Crispy Pork Belly with Sriracha Glaze
This roasted pork belly produces a crackling, crispy skin and tender meat. It’s then flavored with an optional honey sriracha glaze.
I told you that I was going to experiment more with making pork belly. After much research and learning after I made crispy pork belly, I am very much in love with this one.
The pork meat is tender and flavorful. The skin is thick and ridiculously crunchy. I also added a sriracha honey glaze for some extra flavor, but it’s really optional. The skin has a spice rub so it tastes great on its own.
It also tastes delicious with the glaze, but as a result, the subtle meat flavor comes doesn’t come through as much. You might want to use the remaining glaze for dipping. I didn’t want to over-marinate the meat and make the dish too salty.
This does need a little extra prep work, but the actual making of it is really easy and I’m so excited to be able to make crispy roasted pork belly at home.
Next up, rolled stuffed pork belly!
Crispy Pork Belly with Sriracha Glaze
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork belly
For the Marinade
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
For the Spice Rub
- 2-3 tbsp five spice powder
For the Honey Sriracha Glaze
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp sriracha sauce
- 1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- The night before, score the pork belly skin, careful not to cut into the meat, but you do want to cut deeply into the skin. The skin is scored by slicing lines diagonally across, about 1 inch apart, and then slicing lines diagonally the opposite way (see photo above). Rub spice powder onto the skin (about 1-2 tbsp), making sure to rub on the surface and the crevices.
- In a bowl, mix marinade ingredients. Using a pan that just fits the pork belly, pour in the marinade and then put in the pork belly. You only want the marinade to cover the meat and not touch the skin. Place in fridge, uncovered, overnight, so that the skin is able to dry out.
- On the day of cooking, preheat oven to 375°F. Completely line a roasting pan with foil for easier clean-up. Pour water in about 1/2 in deep. Rub an additional 1 tbsp of spice powder onto pork belly skin. Place a rack in the roasting pan and put pork belly on top, making sure it doesn't touch the water. Gently use additional foil to tent the top of the pork belly. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes until meat is finished cooking.
- Remove pork belly from oven and remove foil tent. If your pork belly is uneven in height, prop something under the lower parts so that it is an even height to help the pork belly skin crisp evenly. Turn heat up to 425°F and place pork belly back into the oven. Bake for another 15-20 minutes until all the skin blisters. Watch carefully to make sure skin does not burn and overcook. The skin needs to blister to stay crunchy.
- If desired, make and brush skin with glaze before serving. The pork belly is flavorful on its own as well. The glaze adds some extra flavor to the skin, but it also overpowers the subtle meat flavor so the meat might taste a little bland, and you may want to reserve some glaze for dipping if you use the glaze. To make the glaze, add honey, soy sauce and sriracha to a small saucepan and bring to a low boil. Completely dissolve cornstarch in water in a small bowl and then add to saucepan. Keep the glaze at a low boil and stir until sauce thickens.
Whoa! That sauce is fire! I love it! I was not able to achieve a tender pork belly piece but the skin was crispy.
I will be trying again!
Thank you for sharing!
I’m glad the skin turned out well!
I tired this pork belly recipe today and it turned out Amazing! Thanks so much for it .
Ps…I didn’t even have time to marinate it the previous nite and it still came out lip smacking.
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
OMG – that skin looks so good!
What other spice would you recommend for the rub? I’m asking because I don’t like the flavor of 5-spice….
hmm, i think any spice rub you enjoy should work.
This looks super yummy Kirbie, looks better than what’s served at many Asian restaurants 😉 the glaze really brings out the color!
thank you! I was pretty pleased with how this turned out. and i do love how the glaze looks too!
Mmm, I love the crispy skin – looks so good! Haven’t seen a recipe before where the pork was cooked with a water bath. I’d have to try that to see if the pork turns out to be more tender. I like eating my pork belly with Thai sweet chili sauce.
I think it does help with the pork being tender, though I’ve never actually tried it without the water below. but since it’s roasting for so long, it makes sense.
Ooooh the crispy crust you got on that is unreal. I don’t love the soft part of pork belly because I think the texture is a little too jelly-like (i am a child when it comes to weird meat textures) but I loooove crispy skin and yours is just about the crispiest I’ve seen!
it’s a lot easier to achieve than I thought. the oven does all the work! def try it out. I plan on making many more!
Absolute perfection! Seriously need these soon!!
thanks, i was really happy with this recipe
This looks insanely good!!!
thanks! i might have eaten way too much of it…it was delicious though =)
OMG, this looks sooooo good! Where do you get your pork belly around town?
I got this at Ranch99 because it happened to be on sale and they come in pre-sliced packages. I might experiment with some other markets next time though.