Meltingly tender pork belly that is finished with a sticky honey, garlic and chili glaze with plenty of lemongrass flavor.
By Nicky Corbishley
I sometimes like to kid myself and call this recipe caramelized – like this ‘caramelized beef brisket. But at the end of the day, I just mean coated in some kind of sugar and then cooked until you reach the dark brown, shiny stage, creating an intense flavour that takes whatever you’ve just made to a whole new level. How could anything finished in that way not taste amazing? 
This pork actually has three layers of flavour. The first coming from being slow-cooked in a pan for 2 hours with stock, garlic, ginger, rice wine and a little sugar.
The second layer coming from being crisped in a pan with a little vegetable oil and seasoning (it’s actually hard not to just stop right here and eat it from the pan like this).
The final layer coming from the soy/chili/sugar/lemongrass and a couple of other ingredients – which are poured over the fried pork and bubbled until the sauce is thick and glossy. That’s it. Three layers of flavour in a simple recipe that really does take minimal effort.
PrintSlow-Cooked Pork Belly with Garlic and Chili Glaze
- Yield: 4-5 servings (served with rice and veg) 1x
Description
Meltingly tender pork belly that is finished with a sticky honey, garlic and chili glaze with plenty of lemongrass flavor.
Ingredients
Slow Cooked Pork Belly
- 1kg pork belly sliced, chopped in half (each piece being approx. the length of your index finger)
- 1litre hot chicken/veg stock
- 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped in half
- 1 tbsp. rice wine
- 1 tbsp. caster sugar
Glaze
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced
- 1 red chilli
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 3 tbps soy sauce
- 1 tsp lemon grass
Instructions
- Add all the slow cooked pork belly ingredients to a pan (not the glaze ingredients). Bring to the boil, then place a lid on, turn down the heat and simmer for 2 hours.
- Turn off the heat and drain the pork. You can reserve the liquid if you like (Perfect for a Thai or Chinese noodle soup).
- Chop the pork into bite sized chunks. Add 1 tbsp. of oil in a frying pan, and then mix the remaining glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Heat the oil and add in the pork, salt and pepper, frying on a high heat until the pork starts to turn golden. Now pour the glaze over the pork and continue to cook until the pork looks dark and sticky. Remove from the heat and serve with some rice and green veg.
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Chinese Inspired
i have cooked this three times,LOVE IT.
I use the reduced stock and add to a wonton soup recipe.DELICIOUS.
cheers Gary
Could you put this in the slow cooker up until the glaze bit?
I have never cooked Pork Belly before and normally stay away from three steps foods over a couple of hours, but this looked easy and tasty so why not give it a go. It was amazing and super easy to make. The glaze happens real fast because of the sugar in step three. Had friends over and they loved it so much I had to print out the recipe for them to take home. Family all loved it as well.
Stunning Really enjoyable and worth the effort of time Fried the belly pork in sesame oil A new favourite Thanks
I tried this today but it didn’t quite work. When I went to take the pork out of the pot after 2 hours, it was falling to bits and turned out more like pulled pork with bits of skin through it. It couldn’t be crisped properly because it wasn’t in proper chunks. The taste was there but it was very dry. Am going to try it again but won’t cook it for quite as long (maybe only 1 hour or so) in the hope that I can glaze firm chunks that really crisp up! Plus I think I’ll make a bigger quantity of glaze to give me more of a sauce.
This is amazing. I will cook this again and again. Thank you!!
What an awesome recipe!
Ok, this is officially amazing!