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.
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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
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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!
Hi Beth. I love your blog. Perhaps this is obvious to others, because sheet pan recipes have become trendy, but can’t tell myself: What size sheet pan will I need for your sheet pan recipes? Will they fit in a half sheet? Will I need two?
My family of two does a lot of this style recipe in a jelly roll pan or in a 9×13 casserole if we need more space, but even that is a bit crowded sometimes. If I knew this was meant to be a full sheet (along with all your other ones) then I could easily halve the recipe and have a size that suits us better. I realize I could just wing it but on occasions when you’re trying to feed more people or cook several things, it helps a lot to know which pans will already be spoken for.
Thanks a bunch! You feed my household just about every single night and we appreciate you.
Hi Aimee, great question! I use a 9×13 sheet pan as well. :) The most important thing is that everything isn’t too crowded (otherwise steam gets trapped and everything gets soggy), so depending on how big your vegetables are you may sometimes need to use two. I hope that helps!
Ok recipe. The ketchup in the sauce gave it a strange flavor.
I made this stovetop in a dutch oven per the blog post above. I used chicken thighs because they don’t dry out like breasts do, and only had to use 1 tbsp of oil to get a nice crust on them. I also used frozen (thawed) pineapple chunks and fresh garlic/ginger. Reducing to 2 tbsp of brown sugar in the sauce per the other commenters was perfect. I highly recommend!
Also, I marinated the chicken in a little white pepper, Chinese cooking wine, and soy sauce beforehand to add some flavor.
WINNER, WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! So good, so very good.
Made it exactly as written. It was fan-flipping-tastic. Thanks Beth!
I’m not going to rate this now because it came out unsatisfactory for me on the first try. It is a great base idea, which I shall pursue. The results were partially my fault. First, the result was very stewed, rather than baked, even though I used two cookie sheets. The pineapple was way too juicy even though I had poured off the juice. For the second batch, I put my fist in the can and squeezed the fruit and got more juice out but still wasn’t dry enough. Part of the juiciness could have been from the chicken which also didn’t get much color on it because everything was so moist. I didn’t want to dilute the sauce so I made it and put it on the servings as I reheated the meat and vegetables. The sauce was too strong the day I made it but tasted much better the next day. I made it with the cider vinegar because that’s what I had but I’ll use rice vinegar the next time. The next time, I make this (and I will!) I’ll experiment with cooking the vegetables and chicken separately or perhaps on the stove top.
I’m sorry to hear this Marion! But sounds like you’re working through it. Let me know if we can help in any way next time.