Sweet and sour pork with pineapple and peppers
Juicy pork, sweet pineapple and bright peppers in a tangy, glossy sauce, all the fun of the takeout box with nothing deep-fried.
- 35 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.53 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp gluten-free tamari
- 1 pork tenderloin, about 1¼ lb
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- ½ yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1½ cups pineapple, bite-size chunks, pre-cut is fine
- 2 packages microwave rice pouches, 8.8 oz pouches
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 4 tsp cornstarch, divided
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 550 calories, 36 g protein, 69 g carbs and 15 g fat, and costs about $3.53 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No gluten-free tamari? Soy sauce works.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No green bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the ketchup, rice vinegar, brown sugar, tamari, water and 1 tsp of the cornstarch together in a small bowl.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Dolly’s tip: Taste it. It should be loudly sweet and sour; it mellows once it’s hot.off any shiny silver skin from the pork, then it into ½-inch rounds and cut each round into bite-size pieces.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Dolly’s tip: Silver skin is a thin, tough layer. Slide the knife just under it and angle the blade up as you cut.the pork with the salt and the rest of the cornstarch until lightly coated.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Cut the peppers and onion into 1-inch pieces and the garlic.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large over medium-high heat until it , then add the pork in a single layer.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Cook for 2 minutes without moving it, until underneath, then 2 to 3 minutes more, until just cooked through, and move it to a plate.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Add the rest of the oil, the peppers and onion and for 3 minutes, until , then add the garlic and pineapple for 1 minute.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
High heatTimer: 4 min
Return the pork, the sauce and pour it in, and for 1 minute, until it bubbles into a thick, glossy .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Glaze. A glaze is a thin, glossy coating, often sweet, brushed or spooned over food near the end. It adds shine and flavor, and because it has sugar, it can burn quickly.
How you’ll know: The food looks shiny and evenly coated, sticky at the edges but not blackened.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min
Heat the rice pouches in the microwave as the packages say.
Timer: 1 min 30 sec
Spoon the rice into bowls, top with the sweet and sour pork, and scatter the green onions and sesame seeds over it.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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