Grilled Pork Belly

5 from 1 vote

Simple grilled pork dish marinated Filipino-style and basted while cooking on a hot grill.

Prep Time6

Cook Time25

Total Time6 25

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Fiiipino

Keyword: inihaw, inihaw na baboy, liempo, pork inihaw

Servings: people

Calories: 1282kcal

Author: Daisy Merano

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 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.

Slice against the grain before grilling.. It’s best to cut pork belly strips across the grain, not along it. This helps shorten the meat fibers and gives a better bite. Some forget this and end up with chewy strips that take effort to cut. You’ll notice a difference, especially once the pork cools slightly.
Dry the pork a bit before grilling. Even after marinating, I recommend letting the pork sit at room temp for 15 minutes on a tray. This dries the surface slightly and helps the pork sear faster once it hits the heat. Wet pork steams before it chars, and that weakens the flavor you built up in the marinade.
Don’t skip the constant flipping. Grilled pork belly burns fast, especially with sugar and banana sauce in the basting mix. I flip every 3 to 4 minutes to avoid blackened spots. Some people leave it alone for 6 to 8 minutes at a time, but that usually overcooks the edges before the center finishes.
Look for banana sauce in the international aisle. Outside the Philippines, banana ketchup can be hard to find. Check Asian groceries or Filipino aisles in larger supermarkets. You can also look for it online with brands like Jufran or UFC are common.
Save a few tablespoons of marinade for brushing. If you’re not making a separate basting sauce, you can use leftover marinade for the first round of brushing. Just make sure to set some aside before you soak the pork. Never reuse the raw marinade straight from the meat bowl.