Slow Cooked Pork Belly

This slow cooked pork belly is simple, fool-proof and completely delicious! Twice-cooking the pork makes it succulent and fall-apart tender, with the perfect, crispy crackling. Served with a sticky, spiced citrus sauce and your choice of sides, it is guaranteed to impress. And it is much easier to make than you’d think!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Slow cooking the pork belly renders the fat to make the meat incredibly succulent and melt-in-your-mouth tender
• Perfect, crunchy, salty and crispy pork crackling
• So delicious and full of aromatic spices
• A “wow factor” dinner with minimal effort
• Versatile. Carve it up for a Sunday roast, or pull it apart with two forks and serve it in tacos, burgers with an Asian inspired slaw, nachos or whatever you like!

Ingredients you will need

** This post contains tips and instructions to achieve the best possible results. The photo above is a great guide for when you are in the supermarket, but for full ingredient quantities and methods, please scroll down to the detailed recipe card below!

• Pork belly is an inexpensive, fatty cut of meat that comes from the underside of the pig, near the loin. It can be purchased from most supermarkets, or from your butcher. This recipe requires a whole piece of pork belly with the bones removed and skin thinly scored (small cuts in the top layers of the skin to help it become crispy). While the skin can be scored at home with a sharp knife, most butchers will happily do this step for you to save time.
• Orange is used in the pork belly sauce. Both the skin and juice are used, so fresh is best. Any type of orange can be used. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the thin strips of peel before juicing.
• Star anise is a star-shaped, aromatic spice with an aniseed flavour that infuses through the meat during the first cook and also flavours the pork belly sauce. It can be found in most supermarkets and Asian grocers. Use whole star anise, rather than ground.
• Chinese five spice is a ground spice mixture containing Chinese cinnamon, star anise, fennel seed, cloves and usually Sichuan pepper. It can be found in most supermarkets and Asian grocers.
• Rock salt is used to draw the moisture from the skin to make crispy crackling. Regular salt can be substituted, if this is what you have on hand.

Step by step guide

For best results, the pork belly should be left out in the fridge overnight before cooking, to dry out the skin. Just pop it into a container and leave it uncovered overnight, where possible. Before doing this, use a sharp knife to score the skin (or ask your butcher to do this). Be careful not to cut through to the fat or meat layers.

This pork belly is twice cooked, first over a water bath and then roasted in a slow oven to make it fall-apart tender.

First Cook;

Rub the Chinese five spice and olive oil over the meat (not the skin) and use a paper towel to press and dry out the skin. 

Place the pork on a rack that fits in a large roasting pan containing water, star anise and onions. The water bath keeps the meat tender and infuses it with the star anise. The water level should not touch the bottom of the pork belly.

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Use aluminium foil to build up “walls” along the sides of the pork belly, about 1 inch above the top.

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Cover the pork skin with rock salt (this will be removed after the first cook).

Slow cook as per the recipe instructions below. Once cooked, remove the salt from the pork skin and reserve the star anise pieces to make the sauce.

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Second cook;

Place the pork belly onto an oven tray covered with baking paper and return it to the oven for the final cook. The second cook makes the meat even more tender, and this is also the time to finish the crackle.

In the last ten minutes of roasting, turn the heat up and place the pork belly under the grill/broiler to puff and crisp up the skin.

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For the pork belly sauce;

Simmer all of the sauce ingredients together for around 10-15 minutes, until the sauce reduces and thickens slightly. Strain the sauce into a jug and use it to serve with the pork pieces.

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Full ingredient list and instructions are found in the recipe card below.

Expert tips

• For best results, start the day before you want to serve your pork. Drying the pork skin in the fridge overnight makes super crispy skin!
• Finely scoring the pork skin, either in straight or crisscrossed lines makes all the difference, resulting in the signature puffy and crisp crackling you know and love. If you are not confident in scoring the skin yourself, ask your butcher to do it for you
• When scoring the skin, be careful not to cut through to the fat or meat layers. (Doing this will make the meat juices seep into the skin, making it wet and prevent crisping.)
• Keep an eye on the water level in the pan during the first cook. There should still be water at the end of the 2.5 hours. If it starts to reduce too much, carefully add a little more to prevent the onion and bottom of the pan from burning.
• During the grilling/broiling step to crisp up the crackling, ensure that the pork isn’t too close to the grill/heat element. If it’s too close, the top of the crackling will start to burn before it has crisped.
• The meat will shrink as it cooks and serves between 6-8 people, depending on your desired size. You can increase the weight to serve more people, or cook two bellies side by side if required.
• The skin needs to be completely dry before cooking, or it won’t crisp. Use a paper towel to remove any excess moisture from the skin before adding the salt.

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Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in January 2019, but was re-published with new information and photos in September 2021.

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