Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken
Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken is filled with juicy chicken, peppers, onions, and pineapple. It’s topped with a drizzle of homemade, tangy sweet and sour sauce.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Sweet and Sour Chicken in the air fryer is a quick and easy, 20 minute meal.
This colorful stir fry is so much better than takeout. It’s made healthier by using less oil than deep frying, and the chicken isn’t coated in breading, flour, or cornstarch.
If you’re looking for more air fryer chicken recipes, try Air Fryer Parmesan Crusted Chicken or Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Tenders.
Ingredients
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks that are about 1-inch.
- Bell Pepper: A red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks.
- Onion: Half a large yellow onion, cut into 1-inch chunks.
- Pineapple: Canned pineapple chunks.
- Olive Oil: To drizzle over the chicken and veggies before air frying.
- Sweet and Sour Sauce: Pineapple juice, soy sauce, tomato paste, honey, garlic, and cornstarch. If you prefer, you could use store-bought sweet and sour sauce instead.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, add the chicken, bell pepper, onion, and pineapple chunks. Drizzle the olive oil on top and toss to combine. Transfer the mixture to the air fryer basket. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway, until chicken is cooked through.
- While the chicken mixture cooks, make the sweet and sour sauce. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, bring the pineapple juice, soy sauce, honey, tomato paste, and garlic to a simmer. Stir occasionally. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and water. Slowly pour it into the sauce, stirring frequently. Simmer for another 30 seconds until thickened. Remove from heat.
- Place the cooked chicken mixture into a large serving bowl. Drizzle the sweet and sour sauce on top and stir until coated.
- Top with green onion slices (if desired). Serve warm, by itself, or over rice. Enjoy!
*Different brands and types of air fryers may vary in cook time. Make sure your chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
Expert Tip: Cut the chicken into chunks that are all the same size to be sure it cooks evenly.
Variations
- Use chicken thighs instead of chicken breast. If you prefer chicken thighs, they will certainly work in this recipe!
- Swap out the red bell pepper. You can use whatever color bell pepper. Even green bell peppers are delicious in this dish.
- Leave out the vegetables and pineapple. If you just want the chicken, you can simply leave out the onions, peppers, and pineapple.
- Top it with sliced green onion or sesame seeds, when serving.
- No air fryer? No problem! You can bake this in the oven or sauté in a pan. Adjust time and temperature accordingly.
- If you don’t have honey for the sauce, you could swap it out for sugar or brown sugar.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken for a simple dinner, or make it ahead of time to meal prep lunches for the week.
It’s great served as it is, or to round out the meal you can serve it over your favorite type of rice. Brown rice, white rice, or jasmine rice all work well. You could also serve it with a simple side salad or veggies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
To store leftover homemade sweet and sour chicken, refrigerate in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
Sweet and sour chicken is great served over brown or white rice. Serve it with a simple side salad or sautéed veggies, like broccoli or zucchini.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
If you’re looking for more simple recipes with chicken as the main ingredient, you’ve come to the right place!
- Chicken Fajita Tacos
- Pesto Chicken Quinoa Bowl
- Honey Garlic Lemon Chicken
- Quinoa Chicken Fajita Bowls
- Baked Chicken Nuggets
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If you make this recipe, don’t forget to come back and leave a 5-star rating and a comment below.
Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Air Fry
- Cuisine: Chinese-inspired
Description
Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken is filled with juicy chicken, peppers, onions, and pineapple. It’s topped with a drizzle of homemade, tangy sweet and sour sauce.
Ingredients
For the Chicken and Veggies
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks (about 1-inch)
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into (1-inch) chunks
- 1/2 large yellow onion, cut into (1-inch) chunks
- 3/4 cup canned pineapple chunks
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- green onion slices (optional for serving)
For the Sauce
- 3 tablespoons pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, add the chicken, bell pepper, onion, and pineapple chunks. Drizzle the olive oil on top and toss to combine. Transfer the mixture to the air fryer basket. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway, until chicken is cooked through.
- While the chicken mixture cooks, make the sweet and sour sauce. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, bring the pineapple juice, soy sauce, honey, tomato paste, and garlic to a simmer. Stir occasionally. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and water. Slowly pour it into the sauce, stirring frequently. Simmer for another 30 seconds until thickened. Remove from heat.
- Place the cooked chicken mixture into a large serving bowl. Drizzle the sweet and sour sauce on top and stir until coated.
- Top with green onion slices (if desired). Serve warm, by itself, or over rice. Enjoy!
Notes
You may need to cook the chicken mixture in 2 batches for smaller air fryers. If you do this, after both batches are cooked, add the first batch into the basket with the second batch and cook for 1 more minute so everything will be warm.
Different brands and types of air fryers may vary in cook time. Make sure your chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
Nutritional Values (per serving) are approximates only.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 241
- Sugar: 15.7 g
- Sodium: 273.9 mg
- Fat: 5.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.2 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 27.2 g
- Cholesterol: 82.7 mg
Okay I was a little skeptical about how this would look in an air fryer, but I was definitely wrong! This came out amazing and has become one of my new favorite stir fry dishes!! The only thing I did to spruce up the flavor was coat the chicken and veggies in a dry seasoning, Goya Adobo and add some freshly grated ginger and have it sit aside for a bit to marinate. I had over a pound of chicken so I doubled the sauce. When I tasted the sauce by itself, it seemed like it had a little extra something (maybe the garlic should be grated versus crushed?), but when mixed with the chicken and veggies, it tasted great! Thank you so much! Adding this to my collection!!