The Yankee went back for seconds!
I found this recipe here and here, then went about a couple modifications; The Yankee and I were in the mood for something with a little more kick, more like General Tso’s chicken than sweet and sour. The Kiddo, shockingly, was in the mood for Cheerios.
You will need:
For the chicken
- 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper
- garlic powder
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup canola oil
For the sauce
- ¾ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- ½ cup vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- crushed red pepper, to taste
Now then:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks — a little more than bite sized, but small enough to easily pick up with chopsticks is ideal
- Season with garlic, salt and pepper
- Put one cup cornstarch in a brown paper bag (double-bagged just in case is great), and throw your chicken pieces in there; roll the top down tightly and shake to coat all chicken
- Now put your beaten eggs in a container with a lid; shake off any excess cornstarch from the chicken pieces and put in the egg; close lid and shake to coat with egg
- Pan fry in canola oil until brown but not cooked through
- Place in a single layer in a baking dish — I lined mine with foil for easier clean-up
- Whisk together sauce ingredients and pour over chicken
Now bake at 325, turning chicken every ten minutes or so, for about half an hour or until chicken is cooked through. When chicken is done, turn the oven to broil to really sizzle the sauce and reduce it a bit, and give the chicken some great texture. Be sure to turn the chicken once to crisp up both sides.
If your little heart so desires (mine did), you can make up a second batch of sauce and simmer it on the stove till it’s reduced.
I served this with sushi rice and it was delicious! Not as quick as take-out, obviously, but great quality and no MSG. Two thumbs up for that!
One Particular Kitchen 
This looks great! I will definitely give it a try soon.
i’ve been wanting to make this recipe – but i like your version better! bring on the heat! 🙂
Looks delicious!
I just made this for lunch and YUM! My tummy thanks you! I added some honey to the sauce, too. ‘Cause you know, almost a cup of sugar just isn’t sweet enough…
Well if some is good, more must be better, right? 😉 Glad you liked it! Does BG eat such things?
To answer your question from, oh, a month ago–Baby Girl likes rice with this sauce, but rejects the actual chicken for some reason. She’s weird.
Anyway–let’s hypothetically say you were halfway through this recipe and realized that you don’t have any eggs ( or milk, buttermilk, or any other remotely reasonable substitute for the coating of the chicken)–you may be able to make do with a little water and honey mixed together. It’s more of a grilled chicken effect, but wasn’t much different otherwise. 🙂 Hypothetically, of course. I would never actually be out of every kitchen staple known to man all at the same time. Nope.
I used a little less vinegar, too.
I just finished inhaling this for dinner! I halved the chicken portion down to 5 tenders (only feeding 2), but left the sauce recipe as is so I could simmer some down for dipping. I served it with stir fry veggies over rice with sauce drizzled over it and it’s fantastic. YUM!! I love how easy and non-messy the breading process was. Thanks for that!
I have a 2 year old! I’m all about non-messy. 😉
Thanks for this recipe. It sounds delicious. I have been looking for a recipe for SweetFire chicken (Panda Express) which I have been unable to find. This should be close—if I add a little pineapple and red bell pepper.
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