I don’t know about you but I love a good Asian meal every now and again. Well actually who am I kidding, I could eat some type of chicken and rice every day of the week. And this sweet and sour chicken fits the bill perfectly.

My college friends always remind me of all the days I would order chicken fried rice from this little place nearby called Chinatown Express. It was the very best chicken fried rice I’d ever eaten. And they would give you so much that my $4 meal would last me 2 days. It was perfect for my college student budget. So I would have it for dinner and watch Guiding Light. Yep I am a total soap opera junkie. I watched it all my years growing up with my family.

So when my college friends are asked what reminds them the most about me, those are the 1st two things that come to mind often.

But enough about that. Even though I do enjoy writing about some things that help us connect more and in other ways. This past month I’ve been on a real chicken and rice kick. I made orange chicken, honey chicken, changed up my chicken fried rice and now this sweet and sour chicken.

The one thing that stool out the most was this… the chicken on all of these meals does not have to be fried. And even though I figured out how to flash fry the chicken with breading so that it remains crispy (see orange chicken recipe) I didn’t miss a thing with just having plain chicken for this dish. Frankly the sweet and sour sauce is so delicious that it really won’t matter.

So here is what you need to make it:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 lbs Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt 
• Avocado oil (or oil of choice)
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup GF Ketchup
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp liquid aminos or GF soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tbsp arrowroot
• 1 tbsp tepid water
• 1 diced red pepper
• 1 diced green pepper
• 1 diced yellow pepper
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup fresh or frozen pineapple
• Steamed brown rice

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Coat a skillet with about 2 tablespoons of oil, add your chicken. Sprinkle a little salt over the top and cook it about 3/4 of the way through.
• While your chicken is cooking add the diced peppers, onions, and pineapple to a 9×13 baking dish. Place this in the refrigerator until you need it or just set it aside.
• Next in a medium size bowl combine the sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce and garlic powder. Stir to combine. 
• In a separate small bowl stir together the arrowroot and tepid water until it is milky. Add it to the bowl of sauce mix. Stir it together well. This will help thicken the sauce as it cooks.
• Once the chicken is done cooking, add it to the baking dish of peppers and onions and pour the sauce over the top. Stir it together well and until all the chicken is coated. 
• Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. Give it a stir when it comes out of the oven.
• Serve over cooked rice and enjoy!

Let’s talk a minute about making rice in the Instapot. This could really be its very own post but I’ll add it here too. I used to just use my Instapot to cook my rice and it was 12 minutes and done on the rice setting. Then one day I tried making chicken fried rice in the IP and my rice has never been more delicious.

After it’s done cooking I keep it in the sealed IP for about 15 minutes so that it can naturally release the steam. Then I turn it off, open it up and using a wooden spoon I push all the rice to the walls of the pan creating an opening in the center. Then I add 1/4 tsp of minced garlic and 1 tbsp of avocado oil per 1 cup of rice and I turn the IP back on using the sauté feature.

I then let the garlic simmer for a bit being careful not to burn it. Then I stir it all up into the rice. Keep stirring for a minute or two then turn off the Instapot. It is delicious. Then I scoop it out and top it with whatever I’m making for dinner. In this case, sweet and sour chicken. 

I hope you love this dinner Inspo, let me know if you make it. I’d love to hear what you think. Be sure and post a photo in my Stay Gluten Free Community (it’s FREE to join, click here)