Forget the takeaway with homemade sweet and sour chicken

A Chinese takeaway can be a really satisfying treat at the end of a long week, but it’s an expensive one too. So we wanted to show you how to make one big takeaway favourite on a budget. 

You can make your own sweet and sour chicken at home using just a few simple ingredients for a fraction of the cost.

What you'll need

Serves 4

• 400g of chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs
• one onion
• one pepper
• 300g of frozen mixed vegetables
• one small tin of pineapple chunks
• one tablespoon of cooking oil
• 300g of rice

For the sweet and sour sauce:

• four tablespoons of tomato ketchup
• two tablespoons of vinegar (white or cider vinegar)
• two tablespoons of sugar
• two tablespoons of soy sauce
• 100ml of water
• one teaspoon of cornflour

How to make it

1.  Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and heat in a frying pan until cooked all the way through.
2.  Add the vegetables and fry for a few minutes
3.  In a jug or bowl, make the sauce by mixing together the ketchup, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and water. Stir the cornflour with a little cold water separately until smooth, then mix it into the sauce.
4.  Pour the sauce into the pan and stir well. Simmer gently for a few minutes until the sauce thickens and everything is piping hot.
5.  If you're using pineapple, stir through the drained chunks and warm for another minute or two.
6.  Serve with cooked rice.

Make it cheap and cheerful

One of the great things about this recipe is that you can tweak it depending on how you like it or how much you want to spend.

For example, if you don’t have any fresh veg, then there’s no reason you can’t use frozen instead.

Frozen veg works just as well, it lasts much longer than fresh veg and helps you avoid throwing away food that you’ve not got round to using yet.

Veg is also perfect for bulking out the meal if you want to use a bit less meat.

Finally, remember that the pineapple is optional, so you don’t have to pay extra for this one item if you don’t want it or you’re trying to keep costs down.

So next time you're tempted to order a takeaway, have a look in your cupboards and freezer first. 

If you’ve got everything you need in already, there’s no need to pay someone else to knock up one of the simplest meals you can make.