Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (2024)

Gran LuchitoMexican, Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (1)

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This twice-cooked sticky pork belly recipe is a must-try! When it comes to pork belly, what’s not to love?! Pork belly has a delicious, rich and meaty flavour thanks to the layers of fat that surround the meat. Although it has become more fashionable over the past few years, pork belly is still an affordable cut. With some time and care you will be rewarded with tender meat and irresistible, crunchy outside bits – delicious!

We enjoyed making this pork belly recipe in the test kitchen and we have made a lot of delicious pork dishes! Packed with a lot of flavour, this sticky pork is a great dish for entertaining or when you are looking to impress that someone special but it’s easy enough for a midweek meal as the slow cooker does a lot of the work.

First, the pork belly is cooked low and slow until beautifully tender, then it is glazed and crisped up with a Chipotle honey made using our Gran Luchito Chipotle Paste mixed with good quality honey. It’s also very satisfying to use the delicious stock leftover from cooking the pork to make the accompanying rice super-tasty.

Serve this sticky pork belly with rice cooked in the slow cooker stock and you’ve got yourself an awesome meal.

If you like the sound of this sticky pork recipe, you should also check out our Pork Belly Tacos, crispy pork Carnitas or our Mexican Pulled Pork all of which we think are pretty irresistible pork dishes!

  • Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (3)

    Prep time

    2 hours

  • Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (4)

    Cook time

    30 mins

  • Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (5)

    Total time

    2 hrs, 30 mins

  • Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (6)

    Ideal for

    Dinner

  • Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (7)

    Make it

    Mexican

  • Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (8)

    Serves

    2

Nutrition: Per serving

kcal 164fat 12gsaturates 3.1gcarbs 6.9gsugars 2.9gfibre 0.5gprotein 8.3gsalt 1.1g

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (9)

This recipe uses

Chipotle Paste

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (11)

Found in the
Mexican Section

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (12)

Ingredients

For The Pork:

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 500g / 1.1 lb pork belly, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 4cm / 1 inch piece root ginger, peeled and grated
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ tablespoon sugar
  • ½ tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 500ml / 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For The Glaze:

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons Gran Luchito Chipotle Paste
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2cm / ½ inch piece root ginger, peeled and grated

To Serve:

  • 200g / 7 oz Thai jasmine rice
  • 1 handful sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1 red chilli, finely chopped
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped

How to make it

To Slow Cook The Pork:

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan until hot, add the chunks of pork belly and fry over medium/high heat until browned all over.
  2. Transfer the seared pork to the slow cooker and add the ginger, garlic, sugar, white wine vinegar, stock, bay leaves and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
  3. Mix and cook on high mode for 4 hours, or until the meat is very tender. If you don’t have a slow cooker, place the ingredients in a baking dish. Tightly wrap with tin foil, and cook in the oven at 160°C / 325°F / Gas 3 for 3 hours. Make sure it doesn’t run out of liquid, so add a bit of water if necessary.
  4. Once ready, remove the pork belly from the slow cooker, or baking dish, and reserve the stock.

To Make The Sticky Pork Belly Sauce:

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan until very hot. Add the tender pork belly and leave to crisp up (it will spit a lot, so use a shield or a lid). Once crispy, carefully flip them over so they get crispy all over. Lower the heat to medium.
  2. In a bowl, mix the Chipotle Paste with the honey, soy sauce and ginger, then season with salt and pepper.
  3. Add the mixture to the pork and cook for 5–10 minutes until it all goes sticky.

To Finish:

  1. While the pork is cooking in the glaze, put the rice in a pan with the reserved stock, top it up with water, if necessary, and boil for about 8 minutes until tender. Drain.
  2. Sprinkle the pork with the toasted sesame seeds, red chillies and spring onions and serve with the rice.

What To Serve With Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly

This recipe is best served with rice cooked in the same stock that was used for slow cooking, as this will enhance the flavour. Additionally, our Mexican Salad with a variety of vegetables and textures would make a delicious accompaniment.

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Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (15)

This recipe features in the following collections

  • Mexican Pork Recipes
  • Mexican Family Favourites
  • Fusion Mexican Recipes

Similar Recipes You Might Like to Try

Pork Belly Tacos

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FAQs

How do you cook pork belly?

