Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe (咕嚕肉)
August 16th, 2008 | Chinese, Chinese Recipes | 78 Comments
(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
Sweet and Sour Pork, the ubiquitous and arguably the most well-known Chinese recipes in the world, is a classic Cantonese dish. Called “咕嚕肉” or “goo lou yok” in Cantonese dialect, sweet and sour pork is very pleasing to the palate because of the flavorsome sweet and sour sauce–the sweetness from sugar plus the tangy ketchup and sharp rice vinegar–with the crispy fried pork pieces. The green and red bell peppers and pineapple pieces are just icing on the cake.
The secret of an authentic sweet and sour pork dish lies in the perfect balance of the sweet vs. sour taste of the sauce. To master this dish, it’s not about the technique of stir-frying nor the use of the freshest ingredients, although both are equally important and wouldn’t hurt. To me, the sweet and sour sauce is the soul of this dish. If you fail the sweet and sour sauce, you fail the dish. With that in mind, I will teach you how to make that perfect sweet and sour sauce and share with you the secret ingredients I use…(get sweet and sour pork recipe after the jump)
While traditional Chinese/Cantonese sweet and sour pork recipe calls for the use of rice vinegar and ketchup to bring out the sour taste, I also use plum sauce to add some extra zing, plus a few dashes of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and oyster sauce to complete a harmony balance. They are my secret ingredients and do make a nice difference in terms of taste, in my honest opinion.
Other than the sauce, the frying batter is no less important. A great batter recipe promises crispy and crunchy coating for the pork. In my recipe below, you will also find the instructions and exact measurement to make the batter. It is simply awesome!
Rasa Malaysia’s Secret Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Pork:
- Plum Sauce
- Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
- Oyster Sauce (my not-so-secret seasoning medium)
So, discard the canned pineapple juice or orange juice in the Americanized sweet and sour pork recipe. Do try out my secret ingredients above the next time you prepare sweet and sour pork.
Anyway, once you master the techniques of making sweet and sour sauce, you can pretty much whip up any sweet and sour dishes in a jiffy: pork, chicken, fish, or shrimp…just don’t tell Panda Express my secret recipe! *wink*
If you like my sweet and sour pork recipe, you might also want to check out the following Chinese recipes on Rasa Malaysia:
Cashew Chicken
Honey Walnut Shrimp
Kung Pao Chicken
Fried Wonton
Ginger and Black Fungus Chicken
Restaurant-style Chinese Greens with Oyster Sauce
Chinese Jiaozi/Leeks and Pork Dumplings
Dragon Well Tea Shrimp (龙井虾仁)
Ma Po Tofu (麻婆豆腐)
Fried Vermicelli (Rice Sticks)
Recipe: Sweet and Sour Pork (咕嚕肉)
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. pork tenderloin (cut into bite size pieces)
1/2 green bell pepper (about 2 oz. and cut into pieces)
1/2 red bell pepper (about 2 oz. and cut into pieces)
2 stalks scallions (only the white part, cut into 2 inch length)
1 piece fresh/canned pineapple ring (cut into small pieces)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
Oil for frying
Marinate:
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon corn flour
1/2 teaspoon rice wine
Frying Batter:
1/2 cup water
2 oz. all-purpose flour
1 oz. corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 egg
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 small pinch of salt
Sweet and Sour Sauce:
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon plum sauce
1/8 teaspoon Chinese rice vinegar (transparent in color)
1/2 teaspoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
Method:
Cut the pork tenderloin into pieces and marinate with the ingredients for 15-20 minutes.
Mix the sweet and sour sauce ingredients well and set aside.
Strain the dry ingredients of the frying batter and then add in the egg, water, and cooking oil to form a thick batter.
When the pork is well-marinated, transfer the pork pieces into the batter and make sure they are well coated. In a deep skillet, add in the cooking oil enough for deep-frying. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the pork pieces until they turn golden brown. Dish out and drain on paper towels.
Heat up a wok and add in some cooking oil. Add in the chopped garlic and stir fry until light brown, then follow by the bell peppers and pineapple pieces. Stir fry until you smell the peppery aroma from the peppers and then add in the sweet and sour sauce. As soon as the sauce thickenens, transfer the pork into the wok and stir well with the sauce. Add in the chopped scallions, do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice.
