Forget takeout, with this delicious Actifry Sweet and Sour Chicken Bites - the perfect dish for your Chinese Fakeaway night.
Walking with the kids this morning to catch their bus to school, my eldest (who is 11), turned to me and said "Mom, can we have Chinese Take-Out tonight?".
Lately, he has been loving coming in from school to see what recipes I have been working on. He really enjoy's being my taste tester and has been showing quite an interest in cooking and food.
So today, I said, "How about Mummy cooks your favourite Chinese Takeaway dish for you instead" and he seemed pretty happy with that.
I love trying to create some of our favourites take away dishes at home. We still enjoy the occasional meals out or takeaways, but sometimes you just want to be in control of the ingredients you are eating and keep to plan.
His favourite dish is Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls with Egg Fried Rice. It's probably a popular dish with the majority of Kids when ordering a take out. That crispy batter coating and sticky sweet and sour sauce is just any kids delight.
The first dilemma was how to get that batter type exterior to the chicken without deep frying or using lots of oil.
Then I remembered this Fish and Chips Fakeaway and that amazing batter on the fish, as well as this delicious and very popular Salt and Pepper Chicken I cooked in the actifry.
I wasn't entirely sure if it would work without using some kind of oil to at least shallow fry. But it turned out perfectly.
The Actifry is a great option for foods that you would usually be deep fried. Perfect Chips and I love cooking my sausages for breakfast in mine too, it means they get a nice even colour.
We have the Tefal Actifry 1.7kg family size, because being a family of 4, we need that extra capacity.
In fact it turned out pretty darn amazing and served along with some stir-fried veggies and this Egg Fried Rice, Beef Chow Mein and that delicious side of Sweet and Sour Sauce, it was far better than any takeaway, because a) we knew exactly the ingredients that went into it and b) we knew it was made much more healthier.
My kids gobbled up the chicken pieces like they had never been fed, dipping them into the sticky sweet and sour sauce and my eldest looked at me, while grabbing another piece of chicken and said, "Mom, this is sooo good" - Receiving such amazing comments from my kids, has got to be the best compliment of all - sorry readers!!!, but it makes me so happy to see my kids loving my food, we all know how fussy and particular kids can be.
To cook the chicken in the actifry, I first take out the paddle, otherwise, it will mush and remove the coating on the chicken, Once the batter starts to set, you can then put the paddle back in for the last 10 minutes or so. This took a total of 20 minutes in my actifry.
Want some more Chinese Fakeaway Dishes? Check out these recipes:
- Chicken Chop Suey
- Chinese Chicken Curry
- Beef with Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce
- Chinese Lemon Chicken
- Hoisin Chicken
- Sweet Chilli Beef
- Chinese Pork
- Chicken Fried Rice
and if you need more recipe ideas - Head on over to my FULL RECIPE INDEX where you will find over 500+ delicious Slimming Eats recipes to choose from and all are searchable by meal type, ingredients etc.
I haven't yet had a chance to test these sweet and sour chicken biteS out in the oven, but I recommend using parchment paper to prevent it from sticking to the tray, add the battered pieces to the tray and bake at 200c/400f wait until the batter sets, before turning to brown the other sides.
HOW CAN I ADD A ⅓ SPEED FOODS TO THIS SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN BITES?
I went for some stir-fried veggies - onion, carrots and peppers, but you could serve with any veg of choice or how about pairing it up with this Chicken Cauliflower Rice. Stir-fried bean sprouts are another great option, I love them with any Chinese Fakeaway Dish. I just blanch in hot water and then stir fry in pan with a little salt and black pepper or oyster sauce.
WHAT KITCHEN ITEMS DO I NEED TO MAKE THIS ACTIFRY SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN BITES?
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Actifry Sweet and Sour Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 500g of boneless chicken breast
- 20g of plain flour
- 2 level tablespoons of cornstarch
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon of water
- sea salt
- spray oil
- For the sweet and sour sauce:
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste/puree
- 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
- ½ cup (120ml) of water
- 1 tablespoon of apricot or pineapple jam
- pinch of garlic powder
- pinch of onion powder
Instructions
- Pat chicken dry with some kitchen paper and chop the chicken into bitesize chunks.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, pinch of salt and egg white and water to a bowl and whisk till smooth.
- Add in the chicken into the batter and toss to evenly coat.
- Spray the actifry pan with spray oil
- and then place the chicken in the actifry (with paddle removed) making sure you don't pile it all on top of each other, space it all out as well as you.
- Set the actifry going for 10 mins, at this stage the batter should be set, so you can then add back in the paddle
- Spray again over the top with a little spray oil and set the actifry for another 10 mins, it should have a perfectly golden light battered exterior, so leave it going for a few more minutes if not quite done.
- Add the ingredients for the sauce to a small saucepan and simmer until thickened.
- Serve with sauce and choice of sides.
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1 SERVINGAmount Per Serving Calories 203Total Fat 4.1gSaturated Fat 1.4gSodium 307mgCarbohydrates 11.3gFiber 0.3gSugar 3.4gProtein 29g
Ingrid says
How can you cook this recipe without the Actifry? thanks
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Hi Ingrid - I do give tips in the write up for trying this in the oven. I recommend using parchment paper to prevent it from sticking to the tray, add the battered pieces to the baking tray and bake at 200c/400f wait until the batter sets, before turning to brown the other sides.
Caits says
it says 2.5 sins per serving...what would class as 1 serving?...just so i don't eat it all
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Hi Caits, if you look on the recipe box to all my recipes, it will always state how many servings the recipe yields. This one serves 4, so a 1/4 of the whole recipe is 2.5 syns.
Tracy says
Hi, can I freeze the battered chicken, if so would you freeze it raw or would you bake it first, I'm afraid it will become dry if cooked before hand as it'll have to be heated through again.
PS. I love your recipes.
Thanks
Tracy
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Hi I would at least partially cook, as i'm not sure how well they would freeze with the batter not set.
Jenna says
If you have an air fryer instead of actifry will this still work?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
I am not sure, you would need to line the basket, otherwise, the batter will drip through the basket.
Natalie Butt says
OMG these are gorgeous and a regular requested dish from my husband when I'm meal planning for the week. I love the sweet and sour sauce too so much I've made it on it's own to dunk actifried chips in..lol
Emma says
Just tried this recipe this evening. I cooked the chicken in the oven as I don’t have an actifry and it was lovely. My husband loved it and he’s a takeaway junkie. Thanks so much for sharing it!
Sare says
Hi thanks for sharing. So looking foward to doing this!
Laura Wall says
Cooked actiFry sweet and sour chicken and your egg fried rice for dinner today. Delicious! My kids loved it!
Maria says
This is the best fake way I’ve ever tried, a big hit with one and all. We had it with a choice of chicken fried rice or salt and pepper chips.
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
thanks Maria, so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Cheryl says
I make this recipe every week. I love it.
Emma Greenhalgh says
Hi Siobhan
Love your recepies. Would this sauce be OK to freeze?
Thank you
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
Hi Emma, yes this is fine to freeze. So glad you are enjoying the recipes. Thanks 🙂