Skip to content
FriendsPantry

Cantonese · Chinese

Cantonese sweet and sour sauce

Vegetarian

糖醋汁 · tángcù zhī

Rice vinegar, sugar and tomato ketchup, seasoned with soy sauce and thickened with cornflour into a glossy, bright red sauce. Toss it with crisp fried pork or chicken, or serve it as a dip.

Cantonese sweet and sour sauce is a Cantonese sauce from China, ready in about 8 minutes and made with rice vinegar, sugar and tomato ketchup. It serves 6 and is rated beginner to cook.

Start cooking

No licensed photograph of this dish yet.

Prep
3 min
Cook
5 min
Total
8 min
Serves
6
Level
Beginner
Calories
65

Ingredients

6 servings (about 55 g)

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Whisk (opens in a new tab) the vinegar, sugar (opens in a new tab), ketchup (opens in a new tab), soy sauce (opens in a new tab), salt and 120 ml water in a small saucepan (opens in a new tab). Stir the cornflour (opens in a new tab) into the remaining 30 ml cold water until no lumps remain.

    Eggs being whisked in a bowl
    How it looks · Photo: Kampus Production on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Bring the sauce to the boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar (opens in a new tab) dissolves, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust: more sugar if too sharp, more vinegar if too sweet.

  3. Step 3

    Stir the slurry again and pour it in while whisking. Simmer for 1 minute until the sauce turns from cloudy to clear, glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon. Use at once.

About this dish

Origin
Guangdong, China · Commonly attributedTomato ketchup entered Cantonese cooking in the 20th century, giving gu lo yuk (sweet and sour pork) its colour. Older Chinese sweet-and-sour sauces (tangcu) use black vinegar and sugar with no tomato.Also popular in Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United States, PhilippinesMore food from China
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Sauces · Dips & spreads
Cooking method
Simmered
Taste
sweet & sour, tangy, fruity
Diet
Vegan · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · Low-carb
All labelsVegan · Plant-based · Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Ovo-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-carb · Low-fat · DASH-style
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Everyday · Budget-friendly · Child-friendly
Cook more with
Rice vinegar · Sugar · Tomato ketchup · Soy sauce · Cornstarch
Techniques
Boiling · Simmering

Allergens

  • Contains: Wheatfrom soy sauce
  • Contains: Glutenfrom soy sauce
  • Contains: Soyfrom soy sauce
  • May contain: Mustardfrom tomato ketchup
  • May contain: Celeryfrom tomato ketchup

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

65 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 55 g · recipe makes 6

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 2%
  • Carbohydrate 98%
  • Fat 0%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy65 kcal118 kcal
Protein0.3 g0.5 g
Carbohydrate16 g29.1 g
Net carbohydrate16 g29 g
Sugars13.8 g25.1 g
Added sugars——
Fibre0.1 g0.1 g
Fat0 g0 g
Saturated fat0 g0 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol0 mg0 mg
Sodium262 mg476 mg
Salt equivalent0.7 g1.2 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
37 mg
Calcium
6 mg
Iron
0.1 mg
Magnesium
3 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
3 µg
Vitamin C
0 mg
Vitamin D
0 µg
Vitamin B12
0 µg
Folate (DFE)
1 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • Rice vinegar: Distilled vinegar (FDC 172237) used as a stand-in for unseasoned rice vinegar.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • For sweet and sour pork, stir-fry pepper, onion and pineapple chunks first, add the sauce, then toss in the crisp fried pork at the last moment so the coating stays crunchy.

Common mistakes

  • Adding cornflour straight to the hot sauce, which makes lumps.
  • Boiling it for long after thickening; prolonged boiling thins a cornflour sauce again.

Serve with

  • Sweet and sour pork (gu lo yuk) or chicken balls.
  • Dip for spring rolls, prawn crackers and lumpia.
  • Sauce for fried fish fillets.

Storage

  • Refrigerate for up to 5 days; it may thin slightly when reheated.

Reheating

  • Warm gently, whisking, until glossy again.

Variations

  • Hong Kong style (Hong Kong): Adds a spoonful of plum sauce and a dash of Worcestershire sauce for depth.
  • Zhejiang/Shanghai tangcu (China): Chinkiang black vinegar and sugar, with no tomato, for sweet and sour ribs and fish.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Goes with

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

The spice and seasoning backbone

Spices, masalas & pastes

Used in step 1

Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like