Last Minute Dinner- Sweet and Sour Chicken

So last Friday Papa Bear gives me a call to let me know that he had just spoke with the missionaries of our church and wanted to confirm we were still on for dinner that night. (In our church members will sign up to feed the missionaries meals as often as possible to help off set the cost of a mission) Sure I was the one who had signed up to feed them just a few Sundays before, but its not like I actually remember those kinds of things. (EEK!) So here I was 3:00pm in the afternoon with that terrible looming question of whats for dinner that much more dire. Luckily I had just pinned a fabulous recipe and had all the ingredients to try it.  I am happy to say it turned out amazing, and I have tried a few different sweet and sour recipes that have been epic fails. This recipe originally came to me from ihartnaptime and changed it a bit as I always seem to do. It turned out fabulous to say the least! Not only did Papa bear and the missionaries gobble it up but all the little cubs loved it too which is always an added bonus.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken (cut into bite size pieces)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup corn starch
• 2 large eggs, whisked
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• Sweet and sour sauce:
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp garlic powder or 2 tsp minced garlic (the more the merrier I say
• 1/2 cup + 1 TB rice vinegar (distilled vinegar will work too)
• 1 TB soy sauce

Directions

Heat a large pan of about 1/2in vegetable oil over medium/high heat. Mix the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cornstarch in a large ziplock bag. Add in the chopped up chicken and shake well. Dip chicken in scrambled eggs and then fry till golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Let drain on a paper towel. Mix sauce in a separate bowl. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spread chicken in an even layer. Pour sauce over the top and lightly toss to coat. Bake in a 325 oven for 20minutes. Remove and toss again. Bake for another 10-15 mins. Serve over rice. If you want to make it super good you can double the sauce and heat the second batch on the stove top to pour over chicken and rice just before serving. 

Tips and Tricks

You will know the oil is hot and ready if you splash a very small sprinkle of water (like flick it off your fingers) into it and it pops right away. If it take a bit to bubble up its too cold and if it splatters its too hot

I like to have a Station set up for me before I start cooking. So I have my bag of chicken right next to the eggs right next to the pan of oil so it can just go from one to the other with minimal mess. I did move the plate with the paper towel over to the other side of my pan after I dropped a freshly cooked piece of chicken in the eggs on its way over…learn from my mistake just make stations from left to right or right to left

When frying I like to use these handy chop sticks that are super long so that I am not being splattered with oil as I flip or pull them out. You can also just use extra long tongs if chop sticks aren't your thing. I use separate tongs for pulling my raw chicken out of the bag and into the oil then the ones I use for flipping and pulling out of the pan. Maybe its a weird, but I just think its gross to have raw chicken tongs touch cooked chicken. 

The last tip is make sure your cookie sheet pan that you are placing your chicken on has a lip to it so you don't have to worry about sauce spilling over and getting all over your oven. 

Happy cooking :)