The other day I got a message on Facebook from Tiffany exclaiming how much she liked my Easy Oven Fajitas and Oven Roasted Greek Stuffed Pitas and she asked if I could create a similar recipe, but with Asian flavors. Challenge accepted!! My mind quickly recognized how the same chicken, bell peppers, and onions that are used in the Easy Oven Fajitas are also used in many stir fry dishes. So, it was really easy to convert a simple stir fry into an oven-roasted Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken.
Sheet Pans for the Win!
The concept for this recipe is simple. Toss your chicken and diced vegetables on a large sheet pan with a little oil and spices, then let them roast while you throw together a simple sweet and sour sauce. When they come out of the oven, simply pour on the sauce, stir it up, and serve over warm rice! It really couldn’t be easier.
Stove Top Option:
If you prefer to cook on the stove top instead of the oven, you can still make this recipe! Simply toss your cubed chicken in the spices and quickly stir fry in a skillet until cooked through. Then remove the chicken from the skillet and stir fry the vegetables in the same skillet. Add the cooked chicken back to the skillet, pour over the mixed sauce, and heat through. Finished! I like it when I have options. ;)
Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 large onion ($0.35)
- 2 green bell peppers ($1.50)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.69)
- 20 oz can pineapple chunks ($1.59)
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.25 lb.) ($2.53*)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger ($0.05)
- Salt and Pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 1/4 cup ketchup ($0.20)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.16)
- 1/3 cup rice or apple cider vinegar ($0.16)
- 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.14)
- 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.06)
- 3 green onions, sliced ($0.21)
- 6 cups cooked rice ($1.13)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the onion, bell peppers, and chicken breasts into one-inch pieces. Drain the pineapple well, reserving the juice for the sauce. Place the onion, bell pepper, chicken, and pineapple chunks on a large sheet pan in a single layer. Use two sheets, if needed, to prevent the chicken and vegetables from piling on top of each other. They need a little room to brown correctly.
- Drizzle the cooking oil over the ingredients on the sheet pan, followed by the garlic powder, ground ginger, and a pinch or two of salt and pepper. Toss the chicken, bell peppers, onions, and pineapple until they are evenly coated in oil and spices.
- Bake the chicken and vegetables in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until they are slightly browned on the edges. Stir half way through the baking time to redistribute the heat and allow excess moisture to evaporate.
- While the chicken and vegetables are baking, prepare the sauce. In a small sauce pot whisk together the reserved pineapple juice (about 1 cup), ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. Heat the mixture over medium flame, stirring often, until it begins to simmer. When it begins to simmer the cornstarch will begin to gel and thicken the sauce. Once the sauce has thickened to a glaze, remove it from the heat and set it aside until ready to use.
- When the chicken and vegetables have finished baking, remove them from the oven and pour the prepared sauce over top. Stir until everything is coated in sauce.
- Serve the sweet and sour chicken over cooked rice with sliced green onions sprinkled over top.
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Notes
Nutrition
This one works great for Meal Prep!
How to Make Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken – Step by Step Photos
Begin by draining a 20 ounce can of pineapple chunks, saving the juice for the sweet and sour sauce. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Cut one large onion, 2 green bell peppers, 1 red bell pepper, and two boneless, skinless chicken breasts into one-inch pieces. Place them all on a large baking sheet with the pineapple chunks and spread them into a single layer. Divide them into two baking sheets if needed, to make sure they’re not piled on top of each other. Drizzle 2 Tbsp cooking oil over top, followed by 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, and a pinch or two of salt and pepper. Toss the ingredients until they are all coated in oil and spices. Bake the chicken and vegetables in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until they are slightly brown on the edges. Stir them once half way through the baking time.
While the chicken and vegetables are baking, prepare the simple sweet and sour sauce. In a small sauce pot, combine 1 cup of the reserved pineapple juice with 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup rice or apple cider vinegar, 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch. Whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved. Heat the sauce over medium heat until it begins to simmer, at which point the cornstarch will begin to gel and thicken the sauce into a glaze. Stir the sauce often as it heats.
After 40 minutes the chicken, bell peppers, onions, and pineapple should have slightly browned edges. The more room there is around the pieces the better they’ll brown. When they’re crowded, they trap steam and tend to stew in their own juices, so you want to make sure there is space (mine could have benefitted a bit from a little more room). Remove the baked chicken and vegetables from the oven.
