19 Global Ways To Get Pork Belly in Your Belly

Our favorite part of the pig is equally at home in spicy soups and delicious dumplings

By SAVEUR Editors
Updated: May 21, 2018

Pork belly is one of the most flavorful parts of the pig, and the fatty meat is tender and melts in your mouth. Pork belly is especially popular in Asia, with Japan and China both turning it into delicious dishes. Japanese crispy pork belly with persimmons is simmered with honey, miso and sake to create a savory meal, and China's twice cooked pork belly brings the tenderness of pork belly to stir fry. But Asia doesn't have a monopoly on the meat, as England loves to pair it with roasted vegetables and applesauce, and the French put it in with a lentil salad. The world agrees the pork belly is one of the best tasting slices of pork you'll ever have, so try some of our favorite pork belly recipes.

Korean Spicy Stir-Fried Pork Belly (Jeyuk Bokkeum)

jeyuk bokkeum stir fried pork
Bokkeum is an umbrella term given to dishes—often made with inexpensive, strong-flavored cuts of meat—that are stir-fried over high heat. Pork belly is the most popular version, but other classics include octopus, mackerel, and dried anchovies. The sweet and spicy gochujang-laced marinade helps the meat caramelize as it cooks. Get the recipe for Korean Spicy Stir-Fried Pork Belly (Jeyuk Bokkeum) »Jason Lang

Beer-Braised Pork Belly Salad

Beer-Braised Pork Belly
This chile-rubbed, beer-braised pork belly is cooked until tender and served atop arugula and pears. Get the recipe for Beer-Braised Pork Belly Salad »Penny De Los Santos

Braised Pork Belly (Wang Choy Chow Sau)

Braised Pork Belly (Wang Choy Chow Sau)
Pork belly is rendered spoon-tender after a long braise with ginger, cloves, cumin, fennel, and star anise. Its cooking liquid can be reduced into a thick, fragrant sauce. Get the recipe for Braised Pork Belly »Ingalls Photography

Braised Pork Belly with Leeks and Ginger

Braised Pork Belly with Leeks and Ginger
Awamori, a lightly sweet rice distillate, is used to blanch and cook—as well as coat—tender pork belly, resulting in a sticky, umami-rich sauce. Get the recipe for Braised Pork Belly with Leeks and Ginger »Matt Taylor-Gross

Pork Belly Gyro

Pork Belly Gyro
"I tried to re-create thin gyro meat with shaved pork belly, but thick slabs are better. If it's too thin, it crisps up too much."— Rick Gencarelli, Lardo, Portland, Oregon Get the recipe for Pork Belly Gyro »Joseph De Leo

Grilled Pork Belly with Butter Corn and Sour-Sweet Cherry-Jalapeño Relish

Grilled Pork Belly with Butter Corn and Sour-Sweet Cherry-Jalapeño Relish
The classic combination of pork and fruit gets the ultimate summer treatment. Made tender in an aromatic braise, pork belly gets a quick char on a hot grill before resting atop buttery sweet corn and a relish of sweet and sour cherries tossed with jalepeños and a honey-lime vinaigrette. Get the recipe for Grilled Pork Belly with Butter Corn and Sour-Sweet Cherry-Jalapeño Relish »Matt Taylor-Gross

Japanese Crispy Pork Belly with Persimmons

Crispy Pork Belly with Persimmons
Lovely persimmons aren't just for salads and desserts. We also like to cook them in savory dishes, including this crispy pork belly simmered with miso, honey, and sake. Get the recipe Japanese Crispy Pork Belly with Persimmons »Andre Baranowski

Ukranian Pork Belly Dumplings (Manti)

Olia Hercules Manti
Browned butter brings an extra layer of flavor, but the cherry on top comes in the form of fried shallots. Get the recipe for Ukranian Pork Belly Dumplings (Manti) »Matt Taylor-Gross

Japanese Pork and Shrimp Shumai

Morimoto Shumai
These traditional shumai come from dim sum chef Takeshi Ikeuchi of Morimoto Asia. Get the recipe for Masaharu Morimoto's Pork and Shrimp Shumai »Matt Taylor-Gross

Filipino Roast Pork Belly with "Lechon" Sauce

Lechon Roast Pork Belly
Slow-roasted belly stands in for the classic whole suckling pig that graces virtually every special occasion in the Philippines. Get the recipe for Roast Pork Belly with "Lechon" Sauce »William Hereford

French Lentil Salad With Pork

Lentil Salad with Pork
Chef Daniel Boulud's take on a classic Lyonnaise pairing of pork and lentils. Get the recipe for French Lentil Salad With Pork »Matt Taylor-Gross

Korean Spicy Pork Neck and Potato Stew (Gamjatang)

Gamjatang
A classic hearty Korean stew made with meaty pork neck, potatoes, and nutty perilla seeds. Get the recipe for Korean Spicy Pork Neck and Potato Stew (Gamjatang) »Matt Taylor-Gross

English Crisp Pork Belly with Roasted Vegetables and Applesauce

Crisp Pork Belly with Roasted Vegetables and Applesauce
The skin on this slow-roasted pork belly gets peeled off and fried into cracklings, allowing the fat underneath to render and caramelize. Cider-spiked applesauce pairs well with the crispy meat. Get the recipe for English Crisp Pork Belly with Roasted Vegetables and Applesauce »Food Styling by Maggie Ruggiero

Sichuan Twice Cooked Pork Belly

Twice cooked pork
A classic Chinese dish made with boiled-then-stir-fried pork and plenty of leeks and fermented black soy beans. Boiling the pork (the first "cooked") renders some of the fat and makes it easier to slice and crisp up later in a blazing-hot wok. Get the recipe for Sichuan Twice Cooked Pork Belly »Matt Taylor-Gross

Okinawa Noodles In Dashi With Miso-Coated Pork Belly

Noodles in Dashi with Miso-Coated Pork Belly
Red miso paste, more fermented than its blond counterparts, adds piquancy to pork belly cooked with brown sugar, mirin, and sesame seeds—an intense topping served over a simple dashi broth and somen noodles. Get the recipe for Okinawa Noodles In Dashi With Miso-Coated Pork Belly »Andrea Fazzari

Korean Spicy Sautéed Pork Belly

Korean Rice Cakes
This spicy pork recipe comes from the kitchen of Arang, in New York, where it's used to make ddukbokki, spicy rice cakes.Matt Taylor-Gross

French Cassoulet

Dominique Ansel's Cassoulet
Made with confit duck legs, pork belly, and two kinds of sausage, this meaty, resplendently rich cassoulet is worth treasuring.Matt Taylor-Gross

Thai Red Curry with Pork Belly and Green Beans (Phat Phrik Khing Muu)

Red Curry with Pork Belly and Green Beans (Phat Phrik Khing Muu)
This dish belongs to a category of curries called phat phrik khing, or "dry curry." It's caramelized in pork fat rather than cracked coconut cream, and there's no coconut milk for gravy, making the flavors of the paste—citrusy lemongrass, gingery krachai, briny shrimp—more pronounced. Get the recipe for Red Curry with Pork Belly and Green Beans (Phat Phrik Khing Muu) »Penny De Los Santos

British Huntsman Pies

Hunstman Pie
This advanced version of traditional pork pies includes three kinds of pork (shoulder, belly, and slab bacon) and tender chicken for a multi-note meaty flavor, plus savory stuffing. Get the recipe for British Huntsman Pies »Food Styling by Maggie Ruggiero

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