This is a Crispy Pork Belly recipe, just like you get from the Chinese BBQ meat shop! The best crackling in the world with juicy seasoned flesh, no one does crispy pork belly like the Chinese.
And this is how they make it. (It’s easy!)
Chinese Crispy Pork Belly recipe
In my humble opinion, the Chinese are the undisputed king of two things: crispy duck and crispy pork belly.
It’s unlikely that I will ever share a proper Peking Duck recipe because it’s too hard to make properly in an ordinary home kitchen.
Pork belly, on the other hand, is totally doable. That juicy, seasoned flesh. But mostly, it’s all about…..
The best crackling in the world
Chinese pork belly crackling is, in my humble opinion, the best crackling in the world. With the signature puffy bubbles all over, this Pork Belly Crackling is crispy and crumbly in a way that you will never achieve on a pork roast, even pulling out all the secret crackling tips.
That’s what makes Chinese Crispy Pork Belly so sought after. The reason why the best Chinese BBQ meat shops have queues around the block on weekends.
And today, my friends, you’re going to see how easy it is to make your own Chinese pork belly that comes out looking just like this ↓↓↓.
The secret to the best pork belly in the world
And here are the two secrets to perfect crispy pork belly that the Chinese discovered*:
1. Pricking lots of holes in the skin = puffy crackling with bubbles. This is what makes all the difference, yielding that beautiful bubbly crackling that is so unique to Chinese pork belly.
The Chinese have a special tool that they use to prick the skin. Me, I have my Basic Instinct moment and use an ice pick. It works remarkably well. But anything that is pointy and sharp will work just fine – for example, metal skewers.
And yes, if you find it all too hard, you can skip this pricking step. More on that below in the Easy Non Pricking Method. 🙂
* I credit them for this genius discovery, but I’m not actually sure if they discovered it!
2. Roast covered in rock salt = crispy crackling. Salt draws moisture to the surface, helping to guarantee you’ll get crispy crackling every single time. And yes, it works whether you do the pricking or not. Again, more on that below.
Why rock salt?
Rock salt is easy to remove and also will not penetrate into the holes while roasting, making the pork far too salty.
The pork belly is first roasted with the salt crust, then the salt crust is removed. At this stage, the skin is rubbery and looks thoroughly unappetising (step 7 above).
All it takes to transform the ugly ducking into a crispy golden swan is to stick it under the grill/broiler for 25 minutes. Watch in amazement as it starts to puff and crackle and becomes soo crispy!!!
Pork Belly Marinade
The pork flesh is infused with subtle flavour by marinating it in classic Chinese flavours – Chinese cooking wine (or dry sherry or even Mirin), five spice powder, salt and white pepper.
There are some Chinese pork belly recipes “out there” that don’t marinate, but I really think it’s worth the time to do this otherwise the flesh somewhat lacks Chinese flavour (in my humble opinion).
ALTERNATIVE:
EASY NON PRICKING METHOD
If you don’t have something suitable for or are having troubles pricking the skin, don’t be sad, there is another way to Chinese Crispy Pork Belly heaven!
With this alternative method which is virtually foolproof, you can skip pricking the skin and the crackling will still be outrageously crispy, however, it will not have the signature puffy bubbles that Chinese Pork Belly is known for.
When you break the crackling, it will snap cleanly rather than partially crumbling which the puffy crackling does (which you can see in the video).
The reason this method is foolproof is because with the traditional Chinese method, if you are too enthusiastic with the pricking and pierce too far into the fat (or even worse, into the flesh), the juices will bubble up onto the skin, and the wetness as the skin is being grilled/broiled will cause little splotches where the skin is not super crispy.
Doesn’t the crackling using this simple Alternative Method look almost impossibly perfect?? Check out that colour!
How to serve crispy pork belly
This is the typical way to serve it: cut into slices, then each slice cut into smaller pieces. Small pieces is the go here because pork belly is rich!
