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Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs

Learn how to make incredible Chinese style sweet and sour spare ribs at home with a sauce that is soy and vinegar based.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Mary Tang

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds spare ribs
  • 6 cups (1500 ml) water
  • ⅛ cup (30 ml) Shaoxing wine, or any Chinese cooking rice wine
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 large shallot, minced
  • 1 /8 cup ginger, minced
  • 1 (1/2 cup) stalk green onions including white parts, thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp (10 ml) sesame oil

Sauce:

  • ⅓ cup (80 ml) white vinegar
  • ⅓ cup (80 ml) soy sauce
  • ⅓ cup (80 ml) water
  • 3 Tbsp. white sugar
  • Avocado oil or oil of choice
  • Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to season

Slurry:

  • ⅓ cup (80 ml) water
  • 1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch

Instructions

Prepare the ribs

  1. In a pot, add 6 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Add the pork ribs to the water and blanche for about 1 minute. Remove the ribs from the water and set aside.

  2. Heat a large pan to medium-high and add oil. Add the spare ribs into the pan and spread them out evenly.

  3. Brown and season each side of the ribs. Cook until the meat turns brown with no visibility of pink. About 3 minutes a side.

  4. Turn the heat on high and add the Shaoxing wine, stir the ribs around, and turn off the heat when the alcohol has evaporated. About a minute.

  5. Remove the pork into a bowl with the juices.

Cooking all ingredients

  1. Turn the pan to medium-high, add oil and sauté the garlic, ginger, and shallots.

  2. In a bowl, add soy sauce, water, white vinegar, and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the sauce to the pan. 

  3. Add the pork back into the pan and mix. Add the lid to the pan, turn the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, remove the lid.

  4. In a small bowl, make a slurry of water and cornstarch and mix until the cornstarch has dissolved.

  5. Turn the heat on high, and add the slurry to the pan. Mix the ribs and the sauce for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened.

  6. Plate the ribs. Drizzle with sesame oil and top with green onions.

Recipe Notes

White wine can be used to substitute the rice wine.