Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken
An easy and guilt-free recipe for classic sweet and sour chicken with tons of flavor.
So what makes it healthy?? Well most restaurants deep-fry their chicken in a thick batter, which is, let’s admit it, totally delicious. But! It’s not needed. You can get tons of flavor without the heavy oil-laden breading. This chicken is lightly coated in corn starch which is probably my favorite trick for making-over takeout dishes. The corn starch is low-carb and a very thin coating delivers a crispy exterior on your chicken when sautéed in a tablespoon or two of oil.
Ingredients
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to ½ inch thickness and chopped into 1 inch pieces
- ⅓ cup corn starch
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper
- ½ white or yellow onion, chopped
Sauce Ingredient
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar (may sub white vinegar)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion salt*
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp cold water
Instructions
First prepare the sauce. Add sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion salt, and ketchup to a medium sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil. In a small bowl whisk together the 1 tablespoon corn starch and cold water until dissolved. Add to sauce pan and stir until thickened, then reduce to low heat.
Add chicken pieces and corn starch to a large ziplock bag. Seal and shake to coat chicken. Drizzle a large pan or skillet with oil. Add coated chicken. Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add peppers and onions. Continue to saute over medium heat until chicken is browned and cooked through.
Add sauce to chicken and peppers. Stir to coat well. Serve warm with cooked rice if desired.
Recipe Notes
*If you don’t have onion salt, use garlic salt instead of garlic powder, and use onion powder instead of garlic salt.
*If you don’t mind a slightly less-healthy version and looooove sauce, you can double the sauce recipe.
*Sauce adapted from Table For Two