Recipe: Gluten-Free Sweet and Sour Chicken (Beginner-Friendly)

Skip to recipe

Gluten-Free Sweet and Sour Chicken

As we’ve talked about before, one of the cuisines that celiacs/coeliacs often miss out on is American Chinese food. With Isabelle’s celiac disease and allergies to corn and soy, we’ve had to do a lot of work to make our own allergy-friendly versions of these dishes.

While we’ve really started to master these flavors, it took us a lot of work to get to where we are now (like our orange chicken). While some of these recipes can be fairly similar, we’ve found that our gluten-free sweet and sour chicken always turns out perfectly. It’s easier to make than it looks, and the flavors are different from what we usually eat.

Sweet and sour chicken is all about that tangy and sweet sauce, pineapple, peppers, onions, and fried chicken. We’ve been able to whip up our gluten-free sweet and sour chicken pretty fast and it always tastes like it came from a restaurant.

Sweet, Sour and SPICY

While our classic gluten-free sweet and sour chicken is great, sometimes we like to switch it up. It’s totally optional, of course, but we sometimes like to add some heat.

As you’ll soon see, all we do to kick up our sweet and sour chicken is to add some chili flakes to the sauce early in the cooking process. You can still add these in near the end if you’re not sure whether or not you want to make the spicy version of this recipe, but we love the way the flavors meld together when we cook the chili flakes in.

Making it Gluten-Free (and Allergy-Friendly)

As per our other gluten-free Chinese take-out recipes, we had to make a few adaptations to make our gluten-free sweet and sour chicken.

For one, we use gluten-free flour to replace the regular flour usually used in this recipe. We don’t add any cornstarch because of Isabelle’s corn allergy. We tend to use Pamela’s gluten-free flour blend, but you can use a gluten-free flour that works for you. This could be a different blend, or rice or tapioca flour. The only one that doesn’t tend to work is coconut flour because it burns at high heat.

The other component that we have to be careful with is the ketchup. We use Hellman’s “Real Honey-Sweetened Ketchup” because it doesn’t contain corn syrup or white vinegar, but you can use whatever ketchup suits your needs (or even make your own).

How to Make Gluten-Free Sweet and Sour Chicken

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. chicken thighs
• 1 cup gluten-free flour
• 1 egg
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
• 1/2 cup pineapple (cubed)
• 1 cup peppers (sweet or bell; chopped)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1 tbsp. chili flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS

The Sauce

1. Heat a large skillet or a wok on medium with 2 tbsp of the oil and the garlic and onion. If you are adding chili flakes, then add them at this point.
2. When these ingredients start cooking, add the pineapple and peppers.
3. After the vegetables and pineapple have softened, add the ketchup, sugar, and vinegar and mix thoroughly. Let the mixture simmer on a low heat.

The Chicken

1. Preheat a pan or deep pot to medium-high heat with your cooking oil.
2. Make an egg wash in one bowl by combining the egg with a little water and mixing. Prepare the flour in a separate bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and dip into the egg wash, then the flour.
4. When your chicken is breaded, add to the oil.
5. Cook for about 6-8 minutes until the chicken is golden brown.
6. When the chicken is done, add it to the sauce mixture you previously prepared. Make sure that the chicken is well-coated.
7. Serve with noodles or rice.