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I cannot cook sweet and sour pork to save my life! But now maybe I can :) Thanks for the recipe
Oooh, this looks so good. I was surprised to see ketchup in the ingredient list! My kids would love this!
Working on this dish with the secret ingredient. . .Thanks for sharing!
And I thought sweet and sour pork will be forever beyond my reach. . .
Thanks for the recipe! I’m Chinese and I cant perfect this dish! Will try your to add your “secret” ingredients..
Oh my, this is the most beautiful sweet and sour pork I have ever seen. The ones I get at the Chinese restaurants pale in comparison!!
Oh gosh, this dish brings back so many memories… My first job in the kitchen as a kid was mixing the sweet and sour sauce! She used to rave about how well I did it. I think she just wanted me to feel important :)
Looks and sounds fantastic! Thanks for sharing! I notice you use corn flour and corn starch. Recently I saw a discussion about whether or not they were the same thing – what is your opinion or what are you using? Thanks!
That photo is beautiful! I definitely will have to try this one–it sounds great
I love your site and your recipes! Being a transplanted Malaysian for almost 15 years now, this site helps me reconnect with the happy memories of childhood :D
Goo Loo Yok…my favorite Chinese dish :)
Look Delicious!
Any chance that since the olympics end in the neighborhood of mid-autumn that you’ll be making mooncakes?
You goo lou yok looks really good, makes me crave for pork even more. :-P
your recipe looks amazing! it may seem like a simple dish…but takes a bit of mastering to get it just right! i abhor those goo loo yok dishes that serve hard and chewy pork slices instead of crunchy!
I love authentic sweet and sour pork. this looks delish! Not the ones served up in chinese restaurants over here that are swimming in sauce.
All – thanks for your nice comments. Sorry I can’t respond to you individually.
Phemom – It was a typo, it meant the same thing, which is corn starch.
Hope one of these days you do a pictorial process on how it is done (as space is not a constraint in the wwww). For armchair connoisseur like me at least I have the vicarious joy of going through the motion in dishing out one of your recipes. Cheers.
I love sweet and sour pork very much and your sweet and sour pork recipe so good!
My fav childhood dish-my parents still order that when i’m in town.
At home, we didnt use plum sauce but I might try that when I do attempt this dish again in the future.
Tried your sweet and sour pork recipe last night and it was fanstastic! Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe and yes, your secret ingredients works. Thanks again. :)
-Helen
Austin, TX
agree with veron that your sweet and sour pork is not swimming in the sauce. love it.
I love Goo Loo Yok! yours look better than those sold in restaurants :D btw, I have a little surprise for you at my blog :)
This sweet and sour pork looks inviting. I would never have known about plum sauce for sweet and sour pork recipe.
Looks fantastic, You made it look so easy to cook:-)
X M
This is my fav dish and your photo makes my mouth water! (Did you take photography lessons?) Thanking for sharing!
I have to disagree with you on the sauce making or breaking the dish. I could make your sauce but if the pork is over-fried the dish will be ruined too. I always over-fry them though not on purpose as I am fearful that they are not cooked yet! Any tips on how long they should be deep-fried?
WHILE IN JAPAN ,I LEARNED THAT THE PORK IS DONE WHEN IT FLOATS TO THE TOP WHEN FRYING.. HOPE THIS HELPS
mouth watering! thanks for sharing your recipes & pics.
Its nice and delicious the sweet & sour pork! Thank you for the recipe.
I was watching Chua’s Choice from TVB .. a few days ago. .and in it .. he said. .that a good sweet and sour pork.. needs to have the sauces cooked with the pork.. and not have the gravy poured over it.. after it had been cooked.
I have a question,the ketchup from my country is very sweet and thick, american ketchup is more salty…what kind of ketchup do you recommend for this and your indian mee goreng recipe?
I LOVE all your recipes btw :D
Anonymous – for the ketchup, I don’t have any prefence, the best thing is to try the taste. Add a little bit fast and taste it, if not enough, add more. ;)
Hi I made this last night along with the perfect Chinese greens. Everything was great, I have to say though, the ketchup was a little overpowering to the taste of the sauce. I ended up having to tweak the rest of the ingredients to make it work, but overall came out fantastic. Thanks!
I just love that and those photos make it look even better.
I love sweet and sour so going to have this cooking on night.
This recipe is wonderful! I made it last week for dinner. My boyfriend said that this was possibly the best dish I’ve ever made.