Pour the prepared sauce over the chicken and vegetables…
Stir until everything is coated in the sweet and sour sauce. Sprinkle sliced green onions over top.
Serve over warm rice and enjoy your super simple and tasty Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken!
I tried making this last night however the 40 min 400 degree cook seems too high. I ended up burning everything and the chicken came out dry/burnt. I’ll try on a lower temp and less time if I try this again, maybe my oven just run hot?
Yes, unfortunately ovens vary quite a bit so you really need to get to know your oven and keep an eye on things as they cook. Sometimes it also has to do with the size of the pieces of food and how much room there is on the baking sheet (When the food is packed closer together, they’ll cook more slowly. Spaced far apart and they’ll burn faster.)
Can you substitute chicken drumsticks in place of breasts for any chicken recipe?
This recipe is amazing! Super easy and better than take out. This is definitely going in our dinner rotation.
I’ve been using this blog for recipes for the last few years, and have never posted a review. Everything has been wonderful, but I usually use the recipes when I need to mix things up a bit during dinner. This recipe is by far the best one I have made off this website. Sweet and sour is my favorite dish at any oriental restaurant and I will say, this was better.
Thanks for sharing, I can only give 5 stars, but It’s a 5+++ in my book.
Even following directions exactly the vegetables were undercooked and the chicken overcooked, everything was also swimming in juices toward the end.
Made your Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour chicken last night. So easy and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
I love your site/blog. I’ve found so many fantastic recipes here. Made the sheet pan sweet and sour chicken for dinner tonight and got raves. 😄 Only thing I would do differently is double the sauce recipe, because we all like to spoon the sauce over our rice. Thanks for all your efforts. Wonderful, good food, good recipes, easy on the wallet!
Beth, I’m cooking this as I type. I just finished the sauce and it’s a little bit too tangy for my likes. I can tell it’s too much acv. I checked the recipe again to make sure I put in the right amount. You have 1/3 cup in the recipe but 1/4 cup in the picture instructions. I think 1/4 would taste better and will use that if I make it again.
Omg! I take it back! Shouldn’t have been eating sauce by itself. It tastes AMAZING together! Thanks for another great recipe.
Thanks for catching that! I’m going to go check my notes and fix whichever one is the typo (I’m pretty sure 1/3 cup is correct).
Just wanted to say that my husband and I both really liked this. I used one green, one yellow, and one red bell pepper but kept everything else the same. Ended up pulling it out at 30 minutes – it was starting to smell like burning. Delicious! Thanks!
Thank you for this recipe! I’m not a big fan of pineapple but tried it anyway and it is ahhhh-mazing! I froze in individual servings and it is still very good reheated. Definitely a keeper!
Thanks for sharing about the freezing! I wasn’t sure if this one would hold up to freezing.
I was unsure of the sauce but I was curious and decided to give it a try…Good thing because it is AMAZING!!! I did it on the stovetop and added celery. So glad that there is some leftovers even though it was really hard to stop eating it…You did it again!!😊
Personally, I’m not a big fan of sweet and sour, but the hubs never misses the opportunity to order it when we’re at the local Asian spot. However, I know homemade is always better in this house, so I thought I’d give it a go. I was encouraged to see that the sauce was not fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark pink, and lo! Awesome meal – the sauce is tangy with some sour to it, not that sickening sweet business they serve at the restaurant. I loved it and the hubs was reminded of they way it used to be.
I used fresh pineapple and blended a few spears to make some juice for the sauce. Holy moly – so good! I’m trying not to get up and fork a few more bites so that I can have some left-overs. This is a keeper.
Looks so good, gotta try it soon
I made this, and it was REALLY good! Definitely recommend the rice vinegar for the sauce, though. Great recipe, thank you!
The Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken is so good!!! I cooked the sweet and sour chicken on the stove instead of the oven and used two green bell peppers instead of a combination of red and green. I used three chicken breasts to stretch out the left overs, which will last for a few days. Thank you for this awesome recipe, Beth!!!! :-)
If the sauce had stayed its original consistency, this would have been pretty unappetizing, but instead it was delicious! How do you know when a sauce is going to thicken like this? Is it all in the corn starch?
While I did really enjoy this recipe and I got multiple compliments from jealous coworkers who could smell my amazing lunch, I found the chicken to be quite dry. Next time, I think I’ll make extra sauce and cook the chicken separately in a pan.
Yep, that’s the magic of cornstarch! :) It gels up when mixed with liquid and heated to boiling.