Crispy Sweet and Sour Chicken

I haven't blogged in a few days or so but I made this yummy sweet and sour chicken for lunch today so I thought I would share the recipe.  The breading recipe that I use for this chicken is my all time favorite breading recipe, I use it on chicken fried steak and everything.  I love to use the Panko bread crumbs because they give a nice crunchy coating to your food.  Panko can be found at Walmart and most other grocery stores.  I buy mine in the International aisle at Walmart instead of the baking aisle because believe it or not, they have a different brand in each of those aisle but the one in the International aisle is cheaper for the same amount of bread crumbs.  Here is more information on Panko, how it is made and a recipe if you would like to make your own.

Crispy Sweet and Sour Chicken

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients for Chicken:

2 lbs. Chicken Breast

2 1/2 cups Panko (Japanese Bread Crumbs)

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 T Onion Powder

2 T Garlic Powder

2 T Black Pepper

4 T Salt

Vegetable Oil as needed for frying chicken

2 eggs

Ingredients for Sauce:

1 1/2 cups Sugar

8 T Ketchup

2 T Soy Sauce

2 t Garlic Salt

3/4 cup Vinegar (distilled white or apple cider will work)

Directions:

1. First, in a large bowl you want to make your breading mixture by mixing together the flour, panko, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, set aside.

2. Now you will make your egg wash in a separate large bowl by combining the 2 eggs and 2 cups of water, whisk until it is completely mixed together as a liquid.

3. Cut all of your chicken into small bite size pieces and place them on a plate.

4. Now it is time to bread the chicken.  You will place a handful of pieces into the dry mixture at a time, making sure the pieces are completely coated.  Take the pieces out of the bowl and lightly roll them in your hand with your fingers slightly spread apart to shake off the excess.

5. Place the chicken into the egg mixture briefly but make sure all of the pieces are coated entirely.

6. Place the chicken back into the dry mixture and roll it around, then shaking off the excess just as you did in step 4.  Place the breaded pieces on a clean plate that is set to the side.  Continue this process until all of the chicken is breaded.

7. To make the sauce, place all ingredients for the sauce in a microwaveable bowl or a small cooking pot, stir and then heat until hot.

8. To cook the chicken, place enough cooking oil into your large frying pan so that it will come halfway up the side of your chicken once it is in the pan, you don't want your chicken fully submerged in oil.  Right now is also the time I would put my rice on (Perfect Quick Rice Recipe) and it will be ready just as the chicken is done frying.

9. Once your oil is heated to 375 degrees, start placing pieces into the pan one at a time, do not dump them all in at once.  Let the chicken cook for about 2 minutes on one side or until light, golden brown then turn them over.  I cook my chicken in about 2-3 batches and once a batch is done (golden brown on both sides) I place it on a plate that has paper towels on it to soak up any excess oil.

10. Once all of the chicken is cooked, the rice should be done steaming.  I like to place a scoop of rice into my bowl then top with some chicken and pour on some of the sauce.  I don't like tossing my chicken in the sauce because I usually have leftovers and I like to save the sauce in a separate bowl so I can use it on my chicken after I heat it up instead of mixing all the sauce into the chicken then heating it up and it is dried out.  It is up to you how you want to do it of course.