As for sauce, Chinese pork belly is typically served with mustard. Either your everyday yellow mustard or Hot English Mustard which is my favourite. The kick of fresh heat pairs so well with the richness of the pork belly!
I’ve also had it served with white sugar. Just a small dish of everyday white sugar that you dip the pork into. It’s really good.
As for sides, because pork belly is rich, I just serve it with plain fresh vegetables. My favourite is cucumber and radish because they’re so fresh and radish also has a kick of spiciness.
Plus, they add great colour to the plate, don’t you think?
Chinese Crispy Pork Belly – SUMMARY
I realise there’s a lot of information in the above, so I though it would be useful to finish with a summary. ❤️
Traditional Chinese Crispy Pork Belly has a golden puffy crispy crackling that almost crumbles when you bite into it. It’s complete and utter bliss to experience!
To make puffy crackling, you need to prick lots and lots of little holes in the skin. If you accidentally prick too far into the fat under the skin, or even worse, the flesh, this may cause juices to bubble to the surface which may result in some splotches that are not 100% crisp. The Chinese have a special tool to do this. I use an ice pick (aka my Basic Instinct moment?).
If pricking the holes seems like too hard work, skip it and opt for the Alternative Easy Non Pricking Method for Crispy Pork Belly
The Alternative Easy Non Pricking Method yields a crackling that is a beautiful golden brown that is outrageously crispy but without bubbly crackling. The crackling snaps rather than crumbles like the authentic Crispy Chinese Pork Belly. It is still a stunning crackling that many people dream of. ☺️ This method is very easy with guaranteed crispy crackling, every single time.
DO NOT SKIP THE VIDEO!! Just wait until you hear how crispy that crackling is!!
To all crackling lovers out there, this one is for YOU! – Nagi x
PS Oh wait, it’s also for Chinese New Year which is tomorrow! ❤️
More food for Chinese New Year
Celebrate Chinese New Year with the best of Chinese food!
- Potstickers – steamed dumplings with crispy golden undersides
- Spring Rolls – better than Egg Rolls!
- Fried Rice – Chinese takeout standard (no false promises)
- Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu) – just like you get from Chinese BBQ meat shops!
- Chinese Steamed Pork Buns – big fluffy white buns filled with BBQ pork
- Browse all Chinese Recipes and Asian Takeout copycat recipes
Crispy Chinese Pork Belly
Watch how to make it
Don’t watch this on Mute…. you want to hear how crispy that crackling is!!
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Chinese Crispy Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1 pork belly, skin on (800 – 1.2kg / 1.6 – 2.4 lb) (Note 1)
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) (Note 2)
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder (Note 3)
- 1 tsp white pepper (sub black pepper)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp white vinegar (helps conduct heat evenly)
- 200 g / 7 oz rock salt (Note 4)
Instructions
Prepare Pork Belly
- Use an ice pick, sharp metal skewer or another tool to prick tons and tons of holes in the skin. Avoid piercing int o the fat as best you can, and really ensure you do not pierce the flesh (Note 5)
- Turn the pork belly upside down. Rub the flesh (not skin) with Chinese cooking wine, dribbling it on gradually. Sprinkle over five spice powder, salt and pepper. Rub all over flesh, including sides (not on skin).
- Turn skin side up and place in a container. Dab skin dry with paper towels. Refrigerate uncovered for 12 hours (max 24 hrs, min 3 hrs).
Cook:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (all oven types).
- Remove pork from fridge. Place onto a large sheet of foil. Fold up sides of foil around the pork to enclose it snugly (see photos in post or video) with a 1.5cm / 2/5″ rim above the pork skin (to hold salt in).
- Transfer pork to baking tray. Dab skin with paper towels.
- Brush skin with vinegar.
- Spread rock salt on the skin (the foil edges will stop it from falling down the sides).
- Roast for 60 minutes.
