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.
Recipe Ingredients
This simple recipe calls for only four (4) ingredients:
- Pork belly
- Garlic
- Salt
- Chinese five spice powder
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.
5 Secrets to 20 Min Dinners
Get tricks for quick & easy meals!
Chinese Roast Pork Belly
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.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. pork belly
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- Kosher salt for layering
Directions
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1Preheat 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.
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2Wash and use paper towels to dry the pork belly.
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3Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then rub the meat side with the five spice powder.
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4Insert each garlic and push them deep inside the pork belly.
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5Layer the top of the pork belly with the salt evenly.
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6Place the pork belly on a wire rack. This is how it should look before going into the oven.
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7Place 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.
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8Bake 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.
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9Remove the pork belly from the oven, pull off the salt crust and discard.
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10Raise the heat of oven to 465°F (240°C), place the pork belly back in the oven and roast for another 40 minutes.
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11Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes.
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12Cut and serve immediately with some chili sauce and hoisin sauce, or eat as is.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Watch the cooking video on this page for step-by-step guide.
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?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can rest longer, or have a sharper knife.
Isobel Hall
Can you please tell me the cooking time for 2.7kg?
Eyclee
Rest the meat after cooking. Cut skin side down with a sharp knife.
Lily Som
Hi
The roast pork is amazing. Can you please tell me the timing for 2kg.
Thanks
Lily
phil
Try cutting it skin side down!
Lisa
Hi,
My oven has a convect roast function. Should I use that function or just the regular bake function or broil function?
Rasa Malaysia
Regular.
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!
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome thanks Jenny!
Eric Pratt
can this be cooked in instant pot air fryer?
Admin
I think so but I have never tried.
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?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can put less salt.
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.
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?
Rasa Malaysia
Did you follow the recipe exactly and the timing?
James
Hello Bee,
Is the coarse or fine grain of Kosher salt be used?
Can I use regular iodized salt or sea salt instead of Kosher salt?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes.
Renn
Best method ever! Thank you for sharing. I kept it overnight in fridge, the skin become melt in your mouth crispiness!
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?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can.
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
Rasa Malaysia
Please check the video embedded in the recipe card.
Johnni
I have tried may recipes promising Chinese roast pork and all failed to produce the desired results. That is till i used your recipe. Talk about less is more, your recipe is so easy and minimal, yet the result is perfect. The garlic is also a great touch . SO happy.
Thank you
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Johnni, all my recipes are great and easy. Please try more: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Esthergoh
Hi, I tried your method, the skin is very crispy n nice! but wonder why my pork is not tender. How to make meat softer. 180 degrees 1hr and 240 degrees 40mins .
Thanks.
Esther
Rasa Malaysia
I don’t know. Follow the instructions and don’t change anything.
Kim
Dang it I was reading the older comments and I see my answer about salt. But I have another. So my store sells pork bell it in 1 in strips. Do you think it could get those to work if I skewer them together or will the salt seep into the meat? Any ideas on how I can get strips to work?
Rasa Malaysia
Strips should be fine, if they are not too skinny.