Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Well here is my first attempt at this blog and a new recipe.  My friend Nancy (who got me addicted to pinning in the first place!) pinned this recipe and then said her and her hubby fought over the leftovers...you KNOW I had to try it.

Now I HATE those blogs (no offence) where you have to scroll through step-by-step to learn how to make the recipe.  I'm fairly competent in the kitchen...so I'm going to assume you are and publish the recipe up front.  Feel free to follow along after to laugh with (or at) me as I go through the recipe steps and reveal MY final result (which may or may not vary from the original recipe!)

So without further delay...Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken!

Chicken:
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbs ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic (I use Epicure)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs. Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.  

First things first...

It's not cooking without some wine!

You will also need...


The chicken (I'm cooking for two, so I used two pieces)...
1 cup corn starch
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
Salt & Pepper
A swig of the wine...

So once you've coated the chicken with salt and pepper, cubed it, dipped it in the corn starch THEN the egg...it should look something like the picture below and your fingers should be slightly cemented.

While you're doing that, you should probably heat the oil in a frying pan...but don't do it too soon or it'll smoke and it MIGHT catch fire (mine didn't, it's just a warning!)

I'd recommend just dumping them all in like I did...maybe adding them one or two at-a-time will prevent them from sticking all together and maybe make it a little more effective.  Just saying.

Next...the sauce

You will need

3/4 cup sugar (for the sweet!)

4T ketchup

1T Soy Sauce

1 t minced garlic

1/2 cup vinegar

Then you dump it all in like your kindergarten volcano experiment and whisk it till it's smooth.

Looks tasty huh?

Alright, now it's time to put it all in a greased pan.  I use my Epicure pan.  Then you pop it in the oven and turn it every 15 minutes for an hour (I'm on the 30-45 minute stretch and I'm sooo hungry!)



Note to self...photos will only be published vertically....

And the final product.....

I promise, I will add some steamed broccoli...but I do need to find a recipe for Asian vegetables!

The verdict

First, the last two times that you stir the mixture, don't get your face too close to the oven or you'll inhale a whole bunch of vinegar fumes!

Second, I hope that my coating technique improves with practice.

Drum roll please....but it is quite tasty and I will certainly make it again!