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Our delicious Chinese BBQ Pork can be eaten as is, or added to so many delicious Asian recipes.
Chinese BBQ Pork can be served as a delicious appetizer, or diced into small pieces and added to many dishes including Egg Foo Young (our recipe is coming on Friday!), Pork Fried Rice, Pork Lo Mein, and so many more.
Also known as Char Siu – which means “fork burn” (or “fork roast”) — Chinese BBQ Pork is often served at Chinese-American restaurants in skewered strips that are then roasted over a small pot of burning charcoal to achieve almost-burnt, caramelized edges.
How do you make Chinese BBQ Pork?
This Chinese BBQ Pork couldn’t be any easier to make. We started with small pork butt (also called pork shoulder), trimmed off the excess fat, then marinated it in our Copycat Ah-So Sauce for a few days.
Once marinated, we roasted the pork in the oven. While the pork cooked, we poured the marinade into a sauce pan and cooked it into a luscious, sweet BBQ sauce, which we basted over the pork while it roasted.
Once done roasting, we simply sliced our Chinese BBQ Pork — which is a very delicious main course all on its own! Served this way (without the additional charring), the pork stays tender and juicy, and that sweet and savory sauce is absolutely delicious too.
Come back on Friday because we’ll be using some of our leftover Chinese BBQ Pork to create another take-out favorite: Egg Foo Young!
You may also like Asian-inspired recipes:
- Copycat Ah-So Sauce
- Asian Barbecue Pork Ribs
- Everyday Asian Dressing
- Healthier Mongolian Beef and Broccoli
- Ginger Dressing
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Chinese BBQ Pork
Ingredients
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons 5-spice powder
2 tablespoons red food color
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup sherry or Sake
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 pound boneless pork butt, also called pork shoulder
1/3 cup more honey
2 tablespoons corn starch
Instructions
In a medium sauce pan, mix the honey, brown sugar, Hoisin sauce, 5-spice powder, red food coloring, vegetable oil, sherry, tomato paste and soy sauce and heat to a simmer and cook three minutes then remove and cool completely.
While the marinade is cooling, remove any visible fat or gristle from the pork. There are two methods to cutting it up. Either cut along the natural lines and remove fat between each piece or simply cut in half the long way then each half in half again the long way so you have four log shaped pieces. I chose the first method so I could use the small pieces for some other Chinese dishes and the large pieces for this dish, but totally up to you.
Place the meat in a gallon zip lock bag with the cooled marinade and marinate at least one day and up to four days ahead. This isn’t like a brine where the length of time in the mixture usually would not surpass 12-24 hours, this is a marinade and the meat can stay refrigerated in the marinade for up to four days.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Line a sheet pan with foil and cover with a rack.
Pull the meat out of the marinade and place on the rack and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
While the meat is cooking, pour the marinade in a medium sauce pan and remove about a half cup to a small bowl. Add the remaining honey to the pan and heat until bubbling and cook for three minutes.
Add the corn starch to the small bowl and stir to dissolve then add to the sauce pan and whisk to thicken. Cook for one more minute then remove to cool.
After the pork has roasted for 30 minutes, brush liberally with the sauce and roast for 30 more minutes.
Brush again and roast for 20 more minutes.
Brush again and roast for an additional 10-20 minutes or until an internal probe thermometer inserted into the end of the fattest piece registers 145 degrees F.
Remove from the oven and brush one more time.
Let rest for at least ten minutes then slice and serve with the remaining sauce.
Cut up any small pieces for other Chinese dishes such as fried rice or Egg Foo Young.
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I made i it with pork shoulder waste xterm was extremely dry. Do you know what I did wrong? Would a pork tenderloin be more tender?
Hi Lori – Did you watch the video in the recipe card to see if you did something different? If not, I’m guessing you might have cooked the pork to an internal temperature that was higher than the 145 degrees suggested in the recipe…we recommend using a probe thermometer when cooking any kind of meat to ensure you don’t over cook it.
Pork tenderloins take a fraction of the time to cook (it will become dry too if you over cook it) – You could use the sauce on a tenderloin, but I’d follow this for a cooking method: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/perfect-pork-tenderloin/
Hope this helps.
The pork can stay in the marinade for up to four days. Is there much difference in how much the pork is marinated when comparing one day to four days? In other words, is there much difference in the flavor or texture?
Probably not that much Jamie – the pork can only absorb so much of the marinade.
Is the marinade supposed to congeal when you reheat it?
Hi Sam – Since you’ve added corn starch to the marinade, it will thicken and should resemble barbecue sauce. If it got too thick for you, you can stir some water in to thin it (whisk until smooth), or if it’s not thick enough, add a little more corn starch. Hope that helps!
The picture of this recipe is a pork tenderloin but the recipe calls for pork boneless butt. Which one is correct?
Hi Heidi – It’s a boneless pork butt that we cut into smaller pieces. Please refer to the 2nd paragraph in the instructions
I can’t wait to try these recipes.
Hope you love them Pat!
What would the cooking time be for pork tenderloin and pork loin? Thanks!
Hi Mark – The cooking time for each would vary based on the size of the cut of meat – that’s why we always recommend using a meat/probe thermometer and going by internal temperature to determine when the pork is cooked through. We’re not trying to be unhelpful with this answer, it’s just impossible to be accurate because of so many variables.
Hello Martha! A very Happy New Year to you and the family. Please forgive this questiion but I thought that marinades should be discarded after use. Is this marinade safe to consume even when heated again? I was wondering about this . Love the recipe for the Egg Fu Yung!
Hi Doris – Happy New Year to you too! It’s a great question! As long as you’ve marinated the meat in the refrigerator, and you heat it as we do in this recipe, it should be safe. Hope you enjoy both recipes!
Thanks for the recipe. You forgot the tomato paste in step 1. :>)
Thanks for catching that Mitch! (Will fix now…)
Can you use a boneless pork loin? Thanks for your help.
Hi Cathy – Sure – you can adapt this for a pork loin and/or tenderloin. The cooking time will vary depending on the size and cut you choose, but otherwise, the process will be similar. Enjoy!
do you have to add the red food coloring?
Hi Cynthia – No – the red food coloring is added so it resembles that bright red color you see at a Chinese restaurant, but you can definitely skip it if you prefer. Hope you enjoy the recipe!