Name: Fluffy Brown Rice- Oven Method
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 13 h 20 min
Ingredients: 2 cups brown rice; 4 cups water (for soaking); 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (for soaking); 4.5 cups water or broth; 1 Tbsp butter or coconut oil; 2 tsp salt

Jump to Recipe (but miss a lot of good info!)

When you’re craving Sweet and Sour Chicken but…

-You don’t have a good Chinese place nearby

-You don’t want the MSG and additives

-You’re trying to save money

-You want to control the ingredients

…then you need to try this easy recipe!

Table of Contents

How To Make Sweet And Sour Chicken At Home

Chop chicken breast, bell peppers, pineapple and broccoli, and mince garlic.
Cook chicken in a large skillet with 1-2 Tbsp oil
Remove chicken, cook peppers in remaining oil and drippings, add broccoli and steam with lid on
Return the chicken and add pineapple
Make the sauce in a small saucepan by whisking together brown sugar, pineapple juice, coconut aminos (or soy sauce), lime juice, ginger, garlic, and gochujang or Sriracha
Simmer until sugar is dissolved, then add 1 Tbsp arrowroot or corn starch to 1 Tbsp of water and add to sauce to thicken
Dish Sweet and Sour Chicken into bowls of rice, top with sauce, sesame seeds and red chili flakes, and enjoy

Why We Love This Sweet and Sour Chicken

It’s a quick weeknight dinner or lunch
You can easily double everything to have plenty of leftovers
It’s a welcome departure from our typical soup-pasta-pizza-pot roast cycle
It’s a healthy alternative but even more more delicious
The kids love it and eat every bite
It’s a great way to get in plenty of protein and veggies

Brown or White Rice?

We were an almost exclusively white rice family for years, but in recent months we’ve been trying to switch to more whole grains and complex carbs. With brown rice, the only downside is the increase in phytic acid, an antinutrient that can potentially cause some problems.

Fortunately, soaking rice helps to greatly reduce phytic acid, and you still get the benefits of brown rice over white.

The night before I planned to make this recipe I soaked the rice in a bowl of room temp water with a bit of apple cider vinegar to break down the phytic acid even more.

Happily, this also helps reduce cook time!

Below you’ll find my favorite method for making brown rice taste delicious, with the most fluffy texture. Your family won’t even mind the switch.

But use any rice recipe you love!

brown rice for sweet and sour chicken at home

Fluffy Brown Rice- Oven Method

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Soak Time: 12 hours

Total Time: 13 hours 20 minutes

Get tender, fluffy rice every time with this fool-proof, easy method.

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice
4 cups water (for soaking)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (for soaking)
4.5 cups water or broth
1 Tbsp butter or coconut oil
2 tsp salt

Instructions

The day before you want to have your rice, soak the rice* in 4 cups of filtered water with the apple cider vinegar in a covered bowl on the counter to reduce phytic acid and cut down cooking time. See notes.
The next day, rinse your soaked rice thoroughly in a mesh strainer, then add to a greased 9x13 baking dish. Preheat your oven to 375 F. (You can skip soaking if needed, see notes.)
In a large saucepan, bring the 4.5 cups of broth or water to a boil with the butter or oil and salt, then pour over the rice.
Cover baking pan with foil and put into preheated oven. Keep the foil on for at least one hour before checking rice to ensure steaming.
Bake for 1 hr then check to see if rice has absorbed all the liquid and is tender and fluffy. If there is still a lot of liquid, replace foil and continue baking, checking again in 10 minutes. If liquid has been absorbed but rice hasn't reached desired tenderness, add an additional 1/4 cup of liquid and continue baking for 10 minutes, repeating once more if necessary.
Once rice is tender and liquid has absorbed, remove from oven, fluff with a wooden spoon and cover with a paper towel to rest for 5-10 minutes.
Serve immediately. To store, allow to cool then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, add a little water and heat in a saucepan on stovetop, stirring and being careful not to burn. Enjoy!

Notes

* If you need to make the rice the same day and skip soaking, you'll just need to add some baking time. It might take up to 1 hr 45 mins, and you'll want to increase the liquid to 5 cups. Keep an eye on it after 1.5 hrs, adding liquid and baking time if needed. There shouldn't be any standing liquid when rice is done.

* If you want to soak your rice but aren't sure about the timing, you can always soak it for more or less time, then rinse and stick it in the fridge until you're ready to cook it. You could soak it up to 24 hours or as little as 4. If soaking for less time, you'll want to increase the liquid and the baking time. Start by adding a 1/4 cup liquid and 15 minutes extra. Check the rice for tenderness (taste test) and look for any standing liquid. Again, add liquid if it's dry but not tender, or add baking time if not done and there is excess liquid.

What Is Coconut Aminos and Where Can I Get It?

Coconut aminos is an alternative to soy sauce. Soy sauce will totally work here, as well as Tamari. We prefer aminos for the health benefits over soy sauce which is highly processed and can negatively impact your hormones.

I’m seeing coconut aminos pop up more and more in regular grocery stores, but of course you can always grab it online.

It comes in a bottle similar to that of soy sauce. We’ve been getting Big Tree Farms Organic Coco Aminos at Meijer and it’s great.

Getting Your Veggies Tender, Not Soggy

I would often get frustrated making stir-fry’s and other Asian dishes because I could never seem to get all the ingredients done at the same time, to the doneness they each needed.

This is one of those things that just comes with practice, like many cooking and homemaking skills.

I think I’ve finally nailed down which veggies take the longest to become tender and which should be thrown in last minute, as well as how much water and what sort of method to use with each component.

I’m not saying I’ll never mess up another stir-fry, but it will at least be fewer and farther between.

This recipe uses bell peppers and broccoli, as well as garlic. Garlic is one of those things you want to throw in last minute. The peppers and broccoli will take about the same amount of time but you have to treat them a little differently. In this case, I started the chopped peppers in the drippings left from the chicken in the same pan. Once they were starting to soften, I added the broccoli florets on top of them and put the lid on the pan to hold in the steam. If you don’t have any liquid, the broccoli will burn, but if you have too much, that’s when it’ll be soggy. You don’t really want the broccoli touching the water.

Keep the lid on and keep an eye on the liquid, adding a bit of broth or water if needed. It should only take about 10 minutes to get the broccoli bright green and tender.

If you want to add more veggies, carrots would take a little longer and would need to be sliced small and cooked in the liquid, onions could be diced and added with the peppers, mushrooms would go in with the broccoli, frozen peas could be added within the last 5 minutes or so, and beans spouts and water chestnuts could thrown in last minute.

The pineapple would also be a last minute addition. I like mine to be just warmed though. Grab the recipe below!

Better Than Take-Out Sweet and Sour Chicken

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

We love this quick week-night dinner served over fluffy brown rice for a welcome departure from our usual meal rotation. Tender veggies and chicken with a sweet pop of pineapple covered in a delicious sweet and sour sauce make this healthy alternative an all-time favorite.