Pork Belly Fried Rice

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This pork belly fried rice combines our favorite ever fried rice recipe and crispy pork belly that gets cooked in a flavorful Asian sauce. Fried rice with pork belly may be your new favorite rice dish, and it’s even better than Chinese takeout!

Fried rice is one of the most popular griddle recipes to make, and since we cook on our outdoor griddles about 4 times a week, we have perfected the art of making homemade fried rice.

We’ve made all sorts of the iconic rice dish – everything from chicken fried rice to steak and mushroom fried rice to Mexican fried rice. But I wanted to step out on a limb and try something new with ingredients that I don’t commonly use.

And that included a trip to the local Asian market for a popular Chinese ingredient that I had never heard of before. Spoiler alert – it made the best Asian sauce that I had ever tasted!

This fried rice with pork belly is made with a delicious homemade sauce and leftover pork belly, combined with our favorite go-to fried rice recipe. So good that you’ll be tossing your Chinese takeout menus and making this awesome rice dish at home instead!

How to Make Regular Fried Rice

The base of this pork belly fried rice is a traditional fried rice with vegetables and a few different Asian sauces and oils.

The process for making regular fried rice is pretty much the same no matter what protein or veggies that you’re using. Simply sauté the diced vegetables to tenderize them, and cook the cubed or cut protein until done. “Fry” leftover white rice in a bit of oil, and stir fry all of the cooked ingredients together. Add sauces and a small dash of sesame oil, and you’re done!

It really is as easy as it sounds, but I have a full post on how to make the best griddle fried rice here.

Do I need a wok to make fried rice?

Nope! In fact, an outdoor griddle is perfect for making fried rice because the large, hot cooking surface can handle a big batch at once, along with the meat and vegetables to add in.

Of course, if you don’t have a griddle then you can definitely make fried rice in a large stovetop skillet, but you’ll need to cook the meat and vegetables separately first, unless you’re making a smaller batch.

What kind of rice should I use for fried rice?

Trust me when I say that we’ve tested ALL the different rice varieties, and not all types are great for this stir-fry method. We recommend a long grain white rice like Jasmine or Basmati. And you definitely want to use rice that has already been cooked, preferably the day before.

In fact, if you have leftover white rice from last night’s takeout, then you can repurpose it into an amazing fried rice.

Or do like we do – cook the white rice the day before, allow it to cool down completely, spread it out in a thin layer on a sheet tray, and refrigerate over night.

Ingredients for Pork Belly Fried Rice

Regular Fried Rice Ingredients:

These are the ingredients that we typically add to all of our Asian style fried rice recipes:

• cooked and cooled white rice – We prefer to use Jasmine or Basmati rice.
• butter and garlic – These two ingredients combined are a staple in all of our fried rice recipes… We’ll show you down below how to use the fresh, finely minced garlic and butter to add major flavor to the rice.
• soy sauce – We chose to use low sodium soy sauce to offset the saltiness of some of the other ingredients.
• oyster sauce
• mirin – Optional
• sesame oil
• your choice of vegetables – We used diced onions, diced carrots, and bean sprouts.
• scrambled eggs – Optional

Pork Belly Ingredients:

We stir-fried our pork belly in a fantastic, flavorful sauce that tasted just like something you would get at an authentic Chinese restaurant. Here are the ingredients that we used for the pork belly:

• fully cooked, cold pork belly – You’ll need about 16 ounces of cooked pork belly, cut into bite-sized cubes.
• broad bean paste – This popular Chinese ingredient gives your pork belly fried rice a fantastic umami flavor, and it will make your dish taste more authentic. You can find it at Asian supermarkets and also on Amazon. An 8 ounce jar costs about $4 at most Asian markets, and it’s great for making other Chinese recipes at home, like twice cooked pork.
• hoisin sauce
• soy sauce
• minced ginger – We used the squeeze bottle of minced ginger, found in the produce section of the grocery store near the jarred garlic. Another pantry staple of ours.
• crunchy chili garlic oil – This is one of our favorite ingredients EVER for Chinese and Asian-style recipes! We’re huge fans of the Chef’s Troy brand of crunchy chili garlic sauce.
• dried red pepper flakes – Optional, if you want to add some spice.
• long hot pepper – Since we had to make a trip to the Asian market anyway, we grabbed one of these peppers to add in to the pork belly. Totally optional.

