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
Absolutely fantastic Bill. Will be making again.
Hi Matthew, I agree and happy to hear you enjoyed it!
love your blog, many thx to you & your fam! am a big fan of the ‘dry fried pork intestine’ dish (to the horror of my fam). could you pls provide advice on how to clean/prep/cook pork bung? with a disclaimer/preface ‘not for the squeamish’, LOL
Hi Tammy, I’m in the same boat with you. Bill always discourages me from ordering it, because supposedly it’s bad for me, but it tastes so good. I do know that preparing intestines is somewhat involved, as far as cleaning is concerned. Maybe this is one dish that you order when you go out, keep it “special,” that’s how I look at it, hahaha…
Looks amazing will give it a try today
Thanks Lambro, you should make it because it definitely tastes as amazing as it looks!
Insanely good. Thank you so much for your recipes. Though Caucasian, I cook Chinese food at least 4 x per week.
Hi Philip, totally agree and reading about it makes me want it again. Keep up the great cooking!
This was so insanely good. Painfully good (and I mean that literally but I cannot resist the spiciest of spicies no matter the ‘downstream’ consequences). I made it exactly as listed -but used a different one of your chili oil recipes that I already had on hand.
When i was making it I thought — there is no SAUCE it should have a sauce! thanks goodness i trusted you and made as written. Just so flippin awesome and MUST have rice with it! thank you thank you!!
Hi Toni Jean, good that you resisted the urge for sauce as quite a few authentic Sichuan dishes are sauceless! It’s def one of my favorites and glad you enjoyed it!
i realized I got shishito peppers instead of long green pepppers. Will they still work?
Hi Pattycakes, Shishito peppers will work nicely although they are less spicy than the long hot green peppers ;-)
The Sichuanese restaurant in my hutong just changed ownership and used to have something like this on the menu, but doesn’t anymore – so this may save me. :) Won’t save my waistline, though..!
Hi Darcey, Haha, it’s definitely not a dieter’s dish but enjoyed in moderation, it is heavenly!
Hi Bill,
Thank you for the recipe. I have to cook it. I am also going to look for the chicken version, and please, I love pork intestines too, could you also post the recipe or email the recipe to me? There used to be a restaurant that served good Pork Intestines with mustard greens, no sauce. Apparently the chef was changed, when I ordered the same dish, it was soupy and it did not taste good. I tried again after a while, thinking maybe the chef was off that day or on vacation, but it was again soupy. I wonder how to cook that dish.
Thank you for your great recipes.
Francine
Hi Francine, I don’t think I have ever had the dish you’re describing, but if you like the pork intestines, you can basically use this same recipe, but substitute pork intestine for the pork belly. You can decide how crispy you want to cook the intestines. I like to make them slightly crispy on the outside and slightly soft on the inside. Happy cooking!
Hi Bill.
This looks so tasty. I have a question about the pork belly, Do you buy it sliced ?
Reason I’m asking is because in the country where I live you only get it in large chunks, and I’m unsure as how to cut it.
Hi Pierre, we usually buy it in a large chunk, but you can have the butcher cut it into slabs like bacon. Have them cut it about 3/4 in thick, and when you get home, cut them into 1/2 inch pieces to get the 1/2 x 3/4 inch chunks you see in our photos. After making the dish once, you can experiment with the size of the pieces to your own liking. Happy cooking!
I make your Three Pepper Chicken recipe for my husband and I often, so I am definitely looking forward to trying this. I noticed that the pork goes into the pan to brown without being marinated first though, unlike the chicken which sits in a mixture that has douban paste prior to browning – is pork fat so flavorful that marinating is unnecessary? I trust your judgement, of course, because anything that we cook that’s Chinese is always prepared according to recipes found on this website – I was merely curious about the difference.
Thanks, by the way, for saving us a ton of money by making us capable of cooking some of our favorite things to eat at home. I grew up in an American Chinese family and we always went out to restaurants for whatever we were craving because nobody knew how to make any of our favorite Cantonese, Sichuan, or Dim Sum foods. Before you guys I was unaware that there was more than one type of soy sauce.
I made this for dinner tonight and served it with your takeout-style broccoli in garlic sauce and some rice. My husband and I both thought it was delicious and will be sure to have it again.
Awesome Jessica!
Hi Jessica, pork belly has its own distinct flavor like bacon when fried in its own fat, unlike chicken meat (unless you use the skin), so we want to preserve that flavor and layer the other flavors of the garlic, ginger, peppers and spices on top. If you like three pepper chicken, I am sure you will love this restaurant-style dish too! Happy cooking!
Dieting is a lost cause as long as I have access to your website. This looks delicious!
Haha Cynthia! I know what you mean – good food is hard to resist and I find myself having to put in more exercise time to eat – Lol!