Sweet & Sour Pork

Sweet and Sour Pork

A delectable dish to delight your family and friends, this tasty, crispy pork recipe is paired with crunchy veggies in a perfectly balanced sweet and sour sauce that is neither too sweet nor too sour.

This recipe also calls for a sizeable portion of sauce so that the rice and veggies are coated to perfection. If you prefer less sauce, just don't add all of it at the end. You can save it for a dipping sauce or another dish.

Serves 5-8 people

Ingredients:

Entree:

  • 1 pound pork tenderloin cut into one inch pieces
  • 1 medium onion cut into wedges
  • 1 green bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 3 celery stalks cut diagonally into ½ inch thick pieces
  • 2 carrots cut diagonally into ½ inch thick pieces
  • 1 20oz can pineapple chunks - separate chunks from juice and save the juice
  • High heat cooking oil for frying such as safflower, canola or avocado oil
Banner

Marinade:

  • 3 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Shaoxing Chinese rice wine (can substitute dry sherry)
  • ¼ teaspoon cornstarch

Batter:

  • ⅓ cup flour
  • ⅓ cup cornstarch
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg white - lightly beaten
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ⅓ cup water as needed
Banner

Sauce:

  • 1 cup pineapple juice--reserved from can
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons ketchup
  • ½ cup rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons regular soy sauce or light soy sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon white pepper

Thickener for Sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 6 tablespoons water. Be sure this is thoroughly mixed before adding to sauce.

Directions:

Prepare ingredients Prepare Pork

Trim fat and cut pork into 1 inches.

Add pork pieces to marinade, coat thoroughly and marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Cut onion, celery, red and green peppers, and carrots. Set aside for stir-frying.

Drain pineapple and save juice.

Prepare batter by combining ingredients and adding enough water to create a thick batter. You don't want it to be runny.

Prepare the sauce by adding all the ingredients to a sauce pan and whisking thoroughly. Over medium-high heat, bring mixture to a boil stirring frequently. Lower heat to a simmer. Add thickener (cornstarch and water mixture) and whisk thoroughly to mix. Keep sauce on very low heat--just enough to keep warm. Alternatively, take off heat and reheat before adding it at in the last step.

Prepare Szuce

Dip pork pieces in batter and place on a dish to prepare them for frying. Add enough oil to a wok to deep-fry the pieces. Once the oil is hot enough (test by adding a drop of batter to see if it sizzles) start adding the pork pieces. Work in small batches so you don't overcrowd the wok. This will ensure even heating and browning. Once the pork is golden brown, remove the pieces and drain on paper towels.

Sweet and Sour Pork Sweet and Sour Pork


Optional: For extra crispy pork, you can do a second deep-fry. Just be sure the oil is hot enough. This is not necessary, but it does make the pork a lot crispier.

Prepare Pork

Clean out wok, reheat and add enough oil to stir-fry the veggies. Add the onions, celery, carrots and bell peppers. Stir-fry to a little less then desired final texture. Add the pineapple chunks in the last 30 seconds. This dish is better if it is a little crunchy, so be careful not to overcook. And remember there is always some residual cooking. We find just a couple of minutes (1-2 minutes) is perfect.

Prepare Pork

Add pork and sauce to wok, heat and mix well.

Serve over white rice.

Optional: Garnish with chopped green onions (utilizing just the green portions) and sesame seeds. We used one green onion, finely chopped the green portions, then flowered the remainder by running a knife along the stalk to separate it out, then soaking in ice water to get the ends to open up.

Prepare Pork

Notes:

This dish requires a fair amount of prep, but you can make all the ingredients in advance, then whip them up in the wok for a fast dinner.

Make the sauce, chop the veggies and do the initial fry on the pork. When you are ready to prepare the final meal, you can just do a second fry on the pork, stir-fry the veggies and add the sauce.

 
You can enable or disable the printing of a recipe image by clicking on it.
Banner

This site uses 'cookies' to maintain browsing session, serve advertising, perform anonymized usage analytics, and provide the service of this website.