Pork Belly Fried Rice

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the pork belly fried rice recipe in the points below:

• Fast and simple: forget thinking that making Chinese food at home is tricky or time consuming, it really isn't! This easy weeknight meal will be done in less time that it takes to order delivery from your local Chinese restaurant.
• One pan: other than cooking the rice which can be done the day before in the microwave or rice cooker, we only need one pan for the entire recipe! This saves time, energy and clean up 😁👌.
• Dinner in 30 mins: from start to finish you will get this recipe done in around 25 to 30 mins. It is an easy pork belly recipe that can be cooked on a week night!
• Versatile and adaptable: you can use the same veggies as me or switch it up and use your favorite. The recipe and variations uses ingredients found at most local grocery stores with no need to take a trip to the further away located Asian grocery store.
• Texture and flavour: enjoy the experience of the combined juicy pork, chewy bacon, rice, egg and crispy fried vegetables. Did I mention there is also a slick savory sauce tying it all together 😍👍.
• Chinese restaurant food: is like your favourite takeout recipe but made in the comfort of your home with grocery store ingredients! No dialing in or waiting for delivery.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the pork belly rice and veggie combination recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for the full ingredient list, measurements and detailed instructions.

As you can see the recipe calls for:

• Peanut oil: excellent to use in Asian recipes!
• Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little bit of black pepper for seasoning in the recipe.
• Garlic: you can use 2 fresh garlic cloves finely chopped, chunky chopped garlic (as shown) or minced garlic.
• Sesame oil: light and aromatic. This oil gets used in the sauce we pour over the rice. It gives a lovely depth of flavor to the fried rice.
• Soy sauce: regular style, sushi soy sauce.
• Oyster sauce: thick and rich, giving the dish its unique savory flavor.
• Worcestershire sauce: not traditional or common in Asian recipes by any means. However, this versatile sauce adds 'oomph' to recipes including this one! It is my favorite 'secret sauce' to use as a key ingredient in an array of dishes. You will love it too, I am sure 😉👍.
• Chinese cooking wine: also known as Shaoxing wine. You will find this in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.
• Onion: we peel and dice ½ of a large onion.
• Bacon: store bought diced bacon is the easiest and most convenient to use.
• Eggs: free range is always best. We whisk these and then scramble them in the pan to cook.
• Green onions: we use the green parts only, finely sliced to garnish the finished dish.
• Frozen vegetables: I like to use a trio of frozen peas, corn and carrots. These offer colourful pops of veggies to the fried rice. You can purchase a frozen bag of mixed vegetables like this at the majority of local supermarkets.
• Pork belly: fresh pork belly will be in the meat section at the supermarket. We want to get a portion from which we remove the skin and then dice ourselves. This will give us the best results. The pork belly sold as rashers is often thin and delicate, we want the robust meat.
• Day old rice: using rice that you have cooked the day before will give your fried rice the best texture. I use a microwave rice cooker and do 2 cups of dried basmati rice with 3 cups of water on high heat for 12 minutes. Then remove, give it a fluff with a fork, let it cool a little and place it in in the fridge for the next day. Leftover rice that you cooked for another recipe the day before will also work.

Top Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by making the sauce mixture.

• Gather the sauce ingredients (Photo 1)
• Whisk together (Photo 2)
• Dice the pork belly (Photo 3)
• Add oil, pork belly, salt and pepper (Photo 4)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Pork Belly Fried Rice

To make the pork belly fried rice, start by gathering the ingredients to make the sauce. Then add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, Worcestershire sauce and sesame oil to a small glass. Use a mini whisk to combine then set aside.

Next use a knife and cutting board to prepare the pork belly as you see me having done in the photos above. We want to remove the skin, then dice the meat into small cubes.

Once done, place a large saute pan on the stove top, turn the heat to high, add the peanut oil, diced pork belly, salt and pepper. Cook the pork belly until it turns light grey with no pink or clear bits (7-8 minutes). When it is cooked, use a silicon turner to lift it out of the pan and place it onto a paper towel lined bowl.

• Whisk the eggs (Photo 5)
• Scramble the eggs (Photo 6)
• Add the bacon, onion and garlic (Photo 7)
• Add the frozen vegetables (Photo 8)

Next working one at at time crack the eggs into a small bowl and use a fork to gently whisk them. Then pour the beaten egg into the hot pan and scramble them as they cook, breaking them into small pieces as you go.

Once the eggs are cooked, use the silicon turner to remove them from the pan and place them onto a plate.

Next add the diced bacon, onion and garlic to the pan and stir fry these for around 1 minute.

Once the onion has softened add the frozen peas, corn and carrot to the pan. Then cook these for 1-2 minutes.

Next add the cooked rice to the pan as you see in the photo below.

• Add the cooked rice (Photo 9)
• Then pour the sauce over the top (Photo 10)
• Add the cooked eggs (Photo 11)
• Add the cooked pork belly (Photo 12)

Once you have added the cooked rice to the pan, pour the sauce over the top as you see me doing in the photo above.

