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Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)

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Sweet and sticky, this melt in your mouth beer braised pork belly is simple to make and incredibly flavourful. Served it with potatoes, noodles or rice. East meets West comfort food right there!

Chinese style beer braised pork belly in a cast iron pan served with fries and noodles

Whenever I go to the market and pick up a pork belly, I often think it’s going to be turned into a simple bacon or some form of crackling something but today was going to be different because I was craving a saucy meal which rice and the only thing I had in the fridge was a can of beer. Today is going to be a good day.

Is this super traditional? Nope – the traditional Chinese braised pork belly recipe doesn’t usually have garlic and onions and most definitely not beer but caramelized garlic and onions add another dimension of flavour which go fantastic with pork belly. The final dish has a sweet, sticky and flavourful dish with hints of bitterness from the beer to offset the sweetness.

 

 

INGREDIENTS FOR BEER BRAISED PORK BELLY

Ingredients for Chinese style Beer Braised Pork Belly laid out mise en place

  • Pork Belly – Try to use pork belly for this recipe. It may seem a bit fatty but the texture from the fat is melt in the mouth and melds with the sauce.
  • Beer – For the beer, I used a dark beer but that is only because I enjoy the hint of bitterness to it. If you prefer something less bitter, you can use a light beer. A few people have made this with dark beers (stouts and porters) and found it incredibly bitter. Since beers have different IBU (International Bitterness Scale), I recommend using a beer that you enjoy drinking or a light or medium beer – unless you enjoy the bitterness of dark beers.
  • Broth – I like to use beef broth for this because it is a bit more robust in flavour but you can definitely substitute it with any type of broth.
  • Soy Sauce/Dark Soy Sauce – For the regular soy sauce, I like to use light soy sauce. The dark soy sauce is used mainly for dark rich color, you can omit it if you can’t find it or you can find it online here.
  • Rice Vinegar – Rice vinegar is lighter than regular white vinegar and has more flavour. If you cannot find it, you can substitute it with half the amount of apple cider vinegar.
  • Chinese Cooking Wine – You can use either the Chinese white rice cooking wine or the dark Shaoxing Cooking wine for this recipe. If you can’t find either of them you can use dry sherry or find it online here.
  • Chinese Five Spice Powder – This ingredient cannot be omitted or substituted since it gives this dish its flavour.
  • Chinese Yellow Rock Sugar – For the sugar I used Chinese yellow rock sugar because it gives the meat and sauce that glossy sheen. It cooks down almost syrupy which is one of the traits of a good braised pork belly. This can be substituted with regular sugar.

 

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

  1. Slice up the ginger and roughly smash the garlic.
  2. Cut the pork belly into 2cm x 3cm chunks. Don’t cut them too thin or it will melt away and there won’t be much to eat!
  3. Brown the pork belly. Add in the onions, ginger and garlic to brown as well as this will give it even more flavour.
    Note: When you brown pork belly it splatters – a lot. I’m pretty sure I have splatters of grease on my ceiling – occupational hazard right? To alleviate this issue I had to literally hold up the lid like a shield against the pot and deflect the oil splatters away from me. If you foodies out there have a better method, give me a shout! 🙂
  4. Add all the braising liquids and spices into the pan and set the stove to high and bring everything to a vigorous boil and boil everything for 15 minutes.
    Cast iron pan with browned pork belly and beer in preparation to make beer braised pork belly
  5. Once it has boiled for 15 minutes, reduce the heat to medium low and braise for 1 hour and 20 minutes. A lot of fat will render out of the pork belly, skim off the fat before serving.
  6. Serve it up with white rice, plain noodles or roasted potatoes\mashed potatoes (Yep, potatoes! We liked it with fries!)

3 DIFFERENT WAYS TO ENJOY THIS BRAISED PORK BELLY!

Chinese style beer braised pork belly being eaten with a bowl of noodles and a side of fries

  • Rice – The easiest way to serve this is with a side of rice. The rice absorbs the sauce and it’s an easy, comforting meal!
  • Noodles – I also like to make this with noodles. You can use any type of noodles for this recipe. Boil it the way according to the instructions and top it with the pork belly and sauce!
  • Potatoes – You can serve this with roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes but my personal favourite is dipping fries into it.

 

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Chinese style beer braised pork belly in a cast iron pan served with fries and noodles

Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)

★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Joyce | Pups with Chopsticks
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 90 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 Servings 1x
  • Category: Main
  • Cuisine: American, Chinese
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Description

Sweet and sticky, this melt in your mouth beer braised pork belly is simple to make and incredibly flavourful.

