Crispy Chinese pork with cabbage

Crispy Chinese pork with cabbage

Pork, awash with classic Chinese flavors. Plus—and this is key—a bubbly, crispy, to-die-for crackling. Yes, you can make this keto wonder at home! Bring on melt-in-your-mouth flavor... and crunch!

Crispy Chinese pork with cabbage

Pork, awash with classic Chinese flavors. Plus—and this is key—a bubbly, crispy, to-die-for crackling. Yes, you can make this keto wonder at home! Bring on melt-in-your-mouth flavor... and crunch!
USMetric
4 servingservings

Ingredients

Crispy Chinese pork
  • 1¾ lbs 800 g pork belly
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp five spice powder
  • 1 tsp 1 tsp salt
  • 13 cup 80 ml coarse salt
Fried savoy cabbage
  • 113 lbs 600 g savoy cabbage or green cabbage
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp butter or coconut oil
  • 2 2 garlic clovegarlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp 1 tsp Szechuan pepper
  • salt and ground black pepper
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Instructions

Instructions are for 4 servings. Please modify as needed.

  1. Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
  2. Place it, skin side up, on a cutting board. Score the skin finely using a sharp knife. Try to cut through only the skin, not the fat or meat. Make cuts no more than 15 of an inch (0.5 cm) apart. This takes time but will make the skin bubbly and crispy like pork rinds.
  3. Brush the meat, not the skin, with vinegar and pat in the seasonings.
  4. Place the pork, skin side up, on a piece of oven-proof aluminum foil. Fold the sides of the foil up, covering the edges of the pork, to make a border. Leave the top of the pork belly uncovered.
  5. Place the package in a baking dish and place the dish, uncovered, in the fridge for 12 hours (preferably overnight). This dries the skin and helps it crisp in the oven.
  6. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Cover the skin with a thick layer of coarse salt. Place in the lower part of the oven and cook for about an hour or until a meat thermometer placed in the middle shows 160°F (80°C).
  7. Take the pork out of the oven and remove the foil but save the rendered fat and juices. Scrape the salt from the skin, and return uncovered pork to the dish. Switch the oven to its broiler setting, and place the pork under the broiler. Cook for another 20-30 minutes or until the skin is golden brown, crisp and bubbly. Remove from oven and let the meat rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
  8. Prepare the cabbage — rinse, trim and chop coarsely.
  9. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and/or oil or the rendered pork fat.
  10. Smash the garlic and add to the pan along with the cabbage.
  11. Fry until golden brown around the edges, stirring often. Add vinegar and seasoning towards the end.

Tip!

If you can't find a Szechuan pepper you can substitute a mix of red pepper flakes, lemon pepper and cardamom. Use equal parts of each.

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What did you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

12 comments

  1. Angel
    This was amazing. Best recipe we've made on this site so far! Pork belly was so delicious with a perfectly crispy skin. Only change I made was to use Napa cabbage instead of green, and only kept pork under broiler for 10 mins, as it was starting to burn. 5*!!!
  2. Debby DWM
    Sadly, because this had the potential to be a great recipe, it was way too salty! I should have followed my gut and cut back on the salt, but wanted to try the instructions as written. Sad!
  3. Debbie
    Omg looove love love this will be a regular in our house.
  4. Debbie
    Absolutely inedible! What did I do wrong? As the fat rendered the pork shrank and the salt just fell into the foil pouch! So much effort was put into this dish and to have to throw the whole thing out was disappointing and frustrating! I totally jealous of the people who succeeded this one cause the marinade smelled so delicious.
  5. Steve
    To avoid the burn from top to bottom, I just simply use garlic powder instead of rice vinegar to keep everything dry before I put it in the refrigerator. I only use 5 minutes on boil and keep everything uncovered on buttom layers. Only move to the top on boil!
  6. Marla
    I also felt this was amazing- and I didn’t put it away in the fridge for any time. I just scored the pork belly, put rice vinegar, 5 spice powder and a little coarse salt on it, and cooked it on the bottom of oven at 450 for about 50 minutes. It was perfect, super crispy and tasty. I poured the fat onto chopped Napa cabbage and lots of garlic. OMG, just as good as any Chinese restaurant!
    I would count on 1/2 lb pork belly per person, it shrank to 1/2 of its size.
    Reply: #7
  7. Candace
    Marla, did you also use the foil wrap in the oven for the 50 minutes? Or did you just do it in a roasting pan without foil?
  8. Mike Bilder
    The instructions are poorly written and the recipe calls for way too much salt. It's written assuming that you know coarse salt is not a "seasoning." Also, it needs to specify low vs. high broil. I ruined an entire meal. Very disappointed.
  9. Ryan Siner
    Made this today, turned out really good. Really gotta read the instructions.
    Coarse salt goes on the pork skin for baking, not during the overnight rest.
  10. Liz Frost
    Absolutely delicious but would cut back on salt next time and only leave under grill for 10 mins not 20
  11. awinn
    My husband bought me pork belly for this recipie that has no skin. Can I still make it, and how should I vary the instructions?
  12. Dani
    I question the nutrition facts for this recipe. Was this calculated for raw pork belly or cooked? 3 servings should make a 3300 calorie dish so if I wanted that 3300 calorie dish to split into 5 meals of 660 calories the servings of pork belly would have been sooooo small. My 1.5lb pork belly shrunk to 13oz. Also I only used half the salt and it was still SOO salty even after I scraped off as much as possible- and I like salt!

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