Running to Bake: Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

To give you a quick update, my "Junk Food Free Experiment" is going quite well. I cannot say that I haven't had a COUPLE of slip ups (it was Thanksgiving after all) but otherwise, I've been REALLY good.

Observations so far: The first few days after I started, I was actually feeling kind of depressed. I REALLY wanted to eat a big ol' bag of chips. By Thursday however, I was starting to sleep better, and feeling more rested in the morning. Then Thanksgiving happened, and I was in a food coma for the better part of 3 days.

This week, not much has changed. I'm not sleeping well again, but I have a feeling it might have something to do with the fact we've adopted Maverick (my family dog) and these two silly goofs like to spend the night playing.

In any case, one thing that I HAVE noticed this week, is that I haven't been craving junk food. I mean, every once in awhile I'll want some chips or something, but the craving passes and I'll move on. That's pretty exciting! I also haven't had the urge to snack like a crazy person, so that's also a big "Whoohoo!"

I HAVE been craving Chinese Food recently though, and so has hubs, so I found a recipe for Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken online and decided to give it a try. I had to improvise a bit as I didn't have an ketchup on hand (we're in between grocery shops) but it turned out SO WELL. It was like a less breaded, better for you, Chinese take out meal!

Although, it turns out, I don't know how to make rice. It came out all soggy and yucky. Didn't matter though, the chicken stood up just fine in it's own!

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

adapted from i heart nap time

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp garlic salt

3/4 cup corn starch

2 large eggs, whisked

1/2 cup canola oil

For the Sweet & Sour Sauce

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp honey garlic BBQ sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 + 1 tbsp white vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

Method:

Place the chicken, salt, pepper, garlic salt & cornstarch into a plastic ziplock bag and toss until chicken is evenly coated. (You can toss in a bowl as well if you don't have a big enough bag)

Next, heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a frying pan (at about medium heat). Dip chicken into the egg and add to your frying pan with a fork. My frying pan isn't huge, so I had to do 1/2 a batch at a time. Fry both sides of the chicken for about 2 min (or until a nice golden brown colour). When done, transfer to a baking sheet lined with FOIL. Parchment paper does NOT work in this case. Just trust me.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Do the same for the rest of the chicken using the remainder of the oil. Add to the baking sheet and evenly spread out the chicken on your baking sheet (it's ok if there is a little overlap).

Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce. Give it a taste after you're done. If it's too sweet, add a little more vinegar. Too sour? Add some sugar (or ketchup, if you have it). Feel free to experiment a little here, it's fun!

Using a spoon, drizzle the sauce over the chicken until the chicken is coated. Place in the oven for 20 mins. Take out and toss the chicken in the sauce on the baking sheet, then add back in the oven for another 15-20 mins.

Serve with rice and veggies!