Sweet Fire Chicken {Panda Express Copycat} - The Girl on Bloor (2023)

This Sweet Fire Chicken is a perfect Panda Express copycat with chicken, red pepper, onion and pineapple in a spicy sweet chili sauce.

Ingredients and substitutions

• Boneless chicken breasts –you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead.
• All-purpose flour –cornstarch will work, although you may not get as thick of a coating.
• Eggs –buttermilk can be used too (mix 1 tbsp. lemon juice with 1 cup of milk if you don't have any buttermilk).
• Cooking oil– I use canola oil, but you can substitute it with any neutral flavour of cooking oil.
• Yellow onion– feel free to use white or red onion in place of the yellow onion.
• Red bell pepper –feel free to use any type of bell pepper in this dish.
• Pineapple chunks– fresh pineapple gives the dish the best flavour, but you can use canned pineapple chunks if you want to.
• Sweet chili sauce– make your own by combing 1 tbsp. of your favourite hot sauce with 4 tbsp. honey and 1 tbsp. soy sauce.
• Green onions– leave these off if you’re not a fan of green onions.
• White rice –use any variety of white or brown rice.
• Salt & pepper– to taste.

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How to make sweet fire chicken

1. Bread the chicken.
2. Add the chicken to a skillet.
3. Cook until browned.
4. Add the onion and pepper.
5. Mix in the pineapple and sauce.
6. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Calories in this recipe vs. the Panda Express version

Making restaurant dishes at home is a great way to save money, but you can usually save a lot of excess calories as well!

Using the ingredients shown in the recipe card below, one serving of this meal has 502 calories, including ½ cup of cooked white rice.

In comparison, one serving of sweet fire chicken from Panda Express has 380 calories without the rice. When you add a side order of white rice, the total jumps to 760 calories!

Frequently Asked Questions

Storing and reheating

Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days in airtight containers or meal prep bowls. I recommend storing the rice and chicken separately so that everything stays as fresh as possible.

The best way to reheat your leftovers is in a skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. You can microwave the chicken, but I find that it makes it chewy and dry. If you plan on microwaving this dish, make sure to sprinkle a bit of water over top first!

Freezing this recipe

You can freeze sweet fire chicken for up to 3 months. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight then reheat as normal. Serve with fresh rice and dig in.

More Panda Express recipes

• Panda Express Kung Pao Chicken
• Panda Express Orange Chicken
• Panda Express Black Pepper Chicken

Meal prep tools for this recipe

• Grab someglass meal prep bowlsif you plan on turning thismeal into your weekly lunches.
• I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
• You can order sweet chili sauce online.

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