Sweet and Sour Pork is a popular take away dish and with this recipe you can create it at home in just 20 minutes. It's also cheaper and healthier and made with lots of fresh colourful vegetables. Making your own sweet and sour sauce is easy and so much better than buying a shop bought one. For a gluten free version, make sure to use a gluten free soy sauce.
This Sweet and Sour Pork recipe combines diced fresh peppers, spring onions, carrot and pineapple chunks in a lovely homemade sweet and sour sauce. A few sesame seeds sprinkled over the top adds a little extra nutrition and gives it a more authentic look. Make sure to use pineapple chunks in juice and not syrup.
The pork and the vegetables are all stir fried, before the sauce is added. The best pork to use in a stir fry dish is pork loin or tenderloin. If the pork is not already cut, slices it into thin strips. You don't want to overcook the pork or it will be tough. I like to serve this with rice, but noodles also go well.
How to make Sweet and Sour Sauce
A homemade Sweet and Sour sauce is very easy. In a bowl, just combine the ketchup, brown sugar, rice vinegar or white wine vinegar, soy sauce and pineapple juice. Mix the cornflour to a paste and stir this into the sauce to thicken it. Your sauce will not be bright red like some shop bought or takeaway sauces. That's because we've not added any glow in the dark food colouring. It will however taste great and be nice and thick and cling to the pork and vegetables like it does in a restaurant.
Sustainability
When buying Pork, try to buy locally reared, free range pork if possible. This will have the lowest carbon footprint. Buying local will also help support your local economy and the local farmers who are custodians of much of your local countryside. Vegetables bought without packaging are the best waste free option. Basmati rice and pineapple are now available as Fairtrade products. Rice Farmers are facing increasing challenges from climate change. The Fairtrade organisation recognizes these challenges and supports small scale rice farmers to respond to these challenges.
One of the reasons dishes like Sweet and Sour Pork are so great is that they are very quick to make. If you're looking for more quick stir fry inspiration, you might also enjoy or Stir Fry Prawns or Pork Stir Fry with Noodles
Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice
Ingredients
- 300 g basmati rice organic, fairtrade
- 600 g pork tenderloin sliced into strips, fat removed
- 2 tablespoon ground nut oil organic
- 1 red peppers organic, desseded and cut into chunks
- 1 green peppers organic, de-seeded and cut into chunks
- 2 carrots organic, peeled and cut into thin strips
- 16 spring onions organic, topped, tailed and thinly sliced
- 220 g canned pineapple organic, fairtrade, in natural juice
For the sauce
- 2 tablespoon tomato ketchup organic
- 2 tablespoon soft brown sugar organic, fairtrade
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce organic
- 3 tablespoon Rice wine vinegar organic
- 3 teaspoon cornflour organic, blended with a little cold water to make a paste
Instructions
- Put the rice on to cook as per the packet instructions, then drain when ready.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and when the oil is smoking, add the pork and fry on a high heat for 1 - 2 minutes until browned and no pink is showing. Set aside and leave to rest.
- Add the pepper, carrot, spring onions and pineapple chunks to the pan and cook for 2 - 3 minutes.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and add the pineapple juice. Add to the pan along with the pork and cook for 2 - 3 minutes.
- Serve the pork together with the rice.
Notes
Nutrition per serving
The Nutritional Values are computer generated estimates based on industry standards and are provided as a helpful guide only.
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