Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork

by Sabrina Snyder

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31 Comments

5 from 6 votes
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Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork is a Chinese takeout favorite made with pork, bell peppers, and pineapple chunks. The crockpot does all the work!

What if you could get all the fantastic flavor from Sweet and Sour Pork without having to stand over the stovetop cooking it? Sounds amazing, right? Crockpot Sweet and Sour Pork does just that. Readers love the ease of Crockpot Recipes like this that have all the flavor of a popular Chinese take-out dish with very little work.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork on plate with rice

SLOW COOKER SWEET AND SOUR PORK

Using a crockpot to make Sweet and Sour pork allows even the most beginner cook to wow their family with an easy Chinese-American recipe. It takes the intimidation out of having to quickly add multiple ingredients to a hot skillet or dealing with the clean up from oil splatter all over your stovetop once you’re done. It’s just an easy dinner that will quickly become part of your regular dinner rotation.

Sweet and sour pork is probably one of the most well known Chinese food takeout dishes. It’s well loved because everyone from kids to adults love the sweet and tangy sauce paired with the battered and fried pork. This dish skips the frying, making it a lot healthier, but it still has all the flavor of this loved to-go restaurant classic.

The sweet and sour sauce is what makes this main dish so iconic. It’s fairly easy to make at home with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Everyone has their favorite combination of flavors when it comes to making this sauce so feel free experiment with different ingredients if you make it multiple times.

For starters, this recipe uses tomato paste instead of ketchup to get a richer flavor but feel free to use 1/3 cup of ketchup in a pinch. You can also replace the white vinegar with rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Each substitution will adjust the flavor and create a new twist on dinner.

More Delicious Chinese Food Recipes You NEED to make:

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork in crock pot

 

VARIATIONS ON SLOW COOKER SWEET AND SOUR PORK

  • Veggies: Include yellow or red bell peppers for a pop of color and add a garnish of green onions before serving.
  • Meats: If you don’t want to cut up your boneless pork loin chops, you can leave them whole when placing them into the crockpot. You could also substitute pork with chicken.
  • Gluten-Free: Swap out soy sauce for tamari in this recipe and make sure your broth label states that it’s Gluten-Free.
  • Vegan/Vegetarian: Use tempeh instead of pork and use coconut sugar, apple cider vinegar, and vegetable broth for substitutions.

CAN YOU MAKE SLOW COOKER SWEET AND SOUR PORK AHEAD OF TIME?

Yes, this recipe works great as a freezer meal.

  • Combine the first 10 ingredients in a large resealable freezer-safe storage bag.
  • Once mixed, add the pork, onion, green bell pepper and pineapple.
  • Finally, seal the bag and turn it around and upside down to fully coat everything inside.
  • You can either freeze this to use at a later date or simply leave it in your refrigerator overnight to pour into your crockpot to use the next day.

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HOW LONG IS SLOW COOKER SWEET AND SOUR PORK GOOD?

  • Serve: Don’t allow your Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork out at room temperature for longer than 2 hours.
  • Store: Allow this dish to cool and seal in an airtight container. It’ll last up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
  • Freeze: This dinner recipe can be frozen for up to 3 months if stored in a freezer-safe container or bag to ensure it doesn’t get freezer burn.

WHEN IS PORK SAFE TO EAT?

According to the USDA’s Official Website, pork is cooked through and safe to eat when it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (62.7 degrees C).

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork on plate with rice

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Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork on plate with rice
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Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork is a Chinese takeout favorite made with pork, bell peppers, and pineapple chunks. The crockpot does all the work!

Course Dinner
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours 15 minutes
Total Time 6 hours 30 minutes
Servings 8 Servings
Calories 272 kcal
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1/3 cup white vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin chops , cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 large onion , cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 large green pepper , cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 8 ounces pineapple chunks , drained
  • 3 tablespoons  cornstarch
  • 1/3 cup chicken broth
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  1. In a 3- or 4-qt. slow cooker, mix the first 10 ingredients.

  2. Stir in pork, onion, green pepper and pineapple.

  3. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until pork is tender.

  4. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and broth until smooth; gradually stir into cooking juices.

  5. Cook, covered, on low 15-20 minutes longer or until sauce is thickened.

  6. Serve with rice.
Nutrition Facts
Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork
Amount Per Serving
Calories 272 Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Fat 3g5%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 56mg19%
Sodium 385mg17%
Potassium 543mg16%
Carbohydrates 41g14%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 32g36%
Protein 20g40%
Vitamin A 182IU4%
Vitamin C 26mg32%
Calcium 29mg3%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Crockpot Sweet and Sour Pork

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  2. I used this ( and several of your other crock pot recipes ) for our recent “vacation” camping. Prepared everything into gallon bags, froze and then threw them into the crockpot before we went for our daily hike. This was our absolute favorite. I used pork loin (cause I had it on hand). I didn’t have corn starch with me at camp so I added a small box of uncooked instant rice to the crock pot near the end of cooking. It was absolutely fantastic! I’m not a huge fan of “instant” anything but the rice soaked up all the liquid and made the most delicious one bowl meal. My husband and I couldn’t stop eating it! It is our new camping must have meal! Thanks so much for a great recipe!!

    Reply

  4. I would like to try this recipe but don’t understand the ‘sugar’
    Is it two different types of sugar.
    Could I just use one cup of brown sugar.
    Thanks for a response as I’ll like to try this recipe tomorrow for my husband’s birthday dinner

    ‘

    Reply

    1. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. If you want to use 1 cup of brown sugar, you can. Enjoy!

      Reply

  5. This was yet another huge success from Dinner Then Dessert!! Thanks Sabrina!!! Super easy! Had everything but the pork in the pantry and will keep all of these ingredients on hand in future as this is going into our monthly rotation! Something different and it really hit the Chinese takeout spot even tho sweet and sour isn’t something I would normally order! Served with jasmine rice and blanched green beans and sprinkled with scallions and sesame seeds. Wish I had doubled the recipe and will in the future! Thanks so much for another winner!

    Reply

  6. Sabrina, Please do not apologize for saying, “have a great day”! It is up to each and everyone of us to determine that we will have a good day–no matter what the circumstances are. We decide how to react what ever situation arises and it is within each one of us to decide how we will approach the day. I applaud you for challenging each of us to have a great day–as great as possible–no matter what. We will all battle adversity in this life and we must lean that we are responsible for our own happiness–finding it in whatever comes our way.

    Keep smiling–no one else can do it for you!

    Reply

  9. I love any excuse to use the slow cooker, and this recipe is an excellent one. Everyone loved it and it was so easy. Thank you!

    Reply

  12. This is great and a really easy alternative to ordering a take-out. We’ll be making this sweet and sour pork often for sure.

    Reply

  13. Looking at the picture, I can’t imagine how the peppers & onions could possibly remain crispy after 6-8 hours of cooking. I would think they would be total mush.

    Reply

    1. I haven’t tested it but I’m sure you could find a recipe online using similar ingredients to use as a guideline. Good luck!

      Reply