I have always made some kind of kabobs for the grill in the summer. I had some planned this week but my Hubby said he really didn’t want to grill in the heatwave we are having. So I made this Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken instead. Everything bakes together and then is covered in an easy sauce. Keeping the ingredients healthy is a priority now and I think I got it right!
What ingredients go onto the Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken?
Any time I think of sweet and sour dishes I automatically know pineapple, bell peppers, and onion are going to be included. But I am never limited to just those ingredients. I generally add anything fresh I have on hand.
To make this dish or ones like it easier I go ahead and prep my veggies. The Tupperware container I use is perfect for prepping, each of the sections holds 1 cup perfectly.
Make sure to cut all the veggies about the same size when you are prepping them. That way they have a chance of getting done at the same time. When you make kabobs you do the same thing, make everything the same size.
The same thing goes for the chicken, keep the pieces about the same size. I use canned pineapple so those pieces are uniform already. I use 1 Purple of it but you could increase the amount to 2 Purple if you wanted.
Spread the ingredients out onto an olive oil sprayed foil-lined pan in a single layer to make sure that everything cooks evenly.
The sweet and sour sauce
Crushed pineapple with its juice is the base for this sauce. The rest of the sauce is made from very simple ingredients, things that you will have on hand most of the time.
I haven’t exchanged any ingredients, such as the vinegar, I have only used rice vinegar to make it.
Low sodium soy sauce is important to the recipe too. The sodium is just too high in the regular version. HERE is some information about the differences in soy sauce and its substitutes. The cornstarch is mixed with just a little water to thicken the sauce at the end.
The recipe makes 3/4 cup of sauce, divide it into 2 bowls of 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup, and set them aside. When you add the 1 cup of pineapple chunks and the 1/2 cup of crushed you end up 1 1/2 Purple containers, divided into 1/2 the recipe there will be 3/4 cup of a Purple per serving. The brown sugar and ketchup add more sugar to the sweetness of the pineapple. So along with the Purple make sure to count 2 sweetener teaspoons per serving.
Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix}
Ingredients
Sheet Pan Chicken
- olive oil spray
- 4 chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 cups chopped bell peppers, and onions **optional: you could substitute 1 cup of the veggies for celery, squash, carrots, or broccoli or a mix of your choice.
- 1 cup canned pineapple chunks
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- ½ cup crushed pineapple with juice
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1½ Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoon ketchup
- 1½ teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
Sheet Pan Chicken
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Line sheet pan with foil. Spread the chicken, veggies, and pineapple in a single layer on the pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes covered. Uncover and stir ingredients. Leave uncovered and bake another 15 minutes.
- Drain the pan of any juice and discard.
- Add 1/2 cup of the sweet and sour sauce to the pan and stir well. Bake another 15 minutes.
- Plate by dividing the pan contents in ½ and plate. Serve 2 tablespoons of reserved sauce with each serving.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Add all the ingredients except the cornstarch and water to a small saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute and then add cornstarch mixed with water and stir till thick (less than 1 minute).
- Divide into 2 bowls: 1/2 cup bowl and 1/4 cup bowl.
Container Counts for ½ the pan and 2T sauce: 1R, 1G, 3/4P, 2 sweet teaspoons
What can you serve with this Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken?
To stick with the Asian theme you could make this Ramen Noodle Salad. Recipe HERE.
A creamy coleslaw goes good with all the flavors in the sweet and sour sauce. Recipe HERE.
Because the Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken doesn’t use any kind of Yellow/carb, I like to serve it with brown rice.
Or you might want up your veggie intake you could use cauliflower rice or even my Egg Roll in a Bowl. I make it without a protein in it on purpose so that I can use it as a side dish sometimes! Recipe HERE.
Whatever you decide to eat it with I hope it satisfies your Sweet and Sour Chicken craving in a healthy way.
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