Hong Kong Sweet and Sour Pork

  4.7 – 61 reviews  • Chinese

These muffins are adaptable, consistently moist, and tasty. When people find out they include zucchini, they are shocked. They were frequently served at the Mossberry B&B on Ponderosa Drive.

Prep Time: 40 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Additional Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  1. 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
  2. ⅛ teaspoon white sugar
  3. 2 teaspoons potato starch
  4. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  5. ground black pepper to taste
  6. 1 pound pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
  7. 1 cup water
  8. 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  9. ¼ cup ketchup
  10. ¼ cup white sugar
  11. 1 pinch salt
  12. 2 teaspoons potato starch
  13. 1 dash red food coloring
  14. 1 egg, beaten
  15. 1 cup potato starch
  16. 2 cups peanut oil for frying
  17. 1 green bell pepper, cut into large chunks
  18. 2 cayenne peppers, sliced
  19. 4 slices canned pineapple, chopped
  20. 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  21. 2 green onions, sliced

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, 2 teaspoons potato starch, sesame oil, and black pepper in a large bowl. Mix the pork into the marinade and turn until all the pork is covered. Allow to rest for 15 minutes.
  2. To make the sauce, whisk together the water, vinegar, ketchup, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, 2 teaspoons potato starch, and red food coloring in a separate bowl. Set aside.
  3. Dip the pork pieces in the beaten egg, then dredge in the 1 cup potato starch. Use your hand to press the starch onto the pork, assuring a consistent coating.
  4. Heat the peanut oil in a wok over medium-high heat to a temperature of 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  5. Fry the pork pieces in the hot oil until crisp and light brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the pork from the oil and drain, keeping the oil hot. Return the drained pork pieces to the hot oil for 30 seconds more. Remove and drain again. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the wok.
  6. Heat 1 tablespoon of reserved oil in the wok over medium heat. Cook the green bell pepper, cayenne pepper, pineapple, garlic, and green onion in the heated oil for about 5 minutes. Add the sauce and stir until it thickens. Stir in the pork and toss until the pork is coated with sauce. Remove from heat and serve.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 588 kcal
Carbohydrate 60 g
Cholesterol 118 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 25 g
Saturated Fat 7 g
Sodium 402 mg
Sugars 26 g
Fat 28 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Melinda Moreno
I followed the recipe as is and it turned out delicious!!!
Noah Young
Replacd peanut oil, used a different flour. So Delicious! Will make again when I have a few hours for cleaning the kitchen after the meal.
Jill Bowen
For how it retained its crispiness after 24 hours in sauce, I’d give it 5 stars! The sauce however, wasn’t quite tart enough (despite having added more white vinegar) to balance the sweet. Perhaps the next time, I’ll sub the water with the juice from the canned pineapple and/or apple cider vinegar. Delicious otherwise! A good recipe to build on. Thanks!
James Hall
Its easy to follow. Step by step. Good for the beginner like me.
Meagan Rose
so good
Rachel Russell DDS
Bought canned pineapple CHUNKS instead and eliminated the step of cutting up the pineapple slices. Recipe for the sauce requires a cup of water but I used the pineapple juice from the can in place of the water that is required in the sauce. Had to add a touch more of water to get it to 1 cup.
Felicia Nelson
We love this recipe! Easy to make and delicious.
Sara Williams
Came out great but had to use a different pan to cook everything in. The wok was too small to hold all of the ingredients and have them cooked evenly. I added a bit of sriracha to give it a good kick and some peanuts for crunch.
Edward Wiley
This was very good though something overall was lacking – I think adding at least 2-4 tbsp soy sauce to the sauce would fix it. (A Chinese cook told us to mix the meat with soy sauce, a bit of sugar, then adding cornstarch). Because I was giving this recipe the best test, I happened to have an egg white on hand so I used that rather than a whole egg, and as others did, I used cornstarch rather than potato starch. I had only vegetable oil, which I use in most of my Chinese cooking. Quite quick to put together once the cooking starts. As others recommended, I didn’t combine the meat with the sauce until I was ready to sit down to eat. Lovey crisp morsels of pork. I served this dish with rice. I’m keeping this recipe in my arsenal of Chinese recipes. Thank you to the recipe poster.
Derek Norris
Like many other reviewers, I used corn starch rather than potato starch. The sauce was outstanding. But we like our pork tender, juicy, and 130 degrees. This was neither tender, nor juicy, nor 130 degrees. Next time, I’ll make 3-4X the marinade and marinate for several hours. And I’ll test the pork temperature after 3-3 1/2 minutes of cooking.Or I may try pork tenderloin. With these refinements for our personal taste, I think this would be 5 stars.
Amanda Wilson
It was pretty good, but not exceptional. Much like what you’d get from Chinese take-out. From start to finish it took me almost 2 hours to prepare. Not good enough for me to want to go through the trouble of making it again.
Joshua Ward
Delicious!
Amanda Benton
Absolutely wonderful. Do not skip the double fry, or sub something else for potato starch – it will not turn out the same! Potato starch adds better color, and can take higher heat than corn starch. The pineapple made it very sweet. I might up the vinegar slightly next time for more bite, but that’s just personal preference. Made exactly according to the recipe with some sugar snap peas on the side rather than change the proportions of the recipe.
David Nelson
This recipe was good. Followed almost exactly. Just took way too long for me. For that reason, I wouldn’t make again.
Melissa Myers
1st time making it . I used pineapple juice in the sauce and used cornstarch and instant potatoes to roll the pork in it made it extra crunchy. My girlfriend said it was better than any restaurant she ever had.
Amanda Kirby
This was my second time preparing this dish. It is AMAZING! I add diced sweet pickles and maraschino cherries for both colour and sweetness. I also poured about 1/4 cup of the pineapple juice into the sauce. Used cayenne flakes instead of actual peppers. I served it with coconut rice. Very nice meal!
Warren Martin
good balance of sweet and sour. Added a can of sliced water chestnuts with the other veggies for some crunch. Also added a little corn starch and a little red pepper to the sauce ( to make up for the onission of the fresh cayenne pepper in the vegies)to the sauce to thicken it and then did not add in the pork until right at the end to keep it crisp. Adjust the seasoning with salt and black pepper and enjoy.
Mason Mann
This is a great recipe! Very easy. I did not use 2 cups of peanut oil – only 1/2 cup in a frying pan. I also didn’t use an egg as the pork was moist from marinating. Used cornstarch instead of potato starch. The pork turned out to be amazing! So did the sauce. I followed the directions for the sauce closely – just instead of 2 Tablespoons white vinegar I did 1 Tablespoon white vinegar, 1/2 T white wine vinegar and 1/2 T rice wine vinegar. Will definitely be making this again! As others have mentioned, the flavors were very well balanced.
Misty Jones
I made this as directed except substituting regular flour for some of the potato starch and using corn starch for the rest. It was very good. The sauce thickened up nicely. My son actually went back for seconds.
Diana Rodriguez
This really is as good as everyone says. It’s better than what you get at the restaurants, minus the msg! My kids loved it too. I only had a little bit of corn starch on hand (no potato starch — where do you buy that?!?) so I used regular flour for the breading. Worked great. Just make sure the oil is hot enough before you add the meat.
Michael Jones
This is awesome! The flavor is fantastic. The only thing I did different is used red pepper instead of green and omitted the cayenne peppers.

 

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