This easy homemade sweet and sour sauce is vegan, gluten-free, and can be whipped up in about 5 minutes. You'll never buy sweet and sour sauce again when you see how easy it is to make your own.
There's no need to go to the grocery store when you can make this homemade sauce in minutes with a few simple ingredients.
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🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Apple cider vinegar - for the sourness and acidity. You can also use rice vinegar or white vinegar if you choose.
- Brown Sugar - for the sweet. You can sub for any type of sugar that you would like. White sugar, coconut sugar, agave nectar, and maple syrup also work well.
- Ketchup - for flavor and that nice red color. (You can swap this out for tomato paste, but your sauce will not be as sweet.)
- Soy Sauce - for flavor (Use Bragg's Liquid Aminos or Tamari for gluten-free.) You can use low-sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce, I don't recommend dark soy sauce, since it has a stronger flavor.
- Water or Fresh Pineapple Juice - If you have pineapple juice on hand, it tastes great in this sauce, but if not, water works well too.
- Garlic - for flavor. You can use fresh or garlic powder. You can also use some chopped green onions at the end of cooking for more flavor.
- Fresh Ginger - (optional) for extra flavor.
- Corn Starch - to thicken the sauce. You can use potato starch or arrowroot instead of corn starch if you want.
Note - for an extra red sweet and sour sauce you can add a drop of vegan red food coloring, but I don't think that it's necessary.
🥄 Instructions
- Add apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, pineapple juice (or cold water), garlic, and corn starch to a small saucepan.
- Give it all a good stir until the corn starch dissolves. (This way you don't have to make a separate cornstarch slurry.)
- Turn on the heat to medium and stir frequently until it starts to boil. (At this point the sauce will thicken and be shiny.)
Note: When made with 1 tbsp of corn starch, this sauce will be thick enough to stick to your food, but not so thick that it's gloppy when cool. If you want a thick sauce use 2 tbsp of corn starch. If you want a thinner sauce use 1/2 tbsp of corn starch.
🥡 Storage
Since it doesn't have preservatives in it, you will need to store it in the fridge, where it will keep well for about a week. You can freeze it if you want in an air-tight storage container for up to 3 months.
🍽️ Serving suggestions
You can use this sauce to make any of your favorite sweet and sour dishes like sweet and sour tofu or use it as a dipping sauce for vegan chicken nuggets, tofu spring rolls, fried cauliflower, fried tofu, or vegan meatballs. Drizzle this tasty sauce over a vegetable stir fry or vegan shrimp for a mock sweet and sour shrimp.
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Sweet and sour sauce recipe
A classic tasting sweet and sour sauce that is vegan and gluten-free.
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or Tamari
- 1/4 cup water or pineapple juice
- 1 clove garlic minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger (optional)
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Add apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, cold water (or pineapple juice ), garlic, and corn starch to a small saucepan.
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Give it all a good stir until the corn starch dissolves.
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Turn on the heat to medium and stir frequently until it starts to boil. Allow it to boil for about 30 seconds. (At this point the sauce will thicken and be shiny.) Remove from heat and use as a sauce or dip.
When made with 1 tbsp of corn starch, this sauce will be thick enough to stick to your food, but not so thick that it's gloppy when cool. If you want a thick sauce use 2 tbsp of corn starch. If you want a thinner sauce use 1/2 tbsp of corn starch.
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