Crispy Sweet and Sour Chicken

Give the classic takeout dish a jazzy little twist with these gorgeously crispy sweet and sour chicken bowls. Juicy, panko-crumbed chicken is pan-fried until golden, then piled onto rice with a sticky, tangy sweet and sour sauce made from cupboard staples. A 30-minute dinner with no deep-frying required.

Crispy Sweet & Sour Chicken, at a Glance

⏰Time: 30 minutes

🍽️Serves: 4

🛒 Key Ingredients: Chicken breasts, panko breadcrumbs, pineapple juice, honey, light soy sauce, ketchup

🧠 Skill Level: Easy

💪 Protein: Approximately 47g per serving

🥡 Perfect For: Better-than-takeout nights, weeknight dinners, when you’re craving sweet and sour chicken

💃 Why it Works: The panko crumb brings the crunch without deep-frying, thin chicken cooks super quickly, and serving the sweet and sour sauce around the chicken helps keep the coating crispy.

My Little Twist on a Takeout Fave

Some of my earliest takeout memories undoubtedly include a sweet and sour dish. That sticky, sweet, incredibly moreish sauce has been a forever favorite, so I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to give it my own spin!

So many sweet and sour recipes are SUPER sweet and cloying, so I wanted a lovely balance here – not too sweet, not too sour. All with cupboard staples you probably already have.

While the classic flavors are the same, the chicken is where things get a little different. Instead of small deep-fried pieces, I’m coating thin chicken breasts in panko breadcrumbs and pan-frying them until gorgeously golden. Think crispy chicken cutlets, chicken schnitzel, or katsu chicken vibes.

I love this little twist because the chicken cooks SUPER quickly, and serving the sauce around it helps keep that gorgeous coating crispy.

If you like the sound of these flavors, I think you’ll enjoy sticky honey sesame chicken, sweet and sour chicken meatballs, hot honey chicken tenders, hot honey harissa grilled chicken, and hot honey fried chicken sandwiches as well.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Chicken breasts. Boneless and skinless. Use good quality, free-range chicken for the best flavor. You could also use chicken tenders if you prefer.
• Pineapple. Canned is absolutely fine – look for canned pineapple in juice, rather than syrup. You’ll use the juice in the sauce, and the pineapple as a garnish for the chicken.
• Chinese five spice. I like to add this to the cornstarch the chicken is coated in, for extra seasoning, but you can skip it if you like.
• Panko breadcrumbs. These are light, crispy, and a little larger than regular breadcrumbs. You can use regular breadcrumbs if you prefer.
• Fish sauce. An ingredient I use a lot to bring a deep savoriness to recipes. It doesn’t make the sauce taste fishy, I promise. If you don’t want to use it, you can skip it, but you might need to add a little extra salt.

How to Make Crispy Sweet & Sour Chicken

This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the crispy chicken – the full recipe with ingredient quantities is at the bottom of the page for you.

1. Use a meat mallet, or a rolling pin, to pound your chicken breasts into a thin, even layer. This will tenderize the chicken and make sure it cooks evenly in the pan. Coat each piece of chicken in seasoned cornstarch.

1. Shake off any excess, then dip the chicken in egg.

Kate’s Chicken Prep Tip

If you don’t want to pound the chicken, you can slice the breasts horizontally through the middle, to make two thinner cutlets from each breast.

1. Finally, press each piece into your panko breadcrumbs, making sure they’re coated well all over.

1. Combine the ingredients for your sweet and sour sauce, and cook over medium heat until thickened but still pourable.

1. Heat oil in a separate pan, then add your breaded chicken.

1. Cook until gorgeously golden and crispy on both sides, and cooked through.

1. Slice the crispy chicken into thin strips, then serve over steamed rice. Pour the the lovely sweet and sour sauce around the rice to preserve the crispy chicken coating. Scatter with extra pineapple, scallions, and cashews to serve.

Watch How to Make Crispy Sweet & Sour Chicken

Crispy Sweet and Sour Chicken FAQs

Can I make the sweet and sour chicken ahead of time?

Yes! You can coat the chicken in panko breadcrumbs a couple of hours in advance, then cover and pop in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

If you like, the sauce can be made 3 days in advance, then reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop when you’re ready to serve. Add a little water to loosen it up if it’s a bit thick.

What’s the best way to reheat the crispy chicken?

The best way to keep it crispy is to store it separately from the sauce and rice, and to reheat it in the air-fryer, rather than the microwave.

Air fry for five minutes at 350°F (180°C) until nice and crispy.

How do I keep the chicken crispy?

Make sure your pan and oil are nice and hot when you add the chicken, and try not to overcrowd the pan. Cook the chicken in batches if needed, then transfer them to a wire rack while you finish the rest. This will help prevent any sogginess.

