Air fryer sweet and sour chicken is the ultimate weeknight meal. This healthy sweet and sour chicken is better than takeout and is ready in under 15 minutes! Serve with rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice for a quick and easy meal that everyone in your family is sure to love!
Why you will love this recipe
- Easy to make – making sweet and sour chicken in the air fryer so simple! While the chicken and veggies cook in the air fryer, you simmer the sauce on the stove. Everything comes together in just 15 minutes and tastes amazing.
- Simple ingredients – you likely have all the ingredients you need to make air fryer sweet and sour chicken in the pantry or fridge right now. Be sure to check out the substitution area below if you don’t have one of the ingredients listed!
- Healthy take on classic dish – this air fryer sweet and sour chicken is a simple spin on a Chinese classic dish using easy to find gluten free ingredients. Because the chicken is cooked in the air fryer instead of deep fried, it’s much healthier and lower in calories overall. Serve this with jasmine rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice (or a combination of these) to create a super satisfying meal.
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Ingredients
- Chicken – the chicken gets cut into small bite size pieces (about 1-1.5 inch pieces). Because of this, it’s best to use a boneless, skinless chicken. You can use chicken breast, chicken thighs or chicken tenders. You could even use turkey breast. I personally prefer to use chicken thighs because they are so forgiving and stay juicy and tender even if they get slightly overcooked.
- Arrowroot powder – arrowroot coats the chicken and helps a crust form on the chicken as it cooks. You could also use tapioca powder or cornstarch.
- Olive oil spray or avocado oil spray – the chicken gets sprayed with olive oil or avocado oil spray before cooking to help create that crust. This helps to mimic deep frying with much less oil. Be sure to check the ingredients to ensure that there are no added propellants to the spray as those are known to case damage to the coating on the air fryer.
- Bell pepper – red, yellow or orange bell peppers are best because they are naturally sweet. The sweetness of the peppers helps to elevate the sweetness of the overall dish.
- Pineapple chunks – pineapple is a classic addition to sweet and sour chicken. The pineapple is optional but I highly recommend adding it! You can use fresh or canned pineapple I use canned pineapple in juice because it’s easy to always keep a can or two in the pantry for recipes like this.
- Green onion – green onion helps to add a pop of color and also adds a slight onion flavor that doesn’t overpower the dish. If you don’t have green onion, omit it.
Sweet and sour sauce
- Ketchup – ketchup provides it’s own unique flavors and it’s own level of tanginess and sweetness. Use your favorite ketchup here – you can use unsweetened, organic or even make your own ketchup. If you don’t love the idea of ketchup with sweet and sour sauce, replace the ketchup with pineapple juice.
- Rice wine vinegar – rice wine vinegar helps create the sour part of sweet and sour chicken. It offsets the sweetness perfectly but doesn’t overpower the dish.
- Maple syrup – maple syrup naturally sweetens the sauce. You could also use honey if you prefer but I like the flavor from the maple syrup with the rest of the ingredients.
- Coconut aminos – coconut aminos are a gluten free and soy free alternative to soy sauce. They are slightly sweeter than soy sauce and aren’t quite as salty but do add a deep layer of flavor and a richness to the dish. You could also use gluten free tamari or soy sauce if you aren’t gluten free.
- Water – water helps to thin out the sauce allowing it to get the perfect consistency once the arrowroot powder is added. If you want a pineapple flavor to the sauce, you can replace the water with pineapple juice.
- Arrowroot powder – arrowroot thicken the sauce and helps create the perfect sticky sauce. You could also use tapioca or cornstarch. It’s important that you always mix the arrowroot (or tapioca or cornstarch) with a little water or room temperature liquid before adding it to the rest of the sauce. If the arrowroot is not dissolved in water before adding it has a tendency to clump.
How to make sweet and sour chicken in air fryer
Start by cutting the chicken into 1- 1.5 inch cubes. For this I like to use kitchen shears but you could also use a sharp knife and a plastic cutting board.
Add the chicken to a large bowl. Sprinkle with arrowroot and stir well until the chicken is well coated.
Put the chicken in the air fryer basket and spray with olive oil or avocado oil. Cook at 375F for 14 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, chop the bell peppers into bite size pieces and slice the green onions.
At the half way mark (7 minutes), pause the air fryer and shake the basket well. Add the bell peppers and continue to cook at 375F for 7 minutes (check the temperature at 5 minutes).
