This is the light pink and fruity tasting sweet and sour sauce that they serve in Chinese restaurants. The maraschino cherry juice makes the difference; don't ever throw it away again! Serve warm as a dipping sauce, or over meat as a sweet and sour sauce.
I've made this recipe twice. The trick to getting it to not taste so much like cherry is to add 1/4 cup of ketchup, or a little more if you prefer. My mom worked at a chinese restaurant and is the one who told me I was missing ketchup bcuz that's hwo they made it. Also, by personal preference I used crushed pinneapple w/juice and cheeries w/the juice and pureed/liquified it together in a magic bullet. It tasted so much like the restaurant style sweet and sour once I made the few adjustments! Very good!
Read MoreI have to agree with starr2be2. My mom has owned a Chinese restaurant for 20 years and when I made this I knew it was missing ketchup. She makes gallons of it at a time and getting her to give me a recipe is difficult so I tried to copy the taste. After I put ketchup in it it was MUCH better. I think it needs ginger as well.
Read MoreI've made this recipe twice. The trick to getting it to not taste so much like cherry is to add 1/4 cup of ketchup, or a little more if you prefer. My mom worked at a chinese restaurant and is the one who told me I was missing ketchup bcuz that's hwo they made it. Also, by personal preference I used crushed pinneapple w/juice and cheeries w/the juice and pureed/liquified it together in a magic bullet. It tasted so much like the restaurant style sweet and sour once I made the few adjustments! Very good!
Sparkler, I think you are my new best friend. I am a sweet and sour fanatic, and have always always ALWAYS wanted a recipe that was restaurant quality, and this is definitely it! All I ever did differently was replace 2 tbsp cherry juice with 2 tbsp ketchup. I think I've made this 20 times or so, and now my whole family won't even go out for chinese anymore, they call me instead! By the way, no matter what you do, DO NOT FORGET TO COMBINE THE CORNSTARCH AND WATER!!! You will end up with a runny sauce with little white chunks of cornstarch in it. LOL Still tastes good, just the presentation goes out the window, and there's nothing quite like a lumpy sauce to make people nervous.
I have to agree with starr2be2. My mom has owned a Chinese restaurant for 20 years and when I made this I knew it was missing ketchup. She makes gallons of it at a time and getting her to give me a recipe is difficult so I tried to copy the taste. After I put ketchup in it it was MUCH better. I think it needs ginger as well.
I love this!! I needed a sweet & sour sauce for homemade crab rangoon, and this was perfect. As suggested, I tweeked the amounts of marachino juice and vinegar until it suited my family. I will never pay for 'extra' sweet and sour sauce at a restaurant so I have some at home again, and I haven't found one in the stores at all that tstes good. I was surprised to find marachino cherry juice by the bottle, look for it in the drink mixers aisle. THANK YOU!!
This was pretty good to me, much closer than anything else I've tried. The maraschino cherry juice added a little too much cherry flavor. But next time I will reduce the cherry juice to probably a tablespoon or 2. I will add a dash of soy sauce and a 1/4 tsp of MSG. I know MSG is not very 'good for you', but it really does jack up the flavor of whatever you are cooking. I will probably add 1/4 cup tomato sauce or a TBSP of tomato paste too. Thanks for the cherry juice idea though!
After doing some research online, I decided to give this recipe a try. I was terrified of the cherry juice. I made this just as written, and it tasted just like a sweet n sour cherry juice. I added the 1/4 c ketchup, as suggested, and it didn't help. I then decided to add a T or so of soy sauce, and although it was slightly better, i will not be making this again. I like cherries, but not in this sauce.
This was easy and it makes a good amount. It was a little heavy on the cherry flavor (for us) so I may decrease this next time as well as decreasing the sugar a bit. It is sweet but as good as you'd get in a restaurant.
Quick, easy and the perfect combo of sweet and sour. We served it with pork roast, rice and veggies. Plan on making it again soon with wontons and rangoon.
To keep things simple I replaced the 1/2 cup of cherry juice and 1/2 cup of pineapple juice with a 1/2 cup of fruit punch. I used a brand called Purity. It is made from pineapple, cherry, and orange juice and an apricot puree. I also added a dash of garlic, onion, and ginger powder and soy sauce. Also, I added about a 1/4 of ketchup. It worked so well I'm convinced this is what they use at Chinese buffets. 5 STARS!
