This recipe started with me asking my children what they wanted for dinner (keep in mind that they are young adults). My son responded, “sweet and sour.” To which I asked, “Do you mean like sour dinner with dessert or sweet and sour tofu (he is a vegetarian).” He said sweet and sour tofu. Now, I know what you are thinking – this is not a tofu recipe. It clearly says chicken in the title. And, you are correct, it is sweet and sour chicken, but I did make him some sweet and sour tofu to go with it, but I don’t have photos of that, so chicken it is.
This is actually not your typical sweet and sour recipe though. It is my own concoction that is not quite as sweet as that you will find in a restaurant because I don’t like it super sweet. The sweetness comes from a combination of Thai sweet chili sauce and coconut nectar. If you can’t find coconut nectar you can substitute brown sugar, but you might want to start out with a bit less as and taste it. That seems to be the go-to substitution, but I find brown sugar somewhat sweeter in taste when I am doing a direct substitution.
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast s cut into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons light olive oil, plus more as needed
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 12 ounce button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 bunch broccolini, chopped
- 2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into bite sized pieces
- 6 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 3/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup coconut nectar
- 1/4 cup sweet Thai chili sauce
- rice cooked according to package directions for serving.
Instructions
- Toss chicken in cornstarch and salt.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet. Add chicken and saute until cooked through and beginning to brown, adding more oil if necessary.
- Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Add remaining oil, vegetables, and pineapple to skillet.
- Saute until mushrooms begin to produce liquid, then add remaining ingredients.
- Stir together until well mixed and allow vegetables to continue to cook until they reach your desired tenderness. I like mine to be crisp-tender.
- Stir in chicken and serve over rice. I used brown rice.
Courses Entree
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