This sous vide pork belly is juicy and tender and melts in your mouth. This easy recipe uses the sous vide technique for hands-off, perfect results every time. We finish off the pork belly with a quick sear for a crispy skin texture, then we add it to delicious steamed Asian bao buns with pickled vegetables.
You can have this as a main dish or serve it as an appetizer at your next party. This delicious recipe is a huge crowd pleaser and will have your friends and family coming back for seconds!
If you’re wondering how to make the best pork belly of your life, look no further. In this recipe, we’ll go over everything you need to know about making the most tender and juicy pork belly you can imagine. We’ll review sous vide cooking, the different ways to seal meat in a sous vide bag, and how long to sous vide pork belly.
Contents
What is sous vide?
Sous vide, known as low-temperature long time cooking, is a culinary technique that cooks food at a very precise temperature using an immersion circulator in a water bath and yields the most consistent results every time.
This method of cooking can produce results that are very challenging to achieve through traditional cooking methods. Sous vide literally translates to “under a vacuum” in French, and refers to the process of vacuum sealing the food in a plastic bag before placing it in a sous vide water bath or large pot.
Why sous vide for pork belly?
Pork belly tends to have lots of fat and tough connective tissue (collagen) and with traditional methods of cooking, it can be difficult to break down the connective tissue, without overly drying the pork belly out.
While the traditional way of cooking uses direct heat, making it hard to control the temperature of your food, the sous vide method gives you complete control over the heat and temperature, making it so easy to consistently cook amazing food! I’ve found that 165°F (74°C) for 10 hours is the perfect temperature and time to cook pork belly and break down the tough connective tissue (collagen) without drying it out, resulting in the best pork belly you’ll ever have!
Pork belly is perfect for the sous vide process for the following reasons:
- Consistency: Since the pork belly is cooked at a precise temperature for a specific amount of time, you’re guaranteed to have great results every time.
- Flavor: The pork belly is sealed and cooked in the marinade so it’s never dry and always comes out melt in your mouth juicy, tender, and flavorful.
- Convenience: Unlike traditional cooking methods that require continued attention, sous vide cooking is similar to a slow cooker and allows you to basically set it and forget it while you do other important things, like binge watch your favorite show on Netflix. The sous vide machine will cook the pork belly at a consistent temperature and keep it there for as long as you like without any concern about under or overcooking.
How to vacuum seal pork belly?
We’ll go over several ways to seal your food for Sous Vide, ranging from a really expensive vacuum sealing system, like a chambered vacuum sealer, to cost-effective options, like Ziploc bags and how to use each method for this pork belly sous vide recipe. Spoiler alert: you don’t need a fancy and costly vacuum sealer.
Vacuum Sealer
This is one of the two most common methods of sealing food for sous vide. Although previously used exclusively by professional chefs, vacuum sealers are becoming more commonly used at home everyday. One of the most popular brands used by the home chef is Food Saver, with the Foodsaver 4840 model being highly regarded. Each brand usually has it’s own food-saver style vacuum bag which can sometimes be used interchangeably with other brands.
Pro Tip: Only chambered vacuum sealers can seal food with liquid, but never fear, if you have a regular vacuum sealer, here are a couple hacks to seal your pork belly with the marinade.
- The ice cube method: freeze the marinade in an ice cube tray and pop the frozen marinade cubes into the vacuum sealer bag with the pork belly, then vacuum seal.
- The freeze method: put the pork belly and marinade in an open vacuum sealer bag and position it upright in the freezer. Once frozen, remove from freezer and vacuum seal.
- The gravity method: position the vacuum sealer up higher, so the bag and its contents hang lower than the vacuum sealer itself (you’ll either need one hand to support the bag with the other hand on the vacuum sealer to push the “seal” button or have someone help hold the bag while you control the vacuum sealer). Start the vacuum sealer and as the air gets sucked out, the liquid will also rise. Once the liquid is almost sucked to the top, seal the bag before the liquid actually spills out.