We think the best way to cook the pork belly is first to brown all over, then cook low and slow in a slow cooker allowing the fat to render over time resulting in tender meat. Then we like to crisp it up in a pan with our delicious chipotle glaze until sticky. This multi step approach ensures tender pork belly meat with a crispy finish - pure pork belly perfection!

Where does pork belly come from?

Pork belly comes from the belly of the pig and juicy layers of fat wrapped around the meat. This fat gives it loads of flavour. If cooked properly then the meat becomes very tender.

What's the difference between pork belly and bacon?

Pork belly is essentially bacon that hasn't been cured, smoked and sliced.

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Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (19)

Gwenda dixon

3 years ago

#84

Rating :

I found the receipee to be a bit confusing. I have followed it to a tee. I am cooking it at the moment in my slow co*ker, but i can’t see for the life of me where the 500ml of stock is going to dwindle it do a thick stickepork belly.

Reply

Admin

Celia - Chica Chismosa - Gran Luchito(@celia-abc)

3 years ago

#86

Reply toGwenda dixon

We are sorry to hear you found this recipe disappointing Gwenda! The pork belly is meant to be taken out of the slow cooker and crisped up in a wok and then a glaze is added towards the end. This bit of the recipe is under “To Make The Glaze”. Thank you for trying out the recipe and we do hope you try out some others!

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (21)

Ruth

3 years ago

#181

Rating :

Omg these are so good! Made them for tea tonight, definitely be on the menu again soon. Didnt find recipe confusing at all. Couldn’t get chipotle honey so used honey & chipotle paste.

Reply

Admin

Celia - Chica Chismosa - Gran Luchito(@celia-abc)

3 years ago

#183

Reply toRuth

Thank you for your feedback Ruth! So glad you enjoyed them. Let us know if you try any other recipes 😀

Reply

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (23)

Julie booth

3 years ago

#312

Rating :

My husband really enjoys these. Take a while to make but worth it. Struggle to find the chipotle honey but mixed honey and chipotle paste which worked well. Will definitely make them again

Reply

Admin

Celia - Chica Chismosa - Gran Luchito(@celia-abc)

3 years ago

#320

Reply toJulie booth

Totally worth it! And yes, you can mix honey with our paste if you don’t have Chipotle Honey. There will be more coming to our webshop soon!

Reply

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (25)

Simon

3 years ago

#369

Rating :

Love this recipe, perfect for any weeknight. Just throw the pork in a slow cooker in the morning and it’s simple and quick to finish when you’re ready to eat. Flavour is amazing much better than any ready meal or take away and about the same time to get ready.

Reply

Admin

Celia - Chica Chismosa - Gran Luchito(@celia-abc)

3 years ago

#377

Reply toSimon

It sure is the dream weeknight meal.. slow and low is best, and great tip re popping in the slow cooker in the AM

Reply

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (27)

Ian

2 years ago

#453

Rating :

Pretty easy to follow instructions…don’t know what people are complaining about. This was really nice, great way to bring previously cooked pork belly back to life. Don’t but chilli in the glaze or the stock like I did tho…the slow cooking and ginger will intensify!

Reply

Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (28)

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Twice Cooked Sticky Pork Belly - Sticky, Sweet & Spicy | Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Does pork belly get more tender the longer you cook it? ›

Pork belly needs a combination of slow, gentle heat to tenderise the meat, plus a shorter blast at a higher heat to crisp up the skin. Cook at 180C/160C fan/gas 4 for 2 hrs 15 mins, then turn up the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for a further 35 minutes to crisp the crackling.

Is twice-cooked pork skin on or off? ›

Twice-cooked pork is a Sichuan dish of fatty pork leg or belly, skin-on, that gets two very different cooking preparations. The skin is the best part of the dish.

How do you reheat sticky pork belly? ›

The simplest reheat process is to place the entire piece of meat with skin facing up in an air fryer or conventional over ( never use the microwave ). Reheat at 400F for 10-15 minutes. To prevent the softer meat from burning, wrap aluminium foil around it.

What does twice-cooked pork taste like? ›

Twice-cooked pork shares a similar flavour profile as classic Sichuan dishes such as Mapo Tofu and Spicy Vermicelli Stir-fry. The key flavour, fragrant and spicy, comes from two versatile condiments: chilli bean paste and fermented black beans. Vegetables, such as leek, green garlic, fresh chili, etc.

