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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
Thank you for the oyster sauce tip! another sweet and sour sauce to try! This is the only thing my kids in a chinese restaurant!
Awesome!
Hi there, I love your Sweet and Sour Pork recipe! Have been using it very often but I can’t seem to access it today. There’s a broken link. Hope you can rectify it bcos I”d like to have it for dinner tonight! :)
As soon as I saw the batter recipe, I knew I could trust the sauce was right too! I’m making my pork but wanted the light red (pink) sauce. It’s been awhile since I made it and my mind has been on kitchen remodeling for the last year! We skip the sweet and sour , but I bet yours is very good! I always used and spoonful of currant jelly in my sauce….. was hoping to find recipe from you that is close to make sure in didn’t miss anything! Thank you…I’ll check back….think I’ll try a new dish by you while I’ll wait!?
1/2 an egg ? increase portions for batter recipe and make this simpler ..
I’ll make this tonight and comment on portions of sweet/sour sauce .. Seems amounts are too small .
I usually buy fresh chow mein noodles , boil for 3 minutes . then fry with bit of oil in wok . Put on serving dish and laddle
S & S Pork on top .
Indeed. I made higher volume of sauce but increased the ingredient volume as well. It’s tough to work with 1/2 an egg. :-)
Tried this recipe tonight and it was a hit with the family. Definitely going to print and save this recipe. I followed the recipe (except tripled it), the batter was quite runny, but still puffed up beautifully – not too doughy which was great. Full of flavour and just the right amount of sauce.
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe.
Thanks Jenny for trying my sweet and sour pork recipe! :)
Made this tonight for dinner with my homemade fried rice. Really delicious; I made the recipe exactly as written, did not change a thing. Husband gobbled it up and thanked me for making it as it was so good. Will definitely keep this and make it again.
Made this for dinner tonight, really delicious. The pork was very tender (I marinated it for about 2 hours) and the sauce delicious. Made it exactly as written and would definitely make again. Husband gobbled it up and thanked me for making it as it was sooooo good!
Made this tonight. This was really good. The pork was tender and the sauce delicious! Husband gobbled it up. Will definitely keep this and make it again.
I made the recipe as written and didn’t change a thing.
I used johnny’s jalapeno ketchup instead of the ordinary stuff , it gave a real kick to the sauce and tasted great . As usual you have came up with a winning recipe . Thanks
Thanks Geoff. :)
Oh wow – absolutely amazing! Love to cook, but never had tried anything deep fired before….because I always associated it with unhealthy and greasy. However, this is so light and tasty and was a huge success. Terrific flavor and is a new ‘go to’ dish for family and friends.
Thanks for your sweet comment and that you love my sweet and sour pork.