Pork belly is my favorite cut of pork. When it is cooked properly, it is succulent and flavourful. But most of the recipes require long hours of cooking. Slow cooking is not cost-effective for many families with soaring energy prices. This is the fastest and simplest recipe I‘ve come up with for pork belly.
The pork belly is cut into slices to reduce the cooking time. The flavor can then be cooked through the meat without marinating. They also can be easily used as sandwiches or burger fillings. The ingredients are the simplest they can be. The combination is seriously delicious with just soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, and ginger.
Simple ingredients and faster cooking mean that you can prepare this dish on a weekday if the craving hits.
In this post: Everything you need for cooking Chinese pork belly slices
How do you cook these pork belly slices
How do you cook these pork belly slices?
- Step 1: Pan-Fry
- Pan-fry pork belly slices to render fat.
- Step 2: Simmer in Sauce
- Transfer the pork to a sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Step 3: Reduce Sauce
- Reduce the sauce until sizzling to concentrate flavor and enhance taste.
Ingredients for pork belly slices
- Pork belly: I used frozen pork belly imported from Europe, which has a similar sweet taste as I had in China. It’s important to note that, even with identical cuts, some may be tougher than others, influenced by factors such as the age and breed of the pigs.
- Soy Sauce: The quality of the soy sauce is important for this recipe. I use Leekumkee soy sauce.
- Sugar: Personally I prefer a dish with less sweetness, but feel free to adjust the sugar level to your taste.
- Ginger: In this recipe, ginger is meant to boost the flavor, but is not meant for eating as is. If you’re a fan of ginger, you can thinly slice it to mellow out its spiciness.
Recipe Notes:
- Cooking time: The simmering time can vary depending on your liking, from slightly chewing (20 minutes) to tender(50 minutes).
- Adding more flavors: This is the simplest version, but you can add oyster sauce, chili powder, or garlic to enhance the flavor.
- Serving: It goes great with rice but mixing in the pasta at the end is delicious too.
FAQs:
A: The pork belly may be tough if the slices are cut too thick, resulting in insufficient cooking time to tenderize the meat. Alternatively, the pork may have been overcooked, causing it to become tough.
A: Yes, you can make this recipe in a slow cooker or Instant Pot in step two. And then transfer the ingredients to a saucepan to reduce the sauce.
A: Yes, you can freeze the leftovers for future meals. To reheat the pork, you can use a steaming method or the microwave.
More pork recipes to try:
Finger Licking Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs
10 Delicious Chinese Pork Recipes to Try At Home
Enjoy these braised pork belly slices! Stay tuned for more delicious recipe ideas from my kitchen. 🙂
Pork Belly Slices
Ingredients
- 500 g pork belly (sliced to 0.5 cm thick)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1.5 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon rice wine
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3-4 slices ginger
- 1.5 cup water (add some more if it evaporates too much during the cooking)
Instructions
- Pan frying – Add the oil and pork belly slices to the saucepan over medium heat, and pan fry until pork belly slices are slightly golden.
- Simmering – Add soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, ginger and water, put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes to 50 minutes (depending on how tender you want the meat to be) over low to medium heat. (Add some water if it evaporates too fast)
- Caramelising – turn to high heat, take the lid off and let the liquid evaporate and thicken. Turn and mix the pork to make sure the meat is covered evenly.
Recipe Notes:
- Cooking time: The simmering time can vary depending on your liking, from slightly chewing (20 minutes) to tender(40 minutes).
- Adding more flavors: This is the simplest version, but you can add oyster sauce, chili powder, or garlic.
- Serving: It goes great with rice but mixing in the pasta at the end is delicious too.
Nutrition Information:
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Very tasty! I steamed Grands flaky biscuits to make quick bao and stuffed it with the tender belly, shredded carrots, jalapeno and celantro. I added dried anise to the liquid. The flavor was right on but somewhat greasy. Can I drain off some of the fat?
Sure you can or can use the fat to stir fry some veggies.
Looking forward to trying this! Can this be done in the oven also?
It’s a stove top recipe. It could be too watery if it’s done in oven.
What can I substitute for the rice wine?
You can use white wine or just skip it.
Hi! Did you use shaoxing wine or mirin?
You can use shaoxing wine. Mirin is a bit too sweet for me.
I made this recipe and it’s absolutely delicious! It’s my new favourite!!! Thank you Lei ❤️❤️❤️
I love all your recipes. Keep them coming. Thank you.
Thank you Ana 🥰
I always feel I should be doing much more to produce this superb dish.
.5 cm is so thin!!! Is this correct??
I bought these thinly cut pork belly slices from Asian stores. They were machine-cut while still frozen. If preparing them at home, you can use thicker cuts.
Thanks Lei. Another great one. We’ll probably do this on Sunday. As for me, Chinese dishes never went well with pasta. It has to be rice.
Thanks Anthony. Hope it goes well.
Hi. How do I serve this to 6 people? Should I double the ingredients? Let me know as I want to try this recipe. Thank you.
yes, you can double the ingredients. make sure the saltness is right.
nice
yum
Taste really good