Name: Super Crispy Chinese Air Fryer Roast Pork Belly 炸脆皮烧肉
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tsp five spice powder; 1/2 tsp ground white pepper; 1 tbsp white vinegar; 2 tsp baking soda

Super Crispy Chinese Air Fryer Roast Pork Belly 炸脆皮烧肉

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5 from 41 reviews

Making Crispy Chinese Air Fryer Roast Pork Belly 氣炸鍋脆皮烧肉 at home is super easy! This foolproof air fryer recipe guarantees homemade crispy, crackling, juicy, tender meat. All you need is 30 minutes, and you can wrap your fingers around this Cantonese BBQ pork master quality siu yuk you are so used to ordering!

Author: Nancy
Prep Time: 25
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 4 people 1x
Category: Main Dishes
Method: Air Fry
Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients

Scale

1 lbs pork belly, divided to fit the air fryer

Marinade Ingredients

2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Pork Belly Skin Coating

1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp baking soda

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Instructions

Wash pork belly and pat dry with a kitchen paper towel.
Boil cold water in a large pot.
Add pork belly skin side down into a pot of boiling water. Boil for 10 mins.
Remove the pork belly from the pot and lay it flat on a heavy cutting board.
Prick the pork belly skin with meat tenderizer needles or a fork. Toothpicks are too weak and will not do the job.
One of the key tips to ensure a flavourful marinade is to make a few incisions (shallow cuts) with a sharp knife on the bottom of the pork belly, but do not cut through to the skin.
In a small bowl, add marinating spices and mix well.
Apply marinating spice on the meat side.
Flip the pork belly over and apply a mixture of white vinegar and baking soda onto the skin.
Evenly coat the skin with salt.
Place the pork belly skin side up without covering it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Crackling roast pork requires dry skin. Do not skip this critical step.
Remove from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for approx. 20 mins.
Preheat the air fryer to 400F.
Wrap a large piece of foil around the sides of the pork belly without covering the top of the skin. This is the best way to keep the meat juicy.
Place pork belly into the air fryer in a single layer.
Air fry at 390F for 30 mins. You may own a different air fryer than me. I use THIS Ninja Foodi Air Fryer! Depending on the air fryer model, you may want to adjust the cooking time, increase or reduce it by 1 to 2 minutes, and avoid overcooking the roasted pork.
Insert an instant-read thermometer at the thickest part of the cooked pork belly and check that the internal temperature of the pork is at least 160-165F.
Carefully remove the perfectly golden brown and crispy roasted pork belly from the air fryer with kitchen tongs.
Let pork belly rest for a few minutes.
Slice crispy pork belly into thick pieces. No one wants thinly sliced pieces.

Chinese Five-Spice Powder

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Notes

For best results, do all the prep work and don't skip the following steps:

parboil the pork belly
baking soda and white vinegar rub
overnight drying
wrapping the slab of pork belly with aluminum foil

Poking holes into the skin of the pork belly will release its natural oils. Essentially, the skin's oils will fry the skin of the succulent roasted pork belly into crackling goodness.