An easy Sweet and Sour Pork recipe made with leftover roast pork, pineapples and peppers in a delicious sweet and sour sauce made from scratch with a few simple ingredients. It's a quick dish ready in less than 15 minutes, which makes it ideal as a homemade midweek meal.
Chinese food must be one of the most popular take-away options, and the choices are endless. And sweet and sour dishes remain the absolutely favourite when it comes to a good meal. Whether you go for sweet and sour chicken or pork, you know you are in for a treat.
But making your own fake-away at home is a lot simpler than you'd think. Especially if you have some good leftovers from your Roast Pork with Crackling or your Roasted Pork Belly. We absolutely love Sunday roasts, and leftovers are never thrown away, but turned into delicious dishes that make Mondays as exciting.
This sweet and sour with leftover pork is super easy to make. Since the meat is cooked already, all we need to worry about is the sauce and the veggies. And that's the easy bit.
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Ingredients used
- cornflour (corn starch) -used to thicken the sauce, so it can coat the pork
- pineapples - they give the sweet touch to the sauce
- soy sauce - it adds colour and saltiness
- ketchup - together with the pineapple are the sweet factor for the dish
- cider vinegar - it adds the sour touch to the sauce
- brown sugar - it balances out the acidity of the sauce
- cubed leftover pork -it can be roast pork, and cooked in any other way
- peppers - different colours will make the dish more colourful, but you can add whatever colour you have
- onion - it can be yellow, red or shallots
- fresh parsley - for garnishing
Step-by-Step photos and instructions
Start by making the sauce, the dish comes together very quickly, and it's better to have everything prepped and ready to be cooked.
- in a bowl, add the cornflour (corn starch) with a tablespoon of pineapple juice
- mix well to get a runny paste, then add the soy sauce, cider vinegar, ketchup, sugar and the remaining pineapple juice
- mix again
- heat up the oil in a large pan
- add the chopped onion and fry until golden
- in go the chopped peppers and garlic, and give it a good stir
- leave to cook for 2-3 minutes for the peppers to soften slightly
- add the cubed pork and sauce, and leave it to simmer for 5 minutes or so for the pork and veggies to coat well in the sauce
- add the pineapples and give everything a stir
- serve hot on a bed of rice or with noodles
Expert tips
This dish is very easy to put together, since the pork is already cooked, so they cooking time is massively reduced.
If you use raw pork meat, fry it separately, then follow the recipe in exactly the same way - pork pieces cut small would be ready in 6-7 minutes.
The dish can be cooked with any other leftover meat like: chicken, beef or ham/gammon.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, the sweet and sour sauce can be made with ketchup, sugar and vinegar only. However, the pineapples add colour and more sweetness to the dish.
The sweet and sour pork is best served with rice, but also couscous, bulgur wheat or flatbread.
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Sweet and Sour Pork
Ingredients
For the sweet and sour sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornflour (corn starch)
- 125 ml pineapple juice from a tin (400 g pineapple tin 13 oz)
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
To assemble
- 2 cups cubed leftover pork
- ½ red pepper
- ½ yellow pepper
- ½ green pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup cubed pineapples
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
Instructions
- To make the sauce, mix the cornflour with a tablespoon of pineapple juice and mix well to get a runny paste.
- Add the rest of the pineapple juice, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, and soy sauce, and mix well.
- Heat up the oil in a large pan.
- Peel and chop the onion, and fry until golden.
- Add the chopped peppers, and give it a good stir, then leave to cook for 2-3 minutes to soften slightly.
- Add the cubed pork and sauce, and stir again.
- Leave it to simmer for 4-5 minutes for the sauce to thicken and coat the pork and veggies well.
- Add the cubed pineapples, give it a stir, then remove from the heat.
- Serve on a bed of rice with fresh parsley.
Scott
Tried this recipe tonight… awesome! Thank you.
Daniela Apostol
Amazing! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Elizabeth Koehne
Can I substitute OJ for pineapple juice
Daniela Apostol
I think apple juice would work better.