Loved it !!! Perfect just the way it was printed. My new favorite sweet and sour sauce. Thank you so much for sharing.
Everyone in our house thought this sauce was O.K. and had too much cherry... my thought would be to decrease the cherry juice to about 1/3.... I probably would have had a winner then..... also someone commented that they would blend up the cherrries, yes, that's a possibility but again I think the cherry taste would be even stronger... You can always add a little more cherry juice while your cooking it... but you can't take it away....
This is a great recipe. Whether you like more or less cherry juice, just adjust it. The ketchup is a good idea but a scant 1/4 cup is enough or you will lose the glassy clear look of the sauce. The sauce is definitely like a restaurant sweet and sour sauce. I did have a recipe like this one once before but I lost it; however I think this one is better.
Absolutely what I was looking for! The right color, the perfect texture, and a great taste. The recipes with tomatoe or ketchup is not the real stuff, Try this recipe.
I would add more sour (vinegar and pineapple juice). I also added the ketchup. I also had to substitute flour and tapioca for the cornstarch because I was out (bummer!). Very good - taste as and modify as you go!
I didn't have any Maraschino cherries so I used a cuplet of sugarfree cherry jello. It worked just fine. I used Splenda instead of sugar. I am diabetic. I took the tip from others and used 1/4 cup of ketchup. The sauce is perfect. This is by far the best sweet and sour sauce that I have ever made. My thanks to Miss Sparkle. Johnny
I didn't think it was possible for me to make this. But it tastes exactly like the sweet and sour sauce they have in my favorite chinese restaurant. My husband loved it as well too. This is definitely going to be made in our household again.
I thought I had purchased a can of pineapple juice at the store but was mistaken, I tried it with 1/3 of a cup of orange juice instead. The orange juice made it a little too sweet, and over powered the flavor a bit but all the other notes tasted dead on. I did the 1/4 cup ketchup variation and was pleased with that decision. I'm excited to try it again with the proper 1/4 cup of pineapple juice!
I did cut back on the marachino cherry juice and subst. ketchup for color...this was by far the best sweet and sour recipe I've found so far. Thank you!
I just now made this delicious sauce! Can't believe how simple it was to make. Now I am wondering why I wasted so much money by purchasing sauce before.
It's pretty sweet! My husband enjoyed it, but I just thought it was okay. This does taste good with eggrolls, but I'm looking for maybe a recipe similar to this, but maybe use a tomato sauce or ketchup next time. (trying to duplicate a local chinese restaurants flavor) As far as the directions, I thought I messed up, but it turned out fine. I just took all 6 ingredients and combined them at the same time and cooked them on low, stirring constantly, until it turned thick. Thanks for a good start to what I was looking for! :)
I had to attempt this recipe twice assuming I made the first batch incorrect. The texture never thickened, the coloring was horrible. I did not like it nor did any of the other family members in my household. To bad, really wanted a good one.
My fiance and I both liked this quite a bit. I used 1/2 cup lemonade do to the fact that I didn't have pineapple juice on hand.
With the addition of ketchup and less cherry juice this sauce hits it right on the money! Tastes just like my favorite restaurant's sweet and sour sauce.
I needed a sweet and sour sauce for egg rolls and this was very good and easy to fix. My son's brother-in-law ate with us and he liked it and he doesn't even LIKE s/s sauce.
i think i would put the cherries in the blender and use them all up because otherwise i would be left with all of them and i don't really like them, but i love sweet and sour sauce. maybe don't put in the 1/4 cup water because you would have more liquid by blending the cherries
YUM, YUM, YUM ?! This recipe is FANTASTIC!!! I made it for a huge Lua Party last weekend with Crab Rangoon. The sauce was "out of this world." Some recipes I'm seeing calls for adding tomato past . This is top-notch restaurant style Sweet & Sour sauce. I DID tweak mine some by adding a 1/4 up more pinapple juice and only a quarter cut of cherry juice. I also used apple cider vinegar not distilled white venegar (added more fruitness and twang). It wasn't as beautifully red, but more pink in color. However, it was to die for. I will add some red food coloring next time. Everyone loved it. It's a KEEPER! I'll use this for Sweet & Sour Chicken too.
yummy, yum, yum, Simple, sweet, & nearly perfect. I double the ingredients and let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes. After cooling in my refrigerator over-night its come out almost ideal. Highly recommended!
ALTER THE RECIPE AND THEN ITS WORTH 5 STARS. CUT THE VINEGAR IN HALF AND IT'LL BE PERFECT.
This is just like what is served in many Maine Chinese restaurants. For those that rated it lower, this recipe is not the ketchup sweet and sour sauce. Personally, I think adding ketchup to sweet and sour sauce makes it taste too much like McDonald's.
First of all i would like to thank you SPARKLER8666 you have made my year, I have been looking for a delicious sweet and sauce for my homemade rangoon, and this recipe have surpassed my expectations. Very, very, very good...the only tweak: I didn't have any vinegar so i used apple cider vinegar. and i would cut the cherry juice down to 1/4 cup, but otherwise wonderful.
It wasn't too bad, but I was a bit shy on the pineapple juice. I tasted too much vinegar and that turned me off, but perhaps if a little less vinegar and the correct amount of everything else.
My family loved it. The ketchup really helped cut down that maraschino cherry flavor that my mom detests. My brother and I love the flavor of maraschino cherry so it didn't matter to us.
I made this just now as have been looking for this recipe .... i believe I would add more pineapple juice and use 1/2 the vinegar and add 1/2 cup of orange juice .... will let it sit overnight and see if this doesn't taste more like the restaurant type
Thought it needed some tang, so I added 2 T Ketchup. Didn't have the maraschino cherry juice so I made my own using 1/3 c water, 1/4 c white sugar, 2 T corn syrup, 1 t almond extract, and 3 drops red food coloring. This sauce was amazing!
I would omit the cherry juice altogether. I had to dump it out and start over because I couldn't get it to not taste like cherries.
For me I added a few drops of red color, and extra white vinegar. I also used crushed pineapple for teture.
I added some pineapple chunks. The family loved it. Yes I would make it again and again.
I added the quarter cup ketchup. 'Used Dole pineapple juice & it was a li'l bit too pineapply. :D Oh, I used rice wine vinegar instead of one more tart. Maybe it was a combo of the two. It was easy; did the trick; but sweet & sour girl didn't like it.
I made this but I think it is far too sweet. Next time I did not add the cherry juice but replaced with more pineapple juice and added pineapple chunks. I also used apple cider vinegar instead of white. It turned out much better and tasted more like it should.
not exact same taste this way but I used apple cider vinegar for this and it came out soooo good!
Thank you! This was exactly what I was looking for. Just made it and it is perfect.
Just a shout out to the two "most helpful" reviewers. I actually hate the ketchup based sauces and was offering an alternative. There are plenty of ketchup based asian sauces on Allrecipes, if you like your sweet and sour to taste of ketchup, feel free to use them. The whole point of this recipe however, was to provide a lighter, thinner, fruitier alternative to the ketchup based sauces. Thanks for the feedback though. Sparklers
I made this tonight with a little cranberry juice in place of the cherry juice. I also added chunks of pineapple. Super easy and yummy. My kids found it slightly tart.
I have used this for years. I now find myself with enough time to rate it. Summer of 2020 has me at home and I do love this sauce, so I wanted to give my review of it. I love it with stir fry and it makes a tasty additive with spaghetti added.
I really like this recipe. I added a little Sriracha sauce and pineapple bits and cherry bits. It is superb!
Not very tasty, it didn’t have enough flavour. The pineapple juice made it cloudy which I didn’t like. I also made it with the suggestions from the reviews, I added 1/4 cup ketchup and 1/4 cup cherry juice not 1/2 but it still tasted bad....not what I was looking for in a cherry sauce
I made no changes so my review is based on THIS recipe (no my variation). It's spot on. My suggestion is if the cherry is too much for you, drop it back a couple Tablespoons until you reach what works for you. But this is Chinese restaurant spot on.
With Yellow fruit punch and cranberry juice (what I had) it was exceptional, will do it again with those juice, didn't taste totally like sweet and sour sauce but was more unique I really just try it!! With eggrolls was perfect
