Air Fryer Pork Belly
Did you know you can cook the most delicious pork belly in the air fryer? Imagine unbelievably juicy spiced pork with crispy, crunchy crackling - all cooked in under an hour…
Servings: 3 servings
Ingredients
For the pork belly:
- 100 ml soy sauce
- 85 ml runny honey
- 1 tbsp Chinese five spice
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 750 g boneless pork belly
- Salt
- For the egg fried rice:
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 carrot julienned (cut into thin batons)
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
- 400 g cooked rice
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 large egg
- 1 red chilli deseeded and finely chopped
- Handful of coriander roughly chopped
For the wilted pak choi:
- Drizzle of sesame oil
- 1 head pak choi
To serve:
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Coriander roughly chopped
- Chillies thinly sliced
- Spring onions thinly sliced
Instructions
- For the pork belly: mix together the soy, honey, five spice and garlic. Using a dish close to the size of the pork, pour the marinade into the bottom and sit the pork on top (ensuring no marinade touches the skin). Using a sharp knife, make shallow, parallel cuts about 0.5-1 cm apart, cutting through the skin and fat but not into the meat. You can score diagonally to create a diamond pattern, if you like. If you don’t feel confident with scoring, ask your butcher to do it for you but don’t overthink it. As long as you only cut the skin and fat, rather than the meat, that is fine. Generously cover the skin with salt to draw out excess moisture. Pop on the bottom shelf of the fridge, uncovered, and leave to marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour - ideally overnight.
- Preheat the air-fryer to ‘roast mode’ (180C). Remove the pork from the fridge and pat the skin dry to remove as much moisture as possible.
- Place the pork, along with the marinade and a splash of water (again make sure this doesn’t touch the pork skin), into the air fryer and cook for 40 minutes. Keep an eye on the pork skin to make sure it isn’t burning - if any areas start to go too dark, cover with foil. You also want to make sure the marinade isn’t drying out, if it does, add another splash of water.
- Once done, the skin should be lovely and crisp and the marinade should have thickened into a lovely sticky glaze for the pork. Remove from airfryer, cover with foil and rest for around 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, for the egg fried rice: heat the sesame oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok. Add the carrot and spring onions and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Add the rice and soy sauce, then crack in the egg and mix well. Add the chilli and coriander and stir fry until heated through.
- In a separate non-stick frying pan, heat the sesame oil over a medium-high heat. Add the pak choi and cook until wilted.
- To serve: carve the pork (turn upside down and slice from the bottom to get a clean cut through your crackling). Serve drizzled with the glaze alongside the egg fried rice and wilted pak choi. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, roughly chopped coriander, sliced chilli and spring onions, if desired.
Notes
Scroll up for an easy step by step guide to making this recipe.
To store: Cool and transfer to an airtight container. Place in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat: Place in the air fryer at 180c for 7-10 minutes until hot all the way through. Check frequently to make sure it doesn’t overcook. The exact time will depend on whether you are reheating the whole pork belly or individual slices.
To freeze: Cook the pork belly and cool it. Place in an airtight container, freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost when ready to use and reheat in air fryer at 180c for 7-10 minutes.
Make ahead: the pork actually benefits from being marinated in advance so feel free to prep the night before. The egg fried rice uses cooked rice that has been cooked and cooled in advance (see FAQs on how to do this safely). This needs to be served straight away and shouldn’t be reheated.
Vegetables: feel free to switch up the vegetables in the egg fried rice. It is great to use up whatever you have leftover in the fridge. I sometimes add some frozen peas, sweetcorn and spinach too.
Chillies: I add chilli to the egg fried rice and as a garnish for this air fryer pork belly. Deseed the chillies (or reduce them) if you don’t like your food too spicy. Alternatively, use dried chilli flakes or a drizzle of chilli oil.
Serving suggestions: homemade egg fried rice works really well with this air fryer pork belly. However, you can serve with some simple steamed basmati, if you prefer. All sorts of noodles work really well too.