Pork belly bites are a thing of beauty – tender, meaty, crispy and full of flavour – what’s not to like? Incredibly easy to make and a fantastic way to use up leftover pork, this recipe is a must save! Ready to learn how to make an awesome, customisable entree or snack? Read on!
What Are Pork Belly Bites?
Pork belly bites are a relatively new snack and you’ll find it in bars, smoke houses and modern Asian restaurants.
They’re chunks of pre-prepared pork belly that are usually deep fried until crispy and coated in a sticky glaze. The glaze can be anything from hoisin sauced based (which is what this recipe is based on) or BBQ style with hot sauce and BBQ sauce.
Incredibly moreish, crispy on the inside and insanely juicy on the inside, they’re always a winner. An awesome bar snack, they’re great with some cold beers or even served on-top of rice for a main course. Impress your friends with these delicious crispy pork bites and customise the glaze to your taste.
Love pork? Try our Sous Vide Char Siu Pork recipe.
Are Pork Belly Bites Precooked?
Yes! Pork belly bites are made from precooked, or leftover, pieces of pork belly. It’s a fantastic way to use leftover braised or roast pork and makes for an awesome snack.
Generally the skin is removed prior to frying, this results in a better mouthfeel and is slightly healthier!
Note: This recipe contains information on how to precook pork belly in the oven, air fryer, sous vide and in a smoker.
What You’ll Need
To make pork belly bites, you’ll need:
Pork Belly: Boneless, skin-on pork belly is easy to find in most supermarkets. If your pork belly contains bones then you can remove them by using a sharp knife and cutting around them until you can pull them out. I’d advise leaving the skin on and then you can optionally cut it off after it’s cooked.
Hoisin sauce: Hoisin sauce is a great Chinese cooking and dipping sauce. Easy to find in most Western or Asian grocery stores, it’s a versatile sauce that goes really well with pork. You can replace this with BBQ sauce if you want a different taste profile.
Sriracha sauce: Sriracha hot sauce adds a bit of heat and extra umami. Change for Mexican hot sauce if you haven’t got any on hand. If you don’t want any heat you can omit.
Oyster sauce: Oyster sauce adds more umami and helps thicken the sauce even more. Omit if you want a BBQ version.
Dark soy sauce: Dark soy sauce helps darken the glaze and seasons the sauce.
Herbs: I love fresh coriander with Asian style pork belly bites. Try minced chives for an onion flavour or fresh chilli for some more heat!
Lime: This is quite a rich dish so some acidity is needed so I like to use a squeeze of fresh lime juice to add some zing!
Ingredients
Makes enough for 4 people.
- 1kg boneless pork belly
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- Cilantro leaves, as required
- 1/2 lime, as required
How to Make Pork Belly Bites
- The day before you want to eat, cook your pork belly. You can cook it in the oven, air fryer, sous vide or on the smoker. Click on the links to find out how to do this. Once your pork belly is cooked, reserve in the fridge.
- Once you’re ready to eat, slice the pork belly into 2.5cm thick strips and then slice again to create small bites. Reserve in the fridge.
- To make the glaze, add the hoisin, sriracha, oyster and dark soy sauce to a pot and bring to a simmer. Season with sugar and salt if needed. If it’s too thick add a small amount of water. It should be thick enough to coat a back of a spoon but not too thick. Keep the glaze warm.
- Prepare a fryer or a pot of oil by heating the oil to 180c/355f using a thermometer. Add your pork belly bites and fry until they have a golden crust – about 1-2 minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper
- Place the drained pork belly bites into a bowl and add the glaze, toss to coat all the pieces. Serve immediately with cilantro and fresh lime!
Oven
One of the most accessible ways for the home cook is to braise (slow cook in liquid) a big piece of pork belly in the oven. Do this, place the pork belly, into a baking dish with chicken stock and 3 tbsp of light soy sauce. Ensure the pork belly is fully submerged.
Place the covered dish (you can use a lid or aluminium foil) into the oven to braise at 150c/300f for 3 hours. Check to ensure that the meat is tender and falling apart. If it’s not, cook for another 30 minutes. Let the pork cool in the liquid until it’s at room temperature and place into the fridge.
Air Fryer
You can use an air fryer to cook pork belly bites quickly and mess free. They won’t be as crispy as deep fried versions but you can cool them and fry them like with the other methods.
Preheat your air fryer to 200c/400f and place the slices into basket. Cook for 10 minutes and flip. Cook for another 10 minutes and remove. Either serve immediately or go to step 3 of the recipe.
Sous Vide
My favourite way of cooking pork belly in big batches. It’s stressless, odourless and it always comes out perfect. In fact I think it’s probably the best method if you’re intending to cook pork belly just for making bites.
Preheat a water bath with an immersion circulator (I use an Anova Immersion Circulator) to 80c/180f. Cook for 8 hours. Remove and chill the pork in an ice bath.
Smoker
If you want to make more Texas BBQ style pork belly bites then smoking your belly is the way to go.
Smoke your pork belly until it hits a core temperature of 72c/162f. This should take around 4 hours. Wrap the belly in foil and continue to cook for 1.5-2 hours until the core hits 92c/200f. Rest for at least 30 minutes.
