We love making red braised pork belly - and sometimes we like to make modifications to it! For example, we have a family friend that has fresh bamboos in their yard, and so every year when it's bamboo shoots season - we make red braised pork belly with bamboo shoots 竹筍紅燒肉!

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• About the Ingredients
• How to make Red Braised Pork Belly with Bamboo Shoots
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• Instructions
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By the way if you are unfamiliar with this dish, red braised pork belly is a Chinese dish that is braised. The mix of chili sauce, soy sauce, star anise, and other ingredients in the braising broth causes the beef and the sauce/broth/soup to turn in to a reddish color.

About the Ingredients

I want to provide some additional information to the ingredients used for your reference – if you already know about them, feel free to skip!

Pork belly

Pork Belly, like bacon, is a boneless cut from the underside or the belly of the pig, after the loin and the spareribs have been removed. It is not the stomach but actually the flesh part.

What is the difference between Pork Belly and Bacon? Pork belly is basically the uncured, unsmoked and uncut bacon. Or I should say you make bacon from pork belly. Once you pork belly is cured, smoked and sliced, it is officially called bacon.

Rock Sugar

Rock sugar is normally used for this recipe. It’s not super common to find this one in your nearest non-asian grocery store so if you can’t find it you can use normal sugar (preferably brown sugar), however, rock sugar is traditionally used.

Soy Sauce

Also, I use two types of soy sauces here. There’s regular soy sauce and then there’s a dark soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is thicker, darker, and slightly less salty then regular soy sauce. It’s flavor is stronger and it also adds a darker color to food you are cooking. If you can’t find any – use regular soy sauce.

Rice Wine

There’s also a type of alcohol used in this dish, called michiu. Michiu aka Rice Wine is commonly used as a cooking wine and contains about 19.5% alcohol. It’s commonly used in Taiwanese cooking so it’s always in my pantry.

You can also use another cooking wine, shaoxing if you have that instead.

And if you don't have any, you can use wine!

Bamboo Shoots

When you think of bamboo, do you think of bamboo trees that’s green and pretty hard? Can you imagine eating that? It would be horrible! Good thing we’re not eating that!

Bamboo shoots aka bamboo sprouts are actually the tiny beginning shoots of those bamboo trees, and when it is just sprouting it is still soft, and edible! They are often times used as veggies in lots of Asian cuisine. You can buy them fresh, dried and canned.

What do bamboo shoots taste like? Bamboo shoots are tender and crunchy. They remind me of baby corn but much more delicious in my opinion. They have a slight hint of sweetness, and cooked in this dish it goes super well with pork.

Chili Bean Paste

Chilli Bean Paste aka Doubanjiang 豆瓣酱, is a chunky sauce you can buy at the store that is spicy and savory. It’s traditionally made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, soybeans, salt and flour. There are also different ones you can find, for example some will add spicy chili oil in it already.

Chili Bean Paste is often used in Sichuan food (ex: mapo tofu), which might explain why I love it because I love Sichuan food (and my grandma was from there!). I use it in my Szechuan Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork and Jalapeno Chicken.

On Amazon:

Sichuan Pixian Boad Bean Paste with Red Chili Oil

Lee Kum Kee LKK Chili Bean Sauce

How to make Red Braised Pork Belly with Bamboo Shoots

First, gather and prepare your ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar (rock sugar preferred)
• 1 pound pork belly, cut into 1 to 1.5-inch cubes
• 5-7 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 pound bamboo shoots, cut into 1 to 1.5-inch chunks
• 1 tablespoon chili bean paste (aka doubanjiang)
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice wine (aka michiu or shaoxing)
• 2 cups water (or enough water to cover the pork belly so it can braise)

Heat cooking oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add sugar and stir until melted and lightly caramelized. Add the pork belly cubes and garlic. Brown the pork on all sides, ensuring each piece is lightly golden.

Add the bamboo shoot chunks, chili bean paste , light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rice cooking wine (michiu) to cooking pan or wok. Stir to combine and coat all the ingredients.

Now, usually I transfer to a clay pot or medium sized pot, but technically if your wok is large enough and you have a cover for your wok, you can keep it there, because we are about to add some sauces and liquids in there.

Add 2 cups of water or more (enough to cover the pork so it can braise) and bring the liquid to a gentle simmer over low heat. Cover the pot (or wok) and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Remove from heat and serve with rice or noodles!

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More Delicious Pork Belly Recipes

• If you're a fan of Korean flavors, don’t miss this Kimchi Pork Belly Stir Fry – spicy, tangy, and totally addicting!
• How about an easy and tasty stir fry? Try this Pork Belly Cabbage Stir Fry, it only takes 20 minutes!
• For something quick and satisfying, check out this Pan-Fried Pork Belly – crispy edges, juicy center, and super simple to make! You can serve with your favorite spices or dipping sauce as well!
• Craving something spicy and smoky? You’ll love this Twice Cooked Pork (回锅肉) – a classic Sichuan dish that’s packed with bold flavors and stir-fried perfection.