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Sauce recipe

Sweet and Sour Sauce

The bright, glossy takeaway sauce for battered pork, chicken and spring rolls. Tangy, sweet and ready in ten minutes.

Sweet and Sour Sauce
The ratio
  • 4 partsTomato sauce + pineapple juice
  • 2 partsRice vinegar
  • 2 partsSugar
  • 1 partSoy sauce
What you need
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) tomato sauce (ketchup)
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) pineapple juice
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 garlic clove, finely grated
  • 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water
  • 1-2 tbsp water, to loosen
Makes
About 250ml, enough for 4 serves of sweet and sour pork
Ready in
10
Keeps
2 weeks in the fridge
How to make it
  1. Combine the tomato sauce, pineapple juice, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and garlic in a small saucepan.
  2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
  3. Stir the cornflour slurry, pour it in and keep stirring for about 1 minute until the sauce turns glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon.
  4. Taste: add a splash more vinegar if it's too sweet, or a pinch more sugar if it's too sharp. Loosen with water if needed.
  5. Use straight away on hot fried pork or chicken, or cool and keep in a jar as a dipping sauce.
About this sauce

Sweet and sour sauce is the red-orange glaze that coats sweet and sour pork at every Chinese takeaway in Australia. It started in Cantonese cooking as gu lou yuk sauce, made with vinegar, sugar and hawthorn, and the takeaway version swapped in tomato sauce and pineapple juice.

Ours keeps that takeaway taste but tastes fresher than the jar: rice vinegar for tang, pineapple juice for fruitiness, a splash of soy for depth and a little cornflour to make it shine. Toss hot battered meat through it right before serving so the batter stays crisp.

What to put it on

Battered pork and chicken, spring rolls, wontons, prawn crackers, crispy tofu and fried fish.

Toss it through sweet and sour pork or sweet and sour chicken, or serve it as a dip with vegetable spring rolls. For a spicier dip, try Thai sweet chilli sauce. Read about rice vinegar here.

Uses this sauce

Recipes that call for this sauce. Make a batch and cook one of these.

Pairs well with

Dishes this sauce suits. These recipes make their own glaze or dressing, so you can swap this sauce in.