Sweet and sour sauce substitutes

The real recipe, quicker than going to the shop, and much less sweet than the bottled version if you want it that way.

Best for

sweet and sour pork or chicken, spring rolls and wontons, battered prawns, meatballs and stir-fries

Bring everything except the cornstarch to a simmer, then add the slurry and cook thirty seconds until it turns glossy and coats a spoon. Taste before thickening - takeaway sauce is much sweeter than most people expect, so add sugar if you want that flavour and leave it if you prefer sharpness. Ketchup provides the red colour; a drop of food dye is what makes restaurant sauce that vivid.

The other takeaway packet sauce, and the closest ready-made match in both flavour and texture.

Best for

spring rolls and egg rolls, wontons and dumplings, fried chicken and prawns, dipping sauces

Fruitier and softer, built on apricot or plum rather than pineapple and tomato, so the sauce tastes jammier and less tangy and it is orange-brown rather than red. Add a teaspoon of vinegar per quarter cup to sharpen it up. It is thinner than a properly thickened sweet and sour sauce, so it drips more off battered food.

A thick fruit-and-vinegar Chinese condiment that fills the same sweet-tangy-glossy slot.

Best for

spring rolls, roast duck and pork, dipping sauce, glazes

Deeper, darker and more spiced, with ginger and often five-spice notes, so a plate of sweet and sour pork made with it tastes richer and more aromatic and much less bright. It is also considerably thicker, so thin it with a tablespoon of water per quarter cup if you want a pourable sauce.

The improvisation that works best from a Western pantry, because jam already supplies sugar, fruit and body.

Best for

meatballs, chicken nuggets and tenders, pork chops, party dipping sauce

Distinctly fruity and jammy rather than clean and tangy, and it clings from pectin rather than cornstarch, so it feels stickier on the tongue. A teaspoon of soy sauce and a pinch of ground ginger push it towards Chinese takeaway flavour; without them it tastes like a Western fruit glaze.

The bare-bones version when there is no fruit juice in the house, and the closest thing to a two-minute answer.

Best for

battered pork and chicken, meatballs, stir-fries, dipping sauce

Noticeably more tomato-forward and one-dimensional without the pineapple, so it reads as a sweet tomato sauce rather than a fruity one. A splash of orange juice or a crushed tinned pineapple ring rescues it completely. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry or it will run straight off battered food.

Already sweet, sour and glossy, so it needs only a correction rather than a rebuild.

Best for

spring rolls and prawn crackers, fried chicken, dumplings, noodles

Brings noticeable chilli heat and a garlicky Thai character that Chinese sweet and sour sauce does not have, plus visible chilli flecks, so the plate looks and tastes Thai rather than Cantonese. Fine for dipping, less convincing tossed through sweet and sour pork where the classic flavour is the point.