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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.
Won’t the salt make the skin a but too salty? I’ve tried this way before and I’m not sure if it was because the oven wasn’t hot enough or if it was too low on the rack?
Tried the recipe. Salt crust worked great. Garlic was rather too much. Skin was disappointing, crisped up well, but was very very hard. Next try I’ll likely reduce or eliminate the garlic (I don’t recall the sui yook I loved in Singapore being at all garlicky), and would welcome suggestions regarding making the crackling edible.
Could you please send me a picture John?
Done by email.
How do you get the skin to be so thin and smooth? When I do it, it gets super bubbly and it’s crispy but really hard.
Hmmmm I am not sure…maybe you roast it a little shorter?
Hi! I have a 2 pound pork belly….
1) how long should I roast it for with the salt on top? And also roast at 350F?
2) and how long do I roast it for the 2nd part after taking salt layer off? And also roast at 465F?
Please advise! Thanks in advance!
Roast 1hr @ 350 and then 40 mins @ 465
Can you post a pic of what you mean “Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then insert each garlic and push them deep in so they don’t burn.” Sometimes pictures are better than words.
Think of a horizon, the sunset, as horizontal…instead of up and down.
My roast pork turned out perfect using a halogen oven. So easy n hassle free. The taste is to die for ….except I forgot the garlic! Thanks Bee for this awesome recipe.
Hi, Angela. Can you please give me your duration and temperature to cook in a halogen oven? Are they different from the recipe here?
This recipe worked excellent. The salt turned into a crust that was easily removed. The skin crisped up perfectly. Made some crazy good Banh Mi tacos.
my pork belly has a thick tough skin on it above the fatty layer. Do i take this off and put the salt on the fatty layer or keep the skin on?
Skin on.
The skin, turned into crackling in situ, is what makes this dish amazing.
Hi Bee…
five spice powder was composed of any material?
Hi there,
When i click on the link to read the recipe, it says”page cannot be found”. Is there somewhere else i can get the recipe from. This looks delicious !!
The link works fine anyway, here you go: https://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-roast-pork/2/