Where can I find pork belly?

Pork belly can typically be found in the refrigerated meat aisle of most grocery stores. We most commonly see it sold in a 5-6 pound slab, and in our region, it’s usually packaged under the Swift brand name. *Side Note – We’ve always had great results with Swift brand meat.

But if you belong to a big box membership store, here’s a pro tip – we discovered that we could get a whole pork belly from Costco for the same price that grocery stores charge for a half belly. So, keep an eye out for those great deals!

Or if you want to simplify the recipe, you can purchase pre-cooked pork belly from specialty grocery stores like Trader Joe’s.

But it really is so easy to cook yourself, so don’t be intimidated if you can’t find the fully cooked variety. Traditionally, the pork belly is boiled with fresh aromatics like ginger and garlic, but we decided to smoke it low and slow on the grill instead.

What other vegetables can I add to pork belly fried rice?

The beauty of this pork belly fried rice recipe is that you can add whatever vegetables that you like! We added diced onion, diced carrot, and bean sprouts to our rice, but here are some other great options:

• green peas
• asparagus
• broccoli florets
• the whites of a sliced green onion – We like to add the white part of the green onion to the rice as it’s cooking, and save the green slices for the garnish.
• diced yellow onion
• bok choy
• diced carrots
• bean sprouts
• diced bell peppers
• diced Chinese long hot peppers – Available at most Asian markets.

How to Make Pork Belly Fried Rice on the Griddle (or Skillet)

Step 1: Start rendering out the fat on the pork belly to make it crispy.

Start by adding the cubed pork belly to the cooking surface and spreading it out in an even layer, so that each piece comes in contact with the hot griddle or skillet. This will help it to brown and crisp up.

Allow the pork belly to cook on the first side for 3-4 minutes, or until it turns golden brown, and then sauté so that the other sides can get crispy.

When the cubes of pork belly are golden brown, move them to the cooler side of the griddle or, if cooking this recipe in a skillet, remove the crispy pork belly from the pan and set aside.

Step 2: Cook the rice and vegetables.

Cooking the pork belly first allows you to add extra flavor to the fried rice, because you can use the rendered pork fat as the “oil” to fry the rice. Just use a spatula to spread the leftover fat over the hot cooking surface, and then follow these steps:

• Add the diced onions and carrots to the cooking surface, stirring occasionally, until almost tender. In a separate area on the griddle, and in the rendered pork fat, add the cold cooked white rice. Spread it out in a thin, even layer so that it can heat up. Then, sauté the rice so that it fries evenly.
• After a few minutes, make a well in the rice. Add butter and minced garlic. Allow the butter and garlic to cook together until the garlic is fragrant and tender. Right before the garlic starts to burn, toss the butter, garlic, and rice together until well combined. *This is one of our secrets to great fried rice!
• Combine the cooked vegetables and rice together. Then, add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and mirin (if using). Saute everything together, and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Scramble eggs. Once cooked, chop the scrambled eggs up into smaller pieces. Add to the fried rice.

Right before the fried rice is done cooking, pour on a bit of sesame oil and sprinkle on the green parts of the sliced green onion. Stir to combine.

When the fried rice is done to your liking, move it to the cooler side of the griddle, or if using a skillet, transfer the rice to a plate so that you can finish the pork belly next.

Step 3: Cook the pork belly with the sauce.

Add the crispy pork belly and chopped peppers to the hot cooking surface. Pour the prepared sauce on top and stir together. I also added a few tablespoons of water to help slow down the reduction process.

After the sauce has reduced a bit, it’s time to add the pork belly to the fried rice.

Step 4: Stir fry the rice and pork belly together.

At this point, the flavors are intensifying, the smell is amazing, and your pork belly fried rice should be coming together beautifully! This is going to be a dish that you’ll be proud to serve your family!

As the final step, combine the pork belly and the fried rice together. Toss together, and your better-than-takeout fried rice is ready to serve!

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