The ultimate guide to perfectly done Cantonese crispy pork belly with oven at home. Crispy pork belly is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes for the years in Guangdong province. Each time when I have a chance to enjoy Guangdong cuisine, this crispy pork belly is one of my choices.
After I learn how to make crispy pork belly from a Cantonese friends at home several years ago. I am always trying to find ways and information for a better result and trying to understand how every step works. And this is my ultimate guide.
Cook’s Note
This is the most simplified version for home cooking. I will introduce some extra steps if you want to bring this to the next level.
1.Choose the right part of pork| you should use pork belly to make crispy pork belly.
2.Poke as many holes as possible on the rind. The fat oil produced in the roasting process need ways to come out. Why we need oil coming through the holes? Because hot oil brings hot temperature, which can keep the rind something like gently deep-fried for a quite long time.
3.Applying baking soda or white vinegar can help to soften the skin and thus making the crispy pork belly even fluffy. But the remaining flavor of baking soda may bring some bitter taste to the skin. So the best solution is to set the pork for 30 minutes and then wash the skin before air-drying. I did not include this step in this recipe since it is not quite necessary for me.
4.The salt layer can help to absorb water and keep the skin dry. Cover a layer of sea salt on the surface can help to absorb the water released in the early of the roasting and keep the rind dry.
5.Marinating the pork belly for a longer time, at least overnight. We are roasting a large piece. During the marinating time, do not cover the pork belly with plastic wrapper. Place it in a large bowl and let it dry in the fridge.
You will need
- 1000g pork belly with beautiful layers
- 2 small chunks of ginger
- 2 scallions
- 1 tbsp. cooking wine
- 6-10 Sichuan peppercorns (optional)
Marinating
- 1 and 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp. Chinese five spice
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. white pepper
Roasting
- sea salt to cover the meat
- white vinegar for brushing
Instructions
Place the pork belly in a large pot (rind site down) with clean water, add cooking wine, scallion, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Continue cook for 3 minutes after boiling.
Transfer the pork out and pat dry the water. Then pork as many as possible holes on the rind. Back and forth and repeat several times. This is the most important step. After the hard pork process, apply a small pinch of salt on the rind.
Cut two shallow lines on the pork (only the lean part, not deep to touch the fat) and then sprinkle the dry rub evenly.
Wrap the pork belly with foil wrappers and place in fridge overnight.Uncovered please, we need the rind to be dry before roasting.
Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Brush a thin layer of vinegar and spread salt evenly to form a protecting layer. Roast for 50 minutes.
Remove the salt and place the pork belly on the middle rack. Remember to use a tray to catch the dropping oils. Turn your oven to upper fire mode and turn up the temperature to 220 degree C.
Continue roasting for 20 to 25 minutes until the skin is well crackled. Let the pork belly stay in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly cooled down. Transfer out and cut into small bites.
Cutting tips: place the skin side down. Cut the meat part firstly and then press the knife to break the crispy rinds.
How to serve
You can serve this with sugar, mustard sauce or Thai sweet and chili sauce. But not too many cubes each time. I would suggest 2 cubes for each individual. I make three strips this time and serve only 1 strip one meal. We have very similar dish in Western China, where the pork belly rind is deep-fried for crackling. Mixed chili peppers are used to remove the oily.
Other pork belly recipes
- Pork belly can be used in stir-fry recipes: twice cooked pork belly
- Pork belly can be roasted: Roasted pork belly with honey
- Pork belly can be red braised: red-braised pork belly.
Crispy Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)
Ingredients
- 1000 g pork belly with beautiful layers
- 2 small chunks of ginger
- 2 scallions
- 1 tbsp. cooking wine
- 6-10 Sichuan peppercorns ,optional
Marinating
- 1.5 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. Chinese five spice
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. white pepper
Roasting
- sea salt to cover the meat
- white vinegar for brushing
Instructions
- Place the pork belly in a large pot with clean water, add cooking wine, scallion, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Continue cook for 3 minutes after boiling.
- Transfer the pork out and pat dry the water. Then pork as many holes on the rind. Back and forth and repeat several times. This is the most important step.
- After the hard pork process, apply a small pinch of salt on the rind.
- Cut two shallow lines on the pork (only the lean part, not deep to touch the fat) and then sprinkle the dry rub evenly.
