Twice Cooked Pork, or hui guo rou (回鍋肉), is a Sichuan dish of spicy seared pork belly that’s way too famous to ignore and too delicious not to share. If you’ve never tried it, you NEED to make this recipe. It is simply and unequivocally delicious!
Yes, Shanghai Braised pork belly is irresistible and yes, Cantonese roast pork belly is delicious, but pork belly recipes in Sichuan, China are different and when cooked right, this dish melts in your mouth and gives such a pleasant hot chili bean flavor that you may down two or three servings of rice with it.
In the US, this dish has evolved as demand for authentic Chinese cooking has grown. I clearly remember the Twice Cooked Pork we’d make in our take-out restaurant in the old days: boiled pork, cabbage, five-spiced tofu, green and red bell pepper, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and hot sauce. For a long, long time, I thought we were making “twice cooked pork.”
But as more and more authentic Sichuan restaurants open up, the true twice cooked pork has revealed itself. It’s amazingly decadent and addictive.
If you find yourself in a restaurant with a lot of Chinese diners and you see this dish on the menu, order it. Most likely, it will be pretty authentic.
We also had the dish often while living in Beijing, and developed this particular recipe based off of some of the best versions we had around the city. Only the best for our readers!
Twice Cooked Pork: Recipe Instructions
Important notes, before we begin:
- Don’t forget to make rice in advance because you’ll need it.
- Just to make this really clear: the pork is sliced AFTER being boiled.
- The right hot bean paste really makes this dish, so see photo below for the right brand.
In a medium pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add the whole piece of pork belly and the ginger, and bring the pot to a boil again. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until the pork is tender and cooked through. Remove the pork from the pot and run it under cold running water for about a minute. Set aside.
While the pork is cooling, prepare all the other ingredients. Once you are ready to cook (don’t do this in advance, or the pork will dry out), thinly slice the pork belly (slices should be about 1/8 inch thick).
Heat your wok over high heat until just starting to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and sear the pork, until you get a light caramelization, about 90 seconds. Turn the heat to medium-low and scoop out the pork. Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok.
Add the spicy broad bean paste to the wok and let it fry in the oil for about 30 seconds to bring out the flavor and color. The color should be red; pay attention to the heat to avoid burning.
Now add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
Turn the heat to high and add the pork, long hot green peppers, and leeks.
Stir-fry for a minute. Add the shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir everything together. Once the leeks and are wilted and the peppers are cooked (while still having a little crunch), it’s ready to serve.
Twice Cooked Pork
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork belly (450g, you HAVE to use pork belly, or it's not twice cooked pork)
- 2 slices ginger
- 2 tablespoons oil (divided)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons spicy broad bean paste
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 2 long hot green peppers (seeds removed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces)
- 1 medium leek (split lengthwise, washed thoroughly, and cut in 2-inch pieces)
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- In a medium pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add the whole piece of pork belly and the ginger, and bring the pot to a boil again. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until the pork is tender and cooked through. Remove the pork from the pot and run it under cold running water for about a minute. Set aside.
- While the pork is cooling, prepare all the other ingredients. Once you are ready to cook (don't do this in advance, or the pork will dry out), thinly slice the pork belly (slices should be about 1/8 inch thick).
- Heat your wok over high heat until just starting to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and sear the pork, until you get a light caramelization, about 90 seconds. Turn the heat to medium-low and scoop out the pork. Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok.
- Add the spicy broad bean paste to the wok and let it fry in the oil for about 30 seconds to bring out the flavor and color. The color should be red; pay attention to the heat to avoid burning.
- Now add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Turn the heat to high and add the pork, peppers, and leeks. Stir-fry for a minute. Add the shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir everything together. Once the leeks and are wilted and the peppers are cooked (while still having a little crunch), it's ready to serve.
I haven’t made it yet, I have already sliced pork belly, what can I do ?
Hi Dia, not sure what you mean, but if you have sliced the raw pork belly already, you can cook the pork belly slices in some water, which is different from the recipe (which says to cook the whole piece of pork belly first and then slice it before stir frying).
This is so delicious. I didn’t have leeks and replaced with spring onions. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, spring onions or scallions also work!
Hi! my friend turned me on to double cooked pork in Jersey City, NJ a few years back. omg, the bomb!
hot and fragrant, couldn’t stop eating it. i’m fairly sure it had peppercorns in it, that lent both heat and aroma to it, but i don’t see it in your recipe or anyone else’s for that matter. have you ever heard of this or do you think it was just the chef’s choice?
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Dave, adding Sichuan peppercorns or Sichuan peppercorn powder is optional, or as you say, a chef’s choice. Twice cooked pork is still one of my faves also!
Hello,
I grew up eating this dish in San Francisco’s China Town. It was made with what I think was napa cabbage. I recently had a version that was made with leeks, it wasn’t bad, but this is one of my favorite dishes from my childhood, and it was made with cabbage. If I use napa cabbage rather than the leeks, are there any other changes that I need to make. Also, is it napa cabbage or some other form of cabbage that is used, in the cabbage version of this dish.
Thank you.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Brenda, I am fairly certain that years ago in Chinatown, the cabbage they used was ordinary round cabbage. Napa cabbage is sweet and super-tasty, but restaurants did not use it because it was more expensive and also had much higher water content resulting in too much liquid in the sauce. If you decide to use it, just keep that in mind. Happy cooking!
I have lurked on this site for awhile now and your recipes never fail to please! I have made and eaten this dish for lunch/dinner the past four days…so amazing!
Hi Tim, I know what you mean about twice cooked pork – it is very addictive when served with hot white rice.
I can only find sliced pork belly where I live. Do you think boiling already will dry the meat out too much? One of my fave dishes!
Hi Kate, I think cooking the sliced pork belly should be fine. Whether using whole or sliced pork belly, simmering would be better than boiling. Happy cooking!
Yum! Made this successfully tonight. Bf practically drooled. This dish is what he always without fail orders when we go out to a Chinese restaurant.
The only question I have is.. the leek I bought had a firm white/green stem in the middle. Is that stem usable in the dish? I did not use it this time.
Hi Lianna, you can use the whole leek once you trim off the roots.
Hi Bill,
During the freezer clean-out/re-organization a found a piece of pork belly and made this again. (The five-year old borscht was also still quite good!) I know it is quite a rich dish and we had no fresh greens to accompany, but I did have a kohlrabi (not the most Asian of vegetables). I julienned this and added it with the leeks. It tasted great–giving a little crunch and absorbing the spicy sauce.
Try some kohlrabi in your stir fries. It is coming into season and who knows what will be at the market!
Hi Rick, I have to admit I have not tried kohlrabi. Every time I am at the grocery store, I forget to pick some up! I’ll make a shopping note to buy some and give it a try ;-)
So I had to make some changes to the recipe due to a lack of ingredients. So I didn’t have pork belly so I used pork chops. I didn’t have fresh ginger so I had to use powdered ginger. I only had black bean paste so I mixed that with some sriracha sauce to give it the spice. I didn’t have leeks so I used onions. I didn’t have a spicy green pepper so I used bell pepper and soaked some dry New Mexican red peppers for it color and hint of spice. I made some rice infused with saffron and bay leaf. It turned out absolutely delicious. My point to this is if you are looking at a recipe and just starting out cooking you can adapt it to what you have on hand.
Hi Jerry, good point on improvising and I have to say, your description is probably the most improvised version of this recipe to date. Thanks again for your comment and happy cooking!
At what point does improvisation become a totally different recipe? lol
Hi Bob, you’re right. Jerry’s version is a totally different recipe hahaha!
Brilliant reply Bob !! I’m still laughing !!
Does the recipe use skin on or skinless pork belly?
Hi Joe, we used pork belly with the skin on for this recipe. The skin is nice and tender after the first cooking of the pork ;-)