View source for Sweet and Sour Pork

{{#seo:
|title=Sweet and Sour Pork (Gu Lou Yuk 咕噜肉) - Chinese Food Wiki
|keywords=Sweet and Sour Pork,咕噜肉,Cantonese,Guangdong Food
|description=Sweet and Sour Pork is a Cantonese-rooted dish of fried pork in a bright sweet-and-sour sauce, widely known in global Chinese restaurants.
}}

{{Infobox chinese food
| image = Sweet and Sour Pork.jpg
| caption = Sweet and Sour Pork
| alternate_name = Gu lou yuk; 咕噜肉; 甜酸猪肉
| pinyin = Gūlū ròu / Tián suān zhūròu
| type = Fried pork with sauce
| course = Main course
| country = China
| region = Guangdong / Hong Kong (global Chinese restaurant classic)
| other = Cantonese sweet-and-sour family
}}

'''Sweet and Sour Pork''' is best known internationally as a Chinese restaurant classic of battered or lightly coated pork pieces tossed in a glossy sweet-and-sour sauce with pineapple and peppers. Cantonese versions (often called '''gu lou yuk''', 咕噜肉) are linked to [[Guangdong Food|Guangdong]] and [[Hong Kong Food|Hong Kong]] cooking and helped popularize sweet-and-sour flavors worldwide.<ref name="wp">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_and_sour_pork English Wikipedia]</ref>

== Characteristics ==

The dish contrasts crisp fried pork with a bright sauce that balances sugar, vinegar, and tomato or fruit notes. Colorful vegetables and pineapple are common. Overseas versions may be sweeter and thicker than many home Cantonese plates.

== Ingredients (overview) ==

Pork (often shoulder or loin pieces), a light batter or starch coating, and a sauce built from vinegar, sugar, ketchup or tomato, and sometimes fruit juice. Peppers, onion, and pineapple are frequent mix-ins. Preparation is overview-level frying and quick saucing rather than a long braise.

== History and culture ==

Sweet-and-sour seasoning has deep roots in Chinese regional cooking; the battered pork form became especially visible through Cantonese restaurant culture and later global Chinese menus. It is often an entry-point dish for diners new to Chinese food abroad, even as local Cantonese tables keep many other sweet-sour seafood and spare-rib variants.

== Serving and variations ==

Hong Kong tea restaurants and Cantonese kitchens may serve lighter, less syrupy plates; North American Chinese restaurants often use a thicker red sauce. Related sweet-sour items on this wiki include [[Sweet and Sour Ribs]]. For regional context see [[Guangdong Food]] and [[Hong Kong Food]].

== See also ==

* [[Guangdong Food]]
* [[Hong Kong Food]]
* [[Char Siu]]
* [[Sweet and Sour Ribs]]
* [[Dim Sum]]
* [[List of dishes (A-Z)]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}