BBQ Pork Belly Slices Recipe

Name: BBQ Pork Belly Strips
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb pork belly strips; 1/2 tablespoon olive oil; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon pepper; 1/4 cup BBQ sauce

Laura Lynch

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These BBQ Pork Belly slices come out of the oven crisp and tender, with perfectly rendered fat and charred ends. They’re an easy-to-make alternative to slow-roasted pork belly, with all the finger-licking satisfaction, but no long hours in the oven.

Pork belly strips are great to just eat on their own. You can match them with whatever side dish you like and it’s an easy dinner. Or you can use them in a dish like this Chinese Pork Belly Stir Fry. You can sauté your vegetables and serve the strips on top, or chop them up and add them to the dish.

Why You’ll Love It

Baking pork belly slices instead of whole pork belly is great because they’re smaller, so they cook super fast, but still have that delicious flavor and texture of pork belly.
You can cook pork belly without all the hassle and long hours of oven roasting. Pork belly strips are so easy to make.
Pork belly is a great alternaive to mix up your weekly menu. Skip the pulled pork and go for pork belly slices instead!

Cindy says: This was so delicious. I made it today! It was approved by my entire family! I am adding it to the rotation! YUMMMM

» You will love these 9 Delicious Pork Belly Recipes!

These little strips of pork cook up quickly, without the need for slow roasting. They still have all the crunchy, fatty goodness of a pork belly roast, but are way easier to make.

If you’re intimidated by making a whole pork belly roast or don’t need that much meat, I’d suggest trying these slices instead. They can be used on top of bowls (we love this pork belly bowl at our house), or just to serve with your favorite side.

If you’re a raving pork belly fan, like me, you’ll also want to check out these pork belly tacos. I often just serve pork belly strips on their own, but when I want to mix it up, I make tacos or pork belly buns.

We’ve also make pork belly bites in the air fryer. OMG. They are off the charts good.

Ingredients You’ll Need

We want to keep this recipe super simple because the pork belly should be the shining ingredient here. If you cook it right, it will be perfect all on its own.

Pork belly strips – Look for ones that are around 1″ thick and contain a good ratio of fat to meat. The fat will render down and give the pork belly its signature melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you can’t find pork slices, you can slice your own from a pork belly slab.
Olive oil – It’s not necessary to coat the pork with olive oil, but it does keep the exterior from drying out too much while cooking.
Salt & pepper – Basic seasoning is all the pork needs to shine.
BBQ sauce – this is optional, if you want to give a different flavor to the pork.

Where to Get Pork Belly Strips

You can purchase pork belly strips that have already been cut. I prefer a thickness of around 1 inch. Any thicker and it takes longer for the fat to render.

Look for strips that have an even amount of fat to meat ratio. That way, they won’t end up too fatty or too dry.

If you can’t find pork belly strips in your grocery, you can purchase a full slab and cut the strips yourself. You could also ask the butcher to cut strips for you. Nearly every butchers counter will have a slab of pork belly they can cut, if you ask.

If all you can find is pork belly cut into squares, that’s fine too. Depending on their size, they may take more or less time to cook.

If you can’t find good meat in the cuts you like, we love the meat you can get from FarmFoods, which is an online meat delivery. You can choose your cuts of meat to be delivered right to your door. All the meat is humanely-raised and healthy.

Top Tips for Making Pork Belly

Thicker or thinner slices than the ones I used will take more or less time to bake, so keep your eye on them to determine when they’re done.
You can leave the BBQ sauce off the strips if you want and just serve them with salt and pepper for seasonings. Or use another glaze that you like.
These pork belly strips make a lot of grease, so be prepared for a sea of hot grease at the bottom of your baking tray. Be careful not to burn yourself when removing from the oven.

How to Make BBQ Pork Belly Strips

As promised, pork belly strips are incredibly easy to make. I like to bake them in the oven, but you can also grill them on the stovetop on a griddle pan, like this one. It gives the illusion of cooking outside on the grill, without the hassle of lighting up the grill.

