If you’re craving for char siu (Cantonese BBQ roast pork) but instead of cooking it in an oven for 50 minutes, try making Air Fryer Char Siu! All you need to do is marinate, air fry, and enjoy better-than-restaurant char siu at home.
Traditionally, char siu is roasted over an open flame or in an oven, but with an air fryer, you can achieve the same delicious results in a fraction of the time.
In this blog post, I’m going to show you have to achieve the perfect charred and caramelised char siu glaze with minimal effort. Char siu is always best served with rice or noodles and some blanched green veggies.
ingredients for air fryer char siu:
- 500g pork belly (or pork shoulder)
- 2 tbsp maltose (or honey)
- 1 egg
- 2 servings
Marinade:
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 piece fermented bean curd
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 tsp red food colouring (optional)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
steps:
- Slice pork belly into 1 inch thick pieces. Stab each side of the pork continuously to tenderise the meat and allow the marinade to absorb better.
- Place the meat into a zip lock back and add the marinade sauce. Massage the meat with the marinade for a minute to ensure all parts of the pork is well covered with the marinade.
- Press all the excess air out of the zip lock bag before sealing tight, and refrigerate and let it marinate overnight.
- To make the honey glaze, in a saucepan, add maltose (or honey) and the leftover marinade liquid. Bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes (to make sure the marinade isn’t raw), then set aside.
- Place the marinated pork into the air fryer and cook for a total of 20 minutes at 195˚C. After the first 8 minutes, glaze the top side of the pork, flip all pieces over, and continue cooking for another 8 minutes. For a final char, glaze the pork one last time and increase the temperature to 200˚C, cooking for an additional 2 minutes.
- When done, let the pork rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with rice, a fried egg and some blanched pak choi. Enjoy!
how to achieve the red vibrant colour in char siu?
- You may have seen pictures or tried char siu in Chinese restaurants and recognise it immediately because of it’s red exterior layer. This is because traditional recipes include red fermented bean curd or red yeast rice powder in the marinade to give it it’s vibrant red colour.
- If you want that signature red colour in your char siu, you can add a cube of red fermented bean curd, a few tablespoons of red wine, or red food colouring in the marinade. But it’s totally optional! It doesn’t have an effect on the taste outcome.
tips for making the best air fryer char siu:
- Marinating the char siu overnight is recommended, as the marinade would penetrate better into the meat.
- When roasting the char siu, placing the meat on a rack would be better than placing it on an aluminium foil lined baking tray, as the rack allows airflow circulation, which ensures an evenly roasted char siu on all sides.
- Line the bottom of your air fryer with with foil or parchment paper so that the tray would not be difficult to wash afterwards!
- Depending how thick your cut of pork is (and how much fat there is), adjust temperature and time accordingly. A lot of recipes roast at 200˚C, but since the cut I used had quite a lot of fat, I find that it burns my pork too easily, hence I lowered the temperature.
- Double this recipe so you can save some leftover char siu for other recipes, such as fried rice, char siu bao, and other stir-fries!
check out more classic hong kong recipes:
- Hong Kong black pepper chicken rice
- Hong Kong baked pork chop rice
- Hong Kong spam and egg macaroni soup
Air Fryer Char Siu
2
servings15
minutes20
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
500 g pork belly (or pork shoulder)
2 tbsp maltose (or honey)
1 egg
- Marinade:
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 piece fermented bean curd
1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
2 tsp red food colouring (optional)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
Directions
- Slice pork belly into 1 inch thick pieces. Stab each side of the pork continuously to tenderise the meat and allow the marinade to absorb better.
- Place the meat into a zip lock back and add the marinade sauce. Massage the meat with the marinade for a minute to ensure all parts of the pork is well covered with the marinade.
- Press all the excess air out of the zip lock bag before sealing tight, and refrigerate and let it marinate overnight.
- To make the honey glaze, in a saucepan, add maltose (or honey) and the leftover marinade liquid. Bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes (to make sure the marinade isn’t raw), then set aside.
- Place the marinated pork into the air fryer and cook for a total of 20 minutes at 195˚C. After the first 8 minutes, glaze the top side of the pork, flip all pieces over, and continue cooking for another 8 minutes. For a final char, glaze the pork one last time and increase the temperature to 200˚C, cooking for an additional 2 minutes.
- When done, let the pork rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with rice, a fried egg and some blanched pak choi. Enjoy!
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