Pork With Peking Sauce

By
Rhonda Parkinson
Rhonda Parkinson
Rhonda Parkinson is a freelance writer who has authored many cookbooks, including two Everything guides to Chinese cooking.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 12/3/21
Tested by
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Tested by Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Pork With Peking Sauce

The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Marinate: 20 mins
Total: 30 mins
Servings: 2 to 4 servings
Yield: 2 cups

This Chinese pork recipe is ideal as a side dish or part of a multicourse meal. Shredded pork is marinated and stir-fried, then mixed with a sweet and sour Peking sauce. It is kept simple by serving over shredded cabbage. Feel free to enhance the appearance of this simple dish with green onion brushes, carrot curls or other vegetable garnishes.

Peking sauce is something of a mystery—it may be an Americanized creation. You probably won't find a bottle simply labeled "Peking sauce" in the store to add to the dish. Lee Kum Kee has a sauce marked as "Sweet Bean Sauce (Sauce for Peking Duck)" that would be a good choice. Or, locate sweet bean sauce or sweet bean paste (tian mian jiang) at a well-stocked grocery store, Asian market, or buy online. If you use sweet bean paste rather than sauce, it will need to be diluted.

Another option is to substitute hoisin sauce, which is a sweet, savory, and slightly spicy sauce often served with Peking duck. It is usually readily available at grocery stores.

"The Peking pork was delicious on crispy shredded lettuce, and it took only about 10 minutes (not counting marinating time) to prepare and cook! The marinade and sauce gave the pork a pleasant, slightly sweet flavor, and it turned out to be an excellent way to cook lean pork tenderloin for a super-fast meal." —Diana Rattray

Peking pork on a bed of lettuce
A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound lean pork

  • 4 teaspoons Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry

  • 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch

  • 1 cup shredded cabbage, or lettuce

  • 3 tablespoons oil, for stir-frying

  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger

  • 3 tablespoons ​sweet bean sauce, hoisin sauce, or 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet bean paste mixed with 1/2 tablespoon water

  • Extra salt, soy sauce, or white pepper, to taste, optional

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Pork With Peking Sauce ingredients

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  2. Shred the pork by cutting it into thin slices, then stacking them up one on top of the other, and cutting across into shreds.

    cut pork into pieces

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the pork shreds with the rice wine or sherry, dark soy sauce, salt, and cornstarch, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the pork for 20 minutes.

    pork and seasonings in a bowl

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  4. While the pork is marinating, shred the cabbage or lettuce. Arrange the shredded cabbage on a plate.

    Arrange the shredded cabbage on a plate

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  5. Heat the wok over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil. When the oil is hot, add the pork shreds and stir-fry until they change color and are nearly cooked. Remove from the wok.

    pork cooking in a pan

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  6. Add 1 tablespoon oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and the sweet bean sauce (or hoisin or sweet bean paste/water mixture). Cook until aromatic.

    add the ginger and the Peking Sauce to the drippings and oil in the pan

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  7. Add the pork back into the pan and mix with the sauce. Season with salt, soy sauce and/or freshly ground white pepper if desired.

    pork and sauce cooking in a pan

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  8. Arrange the pork shreds on the shredded vegetables and add garnishes, if desired. The flavor of green onions is especially good with this dish.

    Pork With Peking Sauce

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

What to Serve With Peking Pork

Round out your meal by also serving vegetable dishes and rice. Here are a few ideas for sides to go with Peking pork:


How to Store

  • Refrigerate leftover Peking pork within 2 hours and eat within 3 to 4 days.
  • To freeze the pork, put it in a zip-close freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. Label the bag with the name and date and freeze it for up to 3 months.
  • To reheat the pork, place it in a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until hot and bubbling.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
256 Calories
19g Fat
5g Carbs
16g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 to 4
Amount per serving
Calories 256
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 19g 24%
Saturated Fat 3g 17%
Cholesterol 50mg 17%
Sodium 325mg 14%
Total Carbohydrate 5g 2%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 16g
Vitamin C 14mg 71%
Calcium 32mg 2%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 287mg 6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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