This homemade sweet and sour sauce is so easy to make and uses pantry ingredients you already have on hand!

I loving creating homemade Chinese takeout from home. It is so much cheaper and the taste is something you just wouldn't believe.

Before now, anytime I made Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, I always bought my sauce from the store because I thought it was hard to make. The other night, I made a homemade sweet and sour sauce for my chicken that is TO DIE FOR. If you make this delicious sauce, you will never go back to store-bought again.

Making homemade Chinese takeout meals has become one of my favorite things to do. My family gets so excited because I go all out with Chinese food. I make my famous Beef and Broccoli and everyone wants my Sweet Biscuits and Cream Cheese Wontons.

I used to think that making my favorite dishes would be hard, but after playing around with flavors, I've discovered it's not really hard at all.

How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce

This sauce is super sweet thanks to the brown sugar I used and very tangy thanks to the white vinegar. The two mixtures together create this beautiful and perfectly sweet and sour sauce. Add in some ketchup and soy sauce and it is on point.

We started making our own Chinese dishes when the kids were little because we could not afford to go out and eat it all the time. Our budget was tight and we knew we had to get a little creative in order to provide our kids with amazing meals.

Use These Fun Ideas for Chinese Takeout at Home

If you want to get really creative, you can always serve your Chinese dishes in these authentic takeout boxes to give it a more real feeling.

Of course, as we were homeschooling the kids, we also tried to make sure we did unit studies about countries and their foods, etc. I let the kids do the research and pick out the recipes they wanted to make and it was a hit! We did this for every country we studied and I am so glad we did.

Next time you want Chinese, don't order out. Make your own and LOVE the fact that you know what is in your sauces and food that you are feeding your family 🙂

Yield: 6

Homemade Sweet N Sour Sauce

Name: Homemade Sweet N Sour Sauce
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 18 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 3/4 cup brown sugar; 4 Tablespoons ketchup; 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar; 1 Tablespoon soy sauce; 1 teaspoon garlic salt

With this homemade sweet and sour sauce, you will never have to buy store bought again.

Prep Time 8 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 18 minutes

Ingredients

3/4 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan on the stove and heat on medium high heat for 10 minutes.
Continue cooking on this temperature until the sauce has reduced a bit and reached a thicker consistency.
Once the desired thickness has been reached, remove from the stove and allow it to cool. As it cools it will thicken a bit more.
Use with your favorite Chinese dishes and then store in the refrigerator for 3 weeks in between uses.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

2
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 103Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 514mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 0gSugar: 24gProtein: 0g

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Janey Price

Friday 5th of February 2021

Going to use this recipe for our Super Bowl wings sauce. Looks like it will be the perfect sauce for them.

Nana

Wednesday 13th of January 2021

Thank you for a great collection of recipes. I am converting some of them for my family, which includes a child with celiac disease (no gluten) and one person allergic to most forms of sugar. You have done some great work in creating these recipes.

Jennifer Sikora

You are very welcome.

Jennifer Beard

Sunday 21st of June 2020

I just made this. It is excellent. The only thing I changed was I took out two tablespoons of vinegar. Then added a few squeezes of lemon and lime juice. I was going to use orange or pineapple and found I was out of that. So you do what with what you have. Thanks so much will make many more times I am sure.

That sounds like a great change! Thanks for sharing and letting me know what you thought of the recipe :)

Alicia gumke

Monday 10th of February 2020

I made this and my family says it’s to vinegarie I also tripled the recipe Other than that it’s good

Tuesday 11th of February 2020

If you don't like it with as much vinegar in it, you can reduce the vinegar. The vinegar gives it the sour taste since it is sweet and sour. When poured over chicken, you don't really taste the vinegar that much. Glad you liked it otherwise.

Heather

Wednesday 19th of June 2019

Looks like a stellar recipe. Can't wait to give it a try!