Crockpot Sweet and Sour Pork
Crockpot sweet and sour pork has juicy pieces of pork tenderloin mixed with pineapple and crunchy-tender bell pepper all covered in a sweet and tangy sauce.
If you like good take-out sweet and sour pork, but don’t want to spend the money, or leave your house, this is the recipe for you.
It is fast and easy, cooks in the crockpot, and tastes like it came from your favorite local Chinese place.
Need a complete dinner to get things going with this sweet and sour pork?!
Try these Chinese chicken salad with mandarin lemon vinaigrette, garlic chicken lo Mein, fried rice and shrimp and snap pea stir fry and fill your dinner table with an asian inspired family meal.
Have you ever watched The Big Bang Theory? I love that show.
I laugh my whole way through, but one other thing I have noticed is that whenever I watch it I end up wanting some kind of Chinese take-out. Probably because they frequently show the cast eating take-out Chinese.
I am a very suggestible eater.
If I am reading a book and they order pizza in it, and it is described with the melty cheese, and the tangy sauce, and the spicy sausage, suddenly all I can think about eating is pizza supreme.
So where am I going with all of this?
Well, the other day we were watching The Big Bang Theory, and we had missed a couple weeks, so we were playing catch up.
After 3 episodes, I wanted some Asian Take-Out. Bad!
So you can thank Big Bang for this one, as this is what transpired as a result.
I had initially thought to make it kabobs, and serve it with fried rice, but instead threw it in my crockpot because I was feeling lazy.
Glad I did because this is a real winner, and makes a great freezer friendly meal.
What goes into sweet and sour pork?
Sweet and sour pork is a simple and flavorful dish that takes ingredients you probably already have on hand. The sweet and sour sauce is traditional ketchup and vinegar based sauce. And the rest is the pork, peppers, and pineapple.
It is still simple to make and tastes so good when done!
Sweet and Sour Sauce:
- Sugar
- Ketchup
- White distilled vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Garlic salt
- Red pepper flakes
The Rest:
- Onion-minced
- Green pepper
- Pineapple- diced
- Pork sirloin
Are you ready for the recipe?
I used the same basic sauce I use on my Sweet and Sour Chicken, (also a real winner and great freezer meal), but changed up the application some with winning results.
How do you make sweet and sour pork?
This recipe can be prepared one of two ways, one is faster, one is slower, so if you want to make it in the morning to enjoy when you get home, use Option 2.
If you forget to start it, and want to throw it in a couple hours before dinner, use Option 1.
Or skip the crockpot all together and cook on stovetop, although you may not get as deep of flavor this way.
Option one:
- Mix together the sweet and sour sauce
- Take about half the sauce and put it in a saucepan with the onion, and pork.
- Start to brown the pork and when close to done, add in green pepper
- Dump in crock pot with pineapple, and cook on high for 2-4 hours.
- Fifteen minutes before serving, stir in other half of the sauce.
- Serve over rice
Option two:
- Mix up sauce
- Put half the sauce and all the ingredients in the crockpot
- Cook on low 6-8 hours
- Fifteen minutes before serving, add other half of sauce
- Serve over rice
Tips for making sweet and sour pork
There are a few variations that will help make this sweet and sour pork the way you love it.
Try adding or omitting what is best for you and your family.
- Another thing to keep in mind is this recipe can easily be adapted by using honey instead of sugar.
- Fresh garlic instead of garlic salt, and a healthy ketchup.
- If you are wanting chicken instead of pork, try this instant pot sweet and sour chicken with rice.
- Feel free to make it healthier!
Can you freeze sweet and sour pork?
Yes, this is a great make-ahead freezer meal to have on hand.
Have a busy week ahead of you.
Prepare two portions and save half for another day!
If making this into a freezer meal:
- Simply mix up your sauce, cut up your onions, pepper, and pineapple, chunk your meat.
- Then put the onions, pepper, and pineapple in a freezer bag, top with meat.
- And pour about half the sauce over the top and freeze with other half of the sauce on the side.
- Then prepare by dumping it in crockpot, and adding remaining sauce in the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Here are more Chinese favorites:
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Honey Walnut Shrimp
- Chicken asparagus stir fry rice noodles
- Grilled roasted garlic and cracked black pepper pork ramen
- Keto Beef and broccoli
Crockpot Sweet and Sour Pork
Ingredients
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
The rest
- 1/2 an onion minced
- 1 cup green pepper
- 1-2 cups diced pineapple fresh is best
- 3 lbs pork sirloin cut into chunks (remove fat)
Instructions
Option one:
- Mix together the sweet and sour sauce
- Take about half the sauce and put it in a saucepan with the onion, and pork.
- Start to brown the pork and when close to done, add in green pepper
- Dump in crock pot with pineapple, and cook on high for 2-4 hours.
- Fifteen minutes before serving, stir in other half of the sauce.
- Serve over rice
Option two:
- Mix up sauce
- Put half the sauce and all the ingredients in the crockpot
- Cook on low 6-8 hours
- Fifteen minutes before serving, add other half of sauce
- Serve over rice
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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