An easy Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe made healthy, gluten free and without pineapple! Paleo, Whole30 and done in under an hour.
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Everyone loves takeout from time to time, but having your favorite takeout meal made fresh at home with better ingredients is so much better!
This sweet and sour chicken is so delicious, easy to make, and a healthier version of one of your favorite takeout meals.
In less than an hour and with only 10 ingredients, you can have this delicious sweet and sour chicken on your dinner table.
What makes this sweet and sour chicken recipe healthy?
There are so many reasons we love this healthy sweet and sour chicken! Here’s what makes this recipe much healthier than other recipes:
- low sugar – There are 13g of sugar per serving.
- high protein – A whole 51g of protein per serving!
- veggie loaded – Over 4 cups of veggies are recommended in the recipe, but you could definitely add more. See below for our recommended substitutions as well!
- clean ingredients – We took traditional sweet and sour chicken and chose cleaner ingredients for our healthier recipe.
- pan cooked, not fried – The typical takeout sweet and sour chicken is battered and deep fried which adds a lot of calories, so we decided to pan cook our chicken and it still tastes so delicious!
Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken Ingredients
To make this easy sweet and sour chicken you will need these 10 simple ingredients:
- chicken breasts
- red onion, red bell pepper, broccoli florets
- olive oil
- ketchup
- coconut aminos
- apple cider vinegar
- orange juice
- garlic (minced)
For ingredient substitutions, see the green shaded box below.
How Do You Make Healthy Sweet And Sour Chicken From Scratch?
It is incredibly easy to make this sweet and sour chicken!
- In a pan, cook the chicken breasts in olive oil for 10-15 minutes until browned on all edges. While the chicken cooks, mix together the sauce ingredients. Set the chicken aside once it is done cooking.
- Add veggies to the same pan and saute for 3-5 minutes until softened. Don’t overcook! Set the veggies aside once they are done cooking.
- Add the sauce to the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer for about 2 minutes. The sauce should naturally thicken and start to pull away from the pan when you scrape it with a spatula. Be careful not to burn it!
- Add cooked chicken and the veggies back to the pan. Stir to coat with sauce and heat over low until warmed through.
- Serve over rice, cauliflower rice or as is. Enjoy!
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN
This recipe is pretty versatile. Here are a few ways you can customize it!
Orange Juice – You can substitute regular bottled orange juice with freshly squeezed orange juice. Make sure it has no added sugar!
Chicken – You can substitute chicken breasts with chopped chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Coconut Aminos – You can sub coconut aminos with soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, but the recipe will no longer be paleo. If using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, use HALF the amount – Bragg’s is much saltier.
Apple Cider Vinegar – We don’t have any substitution recommendations for the apple cider vinegar. It really is essential in the flavor of this dish.
Ketchup – You can’t substitute ketchup in this recipe, it’s essential for the sauce. However, any brand of ketchup should work; we do recommend looking for one with no or low sugar. If you are doing a Whole30, make sure the ketchup is Whole30 friendly
Garlic– Fresh garlic will definitely give the best flavor, but you can substitute with 1 teaspoon garlic powder or granulated garlic if necessary.
Vegetables – Pretty much any vegetables will work in this recipe. Some other veggies we think would taste great are green beans, mushrooms or carrots.
Is Sweet And Sour Chicken Healthy?
Typical takeout sweet and sour chicken is battered and deep fried which adds a lot of calories in addition to the added sugar that is typically in the sweet and sour sauce.
Our recipe is cooked in a pan and doesn’t have additional added sugars (just the sugar occurring in the sauce ingredients) which allows it to be a healthier option than your typical sweet and sour chicken takeout.
Sweet & Sour Chicken FAQ
The standard sweet and sour chicken is chicken that is battered and deep fried with the sweet and sour sauce on the side. Hong Kong style sweet and sour chicken typically serves the battered and deep fried chicken tossed in the sauce.
Add the sauce ingredients to the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer for about 2 minutes. The sauce should naturally thicken and start to pull away from the pan when you scrape it with a spatula. Be careful not to burn it!
Typically, sweet and sour sauce isn’t considered “good” for you because of all the added sugar. It definitely depends on your individual dietary needs how “bad” a partial food is though.
Important Note: This is not an authentic sweet & sour chicken recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. If you are looking for an authentic sweet and sour chicken recipe – check out this recipe!
Serving Paleo Sweet & Sour Chicken
Feeding a family? Serve it over a giant bowl of rice/quinoa with lots of veggies tossed in the sauce or on the side. You could also serve with Instant Pot Fried Rice.
Trying to keep paleo? Skip the rice and serve just the chicken and veggies on their own or over cauliflower rice. We love our cauliflower fried rice!
Not a huge fan of cauliflower rice? This sweet and sour chicken would taste great over zoodles!
Storing Sweet & Sour Chicken
Fridge: I keep this easy sweet and sour chicken in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheating: You can reheat this sweet and sour chicken in a pan or in the microwave until warmed through.
Freezing: We have not tried freezing this sweet and sour chicken, but I think it would freeze fine!
Love chicken? Check out our favorite healthy chicken breast recipes!
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cleaned and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 cup red onion cut into 1 inch square pieces
- 1.5 cups red bell pepper about 1 large pepper, cut into 1 inch square pieces
- 2 cups broccoli florets
Sauce:
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoon garlic minced
Instructions
- In a pan heat olive oil. Cook chicken breasts for 10-15 minutes until browned on all edges.
- While the chicken cooks, mix together sauce.
- When chicken is finished cooking, remove from the pan and set aside in a dish.
- Add vegetables to the pan that the chicken cooked in and saute for 3-5 minutes until softened. Don’t over cook, we don’t want them to be mushy!
- Once vegetables have cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add sauce to the pan and turn onto high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling reduce to a simmer for about 2 minutes. The sauce should naturally thicken and start to pull away from the pan when you scrape it with a spatula. Be careful not to burn it!
- Add cooked chicken + vegetables to the pan. Stir to coat with sauce and cook over low heat until warmed through. If the sauce is too thick, add a tablespoon of orange juice.
- Serve over rice, cauliflower rice or as is!
Meg B says
Cooked this up for a family dinner. It was a big hit and definitely a keeper! Thankful for great recipes like this that are clean!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy you and your family liked it, Meg! Thank you!
Lili says
This was really delicious and will definitely make it again! 5”thanks a lot for all the work you put into providing those recipes!
(Side note – i found i had to add a tad bit of water while cooking the broccoli and cover the pan to ensure they were cooked. I might pre cook them in the future.)
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Lili! so glad you liked them!
Liz kane says
This recipe was so good ! I served over cauliflower rice . I have to be honest , when I read ketchup in the sauce I almost didn’t make it as just sounded strange but so glad I made it .
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy to hear this, Liz! Thank you!!
Dianna says
This recipe was super easy and delicious! Way better than takeout in my opinion. Two thumbs up from this picky family if 5!
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m so happy to hear you and your family liked it, Dianna!
Kayla says
Nice, easy recipe as I come off of whole30!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Lindsay says
This was really great! I love that I had all the ingredients on hand. Thanks for another delicious and clean recipe!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Lindsay! Glad you liked them!
Jenn says
This recipe is so good and so easy!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much!!
Lexi says
Just found your website via Pinterest and loving it! We tried this recipe tonight and love the ingredients, but we couldn’t really get the suave to thicken up! Maybe we didn’t boil long enough on high heat? Any tips? Thanks!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Lexi – Probably wasn’t boiling for long enough! It needs to be at a rolling boil for the sauce to thicken
Ashley says
As per usual, Liz knocked it out of the park with this recipe! It tastes AMAZING and will be on regular rotation for lunches/dinners! It’s filling, satisfies the Chinese itch, and is so easy make. Her easy step by step directions both on the blog post AND in the recipe card make this an easy to follow recipe that’s both delicious and filling.
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m so glad you liked it, Ashley! Thank you so much!
Yummy says
Could I sub chicken thighs for the breasts?
The Clean Eating Couple says
All of our recipes have a box where we list all the substitutions. It’s a green box so it’s easier to find in the post. This is written in it: You can substitute chicken breasts with chopped chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Chelsea says
Easy and simple to make! Definitely a keeper.
Kate says
Rice isn’t whole30 approved.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Which is why it says multiple times throughout the post ‘Serve over rice, cauliflower rice or as is!’