Full Bloom Blog

Although I really love cooking from scratch as much as possible… it’s just not always possible! This is one of the easiest, fastest, and most successful meals I make in our house. The best part is that there are so many ways you can substitute or tweak the recipe. I hope it helps your family on a busy (or maybe not so busy) evening!

Short Cut Sweet and Sour Chicken

• 1 bag frozen Honey Battered breast tenders
• 2 jars sweet and sour sauce (about 14oz ea)
• 3 large bell peppers (the more colors the more fun!)
• 1 small red onion
• 1 pineapple
• 2 cups white rice (I use minute rice because *SHORT CUT*
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2-3 green onions

Preheat oven and prepare chicken according to packaging. Separately, prepare the white rice according to package instructions.

Chop peppers, red onion, and pineapple into one inch pieces. Chop the green onion – but set aside for garnish later.

Add oil to a large skillet on your stove top and heat to medium low. Add veggies and pineapple in and saute until tender. You don’t want to over crowd the pan though, so if you have more than one layer of veggies, split it and cook in two smaller batches. The best case scenario is to get a little caramelization on the pineapple. Once all the veggies and pineapple are cooked to tender, reduce heat and pour sauce over the contents of your pan. Again, if you have too much for a single layer, do this in two batches.

Once the chicken is cooked, chop it into bite size pieces and add it to a large bowl.

Bring the sauce and veggie mixture to small bubbles – NOT a full on boil. Pour the contents of your skillet over the chopped chicken in the large bowl and toss to fully coat. Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onions. Enjoy!

Some variations you may want to consider are:

• adding spicy peppers (like serrano) to your pepper and sauce mix
• changing out chicken – if you have a favorite organic chicken nugget or tender swap for what you or your kiddos love!
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs. Just saute it in the pan ahead of time! It makes for a healthier meal (my kids still liked it when I cooked it this way)! *This could also make this meal GF – just be sure to double check the ingredients of your sauce!
• change the sauce – we have made this same dish but substituted for orange chicken sauce

Here’s all my tips and step by step photos!

Chicken tenders from frozen to golden. I really love the way the honey battered crisp up in the oven. It tastes a little more like take-out!

Pour the sauce over the sauted peppers, onions, and pineapple. Choose veggies that your family loves and will eat – but remember the more colorful the healthier and more beautiful!

It’s not essential to cut the chicken into smaller pieces prior to coating. It makes it easier for serving the kiddos and I like when the protein size matches the veggie size – it’s much easier to get perfect bites with a little bit of everything!

Adding a little fresh green anything to the top of your prepared dishes instantly make them look more appealing. The good thing about this dish though, is that it is so colorful by itself that if you omit that part it still looks beautiful and delicious! Add a scoop of white rice to a bowl and top with a scoop of this amazingness and surely you’ll have a happy dinner table!