Quick and Healthy Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken

Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken

I love Chinese takeout. I love the takeout menu and looking at what I want to order. I love proceeding to order half the menu. Mostly, I love eating my delicious Chinese food. What I don’t love is not knowing what’s in my food, wasting a large portion of it and spending a crazy amount of money on something I can make from home.

This air fryer sweet and sour chicken has all the things you love about your favorite Chinese restaurant, in a healthier version. With tangy flavors from homemade sweet and sour sauce, pineapple chunks, and tender chicken, this sweet and sour chicken recipe will make you rethink pulling out that takeout menu.

Cooler still? With the help of an air fryer, we use less oil, make less mess, and cook in less time. Add that to the things I love!

Ingredients and Substitutes:

These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See recipe card below for full ingredients list and instructions for Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: chicken tenderloins, chicken cutlets or chicken thighs. 

Pineapple/Pineapple Juice: use canned or fresh pineapple.

Swerve Brown Sugar: brown sugar, maple syrup or honey.

Rice Vinegar: substitute with apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or lemon juice. 

Coconut Aminos: or soy sauce.

Ketchup

Tapioca Flour: corn starch or arrowroot

How to make air fryer sweet and sour chicken:

Step 1: cook the chicken

Preheat the air fryer. Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken pieces in a single layer to the air fryer basket and cook at 380 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes until cooked through.

Step 2: make the sauce

Mix the tapioca flour and water in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large pan, over medium heat: add pineapple juice, rice vinegar, brown sugar substitute, ketchup and coconut aminos. Whisk the sauce and bring to a low boil. 

Step 3: thicken the sauce

While the sauce simmers add the tapioca slurry and continue stirring to thicken the sauce. This will happen almost instantly. 

Step 4: add the Chicken

Once the sauce has thickened, add the cooked chicken from the air fryer. Be sure not to add the juice from the air fryer or you sauce will thin out. Add pineapples and mix together well so the pineapples and chicken are coated with the sauce. 

Step 5: serve

Top with chopped green onions or sesame seeds and serve with rice or steamed vegetables. Add leftover sauce on top when serving or see sauce tip below. 

Variations

For extra thick sauce: after coating and removing chicken from the sauce, add an extra pinch of tapioca slurry into the pan with the extra sauce. This will thicken the leftover sauce to add on top of the chicken.  

To add veggies: add thick cut yellow onions and chopped red bell peppers to the chicken, half way through the air fryer cooking time, at 5 minutes. This will cook them down but keep them al dente. Add to the sauce when you add the chicken. 

Serving and storing

Serve your air fryer sweet and sour chicken with steamed or roasted vegetables, white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice or add to a wrap and enjoy! 

Store your leftover sweet and sour chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

If you like this recipe be sure to check out some of our other easy air fryer recipes!

• Air Fryer Breakfast Potatoes
• Air Fryer Shrimp Tacos
• Air Fryer Beef Taquitos
• Air Fryer Sesame Chicken