Pork Belly Recipes: Best Ways to Prep & Cook in 2024

When properly prepared, pork belly is an indulgent treat with juicy meat and crispy skin. While its high fat content makes it less desirable for people maintaining a balanced diet, many enjoy pork belly as an occasional, delicious cut of meat. 

Pork belly is flavor-packed and delicious on its own with a couple simple hacks. Salt the meat and let it sit – uncovered – overnight in the fridge. This removes moisture, allowing you to get that desirable crispy crust. Then, you can slowly roast the pork to gently cook it through before blasting it at a high temperature to get the skin crackling.

This simple pork belly preparation can be added to ramen or eaten with a salad, but there are many other ways to implement it. With the help of our in-house nutritionist, I've compiled some easy recipes that combine pork belly with various sauces and side dishes. Read on to check them out!

1. Glazed Pork Belly & Couscous

Nutrition

Ingredients 

• 8 ounces of pork belly

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 pound of couscous

• 2 corn ears

• 4 ounces of mushrooms

• 1 cucumber

• 2 scallions

• 1 small piece of ginger

• 1 tablespoon of sweet white miso paste

• 1 ounce of olive oil

• 3 tablespoons of soy-miso sauce

• 1 tablespoon of salted cooking wine

• 2 teaspoons of honey

• 2 teaspoons of gochujang (spicy paste)

• 1 teaspoon of furikake

Kitchenware You Need

Prep & Cooking Method

1. Prepare the produce. Wash and dry veggies and mushrooms. Clear the corn of silks, slice the scallions (separate the bottom from the top), cucumber (into rounds) and mushrooms, and peel and chop the ginger to get 2 teaspoons. 

2. Prepare the pork belly. Wash and dry the meat and cut it into half an inch pieces crosswise. 

3. Combine the cucumber and salted cooking wine (mirin). Pour water into a medium bowl to fill about 3/4 of it, add salt, and bring to a boil. Add the cucumber and mirin and season with salt and pepper. Set aside and stir occasionally for the next 10 minutes or more. 

4. Make the sauce. Heat olive oil and pour it in a large bowl. Mix in the soy-miso sauce, miso paste, and 1 tablespoon of water and whisk everything. Make the glaze in another bowl by combining the honey, a tablespoon of water, and gochujang to taste. 

5. Cook the eggs. Heat the water to the boiling point and cook the eggs to your desired doneness. Remove them with a slotted spoon and gently place into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

6. Cook the veggies. Heat olive oil in, preferably, a non-stick pan on medium-high. Cook mushrooms for a few minutes and, subsequently, add ginger, scallion bottoms, and corn kernels. Season with salt and pepper. After another few minutes, mix the pan's content with the miso sauce. 

7. Cook the couscous. Measure 1 to 1 ratio of water to couscous, pour the water into a medium saucepan, and bring it to a boil. Add the couscous and, optionally, a little olive oil and salt and stir. Remove the saucepan from heat, cover it with a lid, and let the couscous stand for 5 minutes.

8. Cook the pork belly. Place the pork belly into the heated pan and cook for several minutes flipping sides until it gets brown. Remove any excess fat once you transfer it to a paper towel.

9. Glaze the pork belly. Return the pork belly to the same pan, accompanying it with the gochujang glaze. Cook and stir until the mix thickens. Once done, arrange the meal, garnish with furikake and green tops of the scallions, top with the marinated cucumber, and enjoy. 

Overview

You'll love this meal if your love of pork belly matches your love of prep and cooking. The dish requires a fair amount of prep and cleanup, so you'll probably want to avoid it on a busy day. But if you have some helping hands, you can make this dish fairly quickly, probably in less than an hour. 

Since the pork itself takes so much effort, you may wish to replace the couscous with an easier carb. If you have a rice cooker, rice is a no-brainer here. A simple piece of bread or toast is also perfectly acceptable. 

2. Slow-Roasted Crispy Pork Belly

Nutrition

Ingredients 

• 2 pounds of pork belly

• One and a half teaspoons of sesame oil

• Half a teaspoon of fennel powder

• Salt and pepper

Kitchenware You Need

Prep & Cooking Method

1. Prepare the meat. Pat the pork belly with paper towels, salt it all over, and place the meat, uncovered, in the fridge overnight to dry. The next day, drizzle flesh with a teaspoon of sesame oil and add a bit over half a teaspoon of the fennel powder, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture all over the flesh, cracks, and crevices. 

