Roast Pork Belly

Tender, juicy pork belly featuring an irresistibly crackly and crispy skin, all achieved in just an hour of air frying without the need for parboiling or a thick flaky salt crust. While most holidays for my family were typically like any other day, Chinese New Year stood out. Leading up to the New Year, my mom emphasized cutting our hair, cleaning the house, and wearing new clothes. The day of, my family would all gather to eat dinner together. The essence of celebration during the New Year for my family lies in spending time together, surrounded by an abundant spread of food and swapping stories. Each component of the dinner holds significance, as every ingredient is believed to usher in blessings for the upcoming year. Roasted Pork Belly brings joy and abundance in the New Year. With my recipe, you can get it on the table without much fuss.

What is Chinese Roast Pork?

Chinese Roast Pork (crispy pork belly, roasted pork belly, 燒肉, shāo ròu, siu yuk) is roasted pork belly with a very crispy skin. It is often showcased in a traditional Chinese noodle shop restaurant in their storefront hanging along side Chinese barbecue pork (cha siu), roasted duck, and roasted chicken. In a restaurant, making roast pork is technical involving whole or halved pigs that need to be roasted low and slow in industrial ovens.

Pork holds significant importance in special occasions such as Chinese New Year, weddings, and birthdays. Its association with prosperity and good fortune makes it a staple at these events. In grand celebrations, serving whole a roasted pig is considered especially luxurious and represents wealth. This dish is commonly served alongside other roasted proteins, accompanied by white rice and cabbage, served atop noodles, or simply served as an appetizer with a sweet and savory dipping sauce.

What does Chinese Roast Pork taste like?

Chinese roast pork is a savory dish featuring pork belly known for its high fat to lean protein ratio, resulting in very tender and succulent meat. Properly prepared, the pork belly’s skin becomes crackly, crispy, and golden with an ultra-crunchy texture kind of like chicharron. The meat is seasoned with dry spices like five-spice powder, finely ground black pepper, and salt for a delicious flavor and is tender.

Why This Recipe Works

The traditional way of preparing Roast Pork is pretty technical. However, my recipe simplifies the prep and the cooking technique of the pork belly, making the dish very easy to make. With just an hour of cooking time in the air fryer and no requirement for parboiling, drying overnight, or a thick flaky salt crust, this Roasted Pork Belly couldn’t be more achievable at home.

What type of pork do I need?

Roasted pork needs skin-on pork belly. When buying a slab of pork belly, ensure that it includes the skin, as some grocers might offer it without. I usually get my skin-on pork belly fresh from a local Chinese grocery store, which offers it in two shapes: long, rectangular slabs with a smaller width and wider rectangular slabs. Due to the tendency of pork belly to curl, I suggest air frying shorter slabs instead of longer ones. If you have a choice, choose a slab that has a higher meat to fat ratio so that you’re not just only eating fat.

The cost for two pounds of skin-on pork belly is approximately $15 at my grocery store, and occasionally, it may come with rib bones or cartilage. It’s important to carefully remove these before seasoning the meat. Don’t worry if the slab appears uneven; you can easily correct it by using an aluminum foil wedge.

The marination duration of the dry rub is up to you, for optimal flavor absorption you can let it marinate seasoned in dry rub for 4 hours refrigerated. I let my pork belly marinate in the time that it take to prep the recipe while keeping the salt crust on for at least 30 mins to draw out moisture before patting it off immediately before air frying.

What is five spice powder?

Five spice powder is a mix of spices used in Taiwanese and Chinese cuisine for savory dishes. Typically, it consists of star anise, cloves, cassia (a Chinese type of cinnamon), Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel seeds. When combined, these spices create a distinctive flavor profile with a hint of tingling heat and warm, nutty undertones.

For my roast pork belly, I prefer using a special spice blend called Thirteen Spice Seasoning from Wang Shouyi. It is available in a small yellow and red box for around $1.50. It includes the five spice ingredients along with galangal, preserved orange peel, black pepper, nutmeg, dried ginger, hawthorn, liquorice, amomum villosum, and angelica dahurica. My family uses this seasoning on almost all proteins except for seafood.

Special Techniques

Do I need to poke the skin of the pork belly?

Poking the skin of pork belly before air frying serves a key purpose in achieving extra crackly and crunchy skin. When the skin is pierced, it allows the rendered fat to escape during the cooking process. This release of fat helps the drying and crisping of the skin, resulting in a texture that is both crispy and crackly. The act of poking creates small perforations that facilitate the escape of moisture, ensuring that the skin becomes wonderfully crunchy while cooking.

Is the aluminum foil necessary?

The aluminum boat is crucial when cooking pork belly in the air fryer, so be sure not to skip it! Its primary function is to maintain an even cooking surface by keeping the slab level. It acts as a protective barrier for the sides of the slab, preventing them from drying out while efficiently collecting flavorful fat and juices. This ensures the pork belly remains juicy as it cooks in its own juices. Moreover, the aluminum boat minimizes fat splattering, reducing the likelihood of the air fryer producing smoke. As a bonus, the aluminum also serves as a heat conductor, aiding in more efficient cooking.

Do I need an air fryer to make Roast Pork?

Roast pork can be made in both a conventional oven or an air fryer, however, the air fryer makes it more efficiently due to its faster cooking time, compact size, and versatility. It excels in baking the pork belly with an crispy skin and succulent meat more effectively than traditional ovens. The air fryer’s quick preheating, even circulation of hot air, and precise temperature control make it a key tool for home cooks seeking efficient and delicious results in a compact appliance, cutting down the prepping and cook time. Preheating the oven usually takes 15-30 minutes and controlling the temperature can be trickier.