These crispy pork belly sliders will be one of the best combinations of flavor and texture you’ll ever have. The savory and tender pork belly topped with pickled vegetables and crispy pork skin is to die for. The pork belly only takes 3 hours to make but if you make the pork skin, that will take 6 hours.
The inspiration behind this was to combine crispy pork belly with chashu (Japanese ramen pork belly). There are many variations of crispy pork belly, I grew up with the Chinese method. This involved flavors such as five spice to season the meat and cook over high heat to crispy up the pork belly.
While Chinese crispy pork belly is great because of the crunch, I always preferred the flavor and texture from the meat of chashu. Chashu is pork belly that has been braised in soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and aromatics. This makes the pork belly much softer and flavorful.
Key tips and tricks for crispy pork belly sliders
Crispy pork skin (chicharrón): You can go out and buy chicharrón at the grocery store, but why not try to make it yourself. It is quite a long process taking at least 6 hours to make and cooked 3 separate ways. First you will need to boil the skin in water, then dehydrate in an oven or dehydrator for at least 6 hours, and then finally deep fried in hot oil until it puffs up.
Refrigerate: After the pork belly is finished cooking, I refrigerate it for a couple hours. This allows the fat float to the top so I have peel it off much easier. This also hardens the pork belly and makes it easier to cut.
Sauce: After removing the fat and pork belly from the braising liquid, you want to reduce the rest of the liquid so that it thickens and becomes a sauce. I use this as a glaze over my pork belly and tastes similar to teriyaki sauce.
Crispy Pork Belly Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 2lbs pork belly (skin on)
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup dark soy sauce
- ½ cup mirin
- ½ cup sugar
- 5 cloves crushed garlic
- 2 slices ginger
- 2 stalks green onion
- 1 liter water
Instructions
Pork belly
- Remove skin from pork belly then sear the pork belly meat for 2 minutes each side. The meat should get nicely browned.`
- Place pork belly into a pot with the rest of the ingredients and bring it up to a simmer and cover for 2.5 hours or until softened. Make sure the water level is the same height as pork belly.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until fat floats to the top.
- Remove the fat then reduce remaining liquid until it thickens and is your desired glaze consistency.
- Cut pork belly into ½ inch slices and torch or sear on a pan until browned.
- Assemble your sliders with any toppings you like, I used pickled cucumbers and carrots.
Crispy pork skin
- Boil pork skin for 20 minutes.
- Cut into 2 inch squares then place in dehydrator or oven at 160F for 6 hours.
- Deep fry at 350F for 30 seconds until puffs up and is crisp.
If you enjoyed this one, check out some more recipes here:
I am curious if you have the recipe or source for the hamburger buns pictured. Those look amazing as well.
I use my japanese milk bread recipe for those buns. It’s already posted on here!