Chinese Pineapple Chicken that is better than any takeout. When you need your fix for some Chinese Food, this is one of those dishes. It’s a nice change up from the Classic Chinese Red Sweet & Sour Chicken Balls, and is it ever good. This recipe makes the Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce from a whole pineapple. A shortcut can be made using store bought pineapple juice too. With this, just throw everything into the pot and bring to a boil. Add your slurry to thicken, and you’re all set for Delicious Crispy Chicken Balls coated in a Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce. Serve it up with some Chinese Fried Rice!
Chinese Restaurants have changed
I don’t know what it is about Chinese Restaurants, well I do, it’s to save money but at a cost of quality. You used to get Chicken Balls that were a good size, about 4–6 of them per serving. Nowadays, the Chicken is about 1/4–1/2 inch and mostly batter with preordered Sauces and you only get 2–3 of them, maybe 4. They used to be about 1 inch diced with sauce that was made in house. What a big difference now.
With this recipe, you can make them how they are supposed to be made, with a focus on Quality. Big Chunks of Chicken coated in a batter, resulting in Golden, Crispy Chicken Balls that are mostly Chicken instead of Batter. Coated in a Beautiful Homemade Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce.
Pineapple Chicken Ingredients
Chicken Breast, S&S Pineapple Sauce, Deep Fry Batter if battering and deep-frying.
Chicken Breasts
The Chicken can be prepared in a few different ways. With the same Beautiful Sweet and Sour Pineapple Sauce and bits of Pineapple throughout. The Classic is the Crispy Chicken Balls. Dice the Chicken Breasts into 1 inch pieces for a big mouthful.
- Make it with Crispy Deep Fried Chicken Balls for the Classic
- Cornstarch coated and fried
- Diced Chicken Stir Fry, no coating
- Seared or Grilled Chicken Breast.
Either way you make it, the flavor of Chicken & Pineapple, especially this Pineapple Sauce, is just Phenomenal.
Diced Chicken Breasts
Dice the Chicken Breast into 1 inch pieces for Battered and Deep Fried Crispy Chicken Balls.
Dice about 1/2 inch for Stir Fried. Either coated in Cornstarch and Fried in Oil, or Stir Fried with no coating and a small amount of Oil. With Onions & Peppers.
Seared or Grilled Chicken Breasts
Slice each Chicken Breast in half and pound out to an even thickness.
Brush with Oil and season lightly with Salt & Pepper. Either Sear or Grill the Chicken Breast Fillets.
Turkey
You can make these with diced Turkey Breast too! For this one, I loaded the plate up with Turkey Fried Rice, made a center and placed the Crispy Fried Turkey Balls in the center before ladling hot Pineapple sauce over.
Salt & Pepper
No matter how you prepare the Chicken you can season it lightly with a Salt & Pepper Blend to add more flavor to the Chicken itself.
Salt & Pepper Blend Ingredients
- 1 Tbl Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper
Crispy Chicken Balls
Deep fried Chicken Balls coated in that Deep Fry Batter that just creates amazing Chicken Balls that can stay Crispy even coated in the Hot Pineapple Sauce for quite some time.
Make up the below Batter and add your Chicken, or Season the Chicken with a bit of Salt & Pepper to toss and coat before deep frying.
Deep Fry Batter
- 1/2 C Poly Flour – not packed
- 1/2 C Cornstarch
- 1/2 C Water, plus more if needed to get the desired consistency
Poly Flour Ingredients
Below are the Ingredients for the Poly Flour. Just toss everything into a Dough mixer or food processor and blend everything together. Store leftover Poly Flour in a container. Cover and placed in the cupboards, pantry, or refrigerator to use for other recipes.
Poly Flour
- 3 C Flour
- 1/2 C Lard
- 2 Tbl Baking Powder & Sugar
- 1 Tbl Kosher Salt
Sweet and Sour Pineapple Sauce
The Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce is made from a whole Pineapple. For a Quick & Easy version, use 3 cups of Pineapple Juice instead of 1 C of Water and an entire Pineapple. Optionally with canned Pineapples, so you can chop into pieces and add to the Sauce.
Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce
- 1 C Water
- 1 Pineapple
- 1/4 C Rice Vinegar
- 1/2 C Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1/4 tsp Galangal
- 1/4 tsp Lemon Grass
- 1Lime Leaf
Thickened with a Starch Slurry of 3 Tbl of Potato Starch & Water each.
Starch Slurry
If serving the Pineapple Sauce over Chicken Balls, Chicken coated in Cornstarch or Seared/Grilled Chicken, then 3 Tbl each of Starch & Water is pretty good for a nice thick Sauce. Add a little bit of water if needed to adjust the consistency.
With Stir Fry, add just enough Starch Slurry to get a slightly thinner sauce. Where it can cover the Chicken and Vegetables but not coat it like it does with the Chicken Balls. You’re looking for a Chop Suey type sauce.
Starch Slurry
The Starch Slurry is a combination of equal amounts of Potato or Corn Starch & Cold Water. This is added a little at a time while the Sauce is simmering, and whisked in until the desired thickness is achieved.
- 3 Tbl Starch
- 3 Tbl Cold Water
How to make Chinese Pineapple Chicken
Make both the Sweet and Sour Pineapple Sauce & Deep Fry Batter in advance. Make the Poly Flour first, since this is needed for the Deep Fry batter.
Deep Fry in a Wok with a Thermometer to gauge temperatures more accurately. A Deep Fryer will cause the Chicken Balls to get stuck because of the basket.
Pineapple Sauce
Prepare the Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce. Set this aside to be reheated again before drizzling over the Chicken.
Deep Fry Batter
Prepare the Deep Fry Batter and dice the Chicken into 1 inch pieces. Add the Chicken to the Deep Fry Batter.
Optionally season the Chicken with Salt & Pepper to toss and then add to the Batter.
Deep Fry
Fill a Wok about one third or halfway with Oil and heat to 350 F – 375 F.
Coat the Chicken and gently drop into the Hot Oil. Give it a few seconds to crisp up the coating and nudge from the bottom if needed.
Flip them around every so often and Deep Fry for 5 – 8 minutes. Scoop them out with a spider and place them on a wired rack. Repeat for remaining Chicken.
Scooping out the Chicken Balls
You can remove them one by one with a pair of tongs, but I really find the Spider works exceptionally well and use this quite often when deep frying in a Wok.
Pineapple Chicken Balls
Reheat the Pineapple Sauce, adding more water if needed to thin it out, and serve over the Chicken Balls.
Equipment
- 1 Wok
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Spider
- 1 Thermometer
- 1 Rack
- 1 Saucepot
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken Breasts - diced 1 inch
- 1 portion Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce
- 1 portion Deep Fry Batter
Instructions
- Prepare and cook the Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce. Prepare the Deep Fry Batter.
- Heat a Wok up over max heat filled with Oil about 1/3 or 1/2 way with a thermometer fitted in order to control the heat more accurately.
- Dice the Chicken into 1 inch cubes. Optionally, season lightly with Salt & Pepper and toss. Add the Chicken into the Batter and mix.
- When the Oil reaches 375 F drop in half of the Chicken into the Hot Oil gently. Wash your hands and then nudge any Chicken Balls off of the bottom that may be stuck. The Oil temperature will drop when the Chicken is added. Try to keep it at 350 F – 375 F by reducing the heat to Medium and back to Max when needed.
- Deep Fry for 5 – 8 minutes and scoop out with a spider unto a rack to drain off excess grease. Repeat for the remaining Chicken. Once all the Chicken balls have been cooked. Plate them and heat the Pineapple Sauce to ladle over hot and serve. You may have to add a bit of water to thin it out.