After the peppers are chopped, make the sweet and sour sauce. Add the ketchup, rice wine vinegar, maple syrup, coconut aminos to a small sauce pan. Combine the water and the arrowroot powder together in a small bowl and mix until the arrowroot is fully dissolved. Add the arrowroot mixture to the sauce pan with the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Cook over medium heat until the mixture start to bubble. Let the sauce cook until it reaches your desired consistency then take off the heat.
Once the chicken is done cooking, transfer the chicken to a serving bowl. Add the drained pineapple chunks, green onion, and pour the sweet and sour sauce and stir well. Serve hot.
Top tips
- I recommend using boneless, skinless chicken thighs over chicken breast because the chicken thighs are more forgiving (they stay juicy and tender even if slightly overcooked). If you are using chicken breast, be sure to keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook.
- Be sure to cook the chicken to 165F. Overcooking the chicken (especially chicken breast) can dry out the chicken quickly. Start checking the internal temperature around 10 minute mark.
- Cut the chicken into similar size pieces to ensure it cooks evenly.
- To make the chicken crispy on the outside, be sure to spray them with olive oil or avocado oil spray (make sure there are no propellants in the spray, that can damage the coating on your air fryer). Spray with olive oil after shaking the basket as well.
- If you want super crispy pieces of chicken, do not overcrowd the basket. This may mean that you have to cook the chicken in two batches depending on what size air fryer you have. If you don’t care if the chicken gets crispy, you can fill the basket more.
- If you want a thicker sweet and sour sauce, add 1 or 2 more teaspoons of arrowroot (start with 1). Be sure to dissolve the arrowroot in water before adding it or it will get clumpy.
- Take the sauce off the heat as soon as it reaches your desired thickness or it will continue to thicken. If you have a glass top stove, you have to move the pot off the burner or it will continue to cook even if you turn off the burner.
- If you want to have more of a pineapple flavor to the sweet and sour sauce, use the pineapple juice that comes with the canned pineapples instead of water in the sweet and sour sauce.
- This recipe as written has a little extra sauce to pour over the rice.
What to serve with air fryer sweet and sour chicken
- Rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Green beans
- Sesame Ginger Broccoli
- Asian Broccoli Slaw Salad
Common questions
Can you double or triple the recipe?
You can easily double or triple the sweet and sour sauce.
If you want to cook a double batch of chicken in the air fryer, you will have to cook it in batches (overfilling will cause the chicken to not cook evenly).
To cook a double or triple batch of chicken at once, you can cook the chicken in the oven on a sheet pan at 425F for 15-20 minutes. Add the bell peppers with 5 minutes left on the timer (they can cook up to 10 minutes if you need to cook the chicken longer).
Can you use frozen chicken, popcorn chicken or chicken nuggets?
You can cook the frozen popcorn chicken or chicken nuggets in the air fryer at 400F for 12-15 minutes. Add the bell peppers with 5 minutes to go.
If you have frozen chicken, I would suggest defrosting it before using it in this recipe so that you can coat it with arrowroot and cook it through.
If you want to use chicken from frozen, I suggest using the instant pot:
- Cook frozen chicken in a 6 qt instant pot with the sweet and sour sauce ingredients (except the arrowroot and water) on high pressure for 15 minutes, then let the pressure naturally release at least 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred with a fork.
- Turn the instant pot to sauté and dissolve 1 tablespoon arrowroot with 1-2 tablespoons of water. Add the arrowroot mixture to the sauce in the instant pot and stir well. Once the sauce is bubbling, it will start to thicken. Turn off the instant pot when the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
- Add back the chicken, chopped peppers and pineapple. Put the lid on and let steam 5 minutes.
What are other recipes that use sweet and sour sauce
If you want to double the sweet and sour sauce, you can use it as a dipping sauce or to pour over other dishes. Some of my favorites include:
Storing leftovers
- Fridge: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.
- Freezer: Because the peppers will get watery when defrosted, I don’t recommend freezing leftover air fryer sweet and sour chicken.
Reheating leftovers
- Microwave – reheat 2-2:30 on high using a microwave safe plate or container.
- Stove – add leftover chicken and veggies to a small pot and heat over medium low heat, covered until warmed through. You may need to add a little water as the sauce will start to thicken as it’s being reheated.
Substitutions
- Chicken – you can use boneless, skinless chicken breast, thighs or tenders. You could also use boneless, skinless turkey breast. You could also make a version of this with ground chicken by making chicken meatballs instead.
- Arrowroot powder – arrowroot helps create a crust. You can also use tapioca starch or cornstarch. Arrowroot is also used to thicken the sweet and sour sauce.
- Bell peppers – the peppers add sweetness and a vegetable to the dish. If you don’t have peppers on hand you can simply omit them.
