Sweet and sour chicken with noodles and vegetables

Crispy vegetables with tender and aromatic chicken in sweet and sour sauce. This popular in Chinese restaurants dish can be very easy and quickly prepared at home. My version is a little lightened up in comparison to the takeaway. The restaurant version is most often too sweet and fatty for me. In my recipe, I combined chicken breast with noodles, mushrooms and a lot of vegetables. It’s super tasty but also quite healthy, as it‘s packed with veggies! You can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge, but my favorite combination is mushrooms, carrots, bell paprika, and green beans. The sauce is sweet and sour, obviously, but not overly sweet, it‘s well-balanced. Don‘t be afraid of a large amount of garlic, it‘s chopped so it‘s not as sharp as the pressed one. The chicken is very flavorful, but not overly garlicky. This sweet and sour chicken stir fry is one of your favorite dinners!

Other versions of this dish:

• If you‘d rather have a sweet-sour chicken with rice, check out this recipe: sweet sour chicken with pineapple and bell paprika, served on rice.
• I also have for you a similar dish: chicken with noodles in Chinese sweet-sour plum sauce!
• these peanut chicken noodles or chicken chow mein are also amazing

How to make sweet and sour chicken stir fry step by step:

1. Ingredients needed to prepare the dish. This is my absolute favorite ingredients combination, but feel free to use any vegetables or protein that you have on hand. Instead of chicken, you can use firm tofu to make it vegetarian. You can also use shrimps or thinly sliced beef. As for the vegetables, don’t omit the mushrooms and just use any vegetables you have.

2. Prepare the ingredients (this is the most time-consuming part of the recipe, but then it goes very quickly):

• Chicken: cut 1 double chicken breast into 2 cm /c1-inch cubes, mix with 1 tablespoon of oil, finely chopped 1.5 inch / 4 cm piece of ginger, 5 finely chopped cloves of garlic, and 1/2 ts of chilli flakes, season to taste with salt. You can cook right away or leave to marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
• Vegetables: cut 7 oz/200g cremini mushrooms into 5 mm / ¼ inch slices, 1 red bell pepper into 5 mm / ¼ inch stripes, 3 medium carrots (5.3 oz/150g) into very thin matchsticks.

3. Ingredients for sweet and sour sauce: 6 Tbsp of light soy sauce, 3 Tbsp of rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp of light brown sugar, 2 ts of potato or corn starch, and 2 ts of tomato paste or ketchup.

4. Whisk all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

5. Cook the egg noodles (4.4 oz / 125g) and (3.5 oz / 100g) green beans: place in a medium pot, pour in boiling water, add a little salt, cook for 4 minutes, then strain.

6. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, cook the chicken over high heat for 2 minutes (no stirring), then on the other 1-2 minutes more, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate. It‘s important not to overcook the chicken, otherwise, it will be tough, cook it only until it changes its color from pink to white.

7. Add another tablespoon of oil, carrots and bell paprika to the same pan, cook for 4 minutes, until lightly tender and browned, but still a little crunchy (they should not be completely cooked).

8. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring. Vegetables and mushrooms should be browned but still a little crunchy.

9. Add the chicken back to the pan, add the cooked noodles, green beans, and the sauce.

10. Toss everything together, bring to a boil. Transfer to plates and serve.

Enjoy!

Storage:

This dish is not very good after reheating because the noodles absorb the sauce and become mushy and the whole dish is just a little dry. If you want to make it ahead, store the sauce separately and combine it only before serving.

Sweet and sour chicken with noodles and vegetables

Crispy vegetables with tender and aromatic chicken in sweet and sour sauce, served with noodles. My favorite homemade version of the classic takeaway dish!

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4.88 from 8 votes

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2 servings

Calories 3182kcal

Author Aleksandra

Ingredients

chicken:

• ▢ 2 small chicken breasts
• ▢ 2 tablespoons frying oil
• ▢ 1.5 inch (4 cm) piece of ginger
• ▢ 5 cloves garlic
• ▢ ½ teaspoon chili flakes or to taste
• ▢ salt to taste

noodles + green beans:

• ▢ 4.4 oz (125g) dried egg noodles Mie noodles or ramen noodles
• ▢ 3.5 oz (100g) green beans (I used frozen)

mushrooms and other vegetables:

• ▢ 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• ▢ 7 oz (200g) cremini mushrooms
• ▢ 1 red bell pepper
• ▢ 3 medium carrots 150g / 5.3 oz

sweet sour sauce:

• ▢ 6 tablespoons light soy sauce
• ▢ 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons tomato puree or ketchup
• ▢ 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons potato / corn starch

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Instructions

• Prepare the chicken: Cut the chicken into 2 cm /1-inch cubes, mix with 1 tablespoon of oil, finely chopped ginger and garlic and chilli flakes, season to taste with salt. Cook right away or leave to marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
• Cook the noodles and green beans: place in a medium pot, pour in boiling water, add a little salt, cook for 4 minutes, then strain.
• Prepare the vegetables: cut the mushrooms into 5 mm / ¼ inch slices, bell pepper into 5 mm / ¼ inch stripes, carrots into very thin matchsticks.
• Whisk all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
• Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, cook the chicken over high heat for 2 minutes (no stirring), then on the other 1-2 minutes more, or until cooked through. Transfer on a plate. It‘s important not to overcook the chicken, otherwise, it will be tough, cook it only until it changes its color from pink to white.
• Add another tablespoon of oil, carrots and bell paprika to the same pan, cook for 4 minutes, until tender and browned, but still a little crunchy.
• Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes, until browned, tender, and crunchy.
• Add the chicken back to the pan, add the cooked noodles, green beans, and the sauce. Toss everything together, bring to a boil. Transfer to plates and serve.
• Enjoy!

Notes

• This is my absolute favorite ingredients combination, but feel free to use any vegetables or protein that you have on hand. Instead of chicken, you can use firm tofu to make it vegetarian. You can also use shrimps or thinly sliced beef. As for the vegetables, don’t omit the mushrooms and just use any vegetables you have.
• Potato / corn starch. If you have choice, use the potato starch. I prefer this type of strach because it thickens the sauce more quickly (I tested both types and you need to cook the sauce with corn starch just a minute or two longer).
• This dish is not very good after reheating because the noodles absorb the sause and become mushy and the whole dish is just a little dry. If you want to make it ahead, store the sauce separately and combine only before serving.

Course dinner

Cuisine american-chinese, Chinese-inspired, international

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