Perfectly oven roasted pork belly with tender, succulent meat and a layer of crispy crackling. With just 3 ingredients it’s so easy to make.The skin will crisp best if the pork chills, uncovered, for at least 6 hours before roasting.
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
large roasting pan / rimmed baking sheet / baking tray
flat roasting rack
serrated knife and smooth chefs knife
Instructions
Take the pork belly out of it's packaging and pat dry all over with paper towel. Sit on a plate uncovered in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight (notes).
Preheat the oven to 230C / 450F. Line a roasting pan with aluminium foil.
Take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
Score just the skin of the pork at 1cm intervals with a sharp knife making sure not to cut through to the meat. Use light cuts until you get a feel for how much pressure you need to cut through the skin but not all the way to the meat.
Optional: Place the pork belly on a rack in the sink and pour over a kettle full of boiling water. Dry the pork skin well with paper towel so that it's completely dry again.
Place the pork on a chopping board. Rub the oil and salt all over the skin, making sure to get right into the scores in the skin. Now, with just the residue on your hands, rub the meat all over so that it also gets a bit of that salt and oil too.
Place it back onto the rack and into your roasting pan, skin side up. Make sure the skin is totally level - prop up any thinner pieces of the meat by placing small pieces of scrunched up foil underneath.
Roast for 1 hour or until skin is beginning to look crackly around the edges but not yet crunchy all over.
Turn the oven down to 180C and roast for a further 1 or up to 1 ½ hours until the skin is crunchy all over and the meat tender.
Remove from the oven and let the pork rest in the pan for 10 minutes before carving into 1 - 1 ½ cm slices. Use a serrated knife to saw through the crackling, then a sharp chefs knife to slice through the meat portion.
See the post for sides and sauce ideas.
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Notes
Choose a piece of pork that has a fairly even thickness all over and one with nice flat skin (not wrinkled).
Butcher quality is best. If using vacuum-packed pork, don't skip steps 1 and 5.
Drying out is best overnight.
Line the roasting pan with up to 3 layers of foil and you may not even need to wash the pan.
Have you tried this recipe?Don't forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.