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I’ve tested a lot of sweet and sour sauces, and this is the one I always come back to. My recipe uses pineapple juice for that perfect tangy-sweet balance, and it’s ready in minutes with pantry staples.
A Reader’s Review
Delicious! The best sweet and sour sauce ever. Family loves it. 5 stars!
The Sauce That Does It All
- Fast, Easy, and Seriously Tasty: You can whip this up in just minutes, and the flavor payoff is huge.
- Takes Every Bite Up a Notch: From chicken to shrimp, this sauce brings the perfect tangy twist.
- Zesty, Saucy Versatility. Drizzle it on stir-fries, toss it with meatballs, or spoon it over rice bowls.
Ingredients In Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Don’t Use FRESH Pineapple Juice: When you are making this recipe, use canned or bottled pineapple juice. Fresh pineapple juice has a higher acid content and will break down the sauce. This will change up the taste and the consistency.
- Add Some Kick: If you want to add a bit of extra spice, try slowly adding in a tiny bit of chili flakes to taste.
- Stir Fry: If you want to use this sauce in a meat dish or stir fry, then I suggest doubling the recipe!
- Vinegar: If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can use apple cider vinegar in its place.
How to Make Sweet And Sour Sauce!
Making this sweet and sour sauce recipe will take you less than 10 minutes! It’s so simple and easy that you will never go back to buying this dipping sauce at the store again!
- Mix and Heat: In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the pineapple juice, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce. Boil for 1-2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved.
- Make the Slurry: In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch to make a slurry.
- Thicken and Simmer: Add the cornstarch slurry to the saucepan and whisk it in. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then reduce to medium-low.
- Cool: Continue cooking and whisking for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool. Note that the sweet and sour sauce will thicken more as it cools.
How to Store Leftovers
- In the Refrigerator: My easy homemade sweet and sour sauce keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge, so go ahead, plan a few meals around it.
- Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing this sauce, since we use cornstarch as a thickening agent, which can break down after freezing.
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Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (6-ounce) can pineapple juice
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the 1 (6-ounce) can pineapple juice, ¼ cup rice vinegar, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup ketchup, and 3 tablespoons soy sauce. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved.
- In a small bowl whisk together the 2 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon cornstarch to make a slurry.
- Add the cornstarch slurry to the saucepan and whisk it in. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then reduce to medium-low.
- Continue cooking and whisking for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Remove the sauce from heat and allow it to cool. Note that it will thicken more as it cools.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Delicious Homemade Sauces
I love using my homemade sweet and sour sauce for dipping my homemade Chinese food, like shrimp egg rolls or spring rolls. Or using it for sweet and sour chicken. Here are a few more sauces we use on repeat!
I never leave recipe reviews but OMG this was SOOO good and so easy!! I didn’t have rice vinegar so I substituted equal parts of apple cider vinegar!! I will be making this from now on when I want sweet and sour sauce!
Aww, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment! It makes all the work worth it when I read comments like yours. Thank you! I’m so glad you like it!
This is a very good sweet and sour sauce. I have made it several times. And keep coming back to it! Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a review and a comment. I really appreciate it. I’m glad you like it!
How about bottled pineapple juice? I buy the bottled stuff just to drink sometimes. Would that be ok to use?
Love your sweet & sour sauce recipe. To me no matter how I make this recipe it comes out perfect. Thank you
Delicious! The best sweet and sour sauce ever. Family loves it. 5 stars!
I like to add 3 garlic cloves, grated ginger and Franks Hot Sauce as well as cubed can pineapple. So tasty.
It was delicious! I liked it better than most Chinese sweet sauce. It’s hard to find good sauce. I only had a can of pineapple with mango (drink) I thought it would taste odd but it was so good! Can’t wait to try another sauce from you.
If allergic to pineapple do you think apple juice will work
That should work fine!
Excellent recipe as is… But I like garlic. So I added 1/8 of a teaspoon in the finished sauce. ?
When you list the nutritional values of the sweet & sour sauce are the quantities listed per SERVING? and WHAT SIZE? This breakdown would always be helpful.
Thank you.
Hello! These nutritional values are just estimates (because there are a wide variety of brands, etc that can be used in this recipe) but a suggested serving size is 2 Tablespoons.
It was very delicious. I’m gonna reduce the ketchup and use white sugar next time.
I haven’t made this yet. I’d like to make it to have on hand in the fridge when needed. How long will this keep or could it be canned? And how Since it has pineapple in it if it could be canned.
This sweet and sour sauce can last in a jar or an airtight container in your fridge for about 2 weeks!
Easy to make and was delicious
Delicious ?
Couldn’t find any pre-made sauce at the grocery. All I had to buy extra was pineapple chunks (juice was enough for the sauce), rice vinegar & soy sauce. Whipped up a double batch for an office luncheon. It was enough to cover 128 1″ meatballs. At the end, there was 1 meatball left, so it was definitely a hit!
Love that flavor came out really delicious ty
I can’t wait to try your recipe.