This is a knockout recipe. You may have seen a similar kind of roast pork before. In most Cantonese places, they have the meat hanging in the window for all to see. Better to draw customers in, of course. This is our homemade version and it’s pretty much as easy as it gets! You get a really nice crispy skin and the rub is super flavorful.
Make this dish with some rice and a vegetable, and you’ve got a lotta goodness going on.
Recipe Instructions
Get a large pot of boiling water on the stove.
Add the piece of pork to the water and cook for about ten minutes. This gets some of the blood and fat off the meat. Take the meat out and pat it dry with paper towel.
Mix all your spices together (including the five spice powder) and rub the pork all over with the spice mixture. Put it in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, roast the pork until tender (about 45 – 1 hour).
Let it cool off for a few minutes before serving.
Here’s the printable version:
Roast Pork with Five Spice
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds pork belly (in one big slab)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Get a large pot of boiling water on the stove. Add the piece of pork to the water and cook for about ten minutes. This gets some of the blood and fat off the meat. Take the meat out and pat it dry with paper towel.
- Mix all your spices together and rub the pork all over with the spice mixture. Put it in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees, roast the pork until tender (about 45 minutes – 1 hour).
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
We don’t live near a big city (Asian market) and wondered what other cut of pork would be a good substitute? Or do I just experiment? If I used pork loin, would I still boil it?
Five spice is do easy to make. But I find that sesame oil and chilli flake and lots of garlic give a good Asian flavour. But star anise is such a good addition if you have it
I have used this rub for everything from chicken to duck to pork chops. It is my go to rub and it’s good on every single thing. Even my mom, who is a great cook-much better than I- loves it. You can’t go wrong!
I did this recipe with pork loin and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you!!
Thank you so much for trying this recipe, Akayla.
Can this be made with pork loin?
Hi Kathrin, you can. Just know that you have to adjust the cooking time to avoid drying out the pork loin.
Skin side up or down?
Hi Lehua, skin side should be up. Check out our Cantonese Roasted Pork Belly recipe for a technique on how to crisp up pork skin.
Had a lonely piece (1 1/2 lb ) of pork belly hanging out in the freezer.. Saw this recipe and decided to try it out..
Glad I did… Pretty yummy…Too small a piece for a meal but, made a great snack for my wife and me..
I like the crispy skin idea so, next pork belly shopping trip will result in Cantonese Roasted Pork Belly…
Thanks for the great recipe(s)… :O)
Hi, thank you so much for posting this recipe! Though while reading it, I had several questions. What is the texture of the pork belly skin once it’s been roasted? Will it be crispy or will it more chewy? Do I need to turn the pork belly (from skin up to skin down) while it’s roasting?
Hi Annie, roast the meat skin side up. The skin will be crispy, but definitely not as crispy as our Cantonese Roasted Pork (https://thewoksoflife.com/2015/03/cantonese-roast-pork-belly/) recipe. If you want the skin to be crunchy like a potato chip, try the Cantonese Roasted Pork Belly. It also has five-spice.
Hello! Here is a review of my experience with Roast Pork with Five Spice. I would have loved the pork belly, but we had to make due with pork butt. Par boil and rub were nice, sat in fridgie. I roasted on rack over silverfoil for 30 min 375 and then turned it down to 350 to finish another 40 min. It needed it, because there was a bone in, and the meat was in a large piece. The flavor, I think would have gone into the meat better with a flatter cut like a pork belly. Also, the meat was crying out for skin!
I cut very thin slices, which were not totally juicy, but not bad, at least they were chewable. Our company all said it was delish.
I made the noodles with mushroom, but my sauce was watery, even with a lot of cornstarch. I added a stalk cut up piece of broccoli, and fresh garlic to the mince veg.
Analysis: get that Pork butt! The five spice is strong. Let meat sit after cooking is perfect. I want to do this dish again, but will have to search out pork belly. Could you recommend noodles for the noodle dish, spaghetti was just so, spaghetti-ish.
Congrats on another tasty dish.
Sheri
Hi Sheri, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Pork belly all the way next time! ^O^