Add More Deliciousness To Your Inbox
Youre in! Well send you delicious recipes once a week
Sweet and sour chicken is one of those classic Chinese takeout dishes that everyone is familiar with. Its easily one of the most popular Asian dishes ordered and for very good reason. The chicken is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the sauce is tangy, yet sweet and spicy all at the same time, and the mix of peppers and onions adds the perfect amount of texture in each and every bite.
When I was younger, we had Chinese take out a lot. Sweet and sour chicken was a staple in our menu rotation and a dinner that everyone in the family looked forward to. At the time, I am sure my mother was under the impression it was a very healthy dish. Lean cuts of chicken and vegetables, of course it sounds healthy right? Sadly, this is wrong. As an adult when it came time to find and recreate healthier versions of my favorites to serve my own family, I realized just how unhealthy most Chinese take out dishes really are.
Everyone Seems To Want To Know What Is Chinese Sweet And Sour Made Of
Sweet and Sour Chicken is sometimes made with breaded chicken. However, I am trying to keep the carbohydrates down so breading your chicken is an optional task that you can do in this recipe.
Sweet and Sour sauce gets its sweet taste from both Pineapple chunks and the pineapple juice.
The pineapple adds both flavor and additional sugar to this recipe. Sweet and sour chicken recipes such as this one call for using a can of pineapple chunks, using both the pineapple and some of the juice that it has been packed in.
If you can have no sugar added to your sweet and sour sauce you can opt to omit the pineapple and use one of the alternatives listed in the ingredient section of the recipe. However, if you decide to add the pineapple to this recipe you may want to look for chunks that are packed in a juice that has no added sugar.
Tips For Eating Out On The Keto Diet
- Eat green food, but be sure to ask for low-carb vegetables such as mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and Most leafy greens are low-carb.
- Ensure that you avoid breaded meat eat grilled meat.
- Ask for low-carb fruits such as watermelon, strawberries, and Be sure to avoid the high-carb fruits such as bananas, mango, cherries, and grapes.
- Dont go for the sugary, high-carb salad dressings that are so popular in restaurants. Also note that many light dressings add carbs to add more flavor, so you are often better off eating full-fat dressings.
- Watch out for sauces and condiments. Some include mostly fats while others are full of carbs. When in doubt, ask for the sauce to be left off or placed on the side.
- Going to an Italian restaurant? Create your own meal by order two sides of cooked veggies and ask for a bowl of spaghetti sauce. You can pour the sauce over the veggies, add parmesan cheese and enjoy.
- To add more fat to your meal, so you feel satisfied, ask for extra butter and melt it onto your steamed vegetables or meat.
- Most places are good about letting you substitute items. So if you order an entrée, ask to substitute the potato, rice or pasta for a side of their green vegetable of the day.
However there is nothing on the menu, sans water, that I can eat without dealing with cornstarch and tons of carbs at a Chinese/Schezwan restaurant.
You know you need this cookbook so buy it today
Read Also: Best Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
How To Cook Meatballs In An Air Fryer
Using an air fryer to cook keto meatballs is quick and easy. But you need to cook the meatballs first WITHOUT any sauce. If you add the sauce, it will just dribble out the bottom of the air fryer wire rack and burn.
Once your meatballs are cooked in the air fryer, transfer them to a saucepan or skillet with your chosen favorite low-carb sauce and heat through.
If you love using your air fryer, I have 101 keto air fryer recipes for you to choose from . Discover how to use your air fryer plus FREE printable air fryer cooking cheat sheets.
How To Thicken Keto Sweet And Sour Chicken
Cornstarch is traditionally used, but most keto recipes use xanthan gum as a thickener. I wrote a post all about this amazing ingredient here: What is Xanthan gum?
Turn the heat back up to high just until the liquid starts to bubble.
Remove from the heat and let sit for a few minutes to thicken. The sauce will coat the chicken and it looks amazing!
Serve with steamed cauliflower rice to make this an over-the-top keto bowl! Yummy
Like this low carb, keto friendly recipe? Check out my recipes for Keto Beef Bulgogi, One Pot Keto Butter Chicken or Easy Keto Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry!
Did you make this Easy Keto Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe? Tag me on Instagram so I can see! @lowcarbwithjennifer
Also Check: How Do You Make Marsala Sauce
How To Make Healthy Sweet And Sour Chicken
This section shows how to make healthier sweet and sour chicken, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the .
TIP: For best results, pat chicken dry before breading.
