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    Home » Recipes » Asian Recipes

    Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)

    Sep 25, 2022 • Author: Joyce • 46 Comments • This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    5 from 14 votes
    Chinese Beer Braised Pork Belly

    Sweet and sticky, this melt-in-your-mouth Chinese-style beer braised pork belly is simple to make and incredibly flavorful. Served with potatoes, noodles, or rice.

    Chinese style beer braised pork belly in a cast iron pan served with fries and noodles
    Table of Contents
    • Ingredients for Beer Braised Pork Belly
    • How to Make Chinese Braised Pork Belly
    • How to Serve this Asian Braised Pork Belly
    • More Chinese Recipes You May Like
    • Recipe Card

    Whenever I go to the market and pick up a pork belly, I often think it's going to be turned into 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 flavor which go fantastic with pork belly. The final dish has a sweet, sticky, and flavorful 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 flavor 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 flavor. 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 flavor.
    • 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.

    How to Make Chinese Braised Pork Belly

    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 flavor.
      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 (Yep, potatoes! We liked it with fries!)

    How to Serve this Asian 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 egg fried rice or steamed white 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 favorite is dipping fries into it.

    More Chinese Recipes You May Like

    • Three Cup Chicken (三杯鸡, Taiwanese San Bei Ji)
    • Sweet and Sour Chicken (Hong Kong Style, 咕噜鸡)
    • Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
    • Oven Roasted Five Spice Peking Chicken
    • Sweet and Sticky Crispy Beef
    • Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe (咕噜肉)
    • Spicy Korean Pork Bulgogi
    • Chilli Chicken

    If you made this beer braised pork belly recipe, I want to see! Follow Pups with Chopsticks on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag and hashtag it with @pupswithchopsticks and #pupswithchopsticks. I love to know what you are making!

    Stay connected and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for all of my latest recipes!

    Recipe Card

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

    Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)

    Sweet and sticky, this melt in your mouth beer braised Asian pork belly recipe is simple to make and incredibly flavourful.
    Print Pin Rate Save Recipe Saved!
    Course: Main
    Cuisine: American, Chinese
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
    4 Servings
    5 from 14 votes

    Recipe 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.

    Ingredients
     

    • 2 lbs pork belly
    • 1 onion (sliced)
    • 4 x4 cm ginger (sliced)
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 1 cup beer
    • 3 cups beef broth
    • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
    • 1 tablespoon  Chinese rice cooking wine
    • 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
    • 2-3 small Chinese yellow rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons of regular sugar)

    Toppings (Optional)

    • green onions (finely chopped)
    • toasted sesame seeds
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions
     

    • Slice the ginger and onions and roughly smash the garlic
    • Cut the pork belly into 2cm x 3cm chunks. (Don't cut them up too thin else they will melt away into nothing!)
    • 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, if you have to!)
    • When you have browned the pork belly halfway through, add in the onions, garlic and ginger to brown them as well.
    • 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.
    • Set the stove to high and bring everything to a vigorous boil and boil it for 15 minutes
    • Once everything has boiled for 15 minutes, set the stove to medium-low to low heat and put a lid on the pot. You want the braising liquid to be doing a low rolling boil. Check on the pot at the 45-minute mark to make sure the sauce hasn't reduced to less than half the amount of liquid and that it isn't burning. If the sauce is a syrupy consistency, then it's done. If the sauce hasn't reduced to a syrupy consistency, cook it for another 35 minutes but check on it every 10 minutes. (For a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes)
    • If it still hasn't reached that syrupy consistency, continue to cook it for 5-10 more minutes until the sauce has thickened.
    • Serve with white rice, plain noodles or roasted potatoesmashed potatoes (we liked fries! 🙂 )

    Nutrition

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

    *Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*

    Did you try this recipe?I'd love to hear from you! Let me know how it was and consider giving it a rating! Tag me on Instagram with @pupswithchopsticks to show me!
    Made with ♡ by Joyce | Pups with Chopsticks

    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!) 🙂

    More Asian Recipes

    • Chinese Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp
    • Chinese Stir-Fried Ketchup Shrimp
    • Miso Butter
    • Canh Chua (Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Soup)

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. romain | glebekitchen says

      May 31, 2017 at 7:11 pm

      5 stars
      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
      • Joyce says

        June 04, 2017 at 12:52 pm

        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
    2. heather (delicious not gorgeous) says

      May 30, 2017 at 2:06 pm

      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
      • Joyce says

        June 04, 2017 at 12:50 pm

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

        Reply
    3. Maria Closetohome says

      May 26, 2017 at 12:36 pm

      I have never cooked pork belly before. Looks like this is quite the feast with dipping of the fries too

      Reply
      • Joyce says

        May 29, 2017 at 10:54 am

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

        Reply
    4. Anjali says

      May 26, 2017 at 12:14 pm

      Love the chinese flavors in any dish!

      Reply
    5. Lindsay Cotter says

      May 26, 2017 at 11:45 am

      5 stars
      This looks amazing! Love the flavor combinations you used! Perfect date night in dinner!

      Reply
      • Joyce says

        May 29, 2017 at 10:53 am

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

        Reply
    6. Luci's Morsels says

      May 26, 2017 at 11:30 am

      5 stars
      This pork looks so delicious and juicy! I am totally drooling over this recipe. I am trying this one ASAP! Thank you for sharing. Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.

      Reply
    7. [email protected] says

      May 26, 2017 at 11:16 am

      This recipe sounds like it would be so flavorful with the ginger and garlic. Your pictures definitely make this look mouth watering!

      Reply
      • Joyce says

        May 29, 2017 at 10:49 am

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

        Reply
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