Skip to Content

Asian Glazed Pork Belly

Asian Glazed Pork Belly. A little sweet, a little sticky, a little salty and a little spicy and so deliciously satisfying. Slow cooked to tender, silky perfection.

Asian Glazed Pork Belly close up photo of a single serving for recipe featured image

Asian Glazed Pork Belly.

The truth is that I’ve had this Asian Glazed Pork Belly recipe for quite some time but never posted it. It is a real personal favourite of mine but I hesitated to post it because I’m the only one who loves pork belly in this house.

Pork belly is one of those things that holds very little middle ground. You either enjoy it or you don’t in most cases.

Spouse doesn’t like it at all because of the soft gelatinous-like texture of the rendered fat.

Asian Glazed Pork Belly after marinating

Asian Glazed Pork Belly.

That silky texture is exactly what I do enjoy! It’s one of the richest meats there is and although it is not an everyday thing, it is a real favourite indulgence for mine.

That’s not to say that I have not had some bad pork belly served up to me. The secret is low and slow cooking  to achieve that perfect, soft, silky, tender texture, which doesn’t feel like you are biting into a chunk of bland fat.

Asian Glazed Pork Belly on a bed of white rice

Asian Glazed Pork Belly.

Cooking time and seasoning are important.

Undercooked pork belly is frankly, awful. Properly cooked pork belly will have much of the fat rendered out and be incredibly soft & tender to the bite.

The richness of the meat also needs strong seasoning and flavour for me to enjoy it. The richness of the meat practically demands more intense flavour to compliment it. That’s why it is so good in so many Asian cuisines from Chinese to Filipino. 

Stock photo of uncooked pork belly slabs

Pork belly.

This recipe uses common Asian ingredients to create a balanced sweet, salt, spicy and sticky glaze that I just love. It isn’t intended to be authentic to a particular cuisine.

It was mostly invented out of ingredients that I already had on hand in the fridge. Still, it is quite delicious.

It is perfect to serve on plain steamed rice or with your favourite noodles. You may want to make extra glaze to serve with the rice and over some steamed vegetables on the side for a complete meal.

Asian Glazed Pork Belly being sliced on a wooden cutting board

Asian Glazed Pork Belly.

For more tried and true recipes, check out this collection of our 25 Most Popular Recipes since Rock Recipes began back in 2007.

Rock Recipes most popular posts of the last decade image with title text for Pinterest 

Like this Asian Glazed Pork Belly recipe?

You’ll find hundreds of other great ideas in our Quick & Easy Dinners Category and even more in our Pork Recipes Category.

It’s easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram

Plus you’ll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too. 

Asian Glazed Pork Belly photo with title text for Pinterest

You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You’ll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly  meals and desserts too!


Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
 
Visit my Amazon Store for my favourite kitchen gadgets and appliances, plus recommendations from my personal cookbook collection.
 
Originally published May 2017 . Updated Feb. 2020.
Asian Glazed Pork Belly close up photo of a single serving for recipe featured image
Yield: 8 servings or more

Asian Glazed Pork Belly

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Asian Glazed Pork Belly. A little sweet, a little sticky, a little salty and a little spicy and so deliciously satisfying. Slow cooked to tender, silky perfection.

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs pork belly (approximately)
  • 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
  • 2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

Instructions

  1. It is important to  get a piece of pork belly that is a uniform thickness so that it cooks evenly. Try to get a piece that is about 3 inches thick. If thinner pieces are all that is available, I usually stack them and tie them with pieces of butcher string after the meat has marinated. (As in the photo shown)
  2. Mix all of the ingredients in the marinade together and pour over the pork belly in a large Ziploc Bag.
  3. Marinate in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
  4. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
  5. Place the pork belly on a roasting rack and roast for 4-5 hours depending upon the thickness of the meat.
  6. Reserve the marinade and pour it into your smallest saucepan. You can add all the same ingredients again to make extra sauce/glaze for rice or noodles at this point if you like.
  7. Lowly simmer the marinade until it begins to become like a thin syrup; about maple syrup consistency.
  8. In the last couple of hours of roasting. begin to brush on layers of the glaze. I do this 4-6 times about every 20 minutes, to build  good flavourful. sticky glaze on the pork belly.
  9. Let the pork belly rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving. I also like to dice it in small bite sized chunks to serve over rice.

Notes

I like to trim the outermost layer of rind/skin off of pork belly, especially when slowly open roasting because it can become quite tough. It is also best to roast with the fattiest side up.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

8 or more servings

Amount Per Serving Calories 743Total Fat 49gSaturated Fat 18gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 29gCholesterol 191mgSodium 1012mgCarbohydrates 18gFiber 1gSugar 15gProtein 54g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Did you like this recipe?

Do you love our "Real food recipes for real people'? Share the recipe on Facebook to let your friends know about us. They'll thank you for it.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Josette

Thursday 11th of June 2020

I made this recipe last night with great success! Admittedly I've been intimidated about cooking pork belly but this recipe was simple and flavourful. My son has been asking for pork belly since having it at a restaurant. He declared it tasted exactly the same (except I should have made the buns too).

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!