Step One: Prepare the Pork

Prepare a baking tray by lining it with parchment paper or tin foil. Layout the pork belly strips, spaced evenly. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Sprinkling seasoning on raw pork belly strips

Step Two: Bake the pork

Bake the pork belly strips for about 15 minutes on 375°F. They’ll start to get sizzly and begin to brown on top.

Step Three: Baste with BBQ Sauce

Remove the tray from the oven and baste the tops of the pork belly strips with BBQ sauce (try our homemade Bourbon BBQ sauce recipe). Flip them over and baste the other side too. Then stick them back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

You’ll want to watch them closely near the end to make sure you don’t overdo it. The cooking time isn’t precise because the thickness of the strips vary. I’ve found that 1″ thick slices usually take 30 minutes to reach the perfect crispiness. However, yours may take more or less time to cook.

They should look like the slices below, which I photographed right as they came out of the oven.

Cooked pork belly slices on a baking sheet

They should be starting to char around the edges and are bubbly and browned on top. If I left these in for another 5 minutes, the fat would start to shrink down and harden, which is a sure sign that they’ve cooked too long.

Wondering what to serve these with? Why not try one of these side dishes:

You can eat these pork belly slices on their own. They’re amazingly good alongside a bacon and corn salad, 5-cheese mac & cheese or with a wedge salad.

Questions About Pork Belly Slices

Is pork belly the same as bacon?

Pork Belly is cut from the same part of the pork as bacon. However, pork belly is uncured, unsmoked, and unsliced, which is how it differs from bacon.

To what internal temperature should pork belly be cooked?

For pork you want the internal meat temperature to be over 160°F. If you cook your pork belly slices as advised in this recipe, they will absolutely reach that temperature.

Are pork belly slices good to cook with?

Yes, pork belly slices are super cheap (usually about $3-$5) and really simple to cook while being packed full of flavor. They go well in bowls and salads, tacos, and just by themselves.

Side Dishes to Try

Salads
Crunchy Broccoli Salad
Corn & Black Bean Pasta Salad
Bacon, Jalapeno & Corn Salad
Classic Wedge Salad
Pear & Gorgonzola Salad

Veggies
Roasted Asparagus with Cranberries & Feta
Shaved Asparagus with Pesto
Roasted Green Beans & Mushrooms
Crispy Roast Potatoes

Soups
Popcorn Soup
Butternut Squash Soup

Other Pork Belly Recipes to Try

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BBQ Pork Belly Strips

BBQ Pork Belly Slices are an easy-to-make alternative to slow-roasted pork belly, with all the finger-licking satisfaction.

4.44 from 157 votes

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Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 40

Servings: servings

Calories: 927kcal

Author: Laura Lynch

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb (680 g) pork belly strips
1/2 tablespoon (8 ml) olive oil
1/4 teaspoon (1.23 ml) salt
1/8 teaspoon (0.62 ml) pepper
1/4 cup (71.5 g) BBQ sauce

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °c).
Whisk together the olive oil, salt and pepper, then brush the mixture onto both sides of the pork belly strips.
Place pork belly strips on a baking tray and bake them for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven. Baste the strips BBQ sauce. Then turn them over and baste the other side.
Return to the oven another 10-15 minutes. When they are golden and bubbly and fat has become translucent, they are ready to remove from the oven. They may need more or less time depending on the thickness of the strips.
Remove from the oven and serve with rice or your favorite side dish.

Video

Notes

For easier cleanup, line your baking tray with parchment paper or tin foil.
You can omit or substitute the BBQ sauce, if desired. I sometimes use Char Sui or Hoisin instead of BBQ sauce, depending on what I’m eating the pork belly with.
Thicker or thinner slices than the ones I used will take more or less time to bake, so keep your eye on them to determine when they’re done.
These pork belly strips make a lot of grease, so be prepared for a sea of hot grease at the bottom of your baking tray. Be careful not to burn yourself when removing from the oven.
You can leave the BBQ sauce off the strips if you want and just serve them with salt and pepper for seasonings. Or use another glaze that you like.

Nutrition

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