Crispy pork belly is an amazing flavor explosion of multiple layers of the pork belly cut. Soft tender meat layered and cooked with the natural fat layers and then finished with crispy and crunchy layer on top. Cooking it in an air fryer saves so much time and fuss.
I love any kind of pork dish but one of my most favorites is Crispy Pork Belly, Siu Yuk is the name in Cantonese, meaning roasted meat. Pork is one of the most flavorful meats available to us. It is one meat that you don’t even have to add a lot seasoning to. The natural flavor alone is perfect and juicy. The most favorite place I love to purchase Crispy Pork Belly is at the Deli in the Asian Markets. It is made fresh every day and I can’t even get home in the car without nibbling on it during the ride. Once I discovered that I could replicate the deli Crispy Pork Belly in my Air Fryer I was ecstatic.
Pork Belly is of course from the belly of the Pig. The Ribs and loin are removed and what is left is the succulent rich fatty layers of belly meat, fat and skin. This cut of meat is used in so many world cuisines and is also smoked to make bacon. Ancient China first domesticated Pigs for food around 6000 BC and then the farming practice expanded into Eurasia. There are so many great Asian dishes that I just love. Don’t worry I will be making many of them and posting all those delicious recipes.
Around 5 years ago I did attempt to make Crispy Pork Belly in the oven. It was a long process. I had to constantly take the meat out and prick the skin every 30 mins for 2 to 3 hours. It was tedious but worth the effort as it tasted magnificent. I then decided that I would leave the cooking of this great dish to the professionals until I received my Ninja Air Fryer. I started surfing the web for recipe ideas to use with the Air Fryer and voila I came across a few recipes for Air Fryer Crispy Pork Belly. I remember I reading as many as I could find and realized it is the same prep steps and ingredients as the oven version. I had already attempted that previously, so I knew I had this in the bag. My grandkids will verify that I made a delicious and authentic tasting dish.
My favorite Air Fryer is the Ninja Air Fryer. You can follow the link that is posted in the equipment section at the end of this recipe and also throughout the recipe post. I have referred this Air Fryer to many people and they just love it as well. Using the Air Fryer is so much easier and way less cooking time than the oven. Tedious cooking steps are really minimalized. Instead of 2 to 3 hours to cook, it only takes 40 minutes In the Air Fryer, and you don’t have to continuously prick the skin during cooking time as you will soon find out in the instructions you will have to prick the skin a lot during preparation. Unfortunately making this dish does take quite a bit of prep time. The skin needs to be dehydrated well so that you can get that irresistible crispy skin.
I also do an extra step with my Air Fryer recipe that other bloggers I found online didn’t do. I pre-simmer the pork belly in a pot of water to remove impurities. After I simmer it and skim the foam off, I dry the slab and proceed to clean the skin and then prick it. The skin is much easier to clean with tweezers or a sharp blade knife as the skin is soft and makes the process of removing any hairs that might still be present in the skin. I use a special tool to help with the many pricks that need to be applied to the skin. It is called a Pork Belly Skin Crispy Hand Tool Hammer. You may also just use a normal fork for this or there are many similar versions called Meat Tenderizer on Amazon. It will just take you a bit longer to prick the entire surface with a fork than with a Pork Belly Skin Crispy Hand Tool Hammer or Meat Tenderizer as they have multiple points to penetrate the skin at one time.
The ingredients are the same for Air Fryer and Oven methods. The first Ingredient is the Slab of Pork Belly. Salt and Vinegar are used to dehydrate the skin and 5 Spice powder is used to season the meat only. Do not allow the 5 Spice powder to get on the skin, it could cause the skin to burn. I usually serve this with other side dishes as stir fry rice or noodles. It’s one of my most favorite dish to make and eat. My grandkids ask for it all the time and of course I love making it for them. The sound of the crunchy skin makes us all smile and moan at the table. If you have the patience to go through the preparation steps, I promise you will be greatly rewarded after all your hard work and effort that you will always make it for friends and family and even just for yourself.
A good habit to have is to ensure that you have all the ingredients on hand for your recipe. There is only a few ingredients needed other than the meat. White vinegar, Salt and Five Spice powder. I always have these on hand in my pantry. Table Salt or Kosher Salt is fine for this recipe.
Rinse pork belly under tap and place it in a large pot, cover with water just above the skin. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes, skim any foam with a large spoon repeating as the meat simmers. This step also helps to remove the hairs on the skin easily.
Sometimes the skin still has animal hairs on it. I clean the hairs with either tweezers or a very sharp knife across the skin. This step can be tedious if there is a lot of hair. But most often the Butchers have it cleaned very well.
Remove meat from pot and dry it off with a clean cloth or paper towel. Now it is time to start pricking the skin. Use a fork if you don’t have a Pork Belly Skin Crispy Tool Hammer and pierce holes in the entire surface of the skin. Do not pierce too deep as you don’t want to pierce the meat underneath the fat. The juice from the meat will seep into the skin while cooking and cause the skin to be not crispy.
Now that all the skin has been pricked, brush 1 tbsp. of vinegar over skin . I use white vinegar for this recipe. Then measure a 1 tbsp. of salt and spread it evenly over skin. Place salted meat in refrigerator for 1 hour.
Take meat out of refrigerator and blot dry with a paper towel. Take your fork or Pork Belly Crispy Skin Tool Hammer and pierce all of the surface of the skin again. Blot dry and take another tbsp. of vinegar and apply to skin and then apply layer of salt. I do this over night and usually every 2 to 3 hours. I then just let it sit in the refrigerator until the next day. I blot it dry again before preparing it for cooking.
It is time to prepare the meat portion of the pork belly. I score the meat into squares.
After scoring the meat, season it with the 5 Spice Powder. Rub the seasoning into the scored slits of the meat so the flavor can penetrate the meat well.
Brush off any excess salt off of the skin at this point as well. The skin should be dehydrated enough to not need any more salt.
Do not let the seasoning get onto the skin that you just pricked. The seasoning will burn and cause the skin to be hard.
Now all the preparation is completed, the pork belly can now get wrapped. Take a large sheet of tinfoil and make a box around the meat portion of the Pork belly. This ensures the meat doesn’t dry out. All the fatty natural juice inside the meat and fat layers will guarantee moist flavorful meat.
Once your meat is wrapped in a box of foil, prick the skin all over one more time. Place it inside air fryer and set temperature to 390 degrees for 40 minutes. Check it in 20 minutes.
If you find that the skin is still not crispy enough for you after 40 minutes. Continue to Air Fry 2 minutes at a time until you get the crispiness that you want. My experience with this recipe has not taken me over 40 minutes. It comes out very crispy on top and extremely juicy and full of flavor. If your pork belly has a bone in it remove it and slice it along the scores on the underside where you scored the meat into squares. The crusty skin cuts more evenly.
Serve this dish with other Asian Culinary side dishes and enjoy.
After 40 minutes you will have the crunchiest and most flavorful meat you have ever tasted. Let it rest for 5 to 10 mins to let the juices flow evenly through out the tender meat.
Plate and serve to your family and friends. I usually cut it into cubes. Utilize the scored cuts you place on the underside of the pork belly to make it easier to cut evenly and through the crisp skin.
Servings 4
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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