I like to serve the sweet and sour sauce around the chicken, instead of on top of it, to help preserve the crispiness.

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @Zageer on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.

Give the classic takeout dish a jazzy little twist with these gorgeously crispy sweet and sour chicken bowls. Juicy, panko-crumbed chicken is pan-fried until golden, then piled onto rice with a sticky, tangy sweet and sour sauce made from cupboard staples. A 30-minute dinner with no deep-frying required. Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Total Time 30 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

For the crispy chicken –

• 650 g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (1 ½ lb)
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cornflour, (cornstarch)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

For the sweet and sour sauce –

• ½ cup pineapple juice, (from the can is fine)
• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar, or white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• ⅓ cup honey
• ¼ cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch, (cornflour)
• ¼ cup water

To serve –

• 1 cup long-grain rice, (like basmati or jasmine)
• 2 scallions (spring onions), sliced
• ½ cup canned or fresh pineapple, diced
• ¼ cup cashew nuts, roughly chopped

Method

1. Cook the rice.Add 1 cup of rice to a saucepan you have a lid for, then pour in 1 ½ cups of water. Set over medium-high heat, and when the top of the water starts to look foamy, pop the lid on and lower the heat.Let the rice cook for 12 minutes, then remove from the heat (still with the lid on) and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
2. Prepare the chicken. Use a meat mallet or rolling pin to pound each chicken breast into a thin, even piece, roughly ¼-inch thick. You can do this directly on a wooden board, or pop the chicken into a clear zip-lock bag first. This tenderizes the meat and allows it to cook evenly. Pat the chicken dry.Sprinkle the salt over both sides of the chicken pieces. You can keep the chicken in two large pieces, or cut them into four.
PRO TIP: If you don't want to pound the chicken, just slice each breast horizontally through the middle to make two thinner cutlets.
3. Bread the chicken. Place ½ cup of cornflour (cornstarch) and 1 teaspoon of Chinese five spice in a bowl, then mix to combine. Crack the egg into a separate shallow bowl (large enough to allow you to coat the chicken easily), then use a fork to mix well. Add 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs into a separate shallow bowl.Working with one piece of chicken at a time, place it into the cornstarch mixture and press to coat on both sides. Shake off any excess, then dunk into the egg on both sides before coating it in the panko breadcrumbs. Press the chicken into the panko so it's well-coated on both sides. Set the chicken aside on a plate for now.
4. Make the sweet and sour sauce. Add ½ cup of pineapple juice, ¼ cup of rice wine vinegar, ⅓ cup honey, ¼cup of tomato ketchup, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, and 4 crushed garlic cloves to a pan and set it over medium-high heat.Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with ¼ cup of water to make your cornstarch slurry, then pour into the pan with the sauce. Cook, stirring, for about five minutes, until the sauce thickens up nicely. It should be thick enough to coat a spoon, but still pourable. Remove the pot from the heat.
5. Cook the chicken. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to a large frying pan or skillet and set it over medium-high heat. When hot, add the breaded chicken and cook for 4 minutes on each side, until very golden and crispy. Lower the heat if the coating browns too quickly.Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches. Remove from the pan and set aside on a wire rack (if possible).
HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CHICKEN IS COOKED: A probe thermometer should read at least 165℉ (74℃), or you can slice into it and check it looks white all the way through.
6. Garnish and serve.Pop the sauce back on the heat to gently warm it up, then divide the rice between bowls. Slice the chicken into strips, then arrange on top of the rice. Pour the sauce around the rice in each bowl. Scatter with the sliced scallions, diced pineapple, and cashews, then serve.

Nutrition

Serving: 250g
Calories: 749kcal
Carbohydrates: 104.5g
Protein: 46.6g
Fat: 15.5g
Saturated Fat: 2.9g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.6g
Monounsaturated Fat: 7.6g
Cholesterol: 165mg
Sodium: 1483mg
Potassium: 896mg
Fiber: 2.5g
Sugar: 34.5g
Vitamin A: 145IU
Vitamin C: 8.3mg
Calcium: 76mg
Iron: 3mg

Notes

PREP AHEAD: You can coat the chicken a couple of hours in advance if you like, then pop it in the fridge in a single layer until you’re ready to serve. The sauce can be made 3 days in advance if you like, then just reheated in the microwave or on the stove top when you’re ready to serve. STORAGE SUGGESTIONS: If you want to keep the chicken crispy when you reheat it, using the air fryer is best (pop it in for five minutes at 350℉/180℃). You can reheat it in the microwave too, but you’ll lose the crispiness. SERVING SUGGESTIONS: I often like to add steamed or broiled broccoli, pak choi or green beans here, or you could throw in edamame beans. You could also stuff the chicken into fluffy bao buns, with a crunchy Asian-style slaw, gochujang aioli and a drizzle of the sweet and sour sauce.