily have the chance to live near an Asian store.

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You can choose to buy your sweet and sour sauce ready-made or make it with my sweet and sour sauce recipe which is honestly just as simple.

Although it has clearly American influences, sweet and sour chicken has its origins in 18th century China where it was rather made with pork. But since chicken is life, we’re making sweet and sour chicken today!

Ingredients for sweet and sour chicken

Well, let’s start at the beginning: the chicken. You can use whatever pieces you want, but know that you’ll make me very sad if you don’t use chicken thighs or leg quarters.

These are the juiciest parts of the chicken that will give a sublime taste to the fritters.

Large sweet and sour popcorn chicken — Using thighs doesn’t affect the appearance, but I wanted to impress you a bit

Rice vinegar: This is about the only “exotic” ingredient on the list. And even then, now that sushi is trendy, it’s very easy to find in supermarkets.

If you’re still looking to substitute it or learn more about rice vinegar, check out my full article on the subject.

Tips for successful sweet and sour chicken

First of all, you need to wait patiently for the oil to reach the right temperature. Ideally, you have a cooking thermometer, otherwise you can put a small drop of the batter in it.

If it sizzles and rises directly to the surface, it’s at the right temperature! The consequences of oil that’s not hot enough are that the batter will come off and the fritters won’t be crispy.

In continuation of this, you shouldn’t add too many pieces at once to the oil. Otherwise, you risk lowering the oil temperature and ending up with the consequences mentioned above. In short, you need to fry in batches!

fritters frying in small batches — Not all fritters are fried at the same time

For the sauce, there’s no problem preparing it in advance to avoid having to coordinate on a small cooking surface. However, make sure to heat it before adding the fritters.

How to accompany sweet and sour chicken?

You can simply serve it as an appetizer. But if it’s the main dish of a dinner, white rice can be delicious in all its simplicity. Mixed with the sauce, it will be delicious.

Alternatively, I can suggest my fried rice, Cantonese rice or even my yellow rice. And why not my lemon chicken for a beautiful color duality?

For a vegetarian alternative, here’s my recipe for sweet and sour tofu fritters

Fried rice during cooking — My delicious fried rice

If guests (or you) are not fans of rice, I have a delicious recipe for stir-fried noodles with vegetables like at the restaurant. Honestly, it’s amazing and the “salty” taste will perfectly complement the sweet and sour chicken