I absolutely love this chicken dish at Panda Express! It’s sweet, tangy, slightly spicy and darn delicious. Here’s an easy homemade version that tastes amazingly good! Each serving has 268 calories and 7 grams of fat. I'm excited for you to make it!
Ingredients
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- A little salt and pepper
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1 pound chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
- 1½ cups pineapple chunks (from a 20 oz can, in 100% pineapple juice) drain all juice except reserve ¼ cup, see shopping tips
- ¼ cup pineapple juice (reserved from the can above)
- ½ cup Panda Express Sweet Chili Sauce or Thai sweet chili sauce, see shopping tips
- 2-3 tablespoons green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a small shallow bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, and a little salt and pepper. In another shallow bowl, beat together the egg and egg white.
- Working in batches, dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, dip into eggs, then dredge in flour again, pressing to coat. Place on a plate until all the chicken is dipped and coated.
- Coat a large nonstick pan with cooking spray. Heat 1½ tablespoons olive oil in the pan. Add chicken to the pan and cook until evenly cooked, golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes on each side. If your pan isn’t large enough, cook chicken in 2 batches. Once cooked, remove to a clean plate. Wipe pan clean.
- To the cleaned pan, heat ½ tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add red bell pepper, pineapple chunks, ¼ cup reserved pineapple juice, and cook stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4 minutes. Mix in cooked chicken and sweet chili sauce until well combined and hot, about 1-2 minutes. Garnish with green onions.
- Serving suggestions: Serve over steamed cabbage, cauliflower rice, or brown rice. Top with ¾ cup Sweet Fire Chicken with Pineapple and sauce.
Notes
Makes 6 servings. Each serving, about ¾ cup including sauce.
Food Facts
Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken is made of crispy, white-meat chicken, red bell peppers, onions, and pineapples in a sweet chili sauce. Each serving has 380 calories 16g fat, 3g sat. fat, 13g prot, 47g carbs, 1g fiber, 320mg sod, 27g sugar
Shopping Tips
You can find Panda Express Sweet Chili Sauce in most supermarkets in the Asian or international section or at one of the Panda Express locations. If you can’t find it, use a Thai sweet chili sauce. There are many brands available, including Trader Joe’s.
Serving Tips
Serve with my recipe: PANDA’S FRIED RICE WITH CAULIFLOWER RICE (COPY-CAT) Or, I also like to serve this dish over steamed cabbage and red bell peppers.
Quick recipe:
WW Freestyle SmartPoints 6-Blue
WW SmartPoints 9-Green
WW Points Plus 7
Food Facts
Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken is made of crispy, white-meat chicken, red bell peppers, onions, and pineapples in a sweet chili sauce. Each serving has 380 calories 16g fat, 3g sat. fat, 13g prot, 47g carbs, 1g fiber, 320mg sod, 27g sugar
Shopping Tips
You can find Panda Express Sweet Chili Sauce in most supermarkets in the Asian or international section or at one of the Panda Express locations. If you can’t find it, use a Thai sweet chili sauce. There are many brands available, including Trader Joe’s.
Serving Tips
Serve with my recipe: PANDA’S FRIED RICE WITH CAULIFLOWER RICE (COPY-CAT) Or, I also like to serve this dish over steamed cabbage and red bell peppers.
Quick recipe:
- 1 bag cabbage, shredded
- ½ cup red bell peppers, chopped
- Place shredded cabbage and bell peppers in a bowl. Steam in microwave for 2-3 minutes.
- Add to a large, nonstick pan. Add 1 tablespoon rice vinegar and 1 tablespoon chili sauce. Stir-fry a few minutes.
- Sprinkle in 1-2 tablespoons diced green onions.
WW Freestyle SmartPoints 6-Blue
WW SmartPoints 9-Green
WW Points Plus 7
| SKINNY FACTS: for ¾ cup serving including sauce 268 calories, 7g fat, 2g sat. fat, 68mg chol, 21g prot, 32g carbs, 1g fiber, 21g sugar |
| FACTS: for Freestyle SmartPoints 132 calories, 1g sat. fat, 1g protein, 13g sugar |
Skinny Facts
Serving: 0.75cupCalories: 268kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 21gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 68mgFiber: 1gSugar: 21gBlue Smart Points: 6Green Smart Points: 9Plus Points: 7
Is there anyway to save these recipes to like a favorite file or some other way of doing it.
Hey, Just wanted to say that I tried this recipe today and it turned out really great. The kids loved it. I just wanted to find out how important is the corn starch in the recipe. I say this because I tried this recipe once before but didnt have corn starch and I didnt want to run to the store either so I made it without the corn starch. It turned out to be very good as far as the taste goes but the texture didnt come out so good. I’m guessing the main purpose of the corn starch in this recipe is to get the proper texture. Correct me if Im wrong.
Thank you
Amy
Maryland
Sorry Rose. I don’t have any way for you to save the recipes in a file. What some people do is print out each recipe and create a binder to save all the recipes.
All the best,
Nancy
Amy, coating the chicken in cornstarch before stir frying, gives you a much better texture and a crispy coating. I highly recommend doing this step. You saw so yourself. I’m thrilled you and your kids loved this recipe!
Thanks for sharing.
My best,
Nancy
I made this and my whole family loved it! I want to try it next using shrimp instead of the chicken. Thank you for a great recipe.
Thanks so much for your wonderful feedback Terri. I’m so glad the whole family loves this recipe. I bet shrimp will taste fantastic!
My best wishes,
Nancy
my kids love this at panda express, so this is is great. (didn’t know they sold the sauce at the grocery store) not only healthier, but less expensive. going to make it w/ shrimp, as Terri mentioned.
I hope your family thoroughly enjoys it Missy!
My best,
Nancy
Made this for the first time tonight! So,no good? Thanks for the recipe. I too will try the shrimp.
I’m so glad Elaine. Thank you!
All the best,
Nancy
I just made this recipe, and it was good but seemed to be lacking something. I sprinkled a little ginger on the meat mixture and added just a little more of the chili sauce. It was just what I felt the recipe needed. Thank you so much for digging out the makings of this recipe. I will definitely make it again.
One of the best parts of cooking, you can adjust most recipes to your taste. Glad you added to your taste and ended up enjoying this recipe. Thanks for sharing Wanda.
All the best,
Nancy
Looking forward to making this recipe – thanks for posting it. How much rice vinegar do you add to the shredded cabbage?
Dee, I used 1 tablespoon rice vinegar with the shredded cabbage.
I hope you thoroughly enjoy this dish!
My best,
Nancy