2. Wrap the pork belly into foil. Place the piece of meat in the middle of the foil with the skin up. Enclose the sides to form an open box with the pork belly as snug as possible. Pat the skin dry with paper towels and season it with the remaining oil and salt. 

3. Roast the meat in the preheated oven at 285°F for 2:30 hours. After 1:30 hours, tighten the foil around the shrunk pork belly and continue roasting. When 2:30 hours elapse, take the meat out of the oven.

4. Roast the pork belly at a higher temperature. Increase the heat to 465°F and place the meat without foil this time on the rack (optional) above the oven tray. If you don't have the rack, use the tray instead. Roast the meat at high for another 30 minutes, but flip sides after 15 minutes. Lastly, remove the meat from the oven and let it cool at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Overview

Slow-Roasted Crispy Pork is your way out if you have side dishes but lack a main course. With 2 pounds of pork belly, it's enough to feed a large family or to make meals for several days. If you do everything according to the instructions above, you'll get a juicy pork belly with crispy skin that should satisfy everyone. 

What I also like about this meal is that prep and cleanup are minimal. What's more, cooking is mostly hands-free once you complete the prep work. That way, you can do other things while the meal is cooking. 

3. Sticky Chinese Pork Belly

Note that it takes a few hours to cook the dish, so it may not be the best option for a quick meal. But it gives you the freedom to do something else during the cooking process. 

Nutrition

Ingredients

• 2.2 lbs of rindless pork belly

• 1 liter of hot chicken stock

• 2 thumb-size pieces of ginger

• About a half teaspoon of garlic powder

• 1 tablespoon of rice wine

• 1 tablespoon of superfine sugar

• 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

• Salt and pepper

• 1 red chili

• 2 tablespoons of honey

• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon of lemongrass paste

Kitchenware You Need

Prep & Cooking Method

1. Cook the pork belly. Take a frying pan and mix pork belly, hot chicken stock, one ginger, garlic powder, rice wine, and baker's sugar. Wait until the mixture boils and then lower the heat, place a lid, and simmer for 2 hours. 

2. Dry and cut the pork belly. When you remove the pork from the frying pan, dry it with paper towels and chop it into small, bite-sized pieces. 

3. Make the glaze. Take a small bowl and combine a tbsp of sunflower oil, the remaining ginger, chili, brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, lemongrass paste, salt, and pepper. 

4. Mix the pork and the glaze. Heat the remaining tbsp of sunflower oil in the frying pan over medium-high. Put the pork belly, season with salt and pepper and turn the pieces at regular intervals until they become golden. Add the glaze and turn the pork belly until it turns sticky and dark. Then serve the meal. 

Overview

Sticky Chinese Pork Belly is not a complete meal by itself. This indulgent treatment of pork belly works best alongside some roasted bok choy or a simple salad. The recipe takes a few hours to serve, but the process is seamless and doesn't require constant attention. 

If you seldom cook but don't want to compromise on nutrition, I recommend checking out our highest-rated Asian meal kit delivery services. Most of them deliver balanced meals you can prepare reasonably quickly.

4. Pork Belly Bao

Nutrition

Ingredients

• 1 and a half pounds of skinless pork belly

• 1/2 cup of packed dark brown sugar

• 1/4 cup of tamari

• 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar

• 2 tbsp of hoisin sauce

• 2 minced garlic cloves

• 1 tbsp of finely chopped ginger

• Black pepper (freshly ground)

• 15 bao buns (about 60 g each)

• 2 tbsp of veggie oil

• 4 sliced scallions

• 1 red jalapeno

• 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro leaves

Kitchenware You Need

Prep & Cooking Method

1. Make the marinade. Take a medium bowl and combine tamari, white wine vinegar, hoisin, sugar, ginger, garlic, and pepper. 

2. Prepare the pork belly. Halve the meat, place the foil in the baking dish, and put the pork belly with the fatty side up. Marinate the pork belly and, ideally, let it stay overnight in the fridge. If you don't have that much time, 2 hours would do. 

