For the best pork belly of your life!
Seriously, this sous vide pork belly is so simple and so good. The textures and flavors of the finished dish will blow you and your friends away. This is not your traditional bbq pork belly recipe, its so much better. Use a high quality pork with a good ratio of meat to fat for this recipe. I usually buy my pork belly from Costco. If your local Costco does not carry pork belly, look for a local Asian grocery store like 99Ranch. You can also find high end Kurobuta Pork from Snake River Farms. If you are not familiar with SRF you need to check them out soon. As a Chef I always looked forward to bringing their American Wagyu steaks into my restaurants. It was a treat for everyone, from the cooks to the guests. Take a look at their mixed variety boxes.
What you need
- Sous Vide Machine, aka Immersion Circulator. My Recommendations Here
- Vacuum Sealer. Due to the long cook times, you need a sealer. The water displacement method will leave too much air causing the belly to eventually float and then cook unevenly.
- Sous Vide Bag, like the food-saver style vacuum bag.
- Lid for the sous vide container or ping pong balls to keep the water level from dropping during the extended cooking time.
- Large pot or a Cambro box for the water bath
Time & Temperature
My favorite combo is 165º for 12 hours. The sous vide process will tenderize the pork belly and break down any connective tissue without becoming shredded pork. If you are looking for shredded pork I would recommend you used an Instant pot or a smoker vs using the sous vide technique. The lower temperature used in sous vide is its advantage. Pulled Pork needs to hit 195-205, which is just too high of a temperature for a sous vide cooker.
Pro Tip
Enjoy this Pork Belly with a Mezcal Old Fashion or a nice Reposado like this ArteNom 1414 or the G4. This sous vide pork belly recipe was inspired by the flavors that compliment Tequilla. I also really wanted the flavor of the pork belly to shine rather than being covered up with heavy sugary sauces. Cheers!
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Sous Vide Pork Belly
- Total Time: 12 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 Tacos 1x
Description
This is a very clean tasting pork belly recipe. Meaning, that there are no heavy sauces or flavors that dominate.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. of Pork Belly
- 1 Whole Orange, sliced & crushed
- ½ a White Onion, cut into thin slices
- 2 Whole Chiles de Arbol, crushed
- 6 Whole Cloves, whole
- 4 Bay Leaves, Crushed
- 1 tsp Cinnamon, ground
- 2 tsp Coriander, crushed
- 1 Star Anise Pod, lightly crushed
- 1 tsp Whole Black Pepper
- 1 Tbl Kosher Salt
- ¼ Cup Neutral Oil, like canola
For the Final Dish:
- Corn Tortillas
- Maldon Sea Salt
- Chipotle Oil
- 2 Cups Wild Arugula
- Juice of 1 Lime
- 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil-Avocado Blend
- 1 tsp kosher Salt
- 1/4 Red Onion, Shaved Thin
Instructions
- Cut into a 3” wide slab of pork belly.
- Smash everything together in a large bowl and then massage into the pork belly.
- Place into vacuum bags and seal.
- Let rest for 12-24 hours.
- Place the vacuum-sealed bag of pork belly into the sous vide water bath set to 165º and cook for 10-12 hours. I give a 2-hour window on the sous vide times as this is the optimal range. If you pull it at 10 hours because you need it sooner, you will still be ok.
- Remove from the water bath and place immediately into the refrigerator to cool. If you are on a time crunch you can cool in a cold water ice bath.
- Remove the chilled and cooked pork belly from the bag and pull off any pieces of orange, onion, and spices using paper towels. Do not rinse it! Discard the rest of the contents of the bag and the cooking liquid.
- Personal Preferences:
- Cut into ¼” thick pork belly bites and sear. This works best if want more crispy pork belly rather than fattier richer slices in option 2.
- Slice Pork Belly into ¼” thick pieces from the fatty side down, but do not cut all the way through. Make blocks with 5-6 pieces in each.
- Place pork belly, fat side down, over medium-high heat into a sauté pan, if you have a small cast iron skillet then even better. Give a quick sear over direct heat for 1 minute before transferring to a 450º oven for 15-20 minutes. The higher temperatures of the oven create a crispy skin crust while maintaining the juicy meat on the inside. To finish. Transfer the crispy pork belly from the sauté pan to a cutting board and then cut the rest of the way through.
Place a piece of meat onto a tortilla with a touch of chipotle oil, maldon salt, the arugula salad and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 hours
- Category: Pork Recipes
- Method: Sous Vide
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Sous Vide, Sous Vide Pork Belly, Pork Belly, Tequilla
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