Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)

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

4.96 from 21 votes

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.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 30

Total Time1 40

Course: Main

Cuisine: American, Chinese

Servings: Servings

Calories: 1299kcal

Author: Joyce Lee

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 (or Shaoxing 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

Instructions

Slice the ginger and onions and roughly smash the garlic (you don't want to finely chop it, else it will burn.)
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, stir in 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder, 1 cup beer, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 3 cups beef broth, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine, 2-3 small Chinese yellow rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons of regular 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.
Once everything is done cooking, drain the layer of oil that is floating at the top by scooping it out carefully with a spoon.
Serve with white rice, plain noodles or roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes or 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