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Slow Cooker Chashu (Japanese Braised Pork Belly)

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
To cook melt-in-the-mouth chashu, roll and tie a slab of pork belly, sear in hot oil then slow cook in a mixture of soy sauce, sake and mirin. Cool and chill overnight to make slicing easier.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours 15 minutes
Chilling time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 5 hours 25 minutes
Course Condiment, Main Course
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 6 people
Chashu (Japanese braised pork belly) with bowl of ramen in background

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Wipe the pork belly dry with kitchen paper.
  • Lay the pork belly flat, skin side down. Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper (optional step).
  • Roll the pork belly tie up with kitchen twine as tightly as you can.
    Rolled and tied pork belly for chashu
  • Heat the oil in a wok and brown the rolled pork belly. For best results, turn the belly every few minutes to get even coloring.
    Searing pork belly in hot oil
  • In the slow cooker, stir together the soy sauce, sake, mirin and the bone broth, then drop in the browned pork belly.
    Braising browned pork belly to make chashu
  • Add the leeks and ginger.
  • Set the slow cooker on HIGH and cook the pork belly for five hours. For even coloring, AFTER the first two hours (the liquid will be bubbling by then), give the pork quarter turns every hour.
  • Cool the pork in the liquid.
  • Scoop out the pork, allow to drip and place in a container with a tight lid. Chill in the fridge overnight.
  • Take the pork out of the fridge and cut into slices.
    Sliced chashu (Japanese braised pork belly)
  • Your chashu (Japanese braised pork belly) is now ready to go into your bowl of ramen. To make sure that the chashu is hot when served, when you ladle the hot broth into the bowl of ramen, ladle over the pork directly.
    Home cooked ramen with chashu (braised pork belly) and soy sauce eggs
Keyword Pork Belly