Sweet and Sour Sauced Chicken Breasts

This is a chicken dish my mother made for supper the other night, to change it up from the typical bread-crumb coated chicken. There are many different sweet and sour sauce recipes out there, and this was a new one for our family. I liked it, it was more on the sweet and not so much on the tangy side. The sauce seemed to be thick to begin with, however when poured over the chicken and baked, the sauce thinned out significantly, and became more like a chicken basting liquid to cook in. This made the chicken incredibly moist and flavorful, the downside was there was no thick sauce on the chicken or extra to pour over pasta or rice. Therefore my recommendation for next time would be to cook the chicken first, then drain it, as it is likely the fat or water from the chicken is what diluted the sauce. Then, when the chicken is nearly completed baking, pour the sauce over and bake to heat it. Or, cook the chicken in half the amount of sauce so it is moist and injects into the chicken, but save some sauce to heat and serve with the chicken on the side. 


Sweet and Sour Sauced Chicken Breasts
1 cup water
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 Tablespoons ketchup
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons water

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the water, sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and soy sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water until smooth. Whisk into remaining ingredients. Bring it to a boil, boiling and stirring until thickened. This can now be poured over chicken as desired, or served as is. It would be great for other meats to, or as a simple sweet and sour sauce for pasta, rice, or dipping. 

Adapted from Company's Coming "Main Courses".