- Pineapple chunks – you can use fresh, frozen or canned pineapple in this recipe. You will need about 1 cup. If you don’t have pineapple or don’t like pineapple, simply omit it from the recipe.
- Green onion – if you don’t have green onion on hand, you can add 1 tablespoon dried chives at the end or simply omit the green onions from the recipe.
- Ketchup – if you don’t have ketchup on hand, you can make your own ketchup, use tomato paste and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or replace the ketchup with pineapple juice.
- Rice wine vinegar – you can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar in place of the rice wine vinegar.
- Maple syrup – you can use honey, coconut nectar or date syrup in place of the maple syrup. You can also use coconut sugar, brown sugar or white sugar in place of the maple syrup. You may need to add a little more water when using a granulated sugar.
- Coconut aminos – you can use gluten free tamari or soy sauce in place of coconut aminos.
If you love this recipe, you should try
Buffalo Chicken Thighs (Air Fryer)
Instant Pot Asian Chicken and Noodles
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Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken
Air fryer sweet and sour chicken is so easy to make and ready in just 15 minutes. This healthy sweet and sour chicken is gluten free, paleo and better than takeout. The homemade sweet and sour sauce is tangy, sweet and so easy to make.
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Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 3 tbsp arrowroot powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 medium bell peppers
- 8 oz pineapple chunks
- 3 tbsp green onions, chopped
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos (or tamari or soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into 1-1.5 inch chunks. Add the chicken to a bowl and add arrowroot powder and salt. Stir well.
- Add the chicken to the air fryer and spray with olive oil or avocado oil.
- Cook the chicken in the air fryer at 375F for 14 minutes.
- Chop the bell peppers into bite size pieces. Chop the green onion.
- After 7 minutes, pause the air fryer and shake the chicken. Spray with olive oil or avocado oil and ad the bell peppers on top. Cook 5-7 more minutes at 375F.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the sweet and sour sauce. Add rice wine vinegar, ketchup, maple syrup, coconut aminos to a small pot. In a bowl combine the water and arrowroot powder. Stir well until the arrowroot is dissolved. Add the arrowroot mixture to the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Cook over medium heat 5-10 minutes until the sauce starts to bubble and thicken. Take off heat when the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
- When the chicken is done cooking, add the chicken and bell pepper mixture into a large bowl. Add the drained pineapple chunks to the bowl along with sweet and sour sauce. Stir well.
- Serve with rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice and enjoy.
Equipment
Notes
Check out a list of substitutions in the post above.
Top tips
- I recommend using boneless, skinless chicken thighs over chicken breast because the chicken thighs are more forgiving (they stay juicy and tender even if slightly overcooked). If you are using chicken breast, be sure to keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook.
- Be sure to cook the chicken to 165F. Overcooking the chicken (especially chicken breast) can dry out the chicken quickly. Start checking the internal temperature around 10 minute mark.
- Cut the chicken into similar size pieces to ensure it cooks evenly.
- To make the chicken crispy on the outside, be sure to spray them with olive oil or avocado oil spray (make sure there are no propellants in the spray, that can damage the coating on your air fryer). Spray with olive oil after shaking the basket as well.
- If you want super crispy pieces of chicken, do not overcrowd the basket. This may mean that you have to cook the chicken in two batches depending on what size air fryer you have. If you don’t care if the chicken gets crispy, you can fill the basket more.
- If you want a thicker sweet and sour sauce, add 1 or 2 more teaspoons of arrowroot (start with 1). Be sure to dissolve the arrowroot in water before adding it or it will get clumpy.
- Take the sauce off the heat as soon as it reaches your desired thickness or it will continue to thicken. If you have a glass top stove, you have to move the pot off the burner or it will continue to cook even if you turn off the burner.
- If you want to have more of a pineapple flavor to the sweet and sour sauce, use the pineapple juice that comes with the canned pineapples instead of water in the sweet and sour sauce.
- This recipe as written has a little extra sauce to pour over the rice.
- Fridge: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.
- Freezer: Because the peppers will get watery when defrosted, I don’t recommend freezing leftover air fryer sweet and sour chicken.
- Microwave – reheat 2-2:30 on high using a microwave safe plate or container.
- Stove – add leftover chicken and veggies to a small pot and heat over medium low heat, covered until warmed through. You may need to add a little water as the sauce will start to thicken as it’s being reheated.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Amount per Serving
Calories
376
Fat
7
g
Carbohydrates
42
g
Fiber
2
g
Sugar
27
g
Protein
34
g
Where does nutrition info come from? Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy, sourced from the USDA Food Database.
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