P.S. I love this website. Stumbled on it accidentally. So glad i did!
This recipe is excellent. My sweet and sour usually comes out tasting horrible and I had given up on it before I found this. My family ate it so quickly I hardly got any. I did triple the sauce ingredient measurements though as it wasn’t enough.
Thank you so much for sharing.
I love this recipe! The tomato ketchup can be tad overpowering when you still making the sauce, so I added 2 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce and a little more water. The tomato ketchup aroma is still there but when you stir fry everything, it’s perfection.
My pork is super soft which is good, but how do I make it more crispy? =)
The key to crispiness is to stir fry the pork immediately after frying and to eat it as soon as the sauce has coated the pork.
Ditto to that. Thanks for comment.
How do you make the pork more crispy? =) Love this recipe, but I add 2tbsp of sweet chilli sauce and a little more water to the sauce.
Did this last w/e. Looked and tasted brilliant, the best sweet and sour flavour I’ve ever done. I’ll definitely be doing it again.
I make this for my husband tonight and he loved it. Asked if I could make it again and he said it and all the other suggested receipes on the page.
Kathy – so glad to learn that your husband loved the recipe. Thanks and yes, do try out more of my recipes. :)
I cooked this for my brother and cousins a few weeks back and they absolutely loved it! – and oh my, do growing boys eat fast!
I’ll be cooking it again tonight, as per request. Thanks heaps for this recipe! =)
p.s. i love your site. its the most frequented site on my favourites list. thanks for sharing all your great recipes!
Jena, this is really heartwarming. Thank you for being so supportive of my blog :)
That looks so sticky and delicous!
Good sticky is delicious. :)
I cooked this dish last night for my hubby and he love it!! Thanks for your recipe babe.
Thanks for your nice comment. I am glad your hubby loved it! :)
tried this but used chicken…..am pretty proud of myself! pulled it off!
THanks for the awesome recipe!
May – I have a sweet and sour chicken recipe, too. The recipe is slightly different but it works the same. :)
I followed the recipe but doubled the sauce mix. When I put it all together it seemed like it needed extra sauce. Don’t get me wrong it is very tasty but you just need additional sauce. The batter made deep frying the pork easy and very tasty!! Thanks for the recipe and I will make it again.
Marcia – glad you like the sweet and sour pork recipe. There is nothing wrong with doubling the sauce, some like it saucy but I personally like it just coated with the sauce. :)
1, How do you make hot sour soup? I saw your egg drop soup recipe by the way and I was surprised that the soup wasn’t thickened up with cornstarch/water mixture. Will you post a hot sour soup recipe soon?
2. I’m confused with this teriyaki sauce recipe. It calls for mirin AND sake. At our local asian supermarket, I bought the Takara Mirin. On the label of that SAME BOTTLE, its called GOURMET COOKING SAKE. So wait, is Mirin a Sake also? Are the terms “mirin” and “sake” interchangeable? If not (I’m not a drinker), I was astounded to see so many types of sake there are. Can you tell me specifically which type of sake to get for this teriyaki sauce recipe?
3. On the breading of your sweet sour pork, it didn’t work out for me. It didn’t look like the photo you showed where its perfectly golden brown. I followed the recipe for the breading and well, the breading burnt literally within seconds (i had my oil at 360) and not only that but after it was fried, the breading (while set on a plate to cool) went soft.. . was adding the egg and maybe too much flour the problems? what are your thoughts?
Thanks for your time.
Hi Pan – I will get to hot and sour soup soon. My egg drop soup is the authentic version, which is not thickened with starch.
Mirin and sake are totally different things. Mirin is sweet while sake is not. Does it taste sweet. In any case, I think you have got a mirin but I don’t know why they call it sake. Sake is pretty much rice wine. If you can’t get the Japanese sake, you can just buy Chinese rice wine.
For the batter, it worked out for me and works for many who tried the recipe. I am not sure but maybe your oil is too hot? I used a stove top to fry. Maybe your area is humid? In any case, you can add 2x the corn starch to the batter and it will be more crunchy.
Hope it works for you.
Oh my god….this was incredible. I doubled the amount of sauce in this recipe for my preference, only to find there was barely any sauce left over since it was all absorbed. The pork was really delicious and decadent unlike the rubbery ones I find at Americanized Chinese restaurants. Huzzah!! :D
Hi Can i do without plum sauce since I dont have any at home? Thanks a lot.