This step will help the pork rinds coat the chicken better.
This Easy Keto Sweet And Sour Chicken Is Perfect For When Youre Craving An Asian
This recipe for Keto Sweet and Sour Chicken is sponsored by Biochem. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Cast Iron Keto recipes and our mission possible.
Who doesnt love Chinese food? We know we do but even before going keto it was hard to come by a Chinese restaurant that offered gluten-free dishes and made without additives and industrialized seed oils. Thats why we are so excited about this awesome Keto Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe!
Weve partnered with our friends over at Biochem to use their Whey Protein Isolate + Joint powder as the breading for the chicken. Whey protein as breading? YES, its so good! Whey protein is the perfect flour for breading chicken as it gets super crunchy and golden and allows you to cook it long enough that the chicken is cooked through without the breading burning. You cant say that for almond flour or pork rinds.
With Biochems Whey Protein Isolate + Joint youre not only getting a quality whey protein but youre also getting a healthy dose of collagen 3 types actually, which support joint comfort, flexibility and mobility. How fun that the collagen can now become fried chicken, we mean what could be better than that?
Lets get to the most important parts of this recipe
Recommended Reading: Raos Takeout
You May Like: How To Make Lemon Chicken Sauce
Sweet And Sour Sauce Recipe
· As Amazon and Instacart Associates, this post may contain affiliate links that allow us to generate income.
Low Carb Sweet and Sour Sauce might sound like a contradiction in terms but it’s fantastic! Especially if you are missing takeout.
It doesn’t take long to make and you can turn up the heat as much as you want.
Ok friends…here we go with another really short and sweet Keto friendly recipe. This won’t take long.
Easy Keto Sweet And Sour Sauce
This post may contain affiliate links to products I use and highly recommend. You can read my full disclosure .
Traditional Sweet and Sour Sauce has a lot of sugar. But, it is undoubtedly one of the most delicious Chinese take-out sauce options. So, I challenged myself to recreate the flavors using keto-friendly and low-carb substitutes. This Keto Sweet and Sour Sauce recipe is the result of several rounds of trial and error! Serve it on shrimp or another protein for the perfect homemade take-out meal.
Read Also: Make My Own Hot Sauce
How To Make Keto Sweet And Sour Sauce
Combine the sesame oil and xanthan gum in a medium saucepan and stir until the xanthan gum is fully mixed with the oil. Slowly whisk in the apple cider vinegar so that it mixes in well with the xanthan gum, then pour in the water, soy sauce, ketchup and sweetener.
Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until thick, 1-2 minutes. Pour over your favourite meal or use for dipping!
Our Favorite Keto Chinese Food
Chinese food is one of those guilty pleasures we used to order in bulk on drunken nights or holidays where cooking wasnt an option.We all have a special place for it, but stay away now that we are low carb/keto. Instead of shying away we should embrace the low carb options and cook at home! Some of our favorites include this sweet and sour pork, of course, but also our:
You dont have to feel like youre missing out, and cooking at home will get the entire family involved!
Recommended Reading: How To Make Spaghetti And Meatballs With Prego Sauce
Ways To Use This Sauce
- Sweet and Sour Chicken: Shred a BBQ chicken, and add some chopped greens and stir fry for 5 minutes until vegetables just begin to soften
- Sweet and Sour Fish: cook you favourite fish, chop it up, add to a pot, pour in the sauce, add the pineapple ad heat through. Serve over rice.
- Sweet and Sour Noodles: add your favourite noodles to a pot, pour over the sweet and sour sauce, pineapple and some baby spinach and stir through.
- Sweet and sour vegetables: chop your favourite veges, mixing different colours and textures and stir fry until just tender. Add sauce and heat through. I highly recommend adding some drained water chestnuts for crunch!
- As a Dipping Sauce: for chicken or fish, baked, breaded, crumbed, or battered. And of course for wedges
- As a Brush On Glaze: on Chicken, or Fish on the grill or BBQ
- As a Recipe base for a casserole or slow cooker dish to intensify the flavour with a hit sweet, sour, savoury and tang!
Dont Miss: Raos Prices
How To Make Sugar Free Sweet And Sour Sauce
This is far from rocket science. A very easy sweet and sour sauce that is ready in minutes.
For ease of making I chose to use a purchased sugar free tomato sauce however if you prefer to make your own then I do have a great sugar free tomato sauce recipe click HERE.
- Simply sauté onions, capsicum, chilli and garlic in olive oil.
- Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon. If it isnt thickening just add a little more xanthan gum. . The consistency is perfect and you wont even know this is a sweet and sour sauce without pineapple.
I have added some extra notes in the recipe card for storage and substitutions.
You May Like: Jim N Nick’s Bbq Sauce
Easy Sweet And Sour Pork
- In a large bowl, combine pork rinds, ginger, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together.
- Cube pork into 1 inch cubes , then dunk the pork in the egg and roll in the pork rind mixture. Place on a plate.
- In a cast iron skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Fry the pork in batches. About 2 minutes on each side . Transfer to paper towel lined plate to absorb some oil.
- Make the sauce: Heat a medium saucepan over high heat. Add all sauce ingredients to the saucepan. Stir frequently, allowing it to boil and thicken and to not burn.
- Pour the sweet and sour sauce over cooked pork. Coat pork thoroughly and serve with cauliflower rice and optional steamed broccoli. Optional, sprinkle with sesame seeds and green scallions.
What To Serve Sweet And Sour With
Traditionally a Chinese sweet and sour sauce is served with chicken or pork. It teams really well with a firm fish or tofu as well. I love mine in my Keto Sweet and Sour Pork recipe. Again just a crazy simple keto recipe that totally works!
I also think that any sweet and sour dish should have some fresh sliced spring onions scattered over for a clean fresh tasting recipe.
LOVE ASIAN KETO RECIPES?
Also Check: Buy Gluten Free Soy Sauce
How To Make Low Carb Sweet And Sour Sauce
To make the sauce, combine the following in a jug or tall container: apple cider vinegar, water, low carb ketchup, and low carb simple syrup. Now, I know youre going to have questions. So first the ketchup. There are three products that I like to use: Heinz Reduced Sugar Ketchup , Walden Farms Ketchup and G Hughes ketchup . Find one that you like any of them will work fine in this recipe.
For the syrup, I recommend my homemade simple syrup, but you could also use Da Vinci Sugar Free Sweetening Syrup. Its zero carb and although it is available in many flavors, I use the plain one as it is so versatile. Also, by using ingredients that are all liquid, this is a no-cook recipe! Ive given a range of measurements in the recipe card start with the lowest amount and add more as necessary. Actually, the ingredients are all so low in carbs that you can feel free to add more of anything so that you get the required balance!
Add a small amount of your preferred thickener, and use an immersion blender to blend until fully combined.
Immediately youll get that thick texture that really makes the sauce! If you prefer a thicker sauce, add quarter teaspoons at a time, blend, and check. It is easy to add too much!
You can use this low carb sweet and sour sauce for dipping , or combine it with pork or chicken and serve it with some cauliflower rice!
Here Are Some Tips For Making Sugar Free Sweet And Sour Chicken
I mentioned above that Sweet and Sour Chicken is sometimes made with breaded chicken. However, I am trying to keep the carbohydrates down so breading your chicken is an optional task that you can do.
Here are some more helpful tips for making this recipe.
You May Like: How To Make Tzatziki Sauce Easy
How To Eat Keto At Wingstop
By The Low Carb Cook · Dec 12, 2022 ·
These Wingstop keto-approved foods are all positively mouth-watering. I have the best wing flavors, as well as drink options and side dishes for you to enjoy all on a keto diet! Learn how to order keto with confidence at Wingstop.
Wingstop is practically wing heaven they serve delicious wings in several sauce varieties, many of which are suitable for a ketogenic diet.
If you’re searching for a keto-friendly meal, Wingstop has you covered.
Still, following keto can be difficult to navigate a restaurant’s nutritional information. That’s why I’ve done the work for you!
In this post, I’ll share all the fantastic low-carb options that Wingstop has to offer. I also list menu items to avoid, ordering tips, and a couple of common traps you can fall into when ordering.
Read on to discover how you can order at Wingstop while on a low-carb diet!
Expert Tips And Faq’s
Can I use Ketchup instead of Tomato Puree/Passata?
Yes you can, however I would recommend leaving out the granulated sweetener if using a sugar free/low sugar ketchup.
Can I add the pineapple into the sauce?
Yes definitely. I recommend adding the pineapple at the time when you use the sauce. If using the sauce straight away, add the pineapple. If making for later, add the pineapple then.
How long will it last?
If you store the sauce in the fridge in an air tight container, it will last 4 to 5 days.
Read Also: Swedish Meatball Sauce With Sour Cream
