Easy Baked Pork Belly

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An indulgent dish that takes hold of your senses and doesn’t apologize – Easy Baked Pork Belly is slightly spicy with hints of saltiness and sweetness; it’s super moist and super delicious!

It seems like a million years has passed since I’ve had pork belly.  I remember the first time I had it; in fact, I remember it very well.  John.e and I had just started dating.  We were spending the weekend with my daughter and were invited to attend a birthday party at a horse-race venue that Sunday afternoon.

So, on our ride back to Toronto from Kitchener, we made our way to Woodbine Race Track to help celebrate Vera’s 40th birthday.  (Vera is a coworker and an extreme betting enthusiast!)

We placed a few bets – and won a few – and took part in a buffet dinner.  One of the items on the menu was barbequed pork belly.  The name was off putting, but I had to try it.  I’d have a safe bet if I said I ate a pound or two of the stuff.  In fact, I’m sure I gained a pound or two from that one meal, so that’s proof, right?  🙂

Recreating the dish was not something I was about to attempt.  It’s one of those things that is best left untouched.  Besides, it gives me a reason to harass Vera about hosting another one of her birthdays at Woodbine!

This particular dish uses pork belly, but I wanted to have a spicy version to accompany some good steamed rice.  I previously cooked a Korean Vegetarian Beef dish that I loved the taste of, so without following that exact recipe, I wanted to mimic those flavours.  This is what I came up with.

I’ve seen pork belly in two different formats.  The first, is a solid piece that resembles a package of thick cut bacon.  The second format looks like thick cut bacon that has been laid flat.  So, whole and un-sliced, and the familiar sliced version like that of bacon.  Make sense?

For this particular dish, I bought a solid piece of pork belly – about 3 pounds in total.  The skin was left on the pork belly, but I removed it.  I find that the skin in this type of recipe is just too chewy and almost inedible.

If I were preparing a dry, roasted pork belly, I would leave the skin on and let it get really crispy – such a delicacy and you must try it if you have not done so already.  If you want to leave the skin on for this particular Easy Baked Pork Belly, you certainly can.

So what is pork belly anyway?  Pork belly, like bacon, starts out from the underside of the pig.  It isn’t the stomach, but the flesh the runs on the underside of the pig.  Pork belly is uncured, un-smoked and un-sliced bacon.

Most chefs consider pork belly to be far superior to bacon.  Pork belly has juicy fat layers wrapped around the meat. There isn’t much meat, but once cooked it becomes tender, similar in texture to a pork loin. And that fat is melt-in-your-mouth.

That melt in your mouth feeling is exactly what you’re going to get from this particular recipe.  Oh, my God – it’s so good!  It’s super tender and so wonderfully easy to prepare.  You’re going to love this dish!

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4.21 from 24 votes

Easy Baked Pork Belly

An indulgent dish that takes hold of your senses and doesn’t apologize – Easy Baked Pork Belly is slightly spicy with hints of saltiness and sweetness; it’s super moist and super delicious!
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time1 hr
Total Time1 hr 5 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: North American
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 1231kcal
Author: Lord Byron’s Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds pork belly, skin removed and cut into 2 inch cubes
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 4 stalks green onions, chopped

Instructions

  • Place all of the ingredients (except the sesame seeds, pork belly, and green onions) into a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
  • Add the pork belly pieces and toss to coat with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
  • Arrange the pork belly on the baking sheet being careful not to overlap.
  • Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, carefully turn each piece over, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions.  Return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
  • Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Calories: 1231kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 123g | Saturated Fat: 44g | Cholesterol: 163mg | Sodium: 717mg | Potassium: 474mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Vitamin C: 2.5mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1.8mg

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This Post Has 12 Comments

  2. Oh boy does this sound good, all of those flavours sound amazing, pork belly is my idea of pure heaven in thew food world, I'll take it over and steak or seafood in a heartbeat... I hope you don't mind a suggestion #eek, try and hunt down some Chinkiang Vinegar, it is a dark rice vinegar and has similar qualities to balsamic so adds that lovely black caramalised thang :D Oh and one more thing, bet on the dog who has just done his business, it is lighter and as such must run quicker :D
    Reply
  4. Oh...this pork belly is absolutely making my mouth water! I've had it at restaurants numerous times, but never tried to tackle it at home. I seriously need to try this
    Reply
  6. I have wanted to try to cook pork belly after having it in a restaurant. I tried your recipe, I stopped cooking it after 50min as it looked like it was drying out. I followed the instructions and placed the pork belly pieces on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Was I supposed to cook the pork belly in the marinade, I cooked them without any marinade on the parchment paper?
    Reply
    1. Hi Dan, there really shouldn't be a whole lot of marinade left in the bowl once you let the pork sit for a while, so I don't think that's the case. I'm going to assume that maybe the pork belly was too thin and began to dry out, or that your oven was a little too hot. Try reducing the cooking time by five or ten minutes.
      Reply
  7. I bought sliced pork belly today for the keto diet I am currently on. I made your marinade with a brown sugar substitute called Sukrin and marinated them for an hour. The slices were thin, so after I baked them for 30 minutes there was a lot of fat in the pan, and the slices were cooked, rendered and sticky. So I decided not to cook them further. Melt in your mouth goodness! Will definitely make again!
    Reply
  8. So delicious ! This was my first attempt at pork belly. Have wanted to try many times but was afraid that I’d mess it up ! Followed the ingredients exactly. Only difference is I cooked on indirect gas grill. Put pork in center of grill over a foil pan filled with water and no heat in center. Kept at 400 • and followed recipe for time. Absolutely the best !!! Thank you !
    Reply
    1. That's great, Marsha! It's almost impossible to mess it up, right? Will you make it more often now? :)
      Reply
  9. My second time to make this and just as delicious as the first ! First time I cooked on the grill with a drip pan underneath. Today I made in the oven and was fine. Love, thank you !
    Reply

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