Yes, you can do without it. :)
Dear rasa malaysia,
i wanna ask, can i use 排骨(pai gu) to cook this dish or not?
Is it ok if i marinate it without using rice wine, cos i dun have it.
Also for the sauce, can i substitute rice vinegar with normal vinegar/apple cider or just omit? cos im a student study at oversea, my ingredients is quite limited. thanks.
Yes, you can use spare ribs for this sweet and sour recipe. You can substitute rice wine with any Asian cooking wine, and rice vinegar with regular vinegar. Hope you enjoy this recipe.
Rasa, you are my “Go-To” site for recipes :o) I always check here first when looking for an Asian recipe that’s authentic (and oh-so-good!). I’ll be making this for my little girl who loves Sweet and Sour Pork, she’s SO excited! I made your Kung Pao chicken last week and it was a big hit!
Gary, I’m so happy everytime I hear my recipes are well received by readers and families. Thank you!
I’m chinese,so I like it vry much!!T.T
Just tried this tonight…it was awesome! I ate too much……..
i tried this recipe in my deep fryer
all the pork stuck 2 the bottom hence all the crust fell off
what did i do wrong?
Hi Shari, I don’t know what to tell you. Is your deep fryer hot enough?
rasa, the sweet and sour pork did well for me,i am looking for a recipe for sweet and sour shrimp,and shrimp fried rice with lobster sauce ,i was hoping you could give me some recipes for these dishes,,, thanks for all your help
hi bee! just did this, dont have any plum sauce so i just used sweet and chili sauce and it turned it good! thumps up!! thanks for sharing!
Leng – great that you like it.
Hi, I’d just like to tell you I’ve joined the ranks of appreciative fans who monitor this sight like hawks for new recipes and take your words as gospel. I just finished hosting a potluck at which I nervously tried out this recipe for the first time for many of my close friends, but it turned out well and it was eaten up so fast I didn’t even get much taste of it! I was told that I was some cook but I really, honestly owe it all to you. I don’t have much experience in the kitchen as a college student but your clear instructions guided me straight through the whole recipe.
I’d also follow the others’ advice, cut back a little on the ketchup, more corn starch in the batter. I didn’t expect such little yield, but everyone at least got a taste of it. I would say were this the only dish, served over rice it would serve one, maybe two, if they were semi-hungry, adults. Also, it might have been just my lack of preparation or foresight, but all in all, starting from the marinade, it took a little over an hour and a half to prepare.
I love this recipe so much, and the ingredients don’t demand much. It was also probably the most fun dish I’ve ever had to make, what with making this interesting sauce with 50 ingredients that magically turns out delicious, deep frying AND stir frying in a wok. I’d make it again in a heartbeat. Thank you so much for these amazing recipes!!!
Tried this recipe for the first time last night–it was a HIT! Best sweet and sour pork I ever made all of the gathered family members said. I doubled everything, and cut the pork tenderloin into slightly smaller pieces. I also added small wedges of sweet onion and thinly sliced celery in place of the scallions (all in proportion–a little less green pepper, etc.). Next time, I may add thinly sliced water chestnuts as well. Where can I buy corn flour?
Also, I use rice flour in place of corn starch in my cooking so you have to use a little more and a little less water to get the proper thickening of the sauce.
Hi ! I just wanna ask what kind of soy sauce did you use for the marinade.. the light or the dark soy sauce? I am really particular with the kind of soy sauce because here in japan, they only use the light kind whereas in my home country (phil) we usually use the dark one. And thus, I`ve found out that these two tastes differently.. thanks :))
Light soy sauce.
I made this dish last night for the first time. YUM! I must admit Sweet & Sour pork is one of my least favourite of the chinese dishes, however I had a pork fillet and thought I would give it a go…..and I am glad I did.
I too added a splash of sweet chilli sauce on top of the other ingredients and I doubled up on the sauce, which still provided just a nice coating and not too runny. And next time I might use fresh pineapple pieces as an alternative.
With the batter I just used 2 egg whites and 1/4 cup of corn flour and that worked really well.
What I found with the pork was double frying, which provided a nice crispy coating.
I am an instant fan of this website!
Foodlover – thank you for being an instant fan. I am glad you like this sweet and sour pork recipe. :)
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