Easy Chinese Char Siu BBQ Pork (Oven or Pan-Roasted)
Course: Entree
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
marinate the meat: 1 dayday
Total Time: 1 dayday40 minutesminutes
Servings: 6servings
Author: Marvellina
Learn how to easily make the best Chinese-style pork or chicken char siu that is perfectly tender, sticky, and sweet in the oven or on the pan. Made with natural red color.
1cubered-fermented bean curdmashed, skip if you don't have any
Instructions
Make the sauce:
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Place in a small saucepan and cook until the sugar is melted and the sauce is slightly thickened. Have a taste. It should be more sweet than savory. Add more brown sugar if needed. Keep in the fridge for up to one week. Simply reheat in the microwave or on the stove before serving
Cut the pork into strips:
Trim off any visible excess fat from the pork. Don't trim all as you want a little bit of that. But I don't like the pork to be too fatty either. Cut the pork vertically into 5-6 long strips, about 2 to 3 inches in width is ideal
Marinade the pork:
Place all the ingredients for the marinade in a large ziplock bag (or 2-3 bags if necessary), big enough to place the pork in. Place the strips of pork in. Push out any air and seal. Marinade for at least 12-24 hours, but preferably no longer than a day. If you are pressing for time, 6-8 hours is minimim I would say.
Pan-roasted method:
Preheat a pan and then add cooking oil. Place the strips of pork on the pan. Let them sear about 2-3 minutes on each side
Pour 1 Tbsp of cooking wine over and then cover and let it cook until the wine reduces. Uncover the lid and flip the pork strips to the other side and pour another 1 Tbsp of cooking wine and cook until the wine reduces again
Uncover the lid and remove smaller pieces that have cooked. Pour about 1/2 cup of water into the pan. Cover the lid and let the pork continues to cook until they are cooked through or thermometer reads 145 F. Remove pork from the pan
Continue to reduce the cooking liquid on the pan until it starts to thicken. Add the strips of pork back into the pan to make sure the sauce coats the pork. Remove from the pan
Oven method:
Preheat your oven to 375 F (190 C) for conventional oven. If you use convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F or 15 C. Prepare a roasting pan and line with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place the pork strips on the rack set on the roasting pan and then put them in the oven (3rd from the top). Roast the pork for about 25-30 minutes or until thermometer inserted into the pork reads 145 F
Halfway through cooking, baste the pork with the marinade juice and let it roast 2-3 minutes then flip and baste with some marinade and repeat until the pork is cooked through
Finishing touch in the oven:
Turn off the oven and turn on the broiler to low. This part is to create nice caramelization on the outside. When you are happy with the color, remove from the oven
Serving:
Cover the char siu loosely with aluminum foil and rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Slice only the amount of char siu you are going to serve. Drizzle some sauce over or serve the sauce on the side