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Chinese Roast Pork

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Chinese roast pork or siu yuk. Save yourself a trip to Chinatown and use this easy recipe for the best and crispiest Chinese roast pork belly at home.
Chinese roast pork, ready to serve.

Chinese Roast Pork Recipe

In my cookbook “Easy Chinese Recipes,” I have a Chinese roast pork belly recipe, or siu yuk.

When it comes to Chinese roast pork, one could never have enough of the crispy skinned roasted pork belly. It’s sinfully delicious!

Chinese Roast Pork

This Chinese Roast Pork recipe is from my good friend Robert Danhi’s Facebook page. Robert and his wife made the roast pork following a recipe gathered from a church in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This is the PERFECT recipe for Chinese roast pork belly! It’s absolutely mouthwatering.

The recipe is easy, hassle-free and fail-proof. I guarantee you crispy, crunchy, absolutely aromatic and to-die-for pork crackling, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly.

Other Recipes You Might Like

Crispy Chinese roast pork belly sliced into pieces.

Recipe Ingredients

This simple recipe calls for only four (4) ingredients:

  • Pork belly
  • Garlic
  • Salt
  • Chinese five spice powder
Chinatown Chinese roasted pork belly or siu yuk.

How to Make Chinese Roasted Pork Belly?

This is the easiest and best recipe you’ll find online. There is no need to poke the pork skin, there is no no vinegar in the recipe.

There is also no need to par-boil the pork belly before roasting.

The recipe calls for simple and few steps. Please refer to the video embedded on this page to learn how to make Chinatown worthy siu yuk at home.

The end result is very crispy pork crackling. The pork belly is also juicy, tender, with the melt-in-your-mouth pork fat.

The taste is a bit salty and aromatic. The aroma comes from the garlic and five-spice powder.

How Many Calories Per Serving?

This recipe is only 446 calories per serving.

What to Serve with this Recipe?

Serve this dish with rice or noodles. For a Chinese meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.

Yield: 6 people

Chinese Roast Pork Belly

Chinese roast pork

Chinese roast pork or siu yuk. Save yourself a trip to Chinatown and use this easy recipe for the best and crispiest Chinese roast pork belly at home.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Additional Time 10 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. (1 kg) pork belly
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon five spice powder
  • Kosher salt, for layering

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), arrange a pan on the bottom 1/3 of oven rack and fill with water. The pork belly should be roasted using the rack above it.
  2. Wash and use paper towels to dry the pork belly.
  3. Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then rub the meat side with the five spice powder.
  4. Insert each garlic and push them deep inside the pork belly.
  5. Layer the top of the pork belly with the salt evenly. Adding salt to to the skin of pork belly.
  6. Place the pork belly on a wire rack. This is how it should look before going into the oven. How to make Chinese roast pork?
  7. Place the pork belly at the top 1/3 of the oven and roast for 1 hour. While baking, the oil will drip to the bottom pan with water.
  8. Bake until the salt crust forms, the salt should be hardened. Check water in the pan below and add if needed. This is how the pork belly and salt crust will look like in the oven. You have to insert the garlic deep inside the horizontal slits or else they will be pushed out during the roasting process.
  9. Remove the pork belly from the oven, pull off the salt crust and discard.
  10. Raise the heat of oven to 465°F (240°C), place the pork belly back in the oven and roast for another 40 minutes.
  11. Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes. Chinese roast pork
  12. Cut and serve immediately with some chili sauce and hoisin sauce, or eat as is. Chinese roast pork belly

Notes

Watch the cooking video on this page for step-by-step guide.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

6 people
Amount Per Serving Calories 446Total Fat 33gSaturated Fat 12gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 127mgSodium 495mgCarbohydrates 1gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 35g
© Rasa Malaysia
Cuisine: Pork / Category: Chinese Recipes

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Comments

  1. TC

    Will the internal part of the oven become very dirty in the process? Thanks.

    Reply

  2. Stephanie

    I’m so grateful for this recipe. Put my fear of ruining a good slab of pork belly to rest.

    Reply

  3. Margaret

    Thank you very much for sharing this. It really is the best and easiest recipe for siu yoke I have tried thus far.

    Reply

  4. Sky

    Hi Bee,
    Thank you for sharing this recipe. It’s awesome and super easy to make. The skin is super crunchy!
    I found that my skin falls off when I chop it. Do you have any tips to keep it all together? Find it hard to chop into smaller pieces while keeping the skin on. Do I let it rest longer?

    Reply

    • Isobel Hall

      Can you please tell me the cooking time for 2.7kg?

      Reply

    • Eyclee

      Rest the meat after cooking. Cut skin side down with a sharp knife.

      Reply

    • Lily Som

      Hi

      The roast pork is amazing. Can you please tell me the timing for 2kg.

      Thanks
      Lily

      Reply

  5. Lisa

    Hi,

    My oven has a convect roast function. Should I use that function or just the regular bake function or broil function?

    Reply

    • Jenny Truong

      This is the best roast pork recipe ever! I don’t know why its taken me this long to comment! I’ve used this same recipe following step-by-step about 30 times over the past few years and passed it on to friends and family. Everyone in my family (we’re Chinese) say its better than any store bought roast pork and is always requested at family gatherings. We call it “crack pork” because it’s so addictively delicious! This recipe (coupled with good meat and a decent oven) is flawless! Thank you so much!

      Reply

  6. Eric Pratt

    can this be cooked in instant pot air fryer?

    Reply

    • Admin

      I think so but I have never tried.

      Reply

      • Old

        I tried and the crackling is awesome! However it’s kind of salty. Should I put less salt or scrap of the skin harder?

        Reply

    • Marion M Tom

      I saw a YouTube clip wherein the chef used the air fryer. Only caveat is that the pork has to be the same size as the air fryer. Since I have a small fryer, my pork will be slightly under 2-lbs. only. You wrap a large piece of foil around meat (like an envelope with corners) exposing skin on top. Juices will drip into foil. Roast 25-mins. at 350F degrees, then remove foil and increase temp to 400F degrees for another 10-15 mins. to crisp up the skin. I have not tried this but good luck.

      Reply

  7. Hwee Ping Teo

    Hi Bee can you explain why my Salt crust does not form in a piece after the first hour and is still stuck to the skin? Should I leave it to roast longer?

    Reply

  8. Renn

    Best method ever! Thank you for sharing. I kept it overnight in fridge, the skin become melt in your mouth crispiness!

    Reply

  9. Tammy

    Hi Bee,
    Tried this recipe last week and it was super good, meat so tender & crispy skin. thank you for sharing such an easy method to do roast pork.
    to add some saltiness to it, can i put salt & five spice powder together on the meat?

    Reply

  10. Christine

    Hi Bee, this recipe looks really easy. I do ha a question: do you place both water bath and wire tray in the middle rack in oven and use bake function (top and bottom) or grill function for 1 hr with salt and 40 minutes with salt crust removed? Thank you

    Reply

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