Sweet & Sour Chicken With Out Sugar

I started out today planning to cook up some homemade ketchup. As I was collecting the fixings I realised I had the fixings to make a Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe I had been thinking about.

My tray of ketchup fixings.

I actually think the word ketchup is what made me decide on Sweet and Sour Chicken. For the past few weeks I have come across a couple recipes for Sweet and Sour Chicken while browsing online. Each time I saw the ingredients lists I thought how simple the recipe could be if a little thought was put into the breakdown of the ingredients. Most of the recipes called for a type of vinegar. You can use white vinegar, apple cider vinegar of wine vinegar. Each recipe called for sugar. With my new pledge to reduce our sugar intake I figure any sweetener can be substituted. Each recipe called for different seasonings. I used what I had and liked.  I also added a couple extra ingredients to suit my families taste. I hope you are inspired to try this recipe. 

First off I want to talk about the sweetener I used in my recipe. I replaced refined white sugar with PreSweet Tagatose from NuNaturals. PreSweet Tagatose is a naturally occurring sweetener found in milk, fruits and vegetables. It is lactose free, gluten free and will not raise blood sugar levels.

1 Tsp serving of PreSweet Tagatose = 1 Tsp of sugar. 

Recipe: Sweet & Sour Chicken 

Ingredients:

3 large boneless chicken breasts (I deboned my own)

½ cup cornstarch

2 beaten eggs

olive oil

Salt, pepper, garlic powder or other seasoning

1 green or red bell pepper

1 yellow onion

½ cup apple cider vinegar

5 Tbsp ketchup   

1 fresh squeezed lemon

½ cup PreSweet Tagatose

1 tsp garlic powder

 

Chop onions and green peppers and sauté in a small amount of olive oil. Then set aside. Cut chicken breasts into small cubes. Bite sized pieces are best. Add oil to heated skillet. Season the chicken pieces to your taste. Toss chicken pieces in cornstarch and dip in egg. Fry coated chicken in the skillet until golden brown.

Combine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, garlic powder and sweetener in a medium bowl blend well. While making the sauce you should carefully add the ingredients to your taste. If you would like a more sour taste use more vinegar or lemon. For a sweeter taste use less vinegar and a little more sweetener.

Place the chicken back into the skillet. Then add the sautéed onions and peppers. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover and simmer on very low until the chicken is done and the sauce is thickened and bubbly. Serve over white rice.

 I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you recreate this recipe I would love to hear how it turns out. 

Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned product from NuNaturals. The product was used to facilitate the creation of a sugar free recipe. No monetary compensation was received.