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My Most Popular Chinese Recipes ❤️
Tips, tricks, and recipes for perfect Chinese dishes
FREE EMAIL BONUS:
My Most Popular Chinese Recipes ❤️
Tips, tricks, and recipes for Chinese dishes
What Is Sweet and Sour Pork?
Sweet and Sour Pork is an iconic Chinese recipe and classic Cantonese dish.
Called “咕嚕肉” or “goo lou yok” in Cantonese dialect, this recipe 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.
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Delicious Sweet and Sour Sauce
The secret of an authentic sweet and sour pork dish lies in the perfect balance of the sweet vs. sour taste of the sauce, the soul of this dish.
I am going to teach you how to make perfect homemade sweet and sour sauce and share my secret ingredients!
Secret Ingredients
Other than rice vinegar and ketchup, I also use Chinese plum sauce to add some extra zing, plus a few dashes of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and oyster sauce to complete the perfect balance of flavor.
Once you master the techniques of homemade sweet and sour sauce, you can make authentic and restaurant quality Chinese food at home!
- Plum Sauce
- Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
- Oyster Sauce
Crispy Frying Batter
The frying batter for the pork is equally important. The fried pork has to be crispy, airy and crunchy, so when they are stir-fried with the sweet and sour sauce, the pork will remain crispy and not soggy and swim in the sauce.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 402 calories per serving.
Serve Sweet and Sour Pork With:
For a wholesome dinner, I recommend the following dishes.
Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb (250g) pork tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 green bell pepper (cut into pieces)
- 1/2 red bell pepper (and cut into pieces)
- 2 stalks scallions (only the white part, cut into 2 inch (5cm) length)
- 1 piece fresh/canned pineapple ring (cut into small pieces)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- oil for frying
Frying Batter:
- 2 oz. (60g) all-purpose flour
- 1 oz. (30g) corn starch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 egg
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- 1 pinch 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
Instructions
- 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.
Video
Nutrition
All of these recipes sound delicious!
I would like to give you a big hug for this recipe cause the sauce is spot on! However, i couldnt get my pork to br crispy even though my oil is hot. Do you have any tips?
in many of your recipes you marinate the meat in a corn starch & liquid mixture.
In this you call for corn flour, but since you are from orange county, california – you know that latino cooks think of corn flour as masa harina. so just to be sure, you are speaking of corn starch right??
(and my bad, orange county is about as ethnically diverse as you can get! no wonder i’m confused)
Corn starch, typo.
Hi Bee,
What amazing recipes you have.i have had much success with a lot of them. I have a quick question about this recipe. My kids tend to find pork quite chewy but I have had more success with them eating it if it has been cooked in a slow cooker. Is this recipe okay to use with a slow cooler or are there any changes you would recommend I make?
Many thanks from a Malaysian in Scotland
If you use slow cooker, just use chicken and not deep-fried chicken.
Very dissappointed in this recipe and the notes to prepare.
Dougie – what went wrong? Many people have had great success.
I don’t know whether I am repeating. I like the recipe and I just added celery for crunch and some onion pieces.
Great idea for the sweet and sour pork. Thanks.
very good recipe. I just added celery and onion chunks
Hi. I cant seem to get your sweet & sour pork recipe of your website. PLease could you help me.
https://rasamalaysia.com/sweet-and-sour-pork/2/
Hi,
Where can I get all purpose flour? Can I use the Kentucky frying flour? Thank u
You can just use regular flour.
Thank you
I would like try to cook this dish, but where i can buy this Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce? Can you please translate it in chinese?
You can get it at supermarket in Malaysia very easily, just look for the brand.