One of my favorite food blogs is Appetite for China. The author, Diana Kuan, is hosting a Chinese New Year Potluck to promote her new book, The Chinese Takeout Cookbook, and I’m participating by cooking her Chinese Barbecued Pork recipe. Every recipe I’ve cooked from Appetite for China has been delicious, but this recipe is my favorite. I’ve cooked many Barbecued Pork recipes and this is by far the tastiest and will be the recipe I use from now on.
I made two changes to the recipe to fit my family’s eating style. I switched the pork belly to pork butt because it’s a little bit leaner, and the white sugar to agave sweetener because it’s less processed.
I minced the garlic and put together the Chinese rice wine, soy sauce, agave sweetener, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder to create the marinade.
I have to double the recipe because my husband and little ones love this so much and it is great to make Barbecued Pork fried rice the next day. I bought a 2 pound pork butt and cut it in half, creating two long pieces.
After a few hours marinating, I put the pork in the pan and covered it with honey.
The pork comes out of the oven and is the perfect combination of crispy and juicy. The air is filled with this amazing smell of barbecue sweetness.
I cooled the pork and then cut it into slices. I poured some of the marinade from the pan over the pork. This picture makes my mouth water.
| Chinese Barbecued Pork (Char Siu) | Print |
- 1 pound pork butt
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, or substitute regular soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons agave sweetener
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tablespoon hoisin sauce
- ½ teaspoon five-spice powder
- 2 tablespoons honey
- In a large bowl, mix together the rice wine, dark soy sauce, agave sweetener, garlic, hoisin sauce, and five-spice powder. Rub the pork butt with the marinade mixture and marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Rub the excess marinade off the pork butt (but don’t rub it all off!) and place in a roasting pan. Brush the top with the honey. Roast the pork for 50 to 55 minutes, flipping the pork butt over half-way through and brushing honey on the other side. The pork is done when the outsides begin to crisp and blacken, and the center of the pork belly strip feels firm.
- Remove the pork from oven and let it cool for a 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into thin slices. Arrange the slices on a plate and serve, either plain as part of a multi-course meal, or with rice or noodles.
Enjoy! Chrissy xoxo