I know we keep promising an actual meal around here and then keep getting sidetracked with fun Halloween stuff so I’m finally going to give you something dinner-worthy! (Not that doughnuts or cookies aren’t dinner-worthy, because they totally are.) I actually do have another dessert to share and I let all of you Facebook fans vote what would go up today. I’ll be honest, I stopped counting half way through (I didn’t know that many people would pipe in!) and when I tallied up the votes dinner won by ONE vote over dessert. It was seriously that close! But no fear; the dessert is coming next week 🙂 This is actually a little variation from one of the recipes I contributed to the Good Bite Weeknight Meals: Delicious Made Easy. It’s one of my go-to meals when I need something warm and filling without a lot of fuss. I love it because it’s a basic sweet and sour sauce (for which I almost always have the ingredients for) and you can really throw any vegetables in there that you happen to have around and you’ve got a better-than-takeout meal in under 30 minutes. Much healthier than take-out too!
Somehow I forgot to take photos of the sauce preparation, but it’s super easy. you’ll just combine a little cornstarch and cold water and stir those together and then add some other yummy stuff like soy sauce, pineapple juice, ketchup, brown sugar, etc. So pretend you’re looking at that right now. Are you visualizing? Take your time…okay good.
Now, start by sauteing some boneless, skinless chicken breast with some fresh garlic and ginger in a large skillet or wok. You could also use pork tenderloin, or chicken thighs. I’m going to give you a little hint about pans too. I’m using a stainless steel pan here because it’s easier to photograph than my black nonstick ones. If you use a stainless steel pan, you may have to add a little extra oil to make sure the garlic and ginger don’t burn. In a nonstick pan I never have that problem because there’s naturally a little extra moisture.
You’ll also notice when the chicken finishes cooking, you’ve got lots of brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. These are great; this is what you’re looking for when you make pan sauces, but in this case, if we continue with the recipe and cook the veggies, those brown bits will turn to black bits and that’s no good. So remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
And now we’ll take advantage of all that flavor and de-glaze the pan! I’m using the juice from my can of pineapple to simmer the browned bits right off and add flavor to the sauce. If you’re using a non-stick pan then you can completely skip this step. The pineapple juice will just get mixed in a separate bowl with your sauce.
Once the pan is de-glazed, just pour the pineapple juice into the bowl where you started the sauce.
To your clean pan, add a drizzle of oil and some veggies. I’m using onion, broccoli, and red bell pepper, but really you can be fairly creative here and clean out the fridge.
Just cook those for a few minutes until they are crisp-tender.
Then you can add your cooked chicken back in, and also your pineapple.
Then you’ll pour the sauce in
and just let it come to a simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken.
Serve it over brown or white rice. And if you want, you can sprinkle it with sesame seeds and something green.
Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir-Fry
Recipe by ourbestbites.com
Ingredients
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 8 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained and juices reserved
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
3-4 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs diced into 1 inch pieces
(you could also use pork tenderloin, or sliced boneless pork chops)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 cups broccoli florets
1 medium bell pepper, stemmed , seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch squares*
hot cooked white or brown rice
*In this post, I used half of the bell pepper, and added 1/2 of a diced onion as well
Instructions
Start cooking your rice so it will be ready.
Combine cornstarch and water in a medium sized bowl and stir to dissolve. Add the reserved pineapple juice*, ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar to the bowl and stir to combine.
*If you’re using a stainless steel pan, save pineapple juice for de-glazing it
heat 2-3 teaspoons of the oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger. Stir-fry until the chicken is cooked and no longer pink, 3-4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and cover to keep warm.
Add the remaining 1-2 teaspoons oil to the pan and add the broccoli and bell pepper. Stir-fry over medium-high heat until the vegetables are crisp-tender and the broccoli is bright green, 3-5 minutes.
Return the chicken to the pan and add the pineapple chunks and sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook until everything is heated through and the sauce has thickened, 1-2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the hot cooked rice. If desired, top with sesame seeds and chopped fresh cilantro or parsley.
Serves 4 (or more like 6 if you’ve got some kiddos in the mix)
We’d love for a couple more of you to enjoy the Good Bite Cookbook “Delicious Made Easy” so we’re giving away 2 more copies! Head on over to The Scoop to enter. Did you hear that? The Scoop. If you’re reading this via email, the posts sometimes run together so click here to make sure you are at the right spot! Do NOT leave your comment on this recipe post. Comments on this recipe post should be telling me how delicious and amazing this Sweet and Sour Chicken is and how I have great hair and adorable children and am super hot and crazy intelligent. If you tell me you just want a book I will not be happy. But I will be happy if you try out this Sweet and Sour and love it as much as my family does!
