This Sichuan Three Pepper Pork Belly Stir-fry is based on one of my favorite restaurant dishes, Sichuan Three Pepper Chicken. Instead of using chicken, however, I’ve decided to use crispy chunks of pork belly!
Restaurant Inspiration
The inspiration for this variation comes from one of our family’s favorite restaurants and the discovery of a “Three Pepper” fatty pork intestine dish, which doesn’t sound like it could possibly be good, but is off the charts in terms of how delicious it is (and probably how unhealthy it is).
That doesn’t stop us from ordering it every so often, though. Judy’s dark secret is that she loves offal, so when she gets a craving, she can’t be stopped! Though even we have to admit that preparing and frying pork intestines is a bit much for us to stomach as home cooks.
So I improvised and used pork belly to get a similar flavor at home! Because with a restaurant charging up to $16 an order and $12 for a side of veggies, why not cook at home for a fraction of the cost?
Serve with Rice & A Vegetable!
This dish must be enjoyed with bowls of white rice, and I recommend also serving it alongside a nice healthy stir-fried vegetable dish, like a simple stir-fried bok choy or stir-fried pea tips with garlic to balance out the meal. For anyone less familiar with spicy Sichuan food, a tall cool glass of water nearby would be refreshing, if not prudent.
Given how many variations on “three pepper” dishes we’ve had, in my humble opinion, this dish is the pinnacle, the apex, the zenith of Sichuan cooking! You can obviously see that I’m pretty fond of my Sichuan peppers and even more fond of this Sichuan Three Pepper Pork Belly Stir-fry.
Sichuan Three Pepper Pork Belly: Recipe Instructions
Heat your wok with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil until just smoking, and add the pork belly.
Stir fry the pork belly, turning down the heat to medium and cooking the pork until just crispy and browned (about 6 minutes). Remove the crispy pork belly from the wok and set aside.
Turn the wok back up to high heat, and add the long hot green peppers to the leftover oil from frying the pork belly. Stir-fry until just scorched, but not wilted, and set aside along with the crispy pork belly.
At this point, there should still be leftover oil in the wok. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the ginger. Gently stir until fragrant. Add the dried red chili peppers, garlic, and the Sichuan peppercorns if you are using the whole peppercorns.
Some people enjoy the whole peppercorns, but others don’t–especially if you bite into one! For this dish, I don’t mind them whole, but if you would rather grind them or use Sichuan Peppercorn Powder, hold off on adding them to the dish at this point.
Gently stir-fry for another 30 seconds. It’s important to toast the dried peppers and garlic but not burn them, or it will result in a bitter flavor!
Next, turn the heat back up to high, and stir in the pork belly and peppers you set aside before. If you’re using the ground Sichuan peppercorns or Sichuan peppercorn powder, add them to the dish now.
Add in the chili oil (making sure to get some of the flakes, not just the oil itself), salt, and sugar, and stir fry everything together. Next, add the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok.
Add the scallions on top, and stir fry for another 60 seconds until the crispy pork belly pieces are well-coated with all the spices.
Serve your Sichuan three pepper pork belly stir-fry immediately steamed rice and maybe a side of stir-fried vegetables. Something like our Basic Stir-Fried Bok Choy or Garlic Baby Bok Choy!
Make sure you serve the Sichuan Three Pepper Pork Belly Stir-Fry with plenty of white rice!
Sichuan Three Pepper Pork Belly Stir-fry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 12 ounces pork belly (sliced 1/2-inch thick)
- 4 long hot green peppers (cut into 1-inch pieces, deseeded if desired, will be less spicy without seeds)
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger (sliced to ⅛-inch thickness)
- 12 dried red chili peppers
- 5 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns (either whole or crushed into a powder depending on your preferred spice-level)
- 2 tablespoons chili oil (with chili flakes)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- Heat your wok with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil until just smoking, and add the pork belly. Stir fry the pork belly, turning down the heat to medium and cooking the pork until just crispy and browned (about 6 minutes). Remove the pork from the wok and set aside.
- Turn the wok back up to high heat, and add the long hot green peppers to the leftover oil from frying the pork belly. Stir-fry until just scorched, but not wilted, and set aside along with the pork belly.
