What can’t you do with pork belly? This type of meat can taste absolutely immaculate breaded, fried, oven-roasted, or even with stews! I just love how easy it is to find a new way to work with pork belly. But one method that definitely isn’t new is grilling. The Grilled Pork Belly dish is one you will easily find at a Filipino birthday party or gathering. That’s because its smoky, savory taste can make anyone get up from their seat to get seconds. It’s a dish you will easily love, and like I mentioned, it’s tried and tested, so it’s very likely you and your guests will absolutely devour this irresistible dish!
Grilled Pork Belly
Have you never tried pork belly fresh off the grill? If the answer’s yes, get ready to get a bite of the most juicy and tender meat coated with a delightfully savory baste. You may also get a hint of sweetness and sourness that you would rarely find anywhere else. Want to guess where that comes from? It’s banana ketchup! This is an incredibly popular kind of ketchup in the Philippines that is reminiscent of the same sweetness you get from the vibrant fruit. The sauce provides a truly satisfying contrast to the saltiness of the soy sauce.
Ingredients in Grilled Pork Belly
For this dish, you will need slices of pork belly, as well as various components for both the marinade and the basting sauce. What makes the latter two different is that marinade helps tenderize as well as boost the flavor of your food, while your main purpose for basting is keeping moisture.
- Pork belly – We want these conveniently cut up into strips so it is easy to dip and for an easier process of eating altogether!
Marinade:
- Dark soy sauce – Since we want a lot of richness in the marinade, we are using the dark kind of soy sauce.
- Lemon – Squeeze in just enough sourness into your dish!
- Black pepper – Pepper has become a pretty basic spice all around the world because of how versatile it is. The ingredient can really make your food shine in terms of flavor.
- Salt – Don’t rush into making your marinade without some salt! Enhancing the savory quality of any dish, salt is an essential to completing the flavor of the pork.
- Garlic – Yet another common marinade ingredient, garlic is perfect for the slightest hint of spiciness.
- Banana ketchup – Key to helping bring in hints of sweetness to the dish, banana ketchup is going to be your best friend for the pork belly too!
- Canola oil – It might shock you, but canola oil is one of your most important marinade components because it is great for getting the meat moist while enhancing its taste.
Basting sauce:
- Soy sauce – Essential in getting the pork salty at just the right amount!
- Banana sauce – Brings some thickness to the basting sauce while making it nice and sweet.
- Lemon – Just a bit of lemon juice will help up the acidity and refreshing taste of the basing sauce.
- Sugar – Speaking of sweetness, we will also enlist the help of sugar to get the exterior of the meat perfectly, well, sugar, as you might expect. But it plays an even bigger role in getting the meat to brown.
How to Make Grilled Pork Belly
It’s simple, really! Just put your marinade ingredients together, marinate the meat, and then make the basting sauce. Afterwards, you will start grilling and then basting the pork too.
- Combine all the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir until all the ingredients are well blended.
- Put the sliced pork belly into the bowl with the marinade. Make sure that the pork gets coated.
- Cover the bowl. Refrigerate for 6 hours. This will be enough time to marinate the pork.
- Prepare the basting sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.
- Heat-up your grill. Grill one side for the pork for 3 to 4 minutes. Baste the top part by brushing the basting sauce. Turn the pork belly over. Let it cook for 3 minutes. Brush some basting sauce on the top part. Continue turning over the pork belly every 3 to 4 minutes while basting, until it is completely cooked. (Turning it over constantly prevents the pork from getting burnt).
- Serve with pickled papaya and rice.
What to Serve with Grilled Pork Belly
Most Filipinos are familiar with pickled green papaya and its satisfying sourness. But if this is your first time hearing of it, this is a perfect side dish for flavorful food like Grilled Pork Belly. Papaya Atchara has a bright and sweet flavor that refreshes your palate. Speaking of side dishes, another ideal one for pork would be some rice! This Egg Fried Rice is sure to get you full while satisfying you in terms of flavor.
Another dish I’d recommend is the crunchy, irresistible Filipino Lumpiang Shanghai. This lovable recipe has ground pork, carrot, and onion all in one roll! I love it because it is not too rich, which makes it perfect to pair with various viands like pork belly.
Any questions on recreating this recipe? Write them down in the comments!
Grilled Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork belly sliced into strips with 3/4 inch width
Marinade:
- 7 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper ground
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
- 4 to 6 tablespoons banana sauce also known as banana ketchup
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
Basting sauce:
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons banana sauce
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Combine all the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir until all the ingredients are well blended.7 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1 lemon, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 cloves crushed garlic, 4 to 6 tablespoons banana sauce, 1 tablespoon canola oil
- Put the sliced pork belly into the bowl with the marinade. Make sure that the pork gets coated.2 lbs pork belly
- Cover the bowl. Refrigerate for 6 hours. This will be enough time to marinate the pork.
- Prepare the basting sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.4 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons banana sauce, 1/2 lemon, 1 teaspoon sugar
- Heat-up your grill. Grill one side for the pork for 3 to 4 minutes. Baste the top part by brushing the basting sauce. Turn the pork belly over. Let it cook for 3 minutes. Brush some basting sauce on the top part. Continue turning over the pork belly every 3 to 4 minutes while basting, until it is completely cooked. (Turning it over constantly prevents the pork from getting burnt).
- Serve with pickled papaya and rice.
Notes
- Spice level – There won’t be any challenge in finishing the pork belly because of its heat. Our Grilled Pork Belly is not a spicy recipe altogether! Sure, you might get hints of this from ground black pepper, but it’s nothing to worry about.
- Sweetness level – But as for sweetness, I’d say our dish definitely comes together with the sweet seasonings that we incorporate. And so expect quite a bit of sweetness for the meat. Feel free to reduce or add the banana sauce, lemon, and sugar to adjust this!
- Canola oil – If canola oil’s just out of your reach, you may want to try olive oil as an alternative instead!
this is super easy i’m trying it for my csec so i pray i’ll pass
I made my own banana suace, fresh and tangy against the smokey pork marinade, on rice and pak choi made a deeply satisfying sat tea!