Sweet and Sour Sauce (2024)

Skip the jarred version, and make it at home! This Sweet and Sour Sauce is so easy, and you probably have all of the ingredients on hand already!

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Homemade sauces are the best! For some of my other favorites, try this Teriyaki Sauce, Chick Fil A Sauce, Green Enchilada Sauce, or for a sweet treat, my Salted Caramel Sauce.

Super Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce

I love a good homemade sauce. Mostly because they come in super handy when it’s time to make dinner and you realize that you forgot to get the sauce that the recipe calls for.

But no reason to fret. Making many sauces at home are super easy, and can be made with pantry staples.

This sweet and sour sauce is great over shrimp or chicken or pork. You can use it as a dipping sauce, (especially with egg rolls!), but I like to mostly use it as a sauce over some kind of protein. It’s sticky enough to hold onto things like meatballs or chunks of chicken. It would also make a fabulous sauce for a stir fry.

Ingredients

• Sugar: This is the sweet part of the sweet and sour sauce. Boiling the sugar also helps the sauce to thicken up and become sticky. I haven’t played around with cutting back on the sugar. If you do, you may need to add a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up. As written, you definitely do not need cornstarch.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: The vinegar is the sour portion of the sauce. I like apple cider vinegar the best, but you should also be able to sub in rice vinegar or white vinegar.
• Ketchup: The ketchup adds to the flavor – both the sweet and the sour. Plus, the red color of the sauce comes from the ketchup.
• Soy Sauce: I like to use low sodium.
• Garlic Salt: You could technically use minced garlic and salt, but I love the ease of using the garlic salt.

How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce

1. It really doesn’t get a whole lot easier than making this sauce!
2. Whisk together all of the ingredients in a saucepan.
3. Cook until the mixture comes to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it cook until it has reduced a bit and has thickened. It will continue to thicken as it sits, as well.
4. Pour into a jar for storing until later, or use the sauce right away.

Storing and Using

This is a great sauce to make ahead of time, or you can even make it just before you want to use it!

If you are making it in advance, or if you have leftovers, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I usually use a glass jar.

It will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

If the sauce has been refrigerated, you will want to warm it back up before serving. It will set up in the refrigerator so you won’t be able to pour it – just heat it until you have it back to the consistency that you’d like.

Tips and Tricks

While the sauce is cooking, you’ll want to stir it every little bit to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan, but also to check the consistency. It will get thicker the longer it cooks, so cook it long enough to reach your desired thickness.

This sauce will smell like vinegar as it cooks. A lot. But the vinegar is what brings in the “sour” part of the sauce. But don’t worry, the sauce tastes amazing and the vinegar is not too overpowering.

This sauce will get nice and thick as it cools down. If it gets too thick to pour, simply reheat it and it will become pourable again.

More Sweet and Sour Inspired Recipes

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sweet and Sour Pork Rice Bowl
Meatball Kabobs with Sweet and Sour Sauce