Why won't my pork belly get crispy? ›

Insufficient heat will make it hard for the skin to get really crisp. Make sure to take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes before you cook it so that the meat reaches room temperature. A high starting temperature (240C/220C fan/gas 9 in this recipe) is essential for crisping up the pork.

Why did my pork belly turn out tough? ›

To cook pork belly properly, we have to give it the time and temperatures it needs to render both the fat and the collagen. This usually means low, slow cooking. Any meat will expel its available free water at temperatures above 180°F (82°C), becoming tough and dry.

Why is it called twice cooked pork? ›

The Sichuanese know for certain that the tern Hui Guo Rou Pork translates into meat returned to the pot, an ideal description of this favorite meal. A popular story about Twice Cooked Pork is that its name comes from a Chinese scholar and poet during the Song Dynasty who went by the names of Su Dong Bo and Su Shi.

How do you know if pork belly is cooked all the way? ›

One way to determine your porks' doneness is by the color of the juices that come out of it when you poke a hole in it with a knife or fork. If the juices run clear or are very faintly pink, the pork is done cooking. If they're mostly or entirely pink or red, it's best to continue cooking.

Why does pork stay pink when cooked? ›

The persistent pink color is principally related to high pH conditions that stabilize myoglobin to heat (Mendenhall 1989; Trout 1989). Consequently, the pigment that has not been fully denatured during cooking will appear pink, and when exposed to air, it can become brighter pink due to the formation of oxymyoglobin.

What to eat with pork belly? ›

What to serve with Slow-cooked Sticky Pork Belly? Because the pork is rich and indulgent, I highly recommend serving it with something green. Try bok choy (pak choy), Chinese broccoli (gai lan), green beans, snow peas (mangetout), sauteed spinach or silverbeet (Swiss chard), broccolini or sliced cucumber.

Can you eat pork belly cold the next day? ›

Use cooked pork within two hours (one hour if air temperature is above 90 °F / 32.2 °C) or refrigerate it (at 40 °F / 4.4 °C or less) in shallow, covered containers. Eat within 3 to 4 days, either cold or reheated to 165 °F / 73.9 °C (hot and steaming). It is safe to freeze ready prepared pork dishes.

How to make leftover pork belly crispy? ›

Heat up your oven to 400F and place the pork belly on a baking sheet with a wire rack. Place in the oven to cook for 8-12 minutes or until the skin has bubbled up and is very crispy. Pull out into a disposable aluminum pan and let cool.

What is the translation of twice cooked pork? ›

Twice-cooked pork or double-cooked pork (Chinese: 回鍋肉; pinyin: huíguōròu; lit. 'meat returned to the pan (wok)') is a Chinese dish in Sichuan cuisine.

Does pork become chewy when overcooked? ›

Muscle fibers contract and push out moisture as meat cooks. It first starts to happen when the internal temperature reaches 104℉ (40℃) and greatly increases once you hit 140℉ (60℃). This is why ribeyes, chicken breasts, and pork chops turn dry and chewy when you cook them for too long.

Why can you eat pork rare now? ›

Over the years, farming practices have improved and people are more aware of safe cooking practices. This has led to fewer cases of foodborne illnesses from eating pork. It's still possible to get trichinosis from eating undercooked pork, but the risk from farmed meat is very low.

Does cooking pork belly longer make it softer? ›

This is a tough muscle, so it needs a longer cooking time at low heat to breakdown the tough tissue." So, to serve up good roast pork, budget for at least 3-4 hours in the kitchen. If done correctly, a piece of roast pork should be so tender you can pierce its flesh with a fork.

Does pork get softer the longer it cooks? ›

As the meat is cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees F, the collagen breaks down and turns into gelatin, making the meat tender and flavorful. However, if the pork is cooked too long, it may become dry and hard instead of tender.

How long does it take to soften pork belly? ›

Roast pork belly for 30 minutes on the middle rack in a heavy, oven-safe pan or skillet, skin side up / fat side up. Reduce heat to 275°F and roast for an hour or more, until tender but not mushy. (Larger pieces of pork belly will take longer. What are the best ways to tenderize pork?

Can you cook pork belly too long? ›

Of course you can slow pork too long. You can overcook anything, even with moist heat. Once the meat has cooked completely, become tender and the collagen transforms into gelatin, further cooking will only pull moisture from the meat. It will just become dryer and dryer, even if it is partially submerged in liquid.

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