A great homemade sweet and sour sauce is an essential for every recipe collection!
Sweet and sour sauce is a delicious mix of tangy vinegar, sweet sugar, and umami flavors. Once you try this easy version, you’ll never go back to store-bought!
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe
- Six ingredients and one step are all it takes to make this sauce.
- Uses just simple pantry ingredients.
- Less than 10 minutes to make!
- A good homemade sauce makes for the perfect dipping sauce.
- Make this multi-purpose sweet and sour sauce and use it for everything from pork stir-fry to shish-kabobs or as a glaze over grilled pineapple!
Ingredients and Variations
All of these ingredients can be switched up to create a signature recipe based on how you plan to use it!
Ketchup – Tomato is at the base of the sweet and sour sauce and ketchup is a great thickener. Tomato paste can also be used if ketchup isn’t available.
Apple Cider Vinegar – Use more or less based on how tangy you want the sweet and sour sauce to be.
Sugar – Brown sugar can be replaced with honey, maple syrup, or a brown sugar substitute like Swerve for a low-carb option.
Soy Sauce – Liquid aminos or coconut aminos can be used interchangeably with soy sauce and have the same flavor, less sodium, and more nutritive value.
Variations – Add a little sriracha, some fresh ginger or minced garlic, or even some red pepper flakes for a little heat! This recipe does not use drops of red food coloring, but you can add a couple of drops for visual aesthetics if you like. Swap corn starch for arrowroot flour.
How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Whisk together all ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil.
- Continue to simmer and whisk until it reaches desired consistency.
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce Storage
Keep homemade sweet and sour sauce in a jar with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator and use it within a week.
Ways to Use Sweet and Sour Sauce
There’s not enough room to list all the amazing ways you can use homemade sweet and sour sauce, it’s that good!
It’s amazing as a dip for egg rolls, spring rolls, crispy shrimp, dumplings, fried wontons, or a sweet and savory sauce for cocktail meatballs.
Swirl a little into a low-carb egg roll in a bowl, use it as a glaze for sauteed Brussels sprouts, roasted asparagus, or use it as a glaze or marinade for salmon, ribs, or grilled sweet and sour chicken thighs.
Kids love dipping their chicken nuggets and tater tots into it!
More Flavorful Sauces
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup cider vinegar *see note
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk to combine.
- As it starts heating up, keep whisking constantly until it thickens into a sauce consistency. It will thicken as it cools.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dip, Dressing, Sauce, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
It was so easy & tasty. It saved me from having to run to the store before dinner. I seriously will be making this from this point on
Thank you!
You’re welcome Joanna! Glad to hear that you were able to make it with what you had on hand!
Classic Sweet and Sour Sauce. We found that 6 Tbsp. of vinegar was about right. I did substitute chili sauce for the ketchup because we like the slight horseradish kick.
Came together easy. With all of the star-ratings, I thought I’d be safe to just go blindly with the recipe. I wish I had read the reviews, first.
This was way too vinegary, and no amount of additional brown sugar or pineapple juice could make it edible.
Down the drain it went.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the sauce Esper.
Hi Nagi,
Thank you for sharing your Sweet and Sour Sauce recipe. I will follow it to the letter when I make it for the first time. Afterwards and if needed, I will adjust the ingredients to suit my taste as you had noted.
Some of the comments made me laugh.
If one does not like the taste of molasses from brown sugar then use white sugar.
If it is too sour then use less vinegar.
If it is too thick then try using more water or less corn starch.
If the recipe calls for more ketchup than you would like then use less or not at all.
Some people are such donkeys!!!
Respectfully,
Ja
Looking forward to trying your recipes
It’s okay. Not a fan of the molasses flavor of the brown sugar and it’s a bit thick for my taste, even before simmering.
Quick to make. Tastes great. Very easy to tweak the sweet/sour to my taste. Served it with homemade meatballs and everyone loved it.
This sauce is excellent. I added a liberal spoonful of sambal for some spice and used it on turkey meatballs. Best I’ve made with the only exception being a sauce for General Tso’s Chicken I made. The flavors meld together if you let the sauce sit for a while. The vinegar doesn’t overwhelm and you can’t even tell there is ketchup in it.
Yes, there’s too much vinegar, but what I really can’t get past is the ketchup. It just doesn’t belong here, at least in anything close to this quantity, and it’s overpowering everything. I won’t be making this again, or at least not without some major changes.
The question is: if I did make that How can I preservation those sauces? Should I put it in the freezer?
This sauce can be stored in the fridge for up to one week.
This had too much vinegar for my taste and what I’m used to in a store bought sauce. The consistency was right, but too intense. I tried to save it with some lime juice and sugar – not sure that helped. I couldn’t think of what else would cut down the vinegar taste.
So simple and so delicious. I agree with Nagi, I will never use restaurant sweet & sour sauce again!
S&S sauce is horrible
This shouldn’t have 5 stars. Do yourself a favour and cut the vinegar in half
Very tasty but super vinegary, I would recommend using less vinegar , other than that it was good
I am confused about the copy right. I don’t have my own tablet. I borrowed my grandsons. Am I allowed to write down the recipe to keep In my own kitchen or must I look it up each time so you have a record of how many uses it gets. I just don’t want to break the rules. Thank you. It is a great recipe and very easy.
You are more than welcome to use the recipe for personal use as much as you’d like! You can write it or use the print button located at the top of each recipe. Enjoy the recipe.
This sweet and sour sauce is excellent just the way it is. Just made it first time and what flavor!! So good I sent recipe to my daughter. Yum!!
I thought the vinegar amount must be a typo. The sauce was so acidic it was inedible.
For those saying the vinegar was too strong- I have found that different brands of ACV are stronger than others. I use Bragg’s ACV and I start with half of the called-for amount in any recipe and adjust after that. Apparently it’s a stronger flavor than others.
Also, for those wondering, doubling this sauce will make a pot of sweet and sour meatballs for a family of 5.
And to the author- my husband LOVES this sauce! It’s so great to have a few good sauces in your back pocket for hectic nights.
Thank you for sharing that Haley! So happy to hear that your husband loves this sauce. We do too!
Very vinegary. My husband didn’t mind it, but it was a little too much for me. I would definitely cut the vinegar in half!
I made this for my boyfriend as a dipping sauce for spring rolls and he loved it so much he wants me to make sweet and sour chicken with the leftover sauce! I used Trader Joe’s AVC.. Thanks so much for the great recipe!
You’re welcome Joelle! So happy to hear how much you love this sauce!