When you have done that, take a couple of minutes and use a wooden spoon to work the sauce into the rice, breaking up any clumps of rice as you go.

Then when the sauce is consistently mixed through the rice and there is no clumps of rice remaining add the cooked scrambled eggs and cooked pork belly pieces back to the pan.

• Allow the dish to heat through and garnish (Photo 13)

After adding the egg and cooked pork back to the pan, gently stir to combined them with the rice and allow them to heat through.

Once the dish is warmed through, sprinkle some green onions over the top and call everyone to the table as 'Dinner is ready!!' 😉👌.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

This is a hearty and satisfying fried rice recipe that will fill you up! If you want it as is then it will tick the 'complete meal' box.

Or you might have the desire to make it a side dish to go with meaty mains. Some pairings that will work are the Greek Lamb Chops, Slow Cooker Pulled Lamb, Beef Ribs, Slow Cooker Lamb Ribs or the Dutch Oven Pulled Pork.

If you are feeding a crowd, want this and some other sides, try the Potato And Ham Bake, Potato And Onion Bake or the Potato And Sweet Potato Bake. Rice and potato sides are very different from each other so will allow you to get versatile.

For a starter the Air Fryer Spring Rolls will work. They fit the theme and will really make you feel as if you are eating take out!

For a wine pairing try a chilled rose or crisp pinot gris. For a red try a smooth pinot noir.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

Store leftover fried rice in a sealed, airtight container. It can be kept for 3 days and needs to be reheated before being consumed.

How to Freeze

Allow the rice to fully cool. Then portion into containers, seal and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

Allow frozen portions of the rice to fully thaw. Then reheat these in bowls in the microwave (covered with cling wrap) using high heat for 2-3 minutes until warmed through.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

• If you want to explore using different vegetables, add some chopped green beans, bell pepper or finely sliced red chilli.
• The 2 best types of rice to use are either Jasmine rice or basmati rice.
• Add a ½ a tablespoon of minced ginger when frying the garlic if you want the balance of flavors.
• Add some kimchi if you wish too.
• You can use leftover chopped pieces of crispy pork belly if you wish too. In which case, add at the end when adding the scrambled eggs. This is because leftovers only needed heating through not cooking. Substitute with chicken, shrimp or beef.
• Or you can use store bought marinated pork belly slices and cook them according to the packet instructions.
• Alternatively you can use ground pork like in the Pork Mince Fried Rice recipe.
• If you want your fried rice to be slightly darker in colour you can substitute dark soy sauce in place of the regular soy sauce. Keeping in mind a little of it goes a long way and it should be a straight 1 tablespoon swap, not in addition as we don't want to add more salt to the recipe 😉👌.
• Use black sesame seeds as a garnish in place of the green onions if you wish too.
• Add a fried egg to the top of a bowl of the pork belly fried rice if you wish too.

💡 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:

• Day old rice which has been cooked the day before you make the recipe will give the best results. I cook mine in a microwave rice cooker (2 cups of rice with 3 cups of water on high for 12 minutes). Let it cool a bit then refridgerate it. You won't notice the time the day before but you will notice crispy rice not soggy rice when you make the recipe.
• If there is excess liquid in the pan as the pork cooks, you can use a paper towel to absorb this. Doing so will help the pork pieces 'fry' rather than 'boil'.
• Your cooked rice will likely have some 'clumps'. You want to break these up after adding the sauce so that the rice is consistently mixed in. A trick I like to use sometimes is to pop a lid on the frying pan for a couple of minutes and let some drops of condensation drip into the pan, these and the steam helps the rice grains to separate.
• Love cooking with pork? You might also like the Thai Minced Pork, Panko Pork Chops, Pork Meatballs, Honey Soy Pork Ribs or the Honey Sriracha Meatballs 😉👌.
• Or if it is the idea of fried rice that gets your mouth watering, try the Lamb Fried Rice or Chorizo Fried Rice.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

Does pork belly need to be boiled first?

Placing the pork belly in water is a technique used to render out some of the fat. It is not necessary to take this step when cooking the pork, unless you choose to.

Do you eat the skin on pork belly?

This depends on the recipe. For fried rice, the pork is best with skin removed, for oven baked pork belly, the skin is best kept on.

How to fry pork belly?

Place a large saute pan on the stove top, turn the heat to high and add the peanut oil, diced pork belly, salt and pepper. Cook the pork belly using a silicon turner to move it around in the pan until the pieces are grey in colour with no pink or clear flesh.

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

Preparing dinner can be the most enjoyable thing you do all day! To achieve that, it helps to have a variety of recipes to turn too offering diversity through proteins, cooking times and methods. These are those recipes:

• Chorizo Pasta Bake
• Baked Ziti With Meatballs
• Steak Risotto
• Cajun Prawns
• Scallop Risotto
• Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta
• Prawn Risotto
• Fettuccine Alfredo With Scallops
• Herb Crusted Rack Of Lamb
• Scallop Pesto Pasta

It is time to get our pork belly fried rice on my friend! You can also find all of my Asian recipes or dinner recipes in the one spot.

Adrianne

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