And whiiile you’re over on The Scoop, make sure to check out the other giveaway we have going on right now from America’s Test Kitchen! Click here for all the details; I seriously love this book!
Questions & Reviews
Made this tonight and it was sooo good! Thanks for the recipe!
I love stir-fry and this is a keeper! I made it Sunday night and the whole family loved it.
SOOO yummy! And SOOOO glad you did this instead of a dessert!
I would probably not include the pineapple, but otherwise this looks like a wonderful recipe! Thanks.
Made this tonight and it was a big hit! So much more delicious and healthier than take-out. Thanks for another recipe that will be entered into the rotation.
So glad you enjoyed it!
This looks fantastic! When we make stir fry at home, I always end up just adding soy sauce to keep things quick and simple. Sweet and sour is one of my favorites though…I definitely need to try this!
My dear husband and I had this for dinner tonight. He said it was a definite keeper and I agree. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Great recipe! I added a tablespoon of Thai chili sauce to add a bit of heat.
ooh, good idea; I’ll have to try that sometime!
New to cooking and a friend just referred me to your site. This is the first recipe I see and can’t wait to make it. Looks delicious!!!
Pinned it! Can’t wait to try it – looks so colorful and healthy!
This looks so good! I love stir-fry – throwing everything together in one pan and it tastes great!
I would love some new recipes!
This recipe looks really yummy
Sara, Just tried this out tonight and OH. MY. GOODNESS. we loved it! Thank you so much for this awesome meal. I paired it with some baked brown rice and added some more veggies like sugar snap peas, peas, and carrots (minus the broccoli since I didn’t have any on hand) and it was SO DELICIOUS! This will be making an appearance often in our home, THANK YOU!
Oh, good! So glad you liked it!
Oh, that sounds really good – and I just ate dinner!
to the person above, I live by myself and ginger freezes pretty well…one little chunk of it has lasted me months when before I would have just thrown out the rest cuz it would go bad. A lot of veggies freeze well, just put them in a plastic bag and youre good to go.
Thanks 🙂 I didn’t know ginger froze well…good to know…I’ve just always used jarred
Looks wonderful!
I love sweet & sour! This does sound “delicious & amazing” so you must be “crazy intelligent”. I will be giving this a try.
I love how delicious and amazing this Sweet and Sour Chicken is and you DO have great hair and adorable children and you ARE super hot and crazy intelligent. I love the scoop too!
Yessssss….
Haha!
You really do have great hair. Will you do a tutorial post on how to do it? I’m sure it’s easy but somehow I always end up with crazy hair and burned fingers.
Lol, thank you! Hmmm..hair tutorials? Maybe that could be a new category around here! haha
Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting a dinner recipe! I’ve been waiting!
Oh My Goodness! I love sweet and sour and this looks so delicious! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We were just trying to figure out what we should do with the pork chops that I found on sale….this is perfect. We love stir fry and pineapple, it’s quick, easy and nutritious. Thanks for the post!
I love stir fry. Marked in my *to be made* file. Oh, today I am going to my son’s school to make those cute Oreo bats with his class. Huzzah!! Mother of the Year award. Thanks for all your great ideas!
I knew pumpkin would get edged out. I voted for pumpkin, but I’m not disappointed after reading this. Looks like I don’t have to figure out what is for dinner tonight.
This Sweet and Sour Chicken is delicious and amazing! You have great hair and adorable children. And you are super hot and crazy intelligent! I look forward to more chinese flavors! Waiting for one my hubby might actually eat (he’s weird and believes that fruit and their juices have no place in sauces). Perhaps you have a Bourbon Chicken Recipe laying around…I can’t seem to duplicate it very well.
Is using jarred ginger ok? ( I know fresh is better) I don’t use ginger all that often..don’t want to waste.
Yes, jarred is just fine! I usually keep a jar in my fridge for “emergency” use, lol. But also, you can freeze fresh ginger. It’s actually easier to work with when frozen. Just peel the whole thing and wrap it up in a ziplock bag in the freezer. Then when you need some, just grate it with a cheese grater. It’s kind of like ginger snow- works great!
This looks fabulous and I am not usually a fan of sweet and sour chicken but my wonderful husband is. I am ready to take it on and make it this weekend for us. Thanks for a great idea.
This looks amazing!! My weirdo husband doesn’t like pineapple so I will save that for me to snack on later (will still use the juice though). I have a bag of frozen diced chicken in my freezer that’s just dying to be used in this. Hopefully I’ll get to make it next week 😀
my ex felt the same way (weirdo), but I still added it and then removed and put it aside for me, pretending it never made it into the mix. He never noticed!
One of my fav dishes!