Takeout Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple and Peppers
Chicken breast chunks in a puffy wet batter, fried twice, then folded into a bright red sauce of ketchup, red and rice vinegar and sugar with flash-fried red pepper, onion and carrot and slices of fresh pineapple.
Sweet and sour chicken is the takeout counter's answer to Cantonese sweet and sour pork, and Made With Lau describes it exactly that way: "a twist on classic Sweet and Sour Pork" that swaps in a leaner meat. Wikipedia says Western sweet and sour dishes tend to have a thicker red sauce with more sugar and ketchup, and that pineapple is more common in Western versions, for sweetness and color.
The biggest change is the coating. Daddy Lau's sweet and sour pork (see Gu Lou Yuk) uses a dry coat of flour and cornstarch; for chicken he switches to the wet batter, made with baking powder, that Made With Lau says most restaurants use, which fries up into the puffy, crunchy nuggets Americans know. The sauce is ketchup, vinegar and sugar, and the vegetables are fried for 30 seconds in the same oil, so they stay bright and crisp.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Chicken breast chunks in a puffy wet batter, fried twice, then folded into a bright red sauce of ketchup, red and rice vinegar and sugar with flash-fried red pepper, onion and carrot and slices of fresh pineapple.
🇨🇳 The original
Cantonese gu lou yuk is crispy battered pork tossed with a tangy sweet and sour sauce, peppers and pineapple. See the Gu Lou Yuk (Cantonese Sweet and Sour Pork) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Wet batter with baking powder
The leavening puffs the batter as it fries, giving the airy, crunchy shell of takeout sweet and sour chicken, and a second 30-second fry at 380°F dries it so it stays crisp in the sauce.
Heat off before the chicken goes in
Made With Lau turns the burner off first so the batter is coated, not simmered, and keeps its crunch.
Step by step
- Step 1
Mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, water and salt, then toss with the chicken. Whisk the flour, cornstarch and baking powder with the water, a little at a time, until a stream of batter narrows as it falls from a spoon, then stir in the 1 tsp oil.
- Step 2
Stir the sauce ingredients together, and mix the slurry in a separate bowl.
- Step 3
Heat a wok over high heat about 1 minute, add the corn oil and heat it to 350°F, lowering the heat if it runs hot. Pour the batter over the chicken and mix to coat every piece.
- Step 4
Fry the chicken a piece at a time in batches, 2 to 3 minutes per batch, moving the pieces with chopsticks, until they start to turn golden. Lift them out and skim off any loose batter.
- Step 5
Heat the oil to 380°F and fry the chicken again in two batches, 30 seconds each, until crisp and the thickest piece reads 165°F. Lift it out and turn off the heat. Fry the pepper, onion and carrot in the hot oil 30 seconds and lift them out.
- Step 6
Pour off the oil into a heatproof container and wipe the wok. Add the sauce, turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Lower to medium and stir in half the slurry, then the vegetables, and add more slurry if needed. Turn off the heat.
- Step 7
Add the chicken and toss to coat, then the pineapple, and stir in the 1 tsp finishing oil. Serve right away.
Takeout Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple and Peppers
Serves 4 · 1 platter · 34 min total
Chicken and marinade
- 12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp salt
Batter
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 7 tbsp water
- 1 tsp oil
Fruit and vegetables
- 6 oz fresh pineapple, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 2 oz carrot, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 3 oz red bell pepper, cut into triangles
- 2 oz onion, cut into triangles
Sauce
- 5 tbsp ketchup
- 3 tbsp red vinegar (or white distilled vinegar)
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp potato starch mixed with 2 tbsp water
For frying
- 10 oz (about 1 1/4 cups) corn oil
- 1 tsp oil, to finish
Method
- Mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, water and salt, then toss with the chicken. Whisk the flour, cornstarch and baking powder with the water, a little at a time, until a stream of batter narrows as it falls from a spoon, then stir in the 1 tsp oil.
- Stir the sauce ingredients together, and mix the slurry in a separate bowl.
- Heat a wok over high heat about 1 minute, add the corn oil and heat it to 350°F, lowering the heat if it runs hot. Pour the batter over the chicken and mix to coat every piece.
- Fry the chicken a piece at a time in batches, 2 to 3 minutes per batch, moving the pieces with chopsticks, until they start to turn golden. Lift them out and skim off any loose batter.
- Heat the oil to 380°F and fry the chicken again in two batches, 30 seconds each, until crisp and the thickest piece reads 165°F. Lift it out and turn off the heat. Fry the pepper, onion and carrot in the hot oil 30 seconds and lift them out.
- Pour off the oil into a heatproof container and wipe the wok. Add the sauce, turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Lower to medium and stir in half the slurry, then the vegetables, and add more slurry if needed. Turn off the heat.
- Add the chicken and toss to coat, then the pineapple, and stir in the 1 tsp finishing oil. Serve right away.
Adapted from Made With Lau (Daddy Lau and Randy Lau), "Sweet and Sour Chicken" (published May 2024, updated October 2026), serves 4. We follow it as written: 12 oz chicken breast in 1-inch chunks marinated with oyster sauce, light soy sauce, 2 tbsp cornstarch, water and salt; a batter of 4 tbsp flour, 2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp baking powder, 7 tbsp water and 1 tsp oil; 6 oz pineapple, 2 oz carrot, 3 oz red bell pepper and 2 oz onion; a sauce of 5 tbsp ketchup, 3 tbsp red vinegar, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, salt and 4 tbsp sugar; 10 oz corn oil heated to 350°F; a first fry of 2 to 3 minutes per batch, a second at 380°F for 30 seconds and 30 seconds for the vegetables; and a slurry of 2 tsp potato starch. Made With Lau adds "a drizzle of finishing oil"; the 1 tsp and the 165°F check are ours. Made With Lau. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Chicken thighs work too and are more tender, Made With Lau says, but fry up darker than breast.
- Test the batter: if it runs off the spoon like water, add flour and cornstarch; it should fall in a narrowing stream.
- Add the slurry slowly; you may not need all of it.
- Serve it the minute it's sauced.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Sweet and sour chicken is the Chinese dish. Disputed: Made With Lau calls it a twist on the Chinese-American dish; Wikipedia traces sweet and sour pork to Cantonese cooking and the redder, ketchup-heavy, pineapple style to the West.
- Takeout sweet and sour sauce is just ketchup and sugar. Documented in this case: Made With Lau's sauce is ketchup, two vinegars, salt and sugar.
- Pineapple is traditional. Folklore: Wikipedia says it is more common in Western versions.
- The red color comes from food coloring. Documented as Made With Lau's statement that restaurants often add a drop (see Gu Lou Yuk); this recipe uses none.
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