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Home » Recipes » Sweetfire Chicken {Panda Express Copycat}

Sweetfire Chicken {Panda Express Copycat}

7/23/21

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

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

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How to make this recipe

  1. Cook rice in a rice cooker or on the stovetop according to package directions.
  2. Add eggs and flour to two separate bowls. Coat chicken in egg mixture, then toss in flour.
  3. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add coated chicken pieces to skillet once oil is hot, then season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until browned.
  4. Add onions and red pepper, sauteeing another 2-3 minutes until veggies are tender.
  5. Stir in pineapple chunks, sweet chili sauce and chili flakes, tossing mixture until well coated and cook for 1-2 minutes until sauce thickens.
  6. Serve chicken over rice and garnish with green onions. Enjoy!

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

Ingredients and substitutions

  • Boneless chicken breasts – You can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead
  • All-purpose flour – Cornstarch will work instead, though you may not get as thick of a coating
  • Eggs – You can use buttermilk instead (mix 1 tbsp lemon juice with one cup of milk if you don't have 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 – using fresh pineapple gives the dish the best flavour, but you can use canned pineapple chunks if you want to
  • Sweet chili sauce – If you're out, combine a tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce with 4 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • Green onions – the dish is garnished with scallions but you can omit them if you need or want to
  • White rice – use any variety of white rice (ex: basmati or jasmine) for the best results. Brown rice will also work well in this recipe.
  • Salt & pepper (to taste)

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

What is sweetfire chicken?

This chicken entree is an offering on the menu at Panda Express restaurants. The dish is a combination of lightly breaded, tender chicken breast, red bell peppers and sweet pineapple, all covered in a mildly spicy sweet chili sauce.

Is sweetfire chicken spicy?

Thanks to the sweet pineapple and sweet chili sauce, the flavour is not terribly spicy. Red chili flakes are the only source of spicy heat in the dish.

Because the amount of chili flakes is easy to adjust, you can make it as spicy or mild as you want to.

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

Calories in this recipe vs Panda Express

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 a one-half cup serving of cooked white rice.

In comparison, one serving of Sweetfire 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!

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

Making the rice

If you want to serve the chicken over rice, you will need to cook it separately. I like to use my rice cooker for this, but there are other cooking options as well.

  1. Stove top– To cook the rice in a pan on the stove top, just follow the package directions. It takes about 20 minutes for white rice to cook, or 40 minutes for brown or wild rice.
  2. Crockpot– This option is my least favourite because it's very easy to over cook rice in a slow cooker. Of course, this means the rice will be very sticky and gummy.
  3. Instant Pot – For super quick-cooking rice, make my recipe for Instant Pot rice. You’ll have fluffy rice in less than 10 minutes!

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

Storing and reheating

Any leftovers should be refrigerated and eaten or frozen within 5 days. Be sure to place them into an airtight container with a lid.

The best way to reheat your leftovers is in a skillet on the stove top, over medium heat. You can microwave them but I find that it makes the chicken chewy and dry.

Freezing this recipe

If you store the food in an airtight, freezer safe container, you can freeze the meal for up to 3 months. Since it doesn't require as long to reheat, I suggest storing the cooked rice separately. When ready to enjoy the dish, transfer the container to the fridge overnight and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.

Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

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 some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this meal into your weekly lunches
  • I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen
  • Y0u can order sweet chili sauce online
Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken

Sweetfire Chicken

This Sweetfire Chicken is a perfect Panda Express copycat with chicken, red pepper, onion and pineapple in a spicy sweet chili sauce.
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 502kcal
Author: Taylor Stinson

Ingredients

  • 1 lb chicken breasts, diced
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 cup pineapple chunks
  • 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 pinch chili flakes
  • 4 green onions, sliced

Rice

  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup white rice
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 pinch salt

Instructions

  • Cook rice in a rice cooker or on the stovetop according to package directions.
  • Add eggs and flour to two separate bowls. Coat chicken in egg mixture, then toss in flour.
  • Heat canola oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add coated chicken pieces to skillet once oil is hot, then season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until browned.
  • Add onions and red pepper, sauteeing another 2-3 minutes until veggies are tender. Stir in pineapple chunks, sweet chili sauce and chili flakes, tossing mixture until well coated and cook for 1-2 minutes until sauce thickens.
  • Serve chicken over rice and garnish with green onions. Enjoy!

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 502kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 75mg | Sodium: 481mg | Potassium: 662mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 1131IU | Vitamin C: 46mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @GirlonBloor or tag #girlonbloor!

This Sweetfire Chicken is a perfect Panda Express copycat with chicken, red pepper, onion and pineapple in a spicy sweet chili sauce. #sweetfirechicken #pandaexpress   This Sweetfire Chicken is a perfect Panda Express copycat with chicken, red pepper, onion and pineapple in a spicy sweet chili sauce. #sweetfirechicken #pandaexpress

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About Taylor Stinson

Hey there, my name's Taylor! I’m the founder of The Girl on Bloor, a food blog where I share healthy meal prep recipes for busy people. I'm a busy city girl living in downtown Toronto on (you guessed it!) Bloor Street. I've got 10 years experience meal prepping, along with a Master's degree in journalism, and you can find my work across the internet featured on publications such as Buzzfeed, HuffPost, Women's Health, Reader's Digest and more. I also run the awesome 5-Day Meal Prep Challenge, which is a free email course and Facebook group where I share my meal planning strategies and easy meal prep tips and recipes. Be sure to check out my free beginner’s guide to meal prep and follow me on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to get my latest recipes and meal prep tips!

Comments

  1. Miyah says

    December 30, 2020 at 05:26

    5 stars
    Hi Taylor! I’m so thankful that I’ve found this recipe, especially for a last-minute dinner meal idea for my family. Not only was it easy and simple to follow, but it was also delicious!! I used to try and make this at home but the recipe didn’t quite work out well until I came across this one! However, when it came to making this recipe, I had to sub the flour for cornstarch (due to not having any) and it still came out tasty. Thank you so much again for having this recipe available. My family and I enjoyed it and I will hopefully make this again either for myself or my family again 🙂 I hope you have a great day!

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      January 4, 2021 at 07:50

      So happy you enjoyed Miyah, thank you so much for the kind words 🙂

      Reply

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Taylor Stinson

Oh hey there, welcome!!

I'm Taylor Stinson, a busy city girl living in downtown Toronto. Looking to switch up your weekly meal prep routine? I've got you covered with healthy recipes and meal planning resources. Join 1.5 million other monthly readers and dive in! MORE ABOUT ME..

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