Easy homemade sweet and sour sauce that you can make in just 5 minutes! Make a batch to serve with your favorite Chinese takeout foods, it tastes much better than the store-bought jarred stuff! This is a Panda Express copycat recipe.
Store-bought sweet and sour sauces are way too sweet for me, they usually contain too many unnecessary ingredients, and honestly, I prefer to make my own sweet and sour sauce in just 5 minutes as it tastes so much better!
When I realized that I could make my own homemade Chinese style sweet and sour sauce, I never bought it again! It’s so simple, all you need is a handful of pantry ingredients so I just whip up a jar of this awesome sauce and store it in my fridge for my family to enjoy.
So here’s my recipe for the best ever, silky smooth and beautifully glossy sweet and sour sauce. Try it once, and you’ll never buy it from the store ever again!
How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce
First, gather the ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Pineapple juice – use juice from a carton, or from a can. Fresh pineapple juice does not work so avoid it.
- Light brown sugar – can be substituted with granulated sugar, but brown sugar will result in a better flavor here.
- Vinegar – white vinegar, rice vinegar, or apple cider vinegar can be used.
- Ketchup, and Soy sauce.
- Corn starch slurry – mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water before adding the mixture to the sauce to thicken it.
- Red food coloring – optional, but adds a lovely authentic color to the sauce.
To make the sauce, combine all of the ingredients (except for the cornstarch slurry and food coloring) in a saucepan over medium heat.
Whisk constantly, bring to a boil then add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. Cook for 1 more minute or until it’s thickened.
Add the food coloring if using, and whisk well. Remove from heat, and allow it to cool down completely before serving.
Top Tips
- If the sauce isn’t thick enough, you can add one more tablespoon of cornstarch and whisk it in. But remember, the sauce will thicken even more as it cools down. So only add more cornstarch if the sauce is way too thin.
- Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- The vinegar taste might start fading after a couple of days, so feel free to add a little bit more of vinegar for some tanginess.
- Serve as a dipping sauce with egg rolls, rangoons, tempura, meatballs, hibachi steak, or drizzle over rice.
More Homemade Sauce Recipes
- Easy ginger sauce – that you find at hibachi restaurants!
- Yum yum sauce – another hibachi restaurant classic.
- Bang bang sauce
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Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup pineapple juice from a carton or can
- ½ cup (100g) light brown sugar
- ½ cup white or apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tablespoon corn starch to thicken the sauce (mixed in 2 tablespoons of water)
- 3 drops red food coloring optional
Instructions
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and soy sauce.
- Whisk constantly, bring to a boil then add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. Cook for 1 more minute or until it's thickened.
- Add food coloring if using, whisk well. Allow the sauce to cool down completely before serving.
Notes
- Use pineapple juice from a carton or a can, fresh juice won’t work here.
- If the sauce isn’t thick enough, you can add one more tablespoon of cornstarch and whisk it in. But remember, the sauce will thicken even more as it cools down. So only add more cornstarch if the sauce is way too thin.
- Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- The vinegar taste might start fading after a couple of days, so feel free to add a little bit more of vinegar for some tanginess.
- Serve as a dipping sauce with egg rolls, tempura, meatballs, hibachi steak, or drizzle over rice.
Jackie
Very tasty. Will make again, but would add 1-2 tsp more of cornstarch.