This is the best air fryer pork belly recipe. The pork belly is slightly sweet and a little salty with a melt in your mouth meat layer and nice and crispy skin. It's so easy to make in just 20 minutes and the clean up is so simple!
Air fryers make cooking meat like air fryer frozen hamburgers, air fried turkey burgers and air fryer frozen chicken wings so easy. And today I am sharing how to cook the best air fried pork belly.
Table of Contents
Why you will love this recipe:
- This air fried pork belly turns out perfectly! The meat layer is melt in your mouth tender and then it has super crispy skin. Just how pork belly should be!
- It's so easy to make. This pork belly is ready in under 30 minutes, and takes just 20 minutes to cook.
- This pork belly is made without boiling first to make it even easier.
- This pork recipe is healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar free and paleo.
Ingredients and substitutions:
For the full ingredient list and exact measurements refer to the recipe card later in this post.
Jump to the Recipe Card- A piece of pork belly meat - If you can't find pork belly at your grocery store you should be able to find it at your local butcher.
- Soy sauce - to help tenderize the meat and give it a delicious flavour. Instead of soy sauce you can use coconut aminos. Be sure to use coconut aminos if you are gluten free or following a paleo diet.
- Balsamic vinegar - this helps tenderize the meat and gives it a slightly sweet taste.
- Coconut sugar or brown sugar - to add just the perfect amount of sweetness to this pork.
- Spices - salt and ground black pepper are all you need to perfectly season the pork.
Recipe variations and add ins:
- Feel free to double this recipe if you are serving more people.
- To make this recipe gluten-free: use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.
- To make this recipe paleo: use coconut aminos and coconut sugar instead of soy sauce and brown sugar.
- For a different flavour: add other spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, or chili powder.
How to make air fryer pork belly:
- Step 1: First, wash and dry the pork belly, and if there is any hair on it, scrape that off. Then cut the pork belly into one inch sized strips.
- Step 2: Place the marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir them well to combine.
- Step 3: Then put the slices of pork belly into the bowl and coat them with the sauce. Make sure that all sides of the pork belly pieces are coated in the marinade.
- Step 4: Place the pork belly strips into your air fryer and cook for 18 minutes at 390 degrees Fahrenheit. Then flip the pork belly strips and cook them for an additional 3-5 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit to crisp up the pork belly skin even more.
Top Tips:
- Try and cut the strips of pork belly into the same size so that they cook at the same rate.
- For this recipe I do not preheat the air fryer. If you do preheat yours decrease the cook time by a few minutes.
- Depending on the size of your air fryer you may have to cook the pork belly cubes in batches if they don't all fit in at one time.
- Be sure to leave some space between each pork belly piece to ensure the hot air can circulate around the meat and cook it evenly.
- I cook all the pork belly pieces on the top rack of my air fryer, if you use the lower rack you may have to increase the cooking time.
Serving ideas:
You can eat these pork belly pieces as is or serve them with a sauce such as barbecue sauce. They make a great appetizer or main dish and pairs nicely with many different side dishes such as