- At this point, there should still be leftover oil in the wok. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the ginger. Gently stir until fragrant. Add the dried red peppers, garlic, and the Sichuan peppercorns if you are using the whole peppercorns. Some people enjoy the whole peppercorns, but others don’t--especially if you bite into one! For this dish, I don’t mind them whole, but if you would rather grind them, hold off on adding them to the dish at this point.
- Gently stir-fry for another 30 seconds. It’s important to toast the dried peppers and garlic but not burn them, or it will result in a bitter flavor!
- Next, turn the heat back up to high, and stir in the pork belly and peppers you set aside before. If you’re using the powdered Sichuan peppercorns, add them to the dish now.
- Add in the chili oil (making sure to get some of the flakes, not just the oil itself), salt, and sugar, and stir fry everything together. Next, add the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok.
- Add the scallions on top, and stir fry for another 60 seconds until the pork is well-coated with all the spices.
nutrition facts
Amazing recipes Thank you so much
You are so welcome.
I’ve made this at home two or three times now. The first time I made it, I just didn’t get the flavor I wanted, so I started trying to “velvet” the pork belly with some soy and oyster sauce (along with cornstarch, water, and oil). Tasty, if not authentic.
Is the “Black Pepper Chicken” sold at American Chinese restaurants like a takeoff on this, or is it just a different sort of recipe altogether?
Hi George, if the black pepper chicken we both had is the same, it’s really a different recipe from this one.
Deep complex flavors with a really easy recipe. Garlic chives pretty important. Make the effort to find them if you access to Chinese grocery ie HK mart. Fantastic! Thank you.
You’re welcome Steve, this three pepper pork belly is definitely one of my favorites!
Hi Bill! This recipe sounds outstanding! Two quick questions:
1. If pork belly isn’t available, will pork shoulder do, or do you reccomend another cut of pork?
2. I looked at your family’s page on long green peppers, but I’m still not sure what kind to go with. Serrano? Jalapeno? Cayenne? What kind of long peppers are best for this recipe and/or the 3 Pepper Chicken recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Maximilian, if you can’t find pork belly, use a fatty pork butt or pork shoulder, cut into smaller bite-sized pieces. As far as what kind of pepper to use, our experience is that the long hot green peppers are most common here in the east coast NJ/NY area. They vary but can be quite spicy so what I would say is select the pepper based on the spice level you are looking for.
Thanks Bill! I’m looking forward to making the dish!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It is soooo good! I added more salt, sugar and chilli powder too ;-)
Love it :-)
Hi Bill and family, I love your website! I made a version of this tonight, although the spice was dialled down a little because the long green peppers here are mellow and I didn’t have any dried red peppers so used chilli instead. I’m not a great cook, but it ended up being delicious, full of flavour and so satisfying. Thanks so much for the time and care you put into helping us all!
Also, just realised I didn’t rate the recipe. A definite five stars!
Hi Stevi, happy to hear you enjoyed this Sichuan pork belly recipe and you are quite welcome!
Delicious!
I LOVE the full on spicy version you give but even my “spare me those foreign foods” German dad now makes an exception for a slightly toned down version of your recipe (halved the Sichuan pepper, used those milder Korean chili flakes instead the dried chilis).
Hi Kat, good job diversifying your dad’s eating experiences :)
What a tasty dish, full of flavour without a marinade for the meat.
Thanks for this Bill,
will be a go to recipe for me.
Hi Robbie, I somehow missed your comment but glad you enjoyed it!
we did this tonight. covid cooking meant that we had to make some substitutions – used loin instead of belly and different peppers and chili flakes instead of whole – but mostly stuck to the spirit in which it’s intended and it was so, so fabulous. this recipe will definitely be part of our regular roster! thanks so much!
Hi Melanie, glad you managed to vary the ingredients and still enjoy it :)
Do we need to remove rind? The butcher told me it will just be chewy if I don’t remove the rind, however looks like rind not removed in your pics?
Thank You,
Danielle
Danielle, we generally do not remove the pork skin in our pork belly recipes. It’s the best part in some ways!