Sweet and Sour Pork With Ginger and Pineapple

This easy sweet and sour pork is made with common pantry ingredients and is a succulent dinner that you can make during a weeknight if having some extra time after work, or reserve for a weekend lunch or dinner whenever there's no time pressure. Ready in one and a half hours, the pork tenderloin simmers in a tasty mixture of pineapple juice, soy sauce, vinegar, and ground ginger. You can use fresh if you have a root at hand, and don't forget to round out the flavors with the sweet onions and peppers. Canned pineapple is your shortcut to this recipe, as it requires no peeling or slicing of the whole fruit. Endowed with the perfect amount of sweet and sour, the pork chunks cook to perfection in a sauce that you can pour over the pork when serving.

You'll need 2 pounds of tenderloin for this recipe, but keep in mind that pork tenderloin and pork loin aren't the same. Tenderloin, which is called for in this recipe, is a long, narrow, and boneless cut that you can easily slice or cut into chunks. Pork loin can have bones or not, and it's flatter in appearance. Both cuts are lean, but you can't use them interchangeably. Because the tenderloin is so lean it needs a lot of moisture when cooking or it can dry out, our recipe provides the cooking liquid in which the meat can cook to safety while staying juicy. Pork tenderloin tends to run pricey, but if the price seems fair and you'd like to buy more than you need, you can freeze it for later use or double the recipe and freeze the individual portions of the finished dish.

Side dishes such as rice or mashed potatoes are best to soak up the juices of this delicious sweet and sour pork, but if you feel like taking things up a notch, try a different version of rice or potatoes, like coconut rice or creamed cassava.