As we creep towards middle age, Bill and I try to be healthier and avoid eating too much meat. We’re no health nuts by any stretch of the imagination…we’d eat anything and everything if we didn’t have to worry about the threat of muffin tops.
There are countless times when the two of us walk into a bakery or gourmet shop for the sole purpose of just going in to look. But Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (hong shao rou) is an exception!
So for most of our home-cooked meals these days, we try to stay pretty healthy–lots of veggies. But today, thanks to viewers like you, we’re having pork for dinner (and a vegetable, of course). We’re just giving the hungry public what they want, after all.
Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (hong shao rou, 红烧肉), or “red cooked pork,” is a very famous dish in China. Everyone knows it, and there are many versions and twists based on the original. Some of the more well-known variations include the addition of squid (sounds odd, but boy, is it tasty), hard boiled eggs, and tofu knots (one of Sarah’s favorites. See my mother’s recipe for Hongshao Rou for this variation).
Other pork belly favorite recipes include Mei Cai Kou Rou, a famous steamed pork belly, Braised pork belly with arrowroot, a Cantonese New Year’s favorite,
And others not so similar but really good are Cantonese roast pork belly and Twice cooked pork belly.
The list goes on, but since I’m from Shanghai, I like to cook the original, un-embellished Shanghai-style version. This shanghai pork belly recipe is designed for two to three people because I’m cooking for three here, but you can certainly double and/or triple the recipe for bigger crowds. You may have to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
The ingredients are very simple: pork belly, oil, sugar, wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce. That’s right, just SIX ingredients. Crazy, right?
Shanghai Braised Pork Belly: Recipe Instructions
Start by cutting your pork for your Shanghai braised pork belly. Cut the pork belly into 3/4 inch thick pieces.
Then bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork for a couple minutes. This gets rid of impurities and starts the cooking process. Take the pork out of the pot and set aside.
Over low heat, add oil and sugar to your wok. Melt the sugar slightly and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the pork is lightly browned.
Turn the heat back down to low and add Shaoxing cooking wine, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water. It’s very important to the color and flavor of this dish that you have both kinds of soy sauce! Just head to your local Asian market, buy a bottle of each, and it will last you a year!
Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until pork is fork tender. Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry. Once the pork is fork tender, if there is still a lot of visible liquid, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to a glistening coating.
And then, it’s time to eat! Let us know in the comments if you’re interested in any other variations of this dish, and we’ll get right on it. (not that we’re looking for another excuse to make it or anything…)
For entertaining, get one of these clay or earthen pots to serve your Shanghai Style Braised pork Belly (hong shao rou).
Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (Hong Shao Rou)
Ingredients
- 12 ounces lean, skin-on pork belly (340g)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar (rock sugar is preferred if you have it)
- 3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Start by cutting your pork belly into 3/4-inch thick pieces.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork belly pieces for a couple minutes. This gets rid of impurities and starts the cooking process. Take the pork out of the pot, rinse, and set aside.
- Over low heat, add the oil and sugar to your wok. Melt the sugar slightly and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the pork is lightly browned.
- Turn the heat back down to low and add shaoxing cooking wine, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water.
- NOTE: It’s very important to the color and flavor of this dish that you have both kinds of soy sauce! Just head to your local Asian market, buy a bottle of each, and it will last you a year!
- Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until pork is fork tender. Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry.
- Once the pork is fork tender, if there is still a lot of visible liquid, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to a glistening coating.
Being an Englishman I like a sauce so when I have made this, usually for Chinese new year parties I bulk the dish out with more sauce, thickened with some starch. There are usually about 20-30 drunk people and it always gets polished off, usually with the bowl scraped clean – as it were. Tastes really nice to my palate. If I did your recipe it would be gone in 5 minutes LOL! Sounds lovely though.
LOL…I see what you are trying to do :-) Thank you for your lovely comment!
When I reached the end of cooking, there was still a lot of liquid in the wok. I turned up the heat and continued. After a while, I realized that the liquid was melted fat from the pork belly and the sauce underneath it was starting to burn. I poured off the fat and what was left was certainly delicious. I think you should mention the rendered fat in the recipe. The sauce will never thicken properly unless the fat is removed.
Thank you, Dave, we will update the cooking instructions.
Made this tonight and the whole family loved it! Thank you!
That’s so great, Kathy.
I separated fat before reducing liquid to a glaze as stated in comments, and it worked very well. excellent flavor.
Nicely done, Bridget.
Hi Judy, can I use pork tenderloin to replace pork belly?
No, Brin, tenderloin is too lean and it’s a waste to braise it. I’d recommend this recipe for your tenderloin and pork shoulder with skin for Hong Shao Rou if you can’t find pork belly.
Hi there! Can I use pork shoulder instead? Thanks!
Hi Lala, you can select shoulder pieces with skin attached, or it will be too lean.
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
Yes, you can.
Looks like a great recipe! What do you serve along side it?
Hi Andrea, we had this for dinner tonight. I made a stir-fried vegetable (asparagus, onion and carrots), and some brown rice to go with it.
This was AMAZING although I did manage to mess it up. I think that I cooked it too long and the sauce separated from all the rendered pork fat. There was about 2 cm worth of fat at the bottom of my dutch oven for 2lbs of pork belly. It was still delicious even without a sticky glazes and more of a fried coating. The pork was tender and melt in your mouth yet firm and the crunchier parts were the best. I confess I’ve never actually had this dish before so I have no comparison, but we will be making this again even if I can’t get the sauce quite right.
For next time, Katy, reduce the braising time so you have slightly more sauce left. Also, skim some fat off, and save it for .
Hi Judy and clan – really have been enjoying the dishes I’ve tried. For this one, the first time I made it I had the same problem as Katy. It was delicious, but I was left with a lot of fat, no sauce. The second time, I braised until it was about to separate, but still no glaze. Delicious, but with a dull brown color. Any other ideas on how to get that gorgeous glaze? Thanks
Hi lina, pick a pork belly slab that is not too fatty, or skim off some fat before reducing the sauce. As for the rest, don’t reduce sauce to the point of dryness. Try again :-)
This was delicious.
Going on my rotation.
Great! \^_^/