It’s Friday and it’s the weekend before Valentine’s day, so I’m guessing the restaurants will be packed! How about staying in with Chinese food and a movie? Sounds great to me! Any time we eat out, everyone always orders something different – except Chinese takeout. We all get the exact same thing, sesame chicken with lo mein! I’ve got a sesame sweet & sour chicken recipe to help you create takeout in your own kitchen. This is something my whole family loves, so it’s perfect for a Valentine meal in. You can make it with the ones you love or maybe give the regular cook the night off. Either way, I think this will be a hit!

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Ingredients

This recipe is based off of a recipe I cut out of a magazine way back in 2006! There was a page with a whole meal planned out – egg drop soup, sweet & sour chicken, and fried rice. It told you what order to fix everything in and I followed the recipe to the “T” for many years. Since I have more time to experiment in the kitchen, I’ve adjusted the recipe more to my families taste. The original chicken recipe is still online, if you want to check that out, just click the link!

Kitchen Tip ~> Use a magnet to hold a recipe to your stove hood while cooking. This frees up counter space for me!

I’ve said before, I like to get all my ingredients measured and ready before I start cooking. This just makes the cooking process faster, so I don’t have to stop and get an ingredient in the middle of things.

Ingredients for recipe on counter and in bowls and measuring cups

I want you to remember this pretty picture of all the ingredients laid out. Why? Because there are two important ingredients not in this picture that I forgot to prepare ahead of time. This caused me some trouble later on, as you’ll see!

Kitchen Tip ~> You can buy pre-toasted sesame seeds, but I buy mine in bulk and toast them myself. This is just a cheaper option if you use them frequently. Just a few seconds in a hot skillet is all it takes to toast them!

Preparing the Sauce

Before I start the sauce, I go ahead and put the popcorn chicken in the microwave. You can heat it in the oven if that’s your preference. Diced cooked chicken breast would also work for this if you don’t want the breaded chicken.

For the sauce, you just strain the pineapple juice into a measuring cup and add water to get to 1 1/3 cups. Add the hot sauce, ketchup, and vinegar to this and stir. Now, here’s where I ran into my first problem. You’re supposed to mix cornstarch and brown sugar together then add it to the juice mixture. I forgot to measure out my cornstarch. So, I grabbed it in a hurry and added it in. This is what happened after I did that.

measuring cup with bubbled up ingredients that have spilled on the counter

Let me tell you, my brain did not fully comprehend what had happened at first. Then it hit me – I had added baking powder, not cornstarch! I had to start the sauce all over again and clean up a giant mess! At this point I had started cooking the peppers and onions, so I had to set them aside and regroup.

I also realized, I had forgotten to cut up the broccoli – it should have been cooked first! Man, this is not going well! Luckily I had a can of pineapple juice in the pantry to make up for the juice lost in my mini science experiment. ;p

Cooking the Broccoli

The broccoli finally got chopped up and I had to rearrange my cooking to get back on track. The recipe will tell you to brown the broccoli before everything else, which works better time wise!

You just want to cook it on a higher heat until you get some good browned bits. The broccoli will turn a brighter green, but not be completely cooked. This will give it a roasted flavor without having to turn on the oven!

cooked and sautéed broccoli in a frying pan

Put the broccoli in a microwavable dish with a lid and add a tablespoon of water. Microwave on high for 5-7 minutes, just until the broccoli is done. This can be cooking while you finish up the sauce and such.

Finishing Up

Go ahead and put the noodles on to boil before adding the sauce to the pan. They should be ready by the time you’re main dish is finished. These are just dressed with a little more sesame oil, salt, and pepper.

If you do everything in the right order, you should have sauce ready to pour on top of the peppers and onions at this point.

sweet and sour sauce simmering in a pan being stirred by a wooden spoon

Let it come to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for a minute or two. Now add the pineapple chunks and cook for a couple more minutes. I only use half the can so there’s more sauce for the chicken! Stir in the chicken and turn off the heat. I keep mine covered until I’m sure everything else is ready.

I stir in the sesame seeds just before serving. You can combine everything at this point if you like – the broccoli, noodles, and chicken. I like to leave them separate so it’s kind of like eating Chinese takeout that comes in individual containers. However you decide to serve it, don’t plan to have any leftovers!

sweet and sour chicken with broccoli and lo mein in a green bowl with a fork

There might be some noodles left…

And maybe some of the veggies…

But there is never, ever any of the chicken left in my house! : )

Here are some other fun recipes to check out: