Name: What To Serve With Sweet and Sour Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Ingredients: 1 portion sweet and sour chicken

Table of Contents

If you’re wondering what to serve with your sweet and sour chicken, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I list 13 of the most popular side dishes for sweet and sour chicken.

In a rush? Here’s the short answer.

The best side dishes to serve with sweet and sour chicken are fried rice, scallion pancakes, prawn toast, potstickers, and egg rolls. Try serving stir fry, green beans, and napa slaw for healthy options. You can also serve lo mein, Chinese potato salad, seaweed crackers, and Thai noodle salad.

Ready? Let’s jump right in.

Egg fried rice

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/282249101636912990/

No Chinese meal is complete without some classic egg-fried rice.

It’s the ideal base for a saucy dish like sweet and sour chicken.

Once you master the basic recipe, adding vegetables and protein to your fried rice is easy.

I like to make mine with Jasmine rice, but any long grain rice will do the trick.

Remember, your rice should be cooked and chilled before adding it to your wok.

Check out Jessica Gavin’s egg fried rice recipe to get the basics down, and you’ll be an egg fried rice connoisseur in no time.

Scallion pancakes

One of my favorite things about sweet and sour chicken is its sticky zesty sauce.

The sauce is so good that I want to finish up the remaining sauce on my plate.

It’s a good thing I learned about scallion pancakes.

Unlike your fluffy American-style pancakes, scallion pancakes are crispy and flakey with a chewy interior.

They are the perfect food to soak up the extra sweet and sour chicken sauce.

Cooking in Chinglish’s recipe will help you make the crispiest and flakiest scallion pancakes.

Thank me later!

Chinese potato salad

This isn’t your typical potato salad.

It only features six ingredients, with the potatoes and the Sichuan peppers being the most important.

Expect a clean, slightly spicy flavor with this potato salad.

It’s usually served as an appetizer, but it also works well eaten alongside an indulgent main dish like sweet and sour chicken.

Curious to know more about this dish? Omnivore’s Cookbook will guide you through making this delicious salad.

Thai Noodle Salad

Pair your sweet and sour chicken with this Thai noodle salad for a flavorful Asian fusion.

This noodle salad is dressed with a spicy-sweet dressing as addictive as the sweet and sour chicken sauce.

It’s quick, easy, and will fill you up.

Try it out with this recipe from Grilled Cheese Social.

Veggie egg rolls

Egg rolls are one of the most classic sides to serve with sweet and sour chicken (and here’s more traditional egg roll sides).

If you want to take the healthy route, why not switch the traditional egg roll filling with an all-vegetable filling?

To make things easier, I use those bags of coleslaw mix you can pick up in the grocery store.

No prep work is needed. Just sautee the veggies with your choice of seasoning.

Then scoop them into egg roll wrappers and ROOOOLLLL.

Easy right? The Hungry Waitress has an easy-to-follow recipe for the best veggie egg rolls.

Prawn toast

Prawn toast is made with flavorful ground shrimp sandwiched by two pieces of triangular bread and fried until crispy golden.

It’s reminiscent of fried dim sum, made more filling because of the bread.

You can serve this as an appetizer or alongside the sweet and sour chicken.

I prefer to serve them together because the sweet and sour sauce is the best dip for prawn toast.

This recipe from Kitchen Sanctuary has an addition of sesame seeds, which adds a nice nutty flavor to the dish.

Vegetable stir fry

Vegetable stir fry is one of my favorite dishes to serve with sweet and sour chicken – it’s a nutritious side dish that completes the meal.

The beauty of a stir fry is that you can use any vegetables you have on hand to make it.

Just don’t cook them for too long, so your veggies remain vibrant and crisp.

I like to add sesame oil and a dash of hoisin to my stir fry to amp up the flavor.

Check out Cooking for Keeps’ recipe for more variations you make.

Seaweed Crackers

This is a popular Chinese snack made from seaweed and spring roll wrappers.

I like to serve it with sweet and sour chicken for that extra umami flavor these crackers impart.

They’re usually deep-fried, but What to Cook Today has a recipe that uses the air fryer instead.

Healthy and delicious!

Potstickers

Potstickers are good to eat on their own, but they are excellent to serve with sweet and sour chicken.

They provide a light and bright flavor that goes well with the sweet and tangy main dish.

Their texture – a crispy bottom and soft, steamed top – also gives a great texture contrast with the sweet and sour chicken.

You might think they’re challenging, but you’ll be a pro at making them once you’ve mastered the technique.

Sounds good?

Take a look at The Novice Chef Blog’s recipe and get some tips and tricks to help you make potstickers.

Garlic Green Beans

Green beans and sweet and sour chicken make for a delectable plate of food.

The vibrant color of the beans provides pops of green that are pleasing to everyone.

It’s also a healthy side dish, the perfect complement for an indulgent dish like sweet and sour chicken.

In this recipe by Healthy Nibbles and Bits, the green beans are flash-fried, making them lightly crisp and tender before sauteing them in garlic.

Egg Drop Soup

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1078752916965364543/

Egg drop soup is a staple in Chinese restaurants.

It’s a warm soup best served with main dishes like sweet and sour chicken.

It’s quick and easy to make and needs just a few ingredients.

But I like to add scallions and a dash of sriracha when I make this soup.

Eazypeazymealz has an excellent recipe for the basic egg drop soup, which you can jazz up with other ingredients.

Napa Slaw

Sweet and sour chicken is a rich dish, so I like to serve it with a light side dish for a balanced meal.

This napa slaw is full of fresh and crunchy elements that contrast nicely with the tender pieces of chicken.

It’s also dressed with a ginger soy dressing that complements the sweet and sour sauce.

This is a flavor combination that’s bound to leave your tastebuds buzzing.

Doesn’t that sound delicious?

Try it out with Kitschen Cat’s recipe.

Lo Mein

Lo mein is one of the most popular dishes in Chinese restaurants.

And it’s super easy to customize.

You can keep it vegan by just using vegetables (for you sweet and sour “chicken” lovers).

You also can add a protein like pork to make it more of a standalone dish.

I usually keep my lo mein meat-free when I serve it with sweet and sour chicken.

You can have this side dish served in 25 minutes with this recipe from Damn Delicious.

The best side dishes for sweet and sour chicken

Egg fried rice
Scallion pancakes
Chinese potato salad
Thai Noodle Salad
Veggie egg rolls
Prawn toast
Vegetable stir fry
Seaweed Crackers
Potstickers
Garlic Green Beans
Egg Drop Soup
Napa Slaw
Lo Mein