This homemade sweet and sour sauce is easy to make with just a few ingredients. I use mine for smoked chicken and sweet and sour meatballs, but you may use it for other meats too! If you want to know how we smoke our meats naturally, you can read about that on How to smoke meat naturally in this post!

Using homemade canned salsa is best if possible. If not, buy organic, non-GMO salsa. Also, buying organic pineapple is possible too if fresh and not available. Arrowroot powder may also be substituted for cornstarch. This recipe is very versatile.

How to core a pineapple

Wiki has a great article with 4 ways to core a pineapple, you can find that post How to Core a Pineapple. The way I use it to use a pineapple corer. Disclaimer, if my hubby is not around, I have to revert to using a knife because the corer takes a lot of arm muscle. I like the “rounds” it makes. Very little is wasted and the skin goes in the compost and to the worm bin. There are so many things to do with a pineapple that I will have to do a whole blog post on that alone! Watch how much muscle it takes my hubby to core this pineapple using the pineapple tool.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsOnufBqbVM[/embedyt]

Ingredients to make sweet and sour sauce

  • 2 -3 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder
  • 1/2 cup cool filtered water
  • Brown sugar 1/3 cup
  • Sugar in the raw 1/3 cup
  • Diced pineapples 2/3 cup
  • 2/3 cup white or cider vinegar
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup salsa-spicy or mild
  • 1 tablespoon minced onion or onion powder (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
  • If you want to find out to dehydrate your own ginger, you can read my post on how to dehydrate  Dehydrate food naturally using a dehydrator.

Directions for making a sweet and sour sauce

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXal1vUKdfI[/embedyt]

  1. In a saucepan on low temperature, whisk the cornstarch or arrowroot with the cool filtered water until well mixed
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients
  3. Mix well
  4. Stir until thickened
  5. Optional: use an immersion blender or mixer to make a smooth sauce
  6. Serve over chicken or pre-cooked meatballs or meat of choice
  7. Side dishes: rice or egg noodles
  8. Refrigerate the leftover sweet and sour sauce

Sweet and sour meatballs with smoked turkey sausage we had for dinner last night served over egg noodles. The sauce was frozen from a previous batch and thawed wonderfully!

Dish ideas to use with sweet and sour sauce

Desserts that go well with sweet and sour

I love eating chocolate anything after having a meal, especially with sweet and sour sauce. Not sure why that is but I usually make one-bowl brownies and homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. If you want the quick recipe for the one-bowl brownies, you can read that One-Bowl Brownies. We also enjoy making ice cream with a stainless steel ice cream maker. You can grab the how-to and recipes for Homemade Ice Cream-Eggless.

Handmade from scratch and under 10 minutes

  • 2-3 tbsp cornstarch

    (or arrowroot powder)

  • 1/2 cup cool filtered water
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sugar in the raw
  • 2/3 cup Diced Pineapples
  • 2/3 cup vinegar (white or cider)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup Salsa (Homemade is best)
  • 1 tbsp Minced onion (or onion powder)
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Soy Sauce (Optional)
  • 1/2 tsp Dried ginger
  1. In a saucepan, on low temperature, whisk the cornstarch or arrowroot with the cool filtered water until well mixed
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients
  3. Mix well
  4. Stir until thickened
  5. Optional: use an immersion blender or mixer to make a smooth sauce
  6. Serve over meat of choice
  7. Side dishes: rice or egg noodles
  8. Refrigerate the leftover sweet and sour sauce

PIN IT PLEASE: