BONUS: oven baked Sweet and Sour Pork directions included!
Sweet and Sour Pork
There’s a lot of information in this Sweet & Sour Pork recipe, so I’m going to skip all the usual attempts at a charming story and just give you the high points! Wait a sec – did I just convince you that you’ve gotta try this?! 😂
How to make Sweet and Sour Pork – OVERVIEW
Pork Marinade Ingredients
Here’s what you need for the pork and marinade:
Pork – the best cut (in order of preference): pork scotch (aka pork neck, pork collar), pork shoulder, leg, tenderloin then loin. See below for more information on each cut; Baking soda (aka bi-carb) and cornflour/cornstarch – meat tenderising method widely used across Asia (notably in Chinese cooking) that is starting to be discovered by Western countries! Called velveting, it also works brilliantly with chicken and beef.
For thin strips used in stir fries (as per the velveting chicken and beef directions), I use more baking soda to meat weight, marinate barely (20 – 40 min), then rinse it off before cooking. This won’t work for Sweet & Sour Pork because it would over tenderise the outside before the inside is tenderised because the pieces are chunkier. In this recipe, we use less baking soda, marinate for longer and do not rinse off – this tenderises the pork more evenly;
Garlic, ginger and onion – flavour, flavour, flavour! Grated to make them “juicy” so the flavour penetrates better; and Soy sauce – for seasoning and flavour.
The more economical the pork cut, the longer the marinade time to tenderise.
Best pork for Sweet and Sour Pork
In order of preference: Any generic “pork steaks” would fall under #4 or #5 assuming it’s intended for quick cooking. Pork cuts not recommended: Pork belly (too fatty), spare ribs (unless deboned), pickled pork (just – no).
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Here’s what goes in Sweet and Sour Sauce. It gets the red colour from ketchup – food colouring not required!!
Ketchup – provides sweetness, flavour and some thickening; Cider vinegar – to balance out the sweet Sugar – just 1/3 of a cup, far less than most recipes and definitely less than restaurants. This is sweet enough, trust me! Worcestershire sauce, oyster and soy sauce – so it actually tastes like what you get at restaurants rather than just a ketchup sugar sauce! Oyster sauce can be substituted with vegetarian oyster sauce which nowadays is widely available in Australian grocery stores like Coles and Woolworths (Asian section and/or health food section, Ayam brand); Pineapple juice – from the can of pineapple pieces used in the stir fry, because why waste it? Using fresh pineapple? Just skip this and add extra water; and Cornflour/cornstarch – for thickening. Sweet and sour sauce is thicker than most stir fries so it clings to the pork pieces!
You’ll notice that my sauce is not quite the crazy red you get at restaurants. That’s because I choose not to use food colouring!
Ingredients in the Stir Fry
And here’s what goes in the Sweet and Sour Pork Stir Fry. I know some people are big advocates of fresh pineapple. I never use fresh – because they’re in season in summer and I (typically) don’t deep fry in summer!
Newsflash: Even restaurant Sweet & Sour Pork doesn’t stay crispy!
I know we all aspire to it, but the fact is that the pork in Sweet and Sour Pork doesn’t stay crispy for long once coated in sauce – even at restaurants. The pork IS crispy without sauce, but once coated, it stays pretty crispy for around maybe 5 minutes, then after that you’re left with the coating the sauce clings to but it’s not as crispy anymore. This is the case even with restaurants, unless they use a different type of batter (like the puffy batter for Honey Chicken which truly stays crispy for hours) or they use speciality ingredients like Xanthum gum. Want to avoid deep frying? The BEST oven baked sweet & sour pork is in the recipe too!
Double frying and double cornflour coating = crispiest pork
So now that’s out of the way, the steps below show how to make the crispiest pork for Sweet & Sour Pork:
Fast becoming the worst kept Asian secret – double fry is THE secret to ultra crispy less greasy fried food! Here’s a comparison of how the pork looks after Fry #1 and Fry #2. Added bonus: the higher temp makes the pork less oily too.
Single Fry Option
However, all that said and done, a single fry (for slightly longer) is excellent too if you need an express version. I was doing single fry for most of my life until I discovered the double fry – and nobody ever complained! The oil used in this recipe can be used another two times because the pork coating is neutral in flavour.
How to make Sweet and Sour Pork
We’re on the home stretch! Here’s how it comes together: To re-use the oil, cool in pot, line mesh colander with a single layer of paper towel, strain oil. Store until required – personally would stick to savoury rather than sweet. Use for any savoury deep fried recipes – such as General Tso’s Chicken, Stay-Crispy Honey Chicken, Chicken Parmigiana, Arancini Balls, Japanese Karaage, Mongolian Beef, Schnitzel or Southern Fried Chicken!
KEY TIP: Toss the pork QUICKLY in the sauce – aim for 10 seconds – to prolong its crispy life!
Serve with plain rice or Fried Rice if you want to go all out. And if you’re making the effort to make Sweet and Sour Pork at home, why wouldn’t you?? (Tip: Fried rice reheats 100% perfectly, so make it first then just reheat it). For extra vegetables, add a side of Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (a restaurant favourite!), or for fresh options, try Smashed Cucumbers, this Asian Salad or Asian Slaw, or Chinese Lettuce with Creamy Sesame Sauce. And lastly, because I know someone’s going to ask, and for all those times you’re desperate for a Sweet & Sour Pork fix but can’t face the oil….oven directions are included. Is it as good as deep fried? Of course not – and anyone who tells you otherwise is outright lying. I’ve tried it every which way I can, and I can’t replicate it exactly. But you can get 85% 80% of the way there, and once it’s all mixed up with the sauce you won’t really notice anyway. But your hips will thank you for it! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Note: video typo! Marinating time shows 2 hours, but it should be 24 hours. 🙂
Life of Dozer
He takes his job as Chief Taste Tester of RecipeTin Eats very seriously. That look of concentration on his face would put any exam-sitting student to shame! (PS Those chopsticks are Dozers’ – sometimes I just don’t feel like getting slobber on my fingers🤷🏻♀️)
