Name: Sweet And Sour Chicken Hong Kong Style
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil; 400 g Diced Chicken Breast; 80 g Cornflour; ½ tsp Salt; 1 tsp White Pepper; 1 Egg; ½ Onion; ½ Red Bell Pepper; ½ Green Bell Pepper; 150 ml Water; 3 tbsp Sugar; 3 tbsp Ketchup; 3 tbsp Vinegar; 2 tbsp Pineapple Juice; 1 tbsp Cornflour (Mixed With 1 tbsp Water)

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How To Make Crispy Sweet And Sour Chicken Hong Kong Style

Crispy chicken pieces coated in a delicious sweet and sour sauce, served with peppers and onions.

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Hong Kong style sweet and sour chicken is one of my favourite Chinese takeaway meals: it’s crispy, tender, delicious and so addictive.

This right here is a recipe you need to know: it’s quick to make, tasty and will impress anyone.

Perfect for dinner, this homemade fakeaway meal is a good way to bring excitement into your weekday meals.

You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make at home, it’s better than takeaway and you can make it in just 30 minutes.

Sweet And Sour Chicken Next To Chopsticks

Why You’ll Like This Recipe

It’s Tastes Good: The sauce that covers the crispy chicken pieces is perfectly sweet and sour. Plus, it’s so easy to change the ratio of ingredients to suit your taste.

The sweet and sour sauce comes out bright, red and vibrant just like the takeaway but there’s no food colouring added at all!

So Easy: It’s very easy to put this Hong Kong style sweet and sour chicken recipe together. It might surprise you at how simple it is.

There are just 4 major steps: batter and fry the chicken, cook the vegetables, make the sauce then put it all together.

Quicker And Cheaper Than A Takeaway: It takes only 30 minutes to make, I’m sure you’ll still be looking at the menu in this time. Plus, it’s a lot cheaper than the average takeaway.

You’ll be making this from now on, it’s that good! I know I’m biased but I really do love this recipe.

Watch How To Make Hong Kong Style Sweet And Sour Chicken

Sweet And Sour Chicken Batter

As this sweet and sour chicken dish is done Hong Kong style, it means the chicken is coated in cornflour. Cornflour is a starch derived from corn grain and is white in colour, you can get this easily at your local supermarket.

The chicken is coated in cornflour before being fried. The result is a delicious golden-brown crispy coating on the outside and tender chicken on the inside.

Recipe Ingredients

A range of basic ingredients is what creates such a popular dish, below is a list of the main ingredients:

Chicken: Chicken breast is cut into bite-sized chunks. You can buy chicken breast already diced at your local supermarket.

Hong Kong Style Batter: To make the crispy batter, you’ll need cornflour and an egg.

Seasonings: White pepper and salt are used to season the chicken.

Vegetables: I used green and red bell peppers and an onion. I left out pineapples because I’m not the biggest fan of them in sweet and sour dishes. But if you love them, add a couple in!

Homemade Sweet & Sour Sauce: The chicken is coated in a delicious sweet & sour sauce. It’s very easy to make yourself, it’s simply a mixture of water, sugar, ketchup, vinegar, pineapple juice and cornflour.

How To Make Hong Kong Style Sweet And Sour Chicken

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to make sweet and sour chicken, full instructions are on the recipe card at the bottom with a video too.

Step One:

Chicken Marinating In Egg, White Pepper and Salt

Add salt and white pepper to the diced chicken and mix until evenly combined. Whisk an egg and mix it into the chicken.

Step Two:

Pour cornflour (corn-starch) into a bowl or large plate. Coat each piece of chicken in the cornflour.

Step Three:

Heat oil in a wok or pan on a medium to high heat.

When the oil is hot place a couple of chicken pieces into the oil. I usually add between 3-5 pieces at a time but this depends on the size of your wok or pan.

Mix the chicken around occasionally to avoid them sticking together. Once fried (2-3 minutes) or until golden, set aside for later.

Step Four:

In a mixing bowl add water, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, pineapple juice and mix together. Pour the sauce mixture into a wok or pan and heat over a medium to high heat.

After 2 minutes, mix a small tablespoon of cornflour and a tablespoon of water in a mixing bowl and mix together. Add the cornflour mixture into the sauce and mix.

Leave the sauce to simmer for a further 1 to 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

Step Five:

In a clean wok or frying pan add oil, chopped onions, red bell peppers and green bell peppers. Stir-fry the vegetables for 2 minutes. If you like pineapples, then you can chuck a few in too!

Step Six:

Add the crispy chicken pieces to the stir-fried vegetables followed by the sweet and sour sauce and mix together until evenly distributed.

What Vegetables Can I Use

I used green bell peppers, an onion and red bell peppers only, I just love the addition of bell peppers, it’s so vibrant and adds an explosion of colour.

The classic vegetable mix also includes pineapples, I left them out of this recipe but you can add them in if you like.

Of course you can go wild and add in a range of different vegetables, below are a few suggestions:

Green Beans
Carrots
Cabbage
Bean Sprouts
Broccoli
Mushrooms

With most Chinese recipes you’ll need a wok like this one here.

Hong Kong Style Sweet And Sour Chicken On Plate

How To Store

It’s best to eat the sweet and sour chicken freshly made, but if you have leftovers you can keep it for later. The chicken pieces won’t be as crispy but will soften overtime.

Place in an air-tight container and keep in the fridge for a few days.

What To Serve With Sweet And Sour Chicken Hong Kong Style

Wondering what to serve with sweet and sour chicken?

My go to side dish has also been boiled rice, they just go so well together. Of course, there’s more side dishes this meal matches perfectly with. Find more options below:

Singapore Fried Rice: Rice stir-fried with vegetables, prawns, meats and spices.

Tenderstem Broccoli: Roasted tenderstem broccoli with garlic and olive oil, it’s so quick to make and taste so good.

King Prawn Chow Mein: King prawn chow mein with a homemade chow mein sauce.

Chicken Chow Mein: Packed full of flavour, simple to make and ready in just 20 minutes.

Salt And Pepper Chips: Chinese takeaway salt and pepper chips are tasty, easy and only has a few ingredients.

Chicken Vermicelli: Rice noodle stir fried ready in 20 minutes.

My Top Tips

If you don’t want to fry the chicken, you can also bake them in the oven.

Simply preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6) for 8 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is crispy on the outside and cooked throughout. To get a crispy edge on all sides, turn the chicken pieces around halfway. Once cooked, proceed to fry the vegetables, add the chicken pieces then the sauce.

Make sure the oil is hot enough before frying, you can test the oil by putting a piece of batter or chicken in the oil. If it starts to sizzle instantly, then it’s ready.

Overfilling the pan or wok with too many chicken can result in the oil temperature dropping. This will result in soggy pieces of chicken.

If you like a lot of sauce in your sweet and sour chicken, then you may want to double the sauce ingredients (still use 1 tbsp of cornflour).