- Remove pork from oven and transfer onto work surface.
- Switch to grill/broiler on medium high. Move shelf so it is at least 25cm/10″ from the heat source.
- Fold down foil and scrape all the salt off the top and sides. Return pork only (i.e. discard foil) to baking tray.
- Place under grill/broiler for 20 – 25 minutes, rotating tray once, until skin is golden, crispy and puffed. (Note 6)
To Serve
- Remove pork onto cutting board. Slice into 1 – 1.5cm / 2/5 – 3/5″ thick slices, then into smaller slices like pictured in post.
- Serve with ordinary yellow mustard – or Hot English Mustard if you like spicy like me! Not Dijon, just ordinary American or other yellow mustard (yes really!). Sometimes it is served with white sugar on the side too. Add some fresh raw vegetables (I use cucumber and radish).
Recipe Notes:
- Follow recipe up to and including brushing with vinegar but do not prick skin.
- Cover skin with rock salt per recipe, OR use 1 cup kosher/cooking/table salt (enough to cover skin about 3 – 5 mm / 1/8 – 1/5″ thick). If you use fine grain salt, make sure the foil is VERY snug around the edges – if salt falls down the sides, it will make the flesh salty.
- Roast per recipe and scrape off salt.
- Instead of flicking to grill/broiler, turn the oven up to 240C/465F. For this method, oven works better to make skin crispy.
- Place pork on a rack and return to baking tray, roast for a further 30 minutes or until crackling is golden and crispy.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published January 2017. Entire post refreshed, new photos added, brand new (much better!) video. No change to recipe, though writing was cleaned up a bit.
‘Life of Dozer
I had many, many chances to catch this shot…. he was doing this the whole time I was shooting the pork belly!!
Love the recipes but not looking forward to the Year of The Rat.
I took a sip of water just before I read this and almost spat it out on my computer with laughter!!!!
I’ve never seen pork like that before…looks fantastic! It’s not served here in restaurants, nor is Char Siu anything, nor much in the way of noodle dishes except for lo mein. Even Chow Mein isn’t served with soft or crispy noodles, but comes with white rice or with a little bag on the side of dry, deep-fried “noodle” things that are more akin to super-skinny breadsticks, or short, fat, dry rectangles of deep fried noodles of some type that hardly resembles noodles at all. The closest thing here to Char Siu pork are Barbeque spare ribs, but there is nothing similar to Char Siu chicken.
I loved reading that! That’s one of the things I love about travelling, seeing how things are done differently! N x
Your Chinese recipes are a continuous source of wonder and delight, since the menus are quite limited here. I’ve never seen a pork-filled steamed bun, either, for instance, but there are dumplings and wontons most places, at least.
Nagi—can’t wait to try this, but one quick question: how deep in millimetres do you insert the pricking device? If I know that, I can weld a washer onto the tip of the icepick, and that will yield the right depth every time.
Wow that’s clever!!! It depends on the thickness of the skin, I go through the skin and into the fat a bit. Maybe about 3mm / 1/8″??
That sounds perfect. Once I make the tool, I will get back to you.
I love reading your recipes and do make some of the dishes,we don’t often have visitors to feed so it is only 2 of us, your sense of humour is a real highlight thank you
I’m glad you enjoy reading Beryl! Thanks for the lovely message! N x
There is a plethora of pork belly recipes lately and no store have I seen it, in my 62 years of living. Maybe it’s a haute couture item and only located in major metropolitan areas?
Ask your butcher what they’re doing with all the BELLY!!! Where’s it going?? 😂 N x
Ditto! I haven’t seen it, either, nor do restaurants here offer sliced Chinese pork of any type. In this Podunk region of the US there are only pork stir fry dished or ribs on the menus, though a slice of pork is sometimes included in a soup.
Thanks for this recipe. Made it today and it was delicious. I have tried other methods and this is now my go to method!
Awesome!!!
