I NEVER cook Asian cuisine, it really intimidates me for some reason. When a craving comes up, we go out. I was looking up nutritional information for “healthy options” on the website for our go-to Chinese restaurant and my favorite, sweet & sour chicken, was approx. 450 calories per serving. I knocked 170 calories, 20g of carbs, and 10g of fat off of the restaurant dish totals with the recipe below. AND the icing on the cake – it is BETTER than the restaurant version. Seriously! If you have any ways to make this healthier, which I’m sure there are – please share! (Original recipe adapted from melskitchencafe.com – I just made some skinny swaps).
Ingredients:
CHICKEN:
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breats
- 3/4 cup Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup Eggbeaters (or 2 eggs, I was out of eggbeaters)
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil (yeah, I was out of this too. Grocery shop fail.)
SAUCE:
- 3/4 cup Splenda
- 1/4 cup Reduced-Sugar Ketchup
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 TBS. Soy Sauce
- 1 TSP. Garlic Salt
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat
Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces
Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken.
Pour your eggbeaters into a shallow bowl. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg.
Place the coated chicken pieces in a single layer in the hot skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then flip each piece over to cook on the other side until nicely golden brown but not cooked all the way through
Place browned chicken pieces in a baking dish
Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken in the baking dish (not pictured because my child was SCREAMING for me to give him some milk so I rushed! haha)
Bake at 325F for one hour – turning the chicken once or twice while cooking to coat evenly with sauce. WARNING: the vinegar smell during the beginning of the baking time is SCARY. I promise you it does not taste like it smells while cooking.
*pictured with rice as requested by my husband, but not eaten by me. I would suggest you use brown rice, but I was out of that too. Ugh. haha
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 282; Total Fat: 14g; Total Carbs: 18g; Dietary Fiber: 0g; Protein: 20g; Sugar 1g
WW Points Plus: 7
Ingredients
- CHICKEN:
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breats
- 3/4 cup Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup Eggbeaters (or 2 eggs, I was out of eggbeaters)
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil (yeah, I was out of this too. Grocery shop fail.)
- SAUCE:
- 3/4 cup Splenda
- 1/4 cup Reduced-Sugar Ketchup
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 TBS. Soy Sauce
- 1 TSP. Garlic Salt
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat
- Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces
- Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken.
- Pour your eggbeaters into a shallow bowl. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg.
- Place the coated chicken pieces in a single layer in the hot skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then flip each piece over to cook on the other side until nicely golden brown but not cooked all the way through
- Place browned chicken pieces in a baking dish
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken in the baking dish (not pictured because my child was SCREAMING for me to give him some milk so I rushed! haha)
- Bake at 325F for one hour - turning the chicken once or twice while cooking to coat evenly with sauce. WARNING: the vinegar smell during the beginning of the baking time is SCARY. I promise you it does not taste like it smells while cooking.
Nutrition Info and Tips
Per Serving (4):
Calories: 282
Fat: 14g
Carbohydrates: 18g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 20g
Sugars: 1g
WW Points Plus: 7
Could you substitute the splenda for something else? I don’t like using artificial sweeteners.
any sugar substitute would work – or just plain ‘ol sugar – but that will effect the nutritional value some
Stevia and Necteresse are both natural sweetners both come in liquid and crystal form.
What would you suggest to make this more of an ‘orange’ chicken sauce as a variation?
I haven’t tried this yet – but found it online and plan on it:
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons splenda
3 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Jennifer I’m going to try using coconut sugar, I’ll let you know.
I was wondering if the nutritional facts include the rice or is it just the chicken? Can’t wait to try this
I tried this but my chicken came out so vinegar-y it was almost inedible! We ate some but seriously couldn’t stomach any more. Do you have any idea what I could have done wrong? I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t make any substitutions. Also, your sauce seems to be moist still in the after pics, mine was drier (so it didn’t look as shiny). I really wanted to like this dish especially because you said it was so good. I would love to figure out where mine went wrong so if you have any ideas please let me know! Thanks!
use 1/4 cup of vinegar instead..that is what I did tonight…it was good, but did use regular sugar..
hmm… did you use Apple Cider Vinegar? My chicken in the after pics wasn’t so much “wet” as it was sticky if that makes sense. I would trying baking it for a little longer perhaps – it seems like the vinegar “bakes-off” through-out the cooking process.
I made this for my family a few weeks ago and we absolutely loved it!!! My 5 year old was eating it so fast we had to tell him to slow down!!! I am making it again this week!!!
I have a question though about the orange chicken recipe posted in the previous comment….is the 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch added to the sauce?
Thank you!!!!
Yes – it just thickens it up a bit, but it can be omitted.
Made it tonight and LOVE IT! I added some crushed red pepper in the sauce to give it a little heat.
oooo! Good idea – my husband will LOVE that addition!
I’m making this now! Chopped up some pineapple, onion and bell pepper and added those to the sauce. Going to whip up some veggie brown fried rice! Can’t wait!
Thanks for including the Sweet & Sour Chicken! Hope you and your readers like it!!