- Wrap the pork belly with foil wrappers and place in fridge overnight.Uncovered please, we need the rind to be dry before roasting.
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Brush a thin layer of vinegar and spread salt evenly to form a protecting layer. Roast for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
- Remove the salt and place the pork belly on the middle rack. Remember to use a tray to catch the dropping oils. Use upper fire only at the temperature of 220 degree C, and roast until the rind is golden brown and well crackled.
- Let the pork belly stay in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly cooled down. Transfer out and cut into small bites.
- Cutting tips: when cutting the pork belly, place the skin side down. Cut the meat part firstly and then press the knife to break the crispy rinds.
Nutrition
Hello Elaine,
Is it absolutely necessary to wait two hours after boiling the pork belly or will less time suffice?
Hi Leah,
The 2 hour is for marinating so the inner side of the pork belly can also be flavored. I highly recommend to wait for such a time. But you should at least guarantee 30 minutes.
I made this recently and it was delicious! Thank you for the excellent recipe! I also made some snow peas with your recipe, and they were great too. Looking forward to making more things!
If I could also ask for some advice – I bought some sichuan cooking wine for this recipe, and I was wondering if you could point me to some other recipes that use it?
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the feedback. I am glad that my recipes can help. And for the cooking wine, you can use it in mostly Chinese meat dishes, the most common way is to use in marinating sauce for pork,beef, lamb,chicken etc.
Thanks, is do you recommend baking soda? i didnt put any baking soda and it was ok
Hi Jackie,
Baking soda will be helpful for more cracks. But it is absolutely optional.
I must try this. I love roasted belly pork with lovely crackling on top, so this will be an interesting variation. I also love making twice-cooked pork.
Go ahead, Carole. This is quite comforting dish requires little cooking skill.
Hi I used to make crispy pork belly by boiling, seasoning and fry the pork rind in oil. They turned out nicely but greasy. So I tried your receipe and it was a disaster. I followed exactly the steps described but the lean part which was wrapped with foil was burnt and part of the rind too. The crackles were uneven, parts were and parts not crispy. I think the soya sauce and sugar caused the burnt. Any suggestions?
Hi Chantel,
It is common that some part of (especially the corners) the lean get burnt as the temperature is high. You will need to remove them and brush a thin layer of oil.
The uneven crackles may be caused by two reasons: the first one is the uneven holes and the second might be the oven. I would suggest turning over the baking pan once or twice.
I have not tried any receipts yet but will do so this weekend Does anyone know how to make sugee cake that is moist and buttery that does not go rock hard if you have to refrigerate it? My grandma in Penang made just the best and I cannot duplicate it.
Many thanks
Hi Philippa,
The sugee cake made by your grandma, is it similar to this one https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/chinese-rice-cake-bai-tang-gao/?
Hi, my boyfriend had tried a recipe that is somewhat similar to yours. He first boiled the pork belly to 70% done and patted the skin dry. He then poked holes on the skin and applied thin layer of salt and baking soda. Then went on marinating the lean meat. After marinating the slab of pork will be left overnight in the fridge with the skin facing up. The next day an inch thick of salt were layered on the skin. The pork belly was then roasted in the oven at 230deg C for 40 minutes. After that the salt layer were removed and he continued roasting as per recipe. But the result came out with a soggy layer of skin. Only the sides of the skin were not soggy but they were hard. We are suspecting if we had poked the skin too deep. We also fear that while roasting with the salt layer, the roasting time was not sufficient to remove the moisture. Please help!!
Corinne,
Your time is not enough. Firstly you can roast with lower temperature with a longer time. Then use high temperature for example 230 degree C or 240 degree C and roast for at least 20 minutes. The salt should be turn into chunks with lower temperature. So the salt can be separated from the meat so the moisture can be evaporated successfully via the small gap.
Hi Elaine, I love Crispy Skin Pork and cannot wait to try this recipe. I can’t get the Chinese cooking wine. Can you suggest a good substitute for the Chinese cooking wine? Rum? Sherry?
Hi Judith,
You can use dry sherry as a substitute.
My pork belly has dried over night and I’m just about to pop it into the oven covered in salt. Can’t wait to see the result! Fingers crossed I didn’t prick the skin too deeply ??
The photograph showing crispy pork belly on a plate shows a disgusting filthy black fingernail. The photographer should have noticed it.
I should have noticed that. I will drag the picture down.