This Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken is a healthier, baked in the oven version of the delivery favourite! This tasty, gluten free recipe will replace the takeout forever.
Like most typical families we have days when, for one reason or another, dinner comes from the delivery man. I try to limit these events to maybe once a month, but they do happen.
Last time we ordered Chinese food and, well I don’t know about you but, I find delivery dinners never really live up to my expectations.
This inspired me to cook up my own Homemade Sweet & Sour Chicken.
HOMEMADE SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN
The food that came in the familiar red takeout box were lackluster, to say the least. I struggled to find the chicken and the bright red, syrupy sauce, while delicious, I’m sure was a chemical cocktail of additives and preservatives.
This homemade version of the favourite Sweet & Sour Chicken contains no chemicals, is sweetened with coconut sugar. Arrowroot starch and eggs stand in for the batter. I also avoid a sh*t ton of sodium by using my homemade faux “soy” sauce.
Sounds (and looks ) much better, yes?
Set yourself up a little breading station to dip your arrowroot covered chicken pieces into your egg wash. They get flash cooked in a hot skillet with coconut oil.
Did you know coconut oil is very stable at high heats? Perfect for this type of cooking.
Trust me, your food will not taste tropical. 😉
And yes, I think arrowroot starch is like $7 a bag but it is totally worth it if you are on a gluten free diet. It will last you forever. Buy it.
Transfer your chicken to a casserole dish, layer with some chopped veggies and cover with your sauce.
This gets popped into the oven to get all delicious-like.
I made my rice in the meantime. Have you tried my fool-proof method for cooking brown rice? I swear by it.
Some prefer their sweet and sour chicken with pineapple but this recipe is without pineapple. I’m sure you could toss in a few pieces before baking if pineapple is your thing.
My version was a hit with my picky fella and I have a feeling the Chinese delivery to our house will be fewer and far between. 😉
MORE HEALTHY GLUTEN FREE CHICKEN RECIPES:
Chicken Vegetable Soup with Spinach
Creamy Coconut Curry Chicken Soup
Originally posted on February 25, 2015. Updated April 1, 2020
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This Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken is a healthier, baked in the oven version of the delivery favourite! This tasty, gluten free recipe will replace the takeout forever.
- 2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2-3 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1/2 bell pepper diced
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1 tbsp. faux soy sauce or soy sauce
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- Preheat your oven to 325 and lightly grease a 9x9 casserole dish
- Add arrowroot starch to a large Ziploc bag and set aside. Season your chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper, then place in the Ziploc. Close the bag and shake it well to coat all of the pieces
- Set up a breading station with the eggs beaten in a bowl and a clean plate
- Cover each piece of chicken with the egg and place it on the clean plate. Once they are all coated, heat a skillet with 2 tbsp. of coconut oil over medium high
- Place chicken pieces in a single layer in the hot skillet (do 2 batches if necessary and adding more coconut oil if needed) cook on each side for 30 seconds, flipping only once. (it will finish cooking in the oven)
- Transfer the cooked chicken to the prepared casserole dish and cover with the chopped peppers and onions
- In a medium sized bowl stir together the coconut sugar, ketchup, vinegar, faux soy sauce and garlic powder
- Pour half of the mixture over your chicken and veggies and pop into the oven for 40 minutes, stirring once at the halfway point
- Transfer the remaining sauce to a small saucepan and keep it aside until the chicken is ready, then heat it up to pour over each bowl as desired.
- I serve this over brown rice, which cooks perfectly while your chicken is in the oven
Chelsea @ Chelsea's Healthy Kitchen
I can’t have Chinese food from restaurants because of the nut issue. So I haven’t eaten Chinese food in foreverrrrr! Definitely going to try this sometime.
Sharon
Damn those nuts! Takeout food is full of weird ingredients anyway, right? Just so good, though. 😉