This Sticky Chinese Pork Belly is one of my absolute favourite recipes on the blog. Check out my three step process for pork that’s meltingly tender, with a crispy exterior and gloriously sticky/sweet/spicy coating.
I wonder how many recipes I’ve published with sticky in the title…
Sticky chicken stir fry, Gingerbread cake with Sticky Whisky glaze, sticky Asian sea bass this sticky pork belly and AT LEAST ten others (just did a quick count). I’m all about the sticky. Just call me sticky Nicky.
Actually don’t. That sounds weird.
I sometimes like to kid myself and call it caramelized – like this ‘caramelized beef brisket‘. But at the end of the day, I just mean coated in some kind of sugar and then cooked until you reach the dark brown, shiny stage, creating an intense flavour that takes whatever you’ve just made to a whole new level. How could anything finished in that way not taste amazing?
For this recipe, the sticky layer is added right at the end. Don’t be fooled though. Just because the pork hasn’t been marinating for hours, doesn’t mean it’s not going to taste amazing (I confused myself with double negatives there, but I’m basically saying it tastes amazing even though we’re only glazing at the end).
📋 What do we need?
For the slow-cooked pork belly
For the sticky glaze
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- This pork actually has three layers of flavour. The first coming from being slow-cooked in a pan for 2 hours with stock, garlic, ginger, rice wine and a little sugar:
- The second layer comes from being crisped in a pan with a little vegetable oil and seasoning (it’s actually hard not to just stop right here and eat it from the pan like this).
- The final layer coming from the soy/chilli/sugar/lemongrass and a couple of other ingredients that are stirred together, then poured over the fried pork, before bubbling away until thick and glossy.
👩🍳PRO TIP The fat can spit quite a bit at the frying stage so we use a splatter screen/guard (<<– affiliate link) to prevent hot oil spitting out all over the place.
🍽️ What to serve it with
That’s it. Three layers of flavour in a simple recipe that really does take minimal effort.
🍲 More fantastic Chinese recipes
Stay updated with new recipes!
Subscribe to the newsletter to hear when I post a new recipe. I’m also on YouTube (new videos every week) and Instagram (behind-the-scenes stories & beautiful food photos).
Sticky Chinese Pork Belly
Ingredients
Slow Cooked Pork Belly:
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) rindless pork belly slices chopped in half (each piece being approx. the length of your index finger)
- 1 litre (4 1/4 cups) hot chicken stock
- 1 thumb sized piece of ginger peeled and minced (or 1 tbsp of ginger puree)
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Glaze:
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- pinch salt and pepper
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger peeled and minced
- 1 red chilli finely chopped
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp lemon grass paste
To Serve:
- chopped spring onions
- chopped red chillies
Instructions
- Add pork belly slices, stock, ginger, garlic, rice wine, and sugar to a heavy-based pan. I use a cast iron casserole pan.1 kg (2.2 lbs) rindless pork belly slices, 1 litre (4 1/4 cups) hot chicken stock, 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp rice wine, 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Bring to the boil, then place a lid on, turn down the heat and simmer for 2 hours.
- Turn off the heat, remove the pork from the pan and pat it dry using kitchen towels. You can reserve the liquid if you like (Perfect for a Thai or Chinese noodle soup).
- Chop the pork into bite sized chunks.
- In a small bowl, mix together 1 tbsp of the oil, along with a pinch of salt and pepper, ginger, chilli, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, and lemongrass paste.pinch salt and pepper, 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, 1 red chilli, 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp lemon grass paste, 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil to a frying pan and heat over a medium-high heat.
- Add in the pork, along with a pinch of salt and pepper, and fry, turning regularly, until the pork starts to turn golden. Be careful as the oil can splatter at this stage (I recommend a splatter guard).pinch salt and pepper
- Now pour the glaze over the pork and continue to cook for a couple of minutes, turning the pork often, until the pork looks dark and sticky.
- Remove from the heat and serve. I like to top with a few spring onions and chopped chillies.chopped spring onions, chopped red chillies
Video
Notes
Replace the rice wine with sherry (usually gluten free, but best to check).
Also make sure you use gluten free stock. Vegetarian Option? I haven’t tried this with a meat-like alternative, but my Asian-style cauliflower wings make a great alternative. Can I use my slow cooker? Yes, you can do the first stage in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-7 hours. Keep an eye on the level of liquid and top up with a little more if needed. Nutritional information is per serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was first published in March 2015. Updated in October 2018 and then again in July 2022 with new photos, video and some housekeeping.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
Equipment:
In order to make this recipe you will need:
- A splatter guard/screen – to avoid hot fat spitting when frying the belly pork
- A good Kitchen knife. In the video I use my Leiths knife however I have recently bought this Dalstrong one and love it.
- Chopping Board
- Cast Iron Casserole Dish
- Measuring Jug
- Fying Pan/Skillet or a Wok.
- Wooden or Silicon Coated Spoons. We have just bought these and love them.
- A small mixing bowl to mix the glaze ingredients in. Instead of a mixing bowl we use loads of these for mixing, prepping, and serving.
Desperately seeking belly…….recipe that is. This one stuck. I’m doing it now and I like the simplicity aspect as well as the idea of the fry/ glaze at the end of cooking. I didn’t have lemon grass or lemons so went with orange zest/juice of a small orange. Also added a TBLSP of Mirin……..hope you don’t mind. Now when my wife gets home she’ll have a fine sticky belly supper. I’ll get mine later ’cause I’m going fishing!
Made this last night for the family, everyone else liked it, particularly the kids. I couldn’t help adding some five spice at the fry stage. Next times I’ll use half the veg oil and sugar though, bit too sweet and the pork already has a lot of fat.
Oh this was so good! Thank you for the great recipe. Will definitely make this again, and again, and again…
Just made this dish, it was absolutely delicious! A real hit, will definitely be making this again! 🙂
I’m making these for the 4th time tonight! Wonderful sooper Dooper recipe, thank you so much for sharing…I think I’ll always cook my belly pork like this from now on and ribs aswel xxx
Hi I made this tonight and it was a hit. So sinfully rich. But I wanted to check if the pork belly I got is the right kind or not. It was so incredibly fatty that as soon as I fried it, the frying pan was covered in rendered fat- and it was very hot so I quickly had an erupting volcano on my hands. Fortunately I avoided a fire, finished the frying (almost deep frying by that point), then drained the fat before adding the sauce. Then even more fat rendered so the sauce never fully reduced. That said, this was incredibly yummy- but incredibly fatty. Did I do something wrong?
This looks really good! You managed to get it sticky and yummy. I wonder if the skin is still crispy, looks it.
Thanks for sharing. As someone who has only been cooking about two years this recipe was pretty hard. The pork didn’t fry in the pan, it just burned to the bottom and then the top part steamed and stayed moist… not sure if I used the wrong pan. Could you upload a video of this!? Thanks.. I’ll get it eventually…
Hi Drew, sorry this one didn’t work out perfectly for you. Do you mean it burned during the slow cooking stage? or during the frying in oil stage?
If it was the slow-cooking stage, it’s a good idea to check every so often, especially if you’re not using a non-stick pan.
Great idea about the video! I’m getting my kitchen renovated at the moment, so I’m holding off on most video creation right now, but this will be a great recipe to video once the new kitchen is in 🙂
Good on you for getting into cooking – it’s such a brilliant skill to have under your belt!
i made this last night and it was Ah-maze-ING!
the pork was falling apart when we finished slow cooking it, so it was sort of a “pulled pork” looking dish. either way, the flavor tastes so authentic.
we’re making this dish next time we have guests over!
thank you for sharing this. I’ve pinned it and will share with friends… well maybe not. (i might keep this ‘my’ little secret recipe ;-p )
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Jessica! Thanks for letting me know how it went 🙂
Just made it, eating now. Very tasty 🙂 thanks for sharing. I added some sirarcha and mange tout and a pinch of 5 spice, but i’m sure would have been just as delicious without.
Ooh nice additions – I might go for that myself next time 🙂