3. Bake the meat. Heat the oven to 300°F and bake the pork belly for 2 hours. Once you've transferred the meat to a cutting board, pour the cooking liquid into a medium skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until half of the liquid remains, which should last about 15 minutes. 

4. Cook the jalapeno and scallions. Heat the vegetable oil in the small skillet on high and add the produce. Place them on a plate when they become tender. 

5. Coat the pork belly with the sauce. Once you cut the meat into 15 pieces, put them in the skillet with the reduced liquid and flip sides for coating. 

6. Arrange and serve. Put the meat in each bun, season with the scallion-jalapeno mix, garnish with cilantro, and you're set. 

Overview

Pork Belly Bao is an easy meal to prepare, although it takes a bit of time to cook. I also like the generous portions. It's ideal for hosting a party or batch-cooking for the week ahead. 

You can experiment with ingredients to see which combinations work best for you. For example, you can replace white wine vinegar with rice wine vinegar if you have a specialty Asian store nearby and/or tamari with soy sauce to see what works for you better. 

The meal is pretty low calorie considering that pork belly is the main ingredient. To create a balanced meal, add veggies to increase your fiber and micronutrient intake. Pickled carrots are a great addition. For more ideas, I recommend reading our guide on how to eat more veggies. 

5. Spicy Korean Pork Belly

Nutrition

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of pork belly

• A teaspoon and a quarter of granulated garlic

• 4 tablespoons of sugar

• 2 tablespoons of avocado oil

• 4 tablespoons of soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons of any good white wine

• 2 tablespoons of mirin

• 1 cup of gochujang

• 1 onion

• 3 scallions

• 2 tablespoons of veggie oil

• 300g raw quinoa

Kitchenware You Need

Prep & Cooking Method

Note that the first 2 steps take place the day before cooking. 

1. Prepare the pork belly. Wash, dry, and slice the meat into bite-size pieces and set aside. 

2. Make the marinade. In the mixing bowl, combine the avocado oil, sugar, soy sauce, granulated garlic, gochujang, white wine, mirin, and pork belly. Slice the onion into half-moon pieces and cover the mixture, but don't mix with it. Cover the bowl with a lid and put it in the fridge overnight. 

3. Prepare the scallions. Remove roots and slice scallions into thin pieces. Put these veggies in a bowl with water and stir to clean them. Subsequently, drain them and place scallions on a plate lined with paper towels to dry.  

4. Arrange the pork. Heat the skillet, preferably non-stick, on middle-high and add half a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add some of the marinated pork and the corresponding amount of the sliced onion to create an even layer. Refrain from overcrowding the skillet. 

5. Cook the pork belly. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, shaking the skillet at times. The meat is ready when caramelized on one side, which should take several minutes. Then, flip on the other side and repeat. Once the first batch is cooked, repeat the process with the remaining batches. When it’s ready, garnish with scallions and serve. 

6. Cook the quinoa. Pour double the amount of water for the amount of quinoa in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and add the quinoa. When it comes back to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Overview

Spicy Korean Pork Belly is quite high in calories and fat, even compared to other pork belly meals. Because I enjoy the flavors so much, I used some strategies to make it a little healthier.

My favorite healthy hack is to mix roasted broccoli and cauliflower in with the pork belly. The veggies taste delicious with the spicy gochujang sauce, and it allows me to stretch the meal further by relying a bit less on the fatty meat for my calories. I also added some extra nutrition to this dish with quinoa. Despite all of this, it's still an indulgent, high-fat dish. So even if you round it out with some healthy vegetables, it’s best to treat this meal as an occasional treat.

FAQ

How do you cook pork belly so it’s not tough?

The secret to softening pork belly lies in cooking. First, you should cook it at a lower temperature for a longer time. Then increase the heat for a shorter time. For inspiration, see my recipe for Slow-Roasted Crispy Pork Belly.  

What do you serve with pork belly?

You can serve vegetables, like potatoes, spinach, and cauliflower, and grains, like rice, quinoa, and couscous. In the Spicy Korean Pork Belly recipe, for example, quinoa is a side dish.  

Is pork belly the same cut as bacon?

Yes, pork belly is the same cut as bacon, just differently processed. While bacon is a cured piece of meat that contains salt and nitrites for preservation, pork belly is uncured. Check out our Pork Belly Recipes to learn several ways to prepare pork belly.