Roasted Pork Belly with a crispy and golden crackling and a moist and tender meat, a delicious dish for your Sunday Roast, or any other big celebration throughout the year. It's a very easy recipe that requires minimal prep, and while it might not be quick, it surely is a great roast for the whole family.
Turkey might be the most popular roast for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but a good roast pork cannot be beaten. Super tender and juicy meat with a super crispy crackling is the dream roast on a cold Winter's Day.
My Roast Pork Loin with Crackling is one of my favourite roasts, and I really wanted to try roast pork belly too. While the pork belly has a lot more fat, their cooking time isn't too different.
Apart from roasting and stir frying, frying is also a good choice, my Fried Pork Belly Bites are cooked entirely on the stove top in a frying pan and are absolutely delicious too.
And while my blog is all about quick and easy recipes, a good chunk of meat can't really be cooked that quickly, but I promise you, it's so worth the wait, you will not be disappointed.
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Ingredients needed
- pork belly - bone in, the chunk I used weighted 2 kilos or 4 pounds
- salt - coarse salt help with the crispy crackling, use liberally all over the pork belly
- ground black pepper
Variations
You can also add some dried herbs if you'd like, fennel, rosemary or thyme go really well with pork, but that's entirely optional.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit).
- Score the skin of the pork belly, season well with salt and pepper, and transfer the meat to a roasting tray lined with tin foil.
- Roast for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and roast for a further one and a half hour.
- For the last 30 minutes, increase the temperature again to 230 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit).
- Remove from the oven, cover loosely with tin foil, and leave the meat to rest for 30 minutes.
Expert tips
The cooking time depends entirely on the weight of the pork belly. The way you calculate how long it needs to cook for is by roasting it for 30 minutes per half a kilo or a pound, plus 30 minutes. The resting time is a separate time though.
The reason you start with a high temperature is to render the fat, or melt it - a pork belly has quite a lot of it. Increasing the temperature again will give us a super crispy skin.
Do leave the roast to rest, covering it with foil will not make the skin go soft, it stays crispy regardless. While the meat rests, the juices run, allowing the meat to be moist and delicious.
Recipe FAQs
The roasting time depends entirely on the weight of the pork belly, the general rule is that you cook it for 30 minutes per half a kilo or a pound, plus 30 minutes.
Start with a high temperature to render the fat, I usually go for 230 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit), the lower it to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit), and increase again at the end for a super crispy crackling.
There is no need to wrap it while it roasts, I only wrap it at the end when it's out of the oven to rest - the crackling still stays crispy.
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Roasted Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 2 kg pork belly, bone in
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit, 210 fan oven).
- Season the pork belly with salt and pepper, arrange it onto a large roasting tray lined with tin foil, and roast for 30 minutes.
- Lower the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and continue to roast for 1 and a half hour.
- Increase the temperature again to 230 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit) for the last 30 minutes.
- Remove the tray from the oven, and cover it loosely with kitchen foil for the roast to rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.
Notes
- The cooking time depends entirely on the weight of the pork belly. The way you calculate how long it needs to cook for is by roasting it for 30 minutes per half a kilo or a pound, plus 30 minutes. The resting time is a separate time though.
- The reason you start with a high temperature is to render the fat, or melt it - a pork belly has quite a lot of it. Increasing the temperature again will give us a super crispy skin.
- Do leave the roast to rest, covering it with foil will not make the skin go soft, it stays crispy regardless. While the meat rests, the juices run, allowing the meat to be moist and delicious.
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