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    Home » In the kitchen » 30 Minute Sweet & Sour Pork

    30 Minute Sweet & Sour Pork

    Published: Oct 1, 2018 · Modified: Apr 22, 2019 by Laura · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Bowl of sweet and sour pork with rice in background and text overlay

    I can guarantee you will be ditching the takeaway shop in favour of this easy 30 minute sweet and sour pork recipe once you try it. Quick, tasty and much healthier than the bought version!

    Bowl of sweet and sour pork stirfry with white rice and a tea towel and chopsticks on the table

    Sweet and sour pork is one of our all time favourite takeaway dishes. It's delicious and is pretty consistent across the board at Chinese takeaway shops. Battered pork. Delicious sauce. Simple! So obviously given the lack of takeaway shops within a 60km radius of our house and the abundance of home kill pork in our freezer, I need to know how to make it at home.

    I've made a few versions of sweet and sour pork over the years. Back in the early days of this blog I published the recipe for the sweet and sour sauce I originally used for this dish (go and check it out if you feel like laughing at some horrific food photography!) It's the sauce that this recipe is based on but with a couple of tiny but important changes that have made this recipe our new favourite.

    Click here to pin this post to your easy dinners recipes board on Pinterest to save it for later

    Frying pan with homemade sweet and sour pork

    While there was nothing wrong with the sauce I was making, I always felt like it was missing something. So I looked through all the sweet and sour sauce recipes I could find and one thing jumped out at me when I saw this recipe from Rasa Malaysia. Oyster sauce! I was skeptical, but I had a bottle in the fridge so thought I'd give it a try. And it was the key! Don't panic if you don't have any, the sauce is almost as good without it, but if you have it - give it a try and tell me what you think!

    The other thing that took this recipe from good to great was coating the pork first. It's not a traditional batter and may sound weird, but trust me on this one. A little bit of cornflour to start with, and then coat the pork in egg and pop it straight into a pan of hot oil. It seems like you are missing a step by not coating it again in flour or breadcrumbs as you would anything else, but this is what gives the pork that characteristic Chinese takeaway texture and flavour. It is awesome!

    The easiest method I have found is to coat all the pork in the cornflour and then tip all the pork pieces into the whisked egg, mix it around so that all pork is coated and then dump the whole lot in the hot oil. Super easy, takes much less time than individually coating each piece and if you get a bit of extra egg in the pan it's all good! You could deep fry it, but I prefer to only use a few tablespoons of oil in the bottom, get it nice and hot and then let the pork get crispy on one side before flipping it all over and finishing it off.

    Crispy pork frying in pan

    Then all that's left to do is add the veggies - the peppers and pineapple are what I think make this dish even better - pour in the sauce and serve on rice.

    This recipe is:

    • Quick! Another real life 30 minute meal
    • Much tastier than than the takeaway shop version
    • Has colourful veggies in it!

    You really will struggle to go back to the takeaway version after you've made this sweet and sour pork (which you can totally make with chicken too!)

    Close up of sweet and sour pork in frying pan with pineapple and pepper added

    Other easy dinner recipes:

    Easy Butter Chicken

    Chicken Burrito Bowls

    Cheesy One Pan Mince Pasta

    Sausage & Veggie Sheet Pan Dinner

    Made this? Tag me on Instagram @thekiwicountrygirl and hashtag it #thekiwicountrygirl.

    Frying pan with homemade sweet and sour pork

    30 Minute Sweet and Sour Pork

    I can guarantee you will be ditching the takeaway shop in favour of this easy 30 minute sweet and sour pork recipe once you try it!
    4.95 from 20 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Servings: 2 people
    Author: Laura

    Ingredients

    Sauce

    • ¼ cup sugar
    • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
    • 2 Tablespoons tomato sauce
    • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
    • 1 teaspoon oyster sauce (optional)
    • ½ cup hot water

    Coating for pork

    • ⅓ cup cornflour
    • 1 egg

    Stirfry

    • 400 grams pork steaks
    • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
    • ½ red pepper
    • ½ yellow pepper
    • ½ cup pineapple pieces

    Instructions

    Sauce

    • Add the ingredients for the sauce to a small jug or bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

    Prepare the pork

    • Add the cornflour to a small bowl and the egg to another small bowl and whisk. Set aside. 
    • Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium/high heat. While it is heating up, pat dry the pork steaks and slice into 2cm pieces. 
    • Add the pork pieces to the bowl with the cornflour and toss to coat evenly (you may need to do this in 2 batches) 
    • Once the pork is coated in cornflour, dredge it in the egg mixture and then place it in the hot oil. Let it fry, without stirring for a few minutes to allow the coating to get nice and brown. Flip the pork pieces over and cook for a further 2 or 3 minutes until cooked through. 
    • Add the peppers and pineapple and fry for 2 minutes.
    • Pour over the sauce and bring to the boil, and then simmer for 3-4 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly.
    • Remove from the heat and serve immediately on white rice.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 677kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 47g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 215mg | Sodium: 799mg | Potassium: 992mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 1175IU | Vitamin C: 93.6mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 2.1mg
    Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Tag @thekiwicountrygirl or tag #thekiwicountrygirl!

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    If you tried and loved this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below!
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sian says

      October 12, 2022 at 9:23 am

      5 stars
      Wow thanks Im not usually a sweet & sour fan but I decided to treat my family and Im so glad I did, Im sold and the kids have already asked for me to make it again! 😊

      Reply
    2. Laura says

      September 06, 2022 at 9:31 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious, quick and a crowd pleaser (and had all the ingredients in the pantry!). Will def be making this again for the family.

      Reply
    3. Andrea says

      October 27, 2021 at 7:08 pm

      5 stars
      We really enjoyed this. Generous portions.

      Reply
    4. Sam Peneamene-Elliott says

      September 14, 2021 at 5:05 pm

      5 stars
      Wow, this dish was fantastic. The whole whanau loved it. My only regret is that I didn’t make more! Didn’t take long to make and wasn’t as fiddly as I thought.

      Reply
    5. Anouschka Marshall says

      August 18, 2021 at 8:52 pm

      5 stars
      So yum! Hubby loved it after a day working in the cold on the farm and a nice treat for day one of lockdown 2.0. Definitely will make again. I doubled the sauce just becuase we are piggy 🤭

      Reply
    6. SwissKiwi says

      July 13, 2021 at 7:20 pm

      5 stars
      Easy peasy
      Tasty
      Nice treat

      Reply
    7. Megan says

      May 17, 2021 at 5:18 pm

      Is it white sugar you use?

      Reply
      • Laura says

        May 29, 2021 at 9:00 am

        It sure is!

        Reply
    8. Aron Murtagh says

      March 15, 2021 at 7:28 pm

      5 stars
      made it for my husband he loved it, Pork was really tender, real easy and yummy

      Reply
    9. Surita says

      August 14, 2020 at 2:25 pm

      This sounds yum. Do you think I can replace the pork with chicken and can I freeze it after it's cooked?

      Reply
      • Laura says

        August 16, 2020 at 11:25 am

        Hi Surita, you can definitely replace the pork with chicken. As for freezing, you certainly can but the coating will probably go a bit soggy on thawing. You could always skip the coating though and just freeze the meat in the sauce. Laura

        Reply
    10. Sonia Richardson says

      July 11, 2020 at 7:09 pm

      Yum! Have just fed this to my lads here at home and they loved it! So easy to put together too.

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Laura!

    I live on a farm in rural New Zealand with my husband Josh, our kids Sadie, Macey & Finlay and our black lab Sage. We're all about simple & delicious, family friendly recipes that are made from scratch as well as tasty treats! Read More…

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