Chinese Pork Char Siu Recipe

Char Siu, the irresistible Cantonese-style barbecued pork, is one of the most popular dishes on British Chinese takeaway menus. Known for its deliciously tender texture and sweet, sticky glaze, Char Siu is loved for its mouthwatering blend of flavors and vibrant red color. With this easy-to-follow recipe, you can recreate the magic of takeaway-style Char Siu right in your own kitchen, enjoying the juicy, caramelized pork that’s usually a takeaway treat.

The magic of Char Siu lies in its marinade, which infuses the pork with a deliciously balanced mix of sweetness, savoriness, and a hint of umami. With that in mind, using high quality ingredients is a MUST for this recipe.

Thankfully, most larger supermarkets have a fantastic range of high quality Chinese products. The Lee Kum Lee brand is by far the best these larger supermarkets have to offer so please try and use this brand rather than brands such as Blue Dragon or Amoy as it will completely alter the quality of the final produce.

Char Siu is traditionally made with pork shoulder, pork collar or pork belly for best results, but this home-friendly version also works well with pork tenderloin, fillet, chops and ribs.

Serve it sliced over fluffy white rice or alongside stir-fried vegetables. Maybe even with some salt and pepper chips.

Key Points

• Using high quality soy sauce and hoisin is a MUST for this dish. Thankfully the Lee Kum Lee brand is avaialble in most major supermarkets for dark soy, light soy and hoisin. Do not use popular brands such as Blue Dragon.
• Shaoxing rice wine is not the same as rice wine vinegar. Please use Shaoxing as the flavour profiles are completely different.
• Please follow the instructions of cooking to temperature in the recipe below.
• For a char siu suace to dip and drizzle, simply follow the marinade steps (without adding any pork) and simmer in a pan on a low heat. Once the sauce starts to bubble, cook for 2 minutes. Add a splash of water if the sauce is too thick for your liking.
• I recommend the Taj frozen garlic ginger cubes . Do not use jarred or tubed garlic/ginger as they contain preservatives that can make the dish bitter.
• MSG is optional but will give the dish the moreish addictive Chinese takeaway taste

Pork Char Siu Recipe

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Prep Time 5 mins

Marinade Time 1 d

Total Time 1 d 5 mins

Servings 3

Ingredients

  

• 500 g pork most takeaways will use pork collar or shoulder but you can use any cut of pork – including chops, belly and ribs. For this recipe I used pork fillet.
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine
• 1 Taj brand frozen garlic/ginger block or 1 tsp garlic paste and 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 0.5 tsp MSG optional but will give the dish the moreish addictive Chinese takeaway taste
• 0.5 tsp white pepper
• 0.5 tsp red food colouring powder

Instructions

 

• Combine all the ingredients, excluding the pork and add into a bowl and mix.
• Add the pork and massage the marinade into the pork for 1 minute. If you are using food colouring, wear gloves!
  
• Leave the pork in the fridge overnight to marinade.
  
• Remove the pork from the marinade and add 3 tbsp of honey to the remaining marinade and then add to a frying pan on a low heat. Once the mix starts to bubble, cook for 2 minutes. This is your baste.
  

Air Frying

• For the size and cut of pork I have used, I cooked for 15 minutes. This may not be applicable for the pork cut you are using. Please follow the guidance below.
  
• Cook the pork at 180℃, using the cooked leftover marinade as a baste. You should baste every 1/3 of the cooking time.
  
• The pork should be cooked to temperature as pork comes in various different sizes and weights. The internal temperature should be around 63℃ before leaving to rest for 5 minutes before carving.

  If you don't have a probe, slice the thickest part of the cut to see if the pork is cooked.
  

Oven Roasting

• For the size and cut of pork I have used, I cooked for 15 minutes. This may not be applicable for the pork cut you are using. Please follow the guidance below.
• Cook the pork at 190℃ on a roasting tray and rack, leaving space for air to get under the pork.
• Using the cooked leftover marinade as a baste. You should baste every 1/3 of the cooking time. You should also turn the pork half way through the cooking time.
• The pork should be cooked to temperature as pork comes in various different sizes and weights. The internal temperature should be around 63℃ before leaving to rest for 5 minutes before carving.

  If you don't have a probe, slice the thickest part of the cut to see if the pork is cooked.