Resealable bag (like Ziploc)
This is the other most common way for sealing food and is super convenient and cost effective! This technique uses the water displacement method to seal food. With the water displacement method, place the pork belly and marinade in a resealable bag, like Ziploc bag, and almost zip it fully closed, leaving a small opening. Slowly submerge the bag into a water bath and it will force out as much air as it can through the small opening. Keep submerging the bag until the top of the bag is almost at water level, then seal the bag completely.
Pro Tip: I prefer using gallon-sized freezer bags for a more durable, yet still cost effective, option. I also recommend double bagging for longer sous vide times, sous viding at higher temperatures, or if the contents have something that can potentially puncture the bag, like exposed bones.
Silcone bag (like Stashers)
This option combines the versatility and ease of a Ziploc bag with the strength of a vacuum-sealed bag. They’re really durable, are dishwasher and freezer safe, and can be reused a ton. I really like Stasher’s silicone bags for these reasons. All you have to do is put your ingredients into the bag, almost seal it fully closed, leaving a small opening, and manually roll the bag from the bottom to the top, forcing out as much air as you can, before sealing it completely.
Pro Tip: Due to the thickness of the silicone bag, increase the cooking time by about 5 minutes.
Glass jar (like a mason jar)
While very useful for food recipes that start off in a liquid form (like an egg bite) or grains (like beans), mason jars are not suitable for this pork belly recipe, so I won’t be going into a lot of detail about it. Just know that it can be a very easy and convenient option depending on the type of food you’re preparing.
Equipment needed
- Sous vide machine (Immersion circulator): this is the most important piece of equipment you’ll need as this recipe would not be possible without it!
- A large container for a water bath: you can use almost any container you have for the water bath, like a heat resistant plastic box or a large pot. You’ll just want to make sure it is large enough to fit the sous vide machine and your food. I like this 12 quart container for my sous vide recipes.
- Pro Tip: A compatible lid for your container comes in handy for longer cook times because the water can evaporate during the process. If you don’t have a lid, you may have to check on the water level from time to time and add more if needed.
- A vacuum sealer, Ziploc bag, or silicone resealable bag: this will hold the pork belly and marinade during the sous vide process. I will be using a Ziploc gallon-sized freezer bag for this recipe.
- A cast iron skillet or blowtorch: you’ll use this to sear the cooked pork belly after the sous vide process.
Substitutions
If you would prefer to avoid using mirin due to its alcohol content, you can substitute mirin with rice vinegar with a slight adjustment. Rice vinegar is more sour than mirin, which is slightly sweet, so for every 1 teaspoon of mirin, substitute 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar plus 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.
What to pair with it
- Steamed rice or fried rice, like this Benihana hibachi fried rice recipe
- Steamed Bao buns
- Veggies or a light Asian salad
What you need
- 2 lbs slab of pork belly, without skin
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
- 1 teaspoon (or another similar oil with a high smoke point)
- 3 tablespoons mayonaise, optional
- 8 asian bao buns, steamed to soften texture
- 4 leaves of romaine lettuce, torn to add to bao buns
- pickled daikon and carrots, optional
- pickled cucumbers, optional
How to make this
Prepare the sous vide bath
- Heat water to 165°F (74°C) with a sous vide machine.
- Combine the soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, green onions, garlic and ginger into the bowl of a food processor and blend well into a marinade.
- Put the pork belly and marinade into your sous vide bag of choice and seal. Double bag if using Ziploc bags.
- Place the bag into the water bath and use a clip to keep the bag from moving around. I like using these binder clips for this purpose. You may also need to use some weights or magnets to keep the bag down. I’ve found these weights and magnets to be useful. Again, having a water bath with a lid is recommended.
- Cook for 10 hours.
Finish the pork belly
- After 10 hours, remove the bag from the water bath.
- Optional step: Immediately chill with cold water in an ice bath for just a couple minutes in lengthen searing time.
