Char Siu. Delicious, charred, sweet, and savoury barbeque pork with a Chinese five spice flavour. A popular meat dish in Chinese cuisine and is used in many other dishes. Great for dinner or lunch with rice and leafy greens.
When I was young, char siu or roasted BBQ duck was often a weekly meal. When I later moved out of my house to live with my husband, I missed it so much as our favourite Chinese barbeque takeaway became further away.
My family and I would eat this dish as the main with a side of choy sum or gai-lan that was seasoned in some oyster sauce. It was simple but so delicious. I remember the three of us kids would be eyeing the last piece! It was always a fight between me and my brother haha!
What makes this barbeque pork so tasty is the sweet honey hoisin glaze. You may ask what gives the char siu that red colour? It is red fermented bean curd. It offers a natural colour and a deeper flavour to the meat! You can often find it at most Chinese grocers in the sauce aisle.
What does char siu taste like?
Imagine a tender piece of pork where the outside is flavoured with a sweet brown sugary hoisin taste and the inside is more savoury thanks to the Chinese Five Spice.
Easy to make!
This char siu recipe is incredibly easy to make at home in your oven! In fact it super simple! You create the marinade, marinate the pork for at least 2-3 hours or overnight for best results. Then the next day you roast it over a wired rack with a water bath underneath to help keep the pork juicy while basting it every 10 minutes. It’s that simple and now you can have char siu at home!
Great as leftovers!
This meat dish is amazing as leftovers! In fact, if you have leftovers keep it in the sealable container and it’ll last up to 4-5 days. To reheat, microwave it or reheat it in the oven again until warm.
What is char siu served with?
It can be served with many side dishes but in Asian cuisine, this dish is usually served with rice, leafy greens or warm soup noodles or even lo mein! But there are many other ways to use this meat which I’ve listed below.
Other uses for Char Siu
Fried rice
Char Siu Baos
Char siu chow mein
Sandwich
Omelettes
HK style tomato macaroni soup
Char siu and noodles
If you know of other ways you can cook it, comment down below! I would love to read your ideas.
Which cut of pork should I use?
Try to use marbled pork. I tend to use pork butt or neck as it contains more fat which gives you more juicier char siu!
What is char siu sauce made of?
It is made of hoisin sauce, fermented red bean curd for colour, soy sauce, brown sugar, Chinese Five Spice, and dry sherry wine or Chinese cooking wine. It is then basted in a honey, hoisin glaze with the fermented red bean curd.
Cut the pork to ensure enough marbling in each piece
This is important. Ideally you want to cut it into two long pieces but if one piece is missing a lot of fat marbling, that piece will be very dry.
Why is Chinese BBQ pork red?
It is naturally red thanks to the fermented red bean curd. Therefore no food colouring is used in this recipe.
Where can I buy fermented Red Bean Curd?
You can find it at most Asian grocers in the sauce aisle.
Other recipes you may like!
SOY HOISIN CHICKEN THIGHS
HOISIN BAKED RIBS
CHICKEN ADOBO
MONGOLIAN CHICKEN
SOY MAPLE GLAZED CHICKEN
For this recipe
You will need the following char siu ingredients:
1.115 lb pork butt or pork neck, sliced into two long equal pieces
Marinade:
⅛ cup honey
⅓ cup red fermented bean curd
¼ cup hoisin sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese five spice
⅛ cup dry sherry wine
Basting Sauce:
3 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Hoisin
2 tbsp red fermented bean curd
How to make Char Siu
In a medium size bowl, whisk together your ingredients. You may need a fork to crush the fermented bean curd cubes into a paste. Set aside.
Slice your pork butt into two long equal sized pieces.
Pour the marinade into a sealable container or ziplock bag and place pork into container or bag. Ensure enough marinade coats the top of the pork. Refrigerate overnight or for at leas 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Line your large deep baking dish with foil and fill it ¼ of the way with water. Place a wired rack over top and make sure there is enough space between the rack and the water so the pork doesn’t touch the water as it roasts.
Place pork loins on the wired rack giving enough space between each other. Bake for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together your basting glaze.
Remove the pork from the oven and baste ensuring all of the pork is covered in the glaze. Bake for 10 minutes.
Then remove the pork from the oven and baste again. Bake for 10 minutes. Repeat one more time. (You should baste a total of 3 times and bake 4 times at 10 minute intervals).
Finally broil it for 5 minutes by raising the temperature to 500 degrees F until the edges become charred. Make sure the internal temperature of the pork reaches 145 degrees F.
Remove from the oven and allow this to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing
Give it a try!
Well I hope you give my Char Siu recipe a try! It always excites me when you guys make my recipes and I hope this is one you try.
Thanks for visiting my blog! If you enjoyed this char siu easy recipe, please share it with your family and friends or on social media! Take a picture if you've made my recipe and tag me on Instagram @ChristieAtHome in your feed or stories so I can share your creation in my stories with credits to you!
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Christie
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Easy Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork
Ingredients
- 1.115 lb pork butt or pork neck sliced into two long equal pieces
Marinade:
- ⅛ cup honey
- ⅓ cup red fermented bean curd
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup regular soy sauce
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice
- ⅛ cup dry sherry wine
Basting Sauce:
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp red fermented bean curd
Instructions
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together your marinade ingredients. You may need a fork to crush the fermented bean curd cubes into a paste. Set aside.
- Slice your pork butt into two long equal sized pieces.
- Pour the marinade into a sealable container or ziplock bag and place pork into container or bag. Ensure enough marinade coats the top of the pork. Refrigerate overnight or for at leas 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line your large deep baking dish with foil and fill it ¼ of the way with water. Place a wired rack over top and make sure there is enough space between the rack and the water so the pork doesn’t touch the water as it roasts.
- Place pork loins on the wired rack giving enough space between each other. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together your basting glaze.
- Remove the pork from the oven and baste ensuring all of the pork is covered in the glaze. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Then remove the pork from the oven and baste again. Bake for 10 minutes. Repeat one more time. (You should baste a total of 3 times and bake 4 times at 10 minute intervals).
- Finally broil it for 5 minutes by raising the temperature to 500 degrees F until the edges become charred. Make sure the internal temperature of the pork reaches 145 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven and allow this to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
NOTES
Char siu is such a classic! I could eat it with rice everyday! 🙂
I'm always drooling with your recipes!! This char siu looks insanely delish! Cannot wait to try it!
The sweet sugary taste of the pork you described sounds absolutely heavenly today. This would be so tasty served with either rice or noodles! 😋