Roast pork belly is a fantastic weekend offering. It takes a bit of time but it isn’t that hard. Buy quality pork and pay attention to achieving envious crispy skin (crackling).
I love pork belly because the meat is juicy, most of the fat renders (just look at the bottom of your roasting pan) and that crackling gets me every time!
Slow Roasted Pork Belly
(serves 4-6)
1 pork belly (skin on), about 5-6 lbs
sea salt
ground pepper
granulated garlic
ground fennel
Pre-heated 550F oven
- Take the pork belly out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Pat-dry (especially the skin). Take a sharp skewer or knife and poke holes into the skin (this will help you achieve good crackling).
- Turn over to the meat side, season with salt, pepper, garlic and ground fennel.
- Flip back to skin side, score in lines or cross-hatch pattern with a sharp knife. Season well with salt (do not salt the sides).
- Transfer your pork to a roasting pan fitted with a rack (pork will roast on the rack). Place your pork in your pre-heated oven and roast for about 20 minutes or until crackling is achieved (skin will puff up and if you tap the skin it will be hard).
- Lower the heat to 300F, carefully pour 2-3 cups of water into the pan. Slow roast your pork belly for approx. 3 to 3 1/2 hours. The meat will be brown and most of the fat under the crisp skin will have rendered.
- Take out of the oven, allow to rest for 20 minutes. If you see dried salt on the skin, use a pastry brush to wipe away the excess. Use a serrated knife to slice or even better, an electric carving knife.
More Tips
- If you have time, place the pork belly uncovered in a fridge for up to 3 days to help you with your crisp skin
- Turn your oven fans on full, disconnect your smoke detector when roasting on high heat for crackling (it will get smoky)
- Serve with Roast Lemon Potatoes and a side salad or slaw with some acidity
4 Responses
I’ve cooked many of your recipes very successfully (so delicious – thank you) but this one defeated me. I had the pork on for 40 minutes and the outside crackling was great but middle was soft. I kept it going and the crackling burned black
Also I was a bit overwhelmed with all the smoke
I haven’t finished yet so don’t know how it will taste but I don’t think I’ll repeat this recipe. It’s too hard to get the crackling right
Also a tip to anyone who does cook it is to try to get the meat as level to the oven as possible as the higjhwr parts seem to crackle first I used aluminium foil rolled up underneath to level it
Pam, I have made this recipe more than once and always with great results. High heat in the beginning to achieve crackling then the heat is lowered to 300F for the remainder of cooking time.
Peter, you forgot to insert how many minutes to roast at 550.
Bruce, about 20 minutes.