The Essential Ingredient For Restaurant-Style Sweet And Sour Chicken
When craving Chinese takeout, one of the go-to classics that never fails to satisfy is the tender and delicious sweet and sour chicken. While it may seem intimidating at first, with a little work, you can actually make this meal yourself. But one thing you'll need to get right from the start are the ingredients. Chicken and vegetables are an obvious choice. However, the essential ingredient for restaurant-style sweet and sour chicken is ketchup.
While you may think of ketchup as a mere condiment for your fries or a way to top off your burger, it's actually used as a key ingredient in a surprising number of dishes. Most chilis wouldn't be complete without it, and your party meatballs wouldn't have that hint of sweet and sour if ketchup wasn't included. When it comes to sweet and sour chicken, you'll want to refer to your favorite glazed meatball recipe and add in some ketchup for your sauce.
Adding ketchup in your sweet and sour chicken
To make sweet and sour chicken that tastes like it came straight from a Chinese restaurant, have some ketchup close to hand. You could make your own ketchup or buy some from the store. Any brand is fine, so go with your favorite. About ⅔ of a cup of ketchup will do if you're making enough sauce for three chicken breasts.
Along with sugar and vinegar, the ketchup adds to the sweet and tangy taste of the sauce, and also helps create the shimmering texture that covers your chicken. Like the glaze seen on party meatballs or a sweet and savory cut of brisket, you'll have more of the smooth, glossy covering on your sweet and sour chicken due to the ketchup that's mixed in the sauce. Now you'll have tender chicken that glistens on your plate and zings your senses every time you take a bite.
Other popular foods that use ketchup
If you love the taste and look that ketchup provides in your sweet and sour chicken, then you'll love it just as much on some of your other favorite foods. Fans of ribs can make a tangy BBQ sauce by adding ketchup as an ingredient before it's slathered all over them. Caramelized baked chicken wouldn't have its sweet and sour taste, nor its appetizing gloss if you didn't add some ketchup in its sauce.
Out of all the mistakes you could make with chili, make sure leaving out the ketchup isn't one of them. One of the hallmarks of a good chili is being able to taste the spices, along with a mixture of other ingredients. Ketchup will add to its sweet and tangy flavor, so you definitely want to include it. Swiss steak in foil wouldn't taste right without the addition of ketchup. While you bake it in the oven, the flavor of the ketchup will absorb into the meat and come out tasting amazing.