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Sweet and Sour Strawberry Sauce

A sweet and sour sauce made with tomato juice, water, vinegar, lemon juice, brown sugar, pineapple, strawberries, onions, and bell peppers.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Sweet and Sour Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce base

  1. In a small saucepan, mix tomato juice, water, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar.

  2. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and set aside.

Chop and combine

  1. In a bowl of a food processor, combine pineapple, strawberries, onions, and bell pepper.

  2. Chop into a fine dice, pulsing on and off.

  3. Mix in the liquid.

  4. Season with salt.

Chill and serve

  1. Pour into a non‑reactive container.

  2. Cover and refrigerate.

  3. Bring to room temperature before serving.

  4. For each serving: portion 1/4‑cup ladle sauce into a ramekin.

  5. Serve with hot chicken fingers or cold sliced roast pork tenderloin and Russian rye bread.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

292Calories
6 gProtein
1 gFat
71 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Strawberry1 cup (152g)49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Cidernot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cider + pineappletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Strawberries
Provide the fruity flavor and bulk that forms the sauce's body.
Pineapple
Adds sweetness and juicy texture to the chopped sauce.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the vinegar and lemon.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the sauce its sour edge.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Chop into a fine dice, pulsing on and off. Pulsing keeps the pieces even and stops the fruit and vegetables from over-processing into a purée. Uneven or overworked pieces change the sauce's texture and release excess liquid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cider, vinegar, lemon, sugar, pineapple, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cider, vinegar, lemon, sugar, pineapple, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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