Sweet and Sour Chicken

Have you checked out Pinterest yet?

It's basically visual bookmarking, and is an online version of the old school idea of tearing pages out of magazines and pinning them (literally) to a board. Only there's no limit on the number of boards you can have going or the number of pages you can pin to each board the way there is when you are dealing with actual wall space...

Anyway, in addition to being able to pin things that you find online at any point, it also lets you see what your friends have been pinning. Which can be a lot of fun. 

I mainly use pinterest for pinning recipe idea. Shocking, I know...

So recently I hopped on over to pinterest and saw that one of my friends had pinned a recipe for super easy sweet and sour chicken.  And as it just so happened, my local supermarket had a good sale on boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Perfect timing!

The recipe is pretty easy, but took a few steps.

It started by cutting the chicken, seasoning them lightly with salt and pepper, then coating them in cornstarch.

The recipe actually calls for the chicken to then be coated in egg, but I skipped that step for various reasons.

The cornstarch coated chicken pieces were then fried until they were browned on all sides, then set aside in a baking dish.

Then came the easy part - making the sweet and sour sauce.  With a few simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand, all it takes is a minute of measuring and a few seconds of stirring.

I mean, seriously, it doesn't get much easier than that.

Then simple pour the sauce over the chicken pieces.

Give the chicken pieces a quick toss to make sure they're well coated...

...and pop the whole pan in the oven!

Flip the chicken pieces half way through the baking process, and then voila! Dinner is ready.

We kept it simple and served this chicken over rice, with a side of broccoli.

It's not quite like the sweet and sour chicken I'm used to from our local Chinese restaurant, but it was delicious, easy to prepare, and enjoyed by everyone. Little miss told me I could make it whenever I want, little man ate every bite on his plate, and daddy gladly took the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Deliciously sticky and sweet, this recipe is a keeper.


Sweet and Sour Chicken
(slightly adapted from Made It. Ate It. Loved It.)


For the chicken:
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
a few tablespoons olive oil

Rinse chicken, trim off fat or extras and then cut into 1 inch cubes. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper then dip them into the cornstarch to coat them fully. Heat oil in large skillet. Cook chicken until browned. Place in baking dish. Remove chicken from frying pan and place the pieces in a baking dish (I used a 12" x 8" pan and it was a tight fit, but it did all fit.)

For the sauce:
3/4 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth, then pour evenly over chicken. Turn chicken so the sauce gets on both sides.

Place ing dish in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn chicken and then cook for 15 more minutes.

Enjoy!