Scale

Ingredients

Toppings (Optional)

  • green onions (finely chopped)
  • toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Slice the ginger and onions and roughly smash the garlic
  2. Cut the pork belly into 2cm x 3cm chunks. (Don’t cut them up too thin else they will melt away into nothing!)
  3. In a skillet or heavy bottomed pot, set the heat to medium and add in the pork belly to start browning it. (Be careful at this point. Pork belly splatters a lot! Use a lid as a shield to deflect some of that hot oil away from you :))
  4. When you have browned the pork belly halfway through, add in the onions, garlic and ginger to brown them as well.
  5. Once all the pork belly has been browned, add in the five spice, beer, rice vinegar, broth, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, shaoxing cooking wine, sugar.
  6. Set the stove to high and bring everything to a vigorous boil and boil it for 15 minutes
  7. Once everything has boiled for 15 minutes, set the stove to medium low to low heat. You want the braising liquid to be doing a low rolling boil. Braise 1 hour and 20 minutes.
  8. You’ll know it’s ready when the sauce is syrupy looking and the liquid should have reduced by almost half the amount you started with. If it hasn’t reached that syrupy consistency, continue to cook it for another 5-10 minutes.
  9. Serve with white rice, plain noodles or roasted potatoesmashed potatoes (we liked fries! 🙂 )

Notes

  • IMPORTANT UPDATE: Update 08/29/18: A few people have made this with dark beers (stouts and porters) and found it incredibly bitter. Since beers have different IBU (International Bitterness Scale), I recommend using a beer that you enjoy drinking or a light or medium beer – unless you enjoy the bitterness of dark beers.
  • During the simmering process a lot of the fat will render out of the pork belly. Skim off the fat so there isn’t a layer of grease before serving.
  • Pork belly splatters a lot during the browning process! Use a lid as a shield to deflect some of that hot oil away from you
  • An alternative to pork belly that this also works with is pork ribs or pork hocks! 🙂 Cut up the pork ribs into individual ribs and use the same directions.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Serving
  • Calories: 1299 kcal
  • Sugar: 11 g
  • Sodium: 1523 mg
  • Fat: 120 g
  • Carbohydrates: 18 g
  • Protein: 23 g

Keywords: braised pork belly

Disclaimer: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, however I provide these links to make items easier to find if you cannot purchase this locally and I would never recommend anything I don’t own myself or highly recommend. I would prefer you buy your items locally if possible to support your local shops (and chances are they are cheaper locally as well!) 🙂

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I love the sound of this recipe a definite will make recipe…Thank you for sharing and thank you for the follow 🙂

    Reply

  2. I’m in the middle of making this and I can’t find on the recipe to use the 2 cups water in the ingredients list!

    Reply

    • Oh no! I’m so sorry I forgot that! ☹️. You would add the water on step 5 when you add all the liquids in.
      I have updated the instructions so it’s more clear in the future. Thank you for letting me know!
      I hope you enjoyed it!

      Reply

  3. I’m pretty sure if we knew each other, we would be BFF’s. Seriously, you knocked this out of the park and gave me the courage to take on pork belly.

    BTW, GREAT call on the ginger.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • haha you’re too kind! Right on! 😀 I need more BFF’s to share food with! haha 🙂

      Reply

  4. Wow this looks super tasty! My mouth is watering – I bet the beer gives it such a nice rich flavor. I can’t wait to try this!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • The beer gives this dish a slight bitterness and earth rich flavour! 🙂 There are days where I use this same recipe and use lighter beers as well – so it’s versatile with the type of beer you choose to flavour it in! 😀

      Reply

    • Dark soy is magic on meats! 😀 The colouring is definitely from there.

      Reply

  9. You had me at pork belly. Beer braised puts it over the top. This looks just ridiculously good.

    Thanks for the tip about dark soy as well. I did not know that.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Aye, with dark soy it is ever a necessity but it gives food a very nice colour. 🙂 and we eat with our eyes sometimes.

      Reply

  10. ahh this looks so good!! i love pork belly (fried, roasted, braised, idc bc i love it prepped any way). and who cares that the garlic and onion aren’t traditional? they always make things better :3

    Reply

    • Yes they do don’t they? <3 Love garlic and onions in everything especially when they have caramelized!

      Reply

    • Would you believe we were fighting over the noodles after a while? The sauce is what makes the meal! 🙂

      Reply

    • Yes! That’s exactly why it was made here! haha 🙂 Quite a cozy meal.

      Reply

    • I’m starting to feel like ginger and garlic make everything amazing haha 🙂 Especially when it’s toasted.

      Reply

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