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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 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!
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.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
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 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.
Ingredients
- Pork belly
- Five spice powder
- Garlic
- Kosher salt
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make This Recipe
Step 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.
Step 2: Wash and use paper towels to dry the pork belly.
Step 3: Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then rub the meat side with the five spice powder.
Step 4: Insert each garlic and push them deep inside the pork belly.
Step 5: Layer the top of the pork belly with the salt evenly.
Step 6: Place the pork belly on a wire rack. This is how it should look before going into the oven.
Step 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.
Step 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.
Step 9: Remove the pork belly from the oven, pull off the salt crust and discard.
Step 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.
Step 11: Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes.
Step 12: Cut and serve immediately with some chili sauce and hoisin sauce, or eat as is.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Chinese Roast Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. pork belly
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- Kosher salt, for layering
Instructions
- 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.
- Wash and use paper towels to dry the pork belly.
- Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then rub the meat side with the five spice powder.
- Insert each garlic and push them deep inside the pork belly.
- Layer the top of the pork belly with the salt evenly.
- Place the pork belly on a wire rack. This is how it should look before going into the oven.
- 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.
- 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.
- Remove the pork belly from the oven, pull off the salt crust and discard.
- Raise the heat of oven to 465°F (240°C), place the pork belly back in the oven and roast for another 40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes.
- Cut and serve immediately with some chili sauce and hoisin sauce, or eat as is.
Video
Notes
- Bake until the salt crust forms, the salt should be hardened.
- Check water in the pan below and add if needed.
- You have to insert the garlic deep inside the horizontal slits or else they will be pushed out during the roasting process.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, Did you use table salt or kosher salt?
I used table salt.
Thank you :-) very useful to know :-)
Perfect Chinese roast pork.
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe. The timing states 40 mins cooking time while in step 7, the cooking time is 1 hour while in step 10, the cooking time is 40 mins. Is it intentional for step 7 and 10 to be a combined 1 hour 40 mins?
Thanks for clarifying.
It was a mistake, it has been updated. You need to roast for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
I did it for my family cny reunion dinner. Thumbs up from everyone! Thank you very much for sharing this recipe. If I double the recipe, how long do I have to roast it ?
Cut into two equal sized slab and roast the same time.
Thank you for the recipe. I tried this but the skin got very salty and hard. Is it supposed to be hard and salty? Or have i done something wrong?
Ps: my oven has maximum temp of 200c. So i put the pork back after removing the salt at 200c on a higher rack. Also, what could i do to get the meat more tender?
If the skin is too salty, the salt wasn’t properly removed. The salt should form a crust that can be easily removed. The meat is tender with crispy skin with my oven, maybe you can try covering with foil.
Hi,
Excellent recipe, i am going try out this weekend.
Like to know, for the oven setting for the first 40 minutes and the second 30 minutes, do you use Fan bake plus broiler setting for both? Or should i just use fan bake?
Thanks!
Hi Felix, I don’t have any of the settings you mentioned. Just regular baking, no broiler for sure.
Thank you so much for the recipe. This is so yummy and easy to prepare. Taste just like back home. Just keep on eye on the water if you have a shallow tray like mine. Everyone loves it and we even save some to add it to our fried rice the following day.
Fried rice with roast pork, sounds delicious!
Thank you for the reply. I will focus on removing the salt properly the next time. And should I cover the whole meat or just the skin with the foil?
You can cover the top and the meat, it is fine.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I cooked for the first hour at 325F, and topped up my water bath periodically. It turned out moist and flavourful.
Awesome, so happy you tried my Chinese roast pork. Please try out more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Hello! Your recipe looks very easy to follow, will try it out soon! :) a question posted to me, without puttin the other ingredients like vinegar, chinese wine, or even leaving it in the fridge for xx amount of time works? What about the smell of the belly if we don’t broil it earlier?
Just follow the recipe. It works.