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Chinese Fried Pork Balls Recipe
Chinese takeaway pork balls served with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. Pieces of pork are coated in a simple batter and fried until beautifully golden and slightly crispy.
These pork balls are a Chinese takeaway classic!
They’re slightly crispy on the outside whilst being juicy and soft in the middle. The pieces of pork are seasoned to perfection and the pork balls taste amazing with the sweet and sour sauce.
I can’t wait for you to try this! With a few basic ingredients and only 4 steps, you’ll be eating these pork balls in no time.
Chinese Sweet And Sour Pork Balls
The pork balls are battered using my simple batter recipe that tastes just like Chinese takeaway shops. They’re fried till golden, crispy and the pieces of pork are tender in the middle.
Chinese pork balls are one of my favourite Chinese takeaway recipes, it’s coated in a tasty batter and I just love it. I also have a chicken balls recipe and prawn balls recipe on my site (all with my homemade sweet and sour sauce).
The prawn and chicken balls use the same batter as this sweet and sour pork recipe but the seasonings slightly differ.
Watch How To Make It
What Pork To Use?
To make this recipe I used diced pork leg, this is widely available in many supermarkets here in the UK. The meat is pre-diced which saves a lot of time when prepping.
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Chinese fried pork balls:
- Diced Pork: I used pork leg diced into small bite-sized pieces.
- Seasonings: The pork is seasoned with salt, white pepper and soy sauce before it’s coated in flour to help it stick to the batter.
- Batter: The batter recipe for the pork balls is so simple! Self-raising flour, water, salt and a small amount of oil are mixed together.
- Sweet And Sour Sauce: This is made from Ketchup, water, sugar, vinegar, pineapple juice and cornflour.
How To Make Chinese Sweet And Sour Pork Balls
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to make Chinese battered pork balls. Full recipe instructions are on the recipe card.
Step One:
Add diced pork into a mixing bowl. Add salt, dark soy sauce and white pepper to the mixing bowl and mix together until evenly distributed.
Then add 2 tablespoons of self-raising flour to the mixing bowl and coat the diced pork with the flour.
Step Two:
In a separate bowl, add self-raising flour and salt and mix until evenly distributed. Then pour water into the bowl and mix together.
Leave the batter to rest for 5 minutes as this will help remove any lumps. Once 5 minutes have passed, add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and mix together until evenly distributed.
Step Three:
Heat oil in a pan over a medium heat. Depending on the size of your mixing bowl, coat 3 to 4 pieces of pork at a time into the batter. Add more or less depending on the size of mixing bowl you are using.
Add the battered pieces of pork into the oil and fry for 4 minutes or until the batter is golden. They’ll float to the top when they’re cooked.
Step Four:
Place water, ketchup, sugar, pineapple juice and vinegar into a clean pan and heat over a medium to high heat. Leave the sauce to simmer for 2 minutes before mixing a small teaspoon of cornflour with a tablespoon of water.
Pour the cornflour mixture into the sauce and mix until evenly distributed. Leave the sauce to simmer for a further 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Serving Suggestions For Sweet And Sour Pork Balls
I pretty much always dip the Chinese pork balls into the sweet and sour sauce! You could plate the balls and drizzle the sauce over it or serve it with the below:
For a Chinese takeaway feast serve with king prawn fried rice, sesame prawn toast or chicken chow mein.
Or go classic with these skin on fries or dirty with these dirty fries recipe!
I also like to dip them in this incredibly creamy Chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup.
Want More Sweet And Sour Sauce?
This recipe makes enough sauce to dip the pork balls into. If you want more sauce, double the sauce ingredients.
Feel free to change the ratio of ingredients to match your own personal taste. I don’t like my sweet and sour sauce too sweet but others do, I prefer more of a sour taste.
Chinese Sweet And Sour Pork Balls
Ingredients
- 300 g Diced Pork
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp White Pepper
- 1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce Or Light Soy Sauce
- 2 tbsp Self-Raising Flour
Pork Ball Batter
- 200 g Self-Raising Flour
- 200 ml Water
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vegetable Oil
Sweet And Sour Sauce
- 230 ml Water
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 3 tbsp Ketchup
- 3 tbsp Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Pineapple Juice
- 1 tsp Cornflour Mixed With 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Add diced pork into a mixing bowl. Add salt, dark soy sauce and white pepper to the mixing bowl and mix together until evenly distributed.
- Then add 2 tablespoons of self-raising flour to the mixing bowl and coat the diced pork with the flour.
- In a separate bowl, add self-raising flour and salt and mix until evenly distributed. Then pour water into the bowl and mix together.
- Leave the batter to rest for 5 minutes as this will help remove any lumps. Once 5 minutes have passed, add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and mix together until evenly distributed.
- Heat oil in a pan over a medium heat. Depending on the size of your mixing bowl, coat 3 to 4 pieces of pork at a time into the batter.(Add more or less depending on the size of mixing bowl you are using.)
- Add the battered pieces of pork into the oil and fry for 4 minutes or until the batter is golden. They’ll float to the top when they’re cooked.
- Place water, ketchup, sugar, pineapple juice and vinegar into a clean pan and heat over a medium to high heat.
- Leave the sauce to simmer for 2 minutes before mixing a small teaspoon of cornflour with a tablespoon of water.
- Pour the cornflour mixture into the sauce and mix until evenly distributed. Leave the sauce to simmer for a further 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Video
Nutrition
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