The Easiest Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk / Sio Bak) - Salt Crust Method

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Chinese

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 45

Total Time: 1 55

Servings: servings

Calories: 522kcal

Author: Marvellina

The easiest Chinese crispy pork belly recipe that gives you those beautiful cracklings. Truly no fuss recipe. Never fails to give you those nice crispy cracklings EVERY TIME! You can use an oven or air fryer to cook.

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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

1.5 kg pork belly with skin still attached
Cooking oil for brushing

Type of salt to use (choose either one):

Fine salt for cooking (not table salt)
Rock salt / Coarse salt (recommended). See notes 3

Marinade:

2 Tbsp shao xing wine/dry sherry
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp Salt

You will also need:

Aluminum foil (heavy duty)
Apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar

Instructions

Choosing the pork:

Try to get pork belly with smooth and even skin as much as possible. The one without much wrinkles and folds. Those areas tend to have not much crackle because they dip down and don't get much exposure to the heat, which is the key to get the good cracklings

To prepare the day before:

If you plan to use an air fryer, you may need to choose a smaller size pork belly so it fits into your air fryer
Mix the wine, brown sugar, five-spice powder (if using) and salt in a small bowl. Place the pork belly in a container and gently pour in the marinade and use your hand to kinda rub the marinade into the meat and leave the skin out. Once you are done, pat the skin dry and put it in the refrigerator without cover for at least 8-12 hours. The drier the skin, the better the cracklings are going to be

When ready to roast the pork:

When ready to be roasted, preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C). Line your baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place another one to two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil on top . Transfer the pork belly to the aluminum foil and fold all the sides up, leaving about 1/2-inch on top
Brush a thin layer of apple cider vinegar on the skin. Very gently pour the salt on top of the skin to form about 1/4-inch of salt layer, if using fine salt. Use your hands to keep the aluminum foil as close to the pork as much as possible while pouring the salt to minimize any gap to prevent salt dripping through the gap too much (that will make the pork very salty especially if you use fine salt). I highly recommend using rock salt for this reason, especially if you are going to cook with an air-fryer, less messy
If you use rock salt, cover the surface of the skin evenly, leaving no gap

To cook in the oven:

Pop it into the oven, 3rd rack from the top (middle of the oven) and let it roast for the next 1 hour and 30 minutes
After 1 hour and 30 minutes, remove from the oven. If you used fine salt, the salt will form a crust. Gently remove the crust of salt off the skin. If you use rock salt, they crusted but won't form sheet of crust. Use a knife to gently scrape the rock salt off from the top and the sides if any
Change to a new aluminum foil and brush off the salt from the side and underneath the meat with some vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Wrap it back up as you did before. Brush the skin with some cooking oil evenly. Carefully fold the aluminum foil down to expose the skin this time while covering the meat part to retain moisture

Level the surface of the meat if necessary:

The pork shrinks after cooking and the surface may become uneven. If this is the case, you can ball up some aluminum foil and tuck under the meat to prop any area that dip down so the surface is level and gets even heat distribution. If it doesn't get expose much to the heat, it won't crackle and you will just get area with no crackles and those areas are rubbery and tough
Place the pork belly at the lowest rack or start with 2nd lowest rack of the oven and turn the broiler to a low setting (this is about 450 F or the highest heat your oven can get to if you don't have broiler function). This is the part when the cracklings start to form. Watch it carefully, as you don't want them to burn. Some spots may get burn quicker than the others, I use aluminum foil to cover the part that has crackled and started to get burn or you can move it down further from the fire. Let it broils until you are happy with the cracklings, may take 10-15 minutes or longer. Remove from the oven and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing

If cooking with an air fryer:

Remove the basket from the air fryer if you need to so the pork belly can fit into the air fryer. Preheat the air fryer at 375 F (190 C) for 5 minutes. If you don't need to, then just leave the basket in there. Put a metal trivet inside and put the pork belly on top. Close the air fryer and let the pork belly cook for the next 40 minutes or until it's cooked through
WARNING: If you use fine salt, the salt will fly all over inside the air fryer at the beginning, but will settle down as the time goes and the salt forms crust. This is the part I don't like about cooking it in the air fryer, but the mess is not as bad as I thought
After 40 minutes, carefully remove the pork belly from the air fryer and gently remove the salt crust. If too much salt has fallen through the cracks on the side during cooking, change to a new aluminum foil. Brush off any excess salt on the skin and at the bottom of the pork belly. Brush with some vinegar to minimize of the saltiness. Wrap it back up as you did with an aluminum foil
Fold the aluminum foil down to expose the skin. Brush the skin with some oil. Put it back on top of the trivet inside the air fryer and let the skin crackles at 375 F (190C) for 15-20 minutes or until you are happy with the crackles

To serve:

Carefully unfold the aluminum foil down and remove the pork onto a chopping board. Discard the extra oil collected in the foil during baking. You can use apple cider vinegar to brush the sides of the pork belly to get rid of any excess salt that might get in the gap when you pour the salt earlier
When ready to slice them, I found it easier to turn the skin side down on the chopping board and slice while applying gentle pressure on the knife to break off the pieces. Serve with your favorite chili sauce or on its own

Video

Notes

Important tips for success:

Choose pork belly with smooth skin (not many wrinkles).
Really dry out the skin by placing it in the refrigerator. The drier the skin, the better the cracklings
Rock salt or coarse salt used for grinder has larger grains and so if it falls through the gap on the side during baking, it won't melt easily making the meat too salty VS when you use fine salt
Evenly salt the surface of the skin. The salt will dehydrate the skin further
The pork will shrink after roasting. Prop any areas that have dipped down by balling up some aluminum foil and tuck under the meat to level the surface so they get exposed to the heat evenly. No heat, no crackling top. You will end up with a rubbery flat surface on those areas
Cover up areas that have started to darken and continue to broil the areas that haven't gotten much cracklings yet

Nutrition