- Lay some paper towels on a cutting board. Remove the pork belly from the bag and transfer it onto the paper towels on the cutting board. Make sure to keep the juices for a sauce later. Pat the pork belly really well with additional paper towels to draw out any moisture. Set aside for a few minutes. This is a really important step as you won’t get a good sear if the pork belly has a lot of retained moisture.
- While the pork belly is resting, strain the pork belly juices through a mesh strainer. Pour the liquid into a small saucepan and simmer on medium heat until reduced to a thicker syrupy consistency and set aside to drizzle on top of the pork belly.
- Optional step: mix in a few tablespoons of mayonnaise for a creamier sauce.
- Pour a teaspoon of avocado oil into a large skillet on medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles and evaporates, place the pork belly with the fat side down for 45 seconds, and then flip onto the other side for another 45 seconds for a quick sear.
- Remove and cut the pork belly into smaller pork belly bites with a sharp knife.
- Drizzle the reduced pork belly sauce onto the seared pork belly and serve over rice or in bao buns with a little lettuce, and pickled carrots and daikon for a little Vietnamese touch. Enjoy!
Storing
If you’re not going to be searing and serving the pork belly right away, after you sous vide the pork belly, immediately chill it in an ice bath. Once it’s cooled off, you can store it in the unopened sealed bag in the refrigerator for about a week.
Sous Vide Pork Belly Recipe
Equipment
- Sous vide machine (Immersion circulator):
- A large container for a water bath.
- A vacuum sealer, Ziploc bag, or silicone resealable bag.
- A cast iron skillet or blowtorch
Ingredients
- 2 lbs slab of pork belly (without skin)
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup mirin
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 green onions (chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (minced)
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil (or another similar oil with a high smoke point)
- 3 tablespoons mayonaise, optional
- 8 Asian bao buns (optional, steamed)
- 4 leaves lettuce (optional, torn)
- pickled daikon and carrots (optional)
- pickled cucumbers (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the sous vide bath
- Heat water to 165°F (74°C) with a sous vide machine.
- Combine the soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, green onions, garlic and ginger into the bowl of a food processor and blend well into a marinade.
- Put the pork belly and marinade into your sous vide bag of choice and seal. Double bag if using Ziploc bags.
- Place the bag into the water bath and use a clip to keep the bag from moving around. I like using these binder clips for this purpose. You may also need to use some weights or magnets to keep the bag down. I’ve found these weights and magnets to be useful. Again, having a water bath with a lid is recommended.
- Cook for 10 hours.
Finish the pork belly
- After 10 hours, remove the bag from the water bath.Optional step: Immediately chill with cold water in an ice bath for just a couple minutes in lengthen searing time.
- Lay some paper towels on a cutting board. Remove the pork belly from the bag and transfer it onto the paper towels on the cutting board. Make sure to keep the juices for a sauce later. Pat the pork belly really well with additional paper towels to draw out any moisture. Set aside for a few minutes.
- While the pork belly is resting, strain the pork belly juices through a mesh strainer. Pour the liquid into a small saucepan and simmer on medium heat until reduced to a thicker syrupy consistency and set aside to drizzle on top of the pork belly.Optional step: mix in a few tablespoons of mayonnaise for a creamier sauce.
- Pour a teaspoon of avocado oil into a large skillet on medium-high heat.
- Once the skillet is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles and evaporates, place the pork belly with the fat side down for 45 seconds, and then flip onto the other side for another 45 seconds for a quick sear.
- Remove and cut the pork belly into smaller pork belly bites with a sharp knife.
- Drizzle the reduced pork belly sauce onto the seared pork belly and serve over rice or in bao buns with a little lettuce, and pickled carrots and daikon. Enjoy!
Nutrition
FAQs
Can I sous vide frozen pork belly?
Yes, you can sous vide frozen pork belly without needing to adjust the cook time.
What are the different ways can I sear pork belly?
Besides using a cast iron skillet, you can use a blow torch to sear the pork belly. Alternatively, you can use the broil feature on an oven.