Hello Nagi,
I’m going to give this one a go tonight, I have 1.5kg of pork, is the oven time the same?
Thank you
Hi Nagi, this recipe is for 800g-1.2kg cooked for 1.5hrs using the easy method. Is it still 1.5hrs for 2.2kg of pork belly? Thanks so much! im cooking this tom =)
The temperature for the grill/broil?
Hi Ken – 240 degrees C
Hi, your recipe calls for about 2lbs. Would the cooking time change for about 5lbs?
Hi Nagi. I’m sure i’m no exception to being a lover of crispy pork crackling. I usually make extra slits in my pork rind & then run boiling water over it, before placing in the refrigerator for 12 hours minimum. I love the suggestions you give here with the pricking instead of the slicing & will try that very soon. I have over the past made other pork belly with Asian sauces to accompany them. Can you suggest or do you have any good ones up your sleeve of many other recipe ideas that you could share?
Thanks Nagi
I’ve made this a couple times and absolutely lovvveeeee it!! Extremely impressed and the second time I made it, i slightly reduced the salt on the rub portion and it was perfect.
Just a quick question, do you think I could bake the pork belly for 1H 30mins at 300 or 325? I just have a situation where I need to go out and that time and want to come back to broil it after. What would be the optimum situation to have it not dry out but have a 1.5 hr cook time?
Any help would be appreciated and thank you again! 🙂
Hi Kenny, you could always cook as per the recipe and reheat – the crackling stays perfectly crispy! I have some directions in the notes 🙂
This is a great recipe! I’ve used it twice now, and also shared with someone else and he used it also with great results. Thanks so much for sharing all the information and tips! 😀
This looks great, but why is prep time listed as 20 minutes and cook time at 90 minutes when you are looking at 12-24 hours for step 4?
Sorry Bryan, I didn’t know how to add hands-off time 🙂 N x
Thank you so much for this recipe! Mine turned out a bit salty but crispy delicious skin!
Thank you so much for this recipe! Mine turned out a bit salty but crispy delicious skin!
Having now made quite a few of your recipes and they have all been terrific I thought I’d share another method for great pork crackling. Recently I bought some pork skins and firstly scored with a Stanley knife on the diagonal about 3 mm apart in both directions to form tiny diamonds, this is very fast as you can hold the skin taut.
I then rubbed with paper towel and then some paper towel dipped in white vinegar, then rubbed with cooking salt and left for half an hour. Placed it in a pizza tray with holes (didn’t have a baking rack!) and backed in a 200 Celsius oven for around 45 to 55 minutes. Initially it curls up but then it will flatten out.
This is great sprinkled on anything from fried rice to a salad if it makes it that far ………my husband ate most of it before I could use it!
Thanks again for all your great no BS recipes!
Thanks so much for sharing your tips Glenys!! Readers will love reading this!! N xx
Can I get some advice on how to cut up the roasted pork into small bite sized pieces without the skin separating too much? I find the cutting part most tricky. Not sure if it’s the knife that I’m using (a sharpened chef’s knife).
use a serrated knife – bread knife is best! 🙂
Thanks! Will try that the next time. I’ve read conflicting opinions on which is better — serrated knife or traditional meat cleaver and am wondering which one to invest in.
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe and techniques for making super crispy pork belly. My first attempt using a different recipe failed, and I came across yours, and your reassurance of a foolproof technique had me sold. I marinated the belly last night and tonight I made it for dinner with great success! I even shared some of the pork belly with my sister in law who lived 10 miles away because it was just soooo good. LOL! Even she loved it too! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I skipped the vinegar part though, and everything still turned out all right.
Thanks again!
Hey Nagi! I had failed a couple of times trying to crackle the roast pork. So this time round, I decided to try a small piece (300gm). And it worked! Now I’m more confident to try a larger piece. I am really thankful you always have videos for your recipes. It really helps someone like me! Thanks for the hardworking putting it all together!