Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs with Wine and Juice

Name: Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs in Wine and Juice Sauce
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 3 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Chicken thighs 4; Sweet fruit juice (orange, pineapple, mango) 400 ml (300 ml for the marinade, 100 ml for the sauce); Brown sugar 1 tbsp (14 g); White wine 100 ml; Olive oil 2 tbsp; Flour or starch 2 tbsp (20 g); Vegetables for the side (cucumber, tomato, radish, herbs) to taste; Hot red pepper, salt, black pepper, dried Mediterranean herbs to taste

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3 h

It would seem that meat or poultry with a sweet taste is impossible. But strange as it may sound, sweet and sour chicken or Chinese sweet pork are superb, if exotic, dishes with a great flavor. Step away from stereotypes in cooking, and delicious dishes will delight you and your family.

From the point of view of Eastern philosophy, a sweet taste has a positive effect on vitality, stimulates strength and relieves tension. But too much sweetness creates a feeling of heat. Lovers of sweets, of course, do not think about that. As they say, everything is good in moderation. A light sweetness in a dish, combined with sour or spicy notes, will refine any dish, even a familiar one.

Sweet and sour chicken is not a dessert or a cake. The sweet taste of the sauce does not mean the meat is boiled into jam or turned into a pastry. A sauce, as a seasoning or addition to a dish, makes meat or fish juicy and slightly raises the overall calorie content. As a rule, a well-made sauce highlights and brings out the flavor of the main ingredient.

It has become customary to serve sweet sauces mostly with various pancakes and fritters. American pancakes are especially good with maple syrup and, my favorite combination, with condensed milk. Syrniki made from homemade farmer’s cheese, topped with sour cream and jam, are an exceptional combination.

For sweet and sour chicken, it is best to make a simple sauce from fruit or berry juice or nectar. Add dry wine, fragrant herbs and brown sugar, which gives a pleasant sweetness. I especially recommend adding hot pepper to the sweet sauce: it is a wonderful combination. By the way, a sweet sauce can be made without any thickener; just reduce the excess liquid to the desired consistency.

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Ingredients

2 servings

Chicken thighs 4
Sweet fruit juice (orange, pineapple, mango) 400 ml (300 ml for the marinade, 100 ml for the sauce)
Brown sugar 1 tbsp (14 g)
White wine 100 ml
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Flour or starch 2 tbsp (20 g)
Vegetables for the side (cucumber, tomato, radish, herbs) to taste
Hot red pepper, salt, black pepper, dried Mediterranean herbs to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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How to marinate the chicken

Sweet and sour chicken can be made from a whole bird or from parts. If you like, you can make the dish from legs or fillets alone. I am not a fan of white chicken meat, so I prefer to cook with chicken thighs or drumsticks.
Prepare the chicken thighs: thaw them if they were frozen.
Remove the skin and any visible chicken fat. Leave the bone inside the thigh. Season the chicken with 1-2 pinches of salt and pepper, and sprinkle with a dry mix of fragrant herbs typical of Mediterranean cuisine. Such ready-made mixes are sold in stores and consist of basil, thyme, savory, oregano and a few other herbs.
Marinate the chicken: place the meat in a non-metallic dish, pour over a mixture of 100 ml of wine and 300 ml of juice, and leave in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
Any wine will do, sweet or dry, but white is best so the finished dish does not change color. For the same reason, choose a light juice: orange, pineapple, peach or multivitamin nectar. Apple will also work if it is not too sweet. Do not be afraid of the wine: the alcohol evaporates during cooking.

How to fry the chicken

When the marinating is done, take the chicken out of the marinade and pat it dry with paper towels. Do not pour out the marinade; you need it for the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Coat the chicken thighs in flour or starch and place them in the hot oil.
Fry the chicken on both sides until a golden crust forms. There is no need to cook it through; the chicken will still simmer in the sauce.

How to braise chicken in sweet and sour sauce

Sprinkle the fried chicken with coarsely ground red pepper to taste. Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar (14 g) and a pinch of salt.
Pour the remaining marinade of wine and sweet juice over the chicken pieces. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to minimum, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 30 mins.
Reduce the sauce. Remove the lid, season with a little more salt and pepper to taste, and add another 100 ml of sweet juice. Increase the heat to medium or slightly higher and, turning the chicken pieces often, cook the sauce down to the thickness of good sour cream or a little thicker. Ideally, the sweet sauce should barely run.

Serving

Sweet and sour chicken is served hot. Mashed potatoes or rice with vegetables are usually recommended as a side dish. I prefer meat or poultry in sauce with sesame buns and a seasonal vegetable salad or a platter of fresh vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and, of course, fresh herbs.
If you like it spicy, I suggest sprinkling the finished dish with a pinch of hot pepper, and the sweet and sour chicken will be even better.

Calories and macros

880 kcal

Serving ≈ 420 g

Protein47 g22% of kcal
Fat59 g61% of kcal
Carbs37 g17% of kcal

100 g210 kcalProtein 11.3 gFat 14.1 gCarbs 8.8 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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