Gluten-free Sweet and Sour Chicken
Missing take-out Chinese food since you are gluten-free? Make your own gluten-free Sweet and Sour Chicken at home with this family-friendly recipe!
If you’ve been following this blog, you know that while some recipes are brand new creations, the majority of the recipes I post are ones I’ve been making for my family for years. Some of them are favorites of my kids, some are hubby’s favorites, and some are my favorites (ahem, all the gluten-free brownies)!
This gluten-free sweet and sour chicken is one of my absolute favorite meals! I so miss being able to go to a good Chinese restaurant and order Sweet and Sour Chicken, Broccoli Beef, or Lo Mein- my favorite Chinese menu items. So, now I make them all at home! I’ve posted my gluten-free chicken lo mein recipe already and will have to post my broccoli beef soon!
I love this gluten-free sweet and sour chicken recipe so much that I overeat every time I make it! You’d think I’d learn. It is very rare for me to eat any meal to the point of being uncomfortably stuffed, but this is the one that I do. If I had my own personal chef, I’d have him/her make this for me every week.
I tried many, many versions of sweet and sour chicken recipes, never liking any of them. A number of years ago, I stumbled on this Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. As I made this recipe over and over, I started making various tweaks to it, for ease, taste, preference and to make it gluten-free.
How to make gluten-free sweet and sour chicken:
Chicken pieces are easily coated with cornstarch, salt, and pepper by shaking them in a sealed ziploc bag, for easy clean-up.
After browning the pieces in a skillet with oil, but not cooking fully, the chicken is transferred to an aluminum foil lined baking dish. Lining the pan is just for easy clean-up. I’m all about finding ways to make clean-up easier!
A delicious gluten-free sweet and sour sauce is whisked together and poured over the browned chicken, and a can of pineapple chunks is added to the mix.
One hour in the oven, and you’ve got this amazing American Chinese style gluten-free Sweet and Sour Chicken ready to serve your family!
You can serve with the more traditional white rice or sticky rice, or with my baked brown rice. The rice bakes while I cut the chicken and assemble the sweet and sour recipe, and is ready to pull out at close to the same time that I put the sweet and sour chicken in the oven. After fluffing the rice, it can can just sit, covered until ready to serve.
Thankfully, this recipe doesn’t require a bunch of complicated ingredients. You probably have everything on hand already if you do much gluten-free cooking! Here’s a look at our ingredients:
Notes on ingredients for this gluten-free sweet and sour chicken recipe:
- Pineapple Chunks: I do not recommend getting the kind that is in a syrup. Get the kind that’s in 100% juice. I usually grab Del Monte 100% juice pineapple chunks. Make sure you drain the can of pineapple chunks. You can just drink the juice, you won’t be using it in the recipe.
- If you are using a fresh, strong smelling apple cider vinegar, I would recommend cutting the amount slightly so it isn’t overpowering. When I use store-bought apple cider vinegar, the 1/2 cup called for is perfect. When I use the freshly made, local apple cider vinegar that I get from an orchard, I definitely need to decrease it to 1/3 cup total.
- Soy sauce usually has wheat in it, so be sure to use a certified gluten-free soy sauce. The certified gluten-free soy sauce I prefer to use is San-J Tamari gluten-free soy sauce.
- If you don’t like your meals so sweet, feel free to cut the amount of sugar a bit. I like mine more on the sweet side than the sour side.
- Corn starch is naturally gluten-free, but I do prefer to buy containers of it from brands that actually claim it is gluten-free, such as Argo cornstarch. I do not recommend buying from a bulk bin due to cross contamination.
I like to serve this with a side of broccoli or green beans as well.
If you like this gluten-free sweet and sour chicken recipe, I think you’ll also like my easy, 5 ingredient gluten-free sweet chicken recipe.
If you make this and love it, please come back and give this recipe a 5 star rating in the recipe card! Feel free to comment with tips or to share any successful substitutions you made.
Gluten-free Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe:
Gluten-free Sweet and Sour Chicken
Missing take-out Chinese food since you are gluten-free? Make your own gluten-free Sweet and Sour Chicken at home with this family-friendly recipe!
I like to start my baked brown rice recipe and get it in the oven before starting this recipe. The rice will finish baking at close to the same time that you are ready to put the chicken in the oven.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken tenders (or chicken breasts)
- 2/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
- 1/4 cup oil (your choice)
- 1 can (20 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained
Sauce:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (use slightly less if using fresh, strong cider)
- 1 Tbsp. gluten-free soy sauce (I use San-J gf Tamari)
- 1 tsp. garlic salt
Instructions
- Using kitchen shears, trim off any excess skin, then cut the chicken breasts or tenders into chunks. I cut mine in chunks that are around 1.5" to 2" in size.
- Set a gallon sized Ziploc bag in a bowl and fold over the top to hold in place. Add cornstarch, pepper and garlic salt. Seal and shake bag to mix together. (You can also just do this straight in a bowl without using a bag - I often do the bag for easy clean-up!)
- Place the bag back in the bowl and fold over the top to hold in place again. Add the chicken chunks. Seal and shake the bag to mix together.
- In a large, non-stick skillet, add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add half of the chicken pieces and cook just until brown, but not cooked through, flipping pieces to brown two sides.
- Remove chicken from pan and place into a 9x13 baking dish. I use a 9x13 glass Pyrex that I line with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.
- Repeat with rest of chicken.
- Add one can of pineapple chunks (be sure to drain first) to the chicken in the pan. Set pan of chicken aside while you make the sauce.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, gluten-free soy sauce, and garlic salt. Pour over the chicken and pineapple.
- Bake for one hour at 325°. Every 15 minutes, remove from oven and stir, flipping chicken pieces.
- Remove from oven and serve over white or brown rice.
- Bonus: If you want extra sauce for drizzling, make a second batch of sauce and add to a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Whisk constantly and let it cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced, about 7 minutes. Then serve alongside the finished sweet and sour chicken for those that want additional sauce.
Notes
*Feel free to cut the amount of sugar called for if you like your meals a little less sweet.
*If using a fresh, strong apple cider vinegar, you may want to cut the amount slightly, to 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup.
I hope your family enjoys this gf sweet and sour chicken as much as mine does!
I was looking for gluten free recipe to make and found this I thought I’d make it for fun and it turned out to be AMAZING!!!!! You have to try making this it’s so good.
Amazing!I loved this recipe! I added about a tbsp of sriracha to get some heat. I will be making this again for sure!
Oh my goodness. This is my favorite dinner recipe of all time. I LOVE IT! I have been gluten free for a number of years and have sorely missed sweet and sour chicken. This hits the spot! My husband, who doesn’t even like Asian food in general, also loves this recipe! Bravo. It’s on my menu about once a month now.
I’m VERY excited to make this!!! I’ve been GF for 10 years!!!! Most restaurants have made eating GF easy, but Chinese? Nope!! Especially crispy Chinese! I have missed Chinese food very much!
I found some frozen GF egg rolls. They are absolutely delicious!! Not quite as good as deep fried, but very enjoyable!
I tried this recipe for sweet and sour meatballs…. I added the pineapple juice to the sauce ingredients and a tablespoon of corn starch… followed the instruction for the stove top cooking (in your recipe’s second batch suggestion). It is yummy! Thanks so much for your recipes and GF cooking tips! I love your website/recipes.
Have you tried this with pork?
This recipe was BOMB. Tastes exactly like any sweet and sour that contains gluten. 10/10 would definitely make again!
This gave me a big smile! I’m so glad you thought it was BOMB! That’s quite the compliment!! Enjoy!!
I’m going to try this recipe with chicken thighs from my freezer. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Do you have the carb amount per serving and how much a serving is(eg. 1/2 cup)?
I loved this recipe so much I made it twice in less than a week, and my husband, who isn’t gluten free, didn’t complain. We deep fried our chicken instead to speed up the cooking time and cooked the sauce in a pan on the stove. I tried it with a 1/2 cup and a 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar. We thought the 1/3 cup was much better, although, it was great either way it just cleared your sinuses a little more. We also decided to pre season the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder before coating it in the shaker mix. I cooked a red pepper, bean sprouts, mushrooms, carrots, pineapple, and a green onion to add to the chicken and rice. This will definitely be a recipe I use again and again and will share with my friends and family!!!
OH MY GOD. This is so good, I wish I never got full. I added red bell peppers and cooked it in the pan all together to thicken the sauce, and it is just fantastic.
Made this tonight and it was EXCELLENT. I added some green and yellow peppers and some red onion to the chicken and pineapple. I also added about a 1/4 tsp of ground ginger to the breading. My daughter with celiac was very happy. She misses a lot of asian food.
This is definitely a keeper.
Could I use honey instead of the sugar?
I used honey instead and it turned out fantastic! It also seems to make the sauce a little more sticky which makes it stick to the chicken a little better. It was great!
My husband and I made this tonight. It is delicious! This will be a weekly dinner for us. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Amazing as good as anything found in a restaurant!
I have several kids that are sensitive to corn. What kind of starch should I use instead of cornstarch? Arrowroot? Tapioca Starch? Potato Starch?
Hello. Thanks for this delicious looking recipe. By chance, do you have a suggestion for someone who is allergic to pineapples? Is there something else I could add to the chicken that would give a similar flavor? Thanks.
Never tried myself, but i would of thought orange/satsuma segment would worl well
I made this tonight and it was FANTASTIC. I was actually blown away at how much it tasted like my favorite takeout, except better! thanks so much for sharing!
Looking for directions for this recipe
Since going Gluten Free about 5 months ago, I had avoided my fave Asian restaurants, over fears of being “gluten-ed.” I especially missed sweet and sour chicken. Well, I made your sweet and sour chicken with your baked rice last night, and it was amazing! I kept commenting to my husband how good it was, and he agreed! Thank you SO much for sharing it. I cant wait to make it for my college kids when they come home for spring break! Because since mama is gluten free, the whole family is gluten free when they eat at home. And great recipes like yours, makes it so easy! Thanks!