Looking for a quick and delicious sweet and sour sauce recipe that you can make at home? Look no further! This recipe only requires a few simple ingredients and takes just minutes to prepare.
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce
Why use bottled sauce when homemade sauce takes less than ten minutes to make? It tastes so much better on all your favorite stir-fry dishes, veggies, and appetizers. Use half the sauce for some crab rangoon and freeze the rest. You can’t go wrong.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Olive oil: just a little bit to saute the garlic in
- Garlic: fresh, of course, for a little flavor boost
- Pineapple juice: I buy the small cans so I can use the rest with other recipes like pineapple chicken.
- Apple cider vinegar: can substitute rice vinegar
- Soy sauce: preferably low-sodium
- Brown sugar
- Ketchup: preferably organic
- Cornstarch: to thicken the sauce
How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce
This is the nutshell version of the recipe, please see the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions.
Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over low heat. Saute the garlic for about 1 minute while stirring. Add the pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and ketchup. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, reduce to a gentle boil. Mix the cornstarch and water and whisk it into the saucepan. Continue cooking on a gentle boil until thickened. This will only take 1-2 minutes.
Recipe Tips
- If you prefer, you can add Hoisin sauce instead of Ketchup. which is very often referred to as Chinese ketchup.
- The brown sugar can be replaced with honey or agave; however, the taste will be slightly altered.
- You can store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or freeze it for up to 2 months.
Ways to Use Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Dipping sauce for: crab rangoon, potstickers, coconut shrimp, and egg rolls
- Sauce for your favorite Asian recipes: sweet and sour chicken, sweet and sour pork, or pineapple chicken
- Over: white or brown rice, ramen noodles, steamed broccoli, or stir-fried veggies
Try These Other Homemade Sauces
- Enchilada sauce
- Yum yum sauce
- Homemade barbecue sauce
- Buffalo sauce
- Boom boom sauce
- Southern comeback sauce
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over low heat. Saute the garlic for 1 minute while stirring.
- Add the pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and ketchup. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Once the sugar is dissolved, reduce to a gentle boil. Mix the cornstarch and water together and whisk it into the saucepan. Continue cooking on a gentle boil until thickened. This will only take 1-2 minutes.
Notes
- If you prefer, you can add Hoisin sauce instead of Ketchup. which is very often referred to as Chinese ketchup.
- The brown sugar can be replaced with honey or agave; however, the taste will be slightly altered.
- Store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 2 months.
Melissa Cushing
I pinned this recipe as I want to start making my own dishes and sweet and sour sauce is a must for so many of them…. Sweet & Sour chicken is always one of my faves and the sauce is a must! I want to recreate a few of my favorite Chinese dishes to make them healthier for myself and my husband…. thank you so much for sharing!
Beth Pierce
My pleasure, Melissa!
Harry A
This sweet and sour sauce recipe was pretty darn good. Loved it!
Josie H
I love a good dip! Sweet and Sour sauce, in our house, was called Duck Sauce for some reason – and it’s my favorite for crab ragoon.
Melanie E
We haven’t had homemade sweet and sour dish in such a long time. The sweet and sour sauce recipe will come in super handy. I love that it can be used it both as a dipping sauce as well as a sauce to use in a dish with meat or veg.
Karen
oh amazing….The sweet and sour sauce is divine and much much much better than the store bought sauce. So good!
Beth Pierce
Thank you, Karen! So glad that you liked it.
Marie Cris Angeles
My family loves sweet and sour sauce. This is our favorite dish when we need to celebrate at home.
Yolanda H
This sauce tastes so good and is really simple to put together. I will not need to buy a ready made jar again. Thank you.
Beth Pierce
My pleasure, Yolanda!
Aditi
I tried this recipe of yours and used the sauce both as a stir fry once and as a dip the other time. It worked beautifully both ways. Thanks for sharing it.
Beth Pierce
The pleasure is all mine, Aditi!
marysa
It is nice to have a recipe for this! I do use sweet & sour sauce for a variety of things, but sometimes we don’t have it on hand. Nice to know how easy it is to make.
Hari
The home made sweet and sour sauce was super delicious. Love it’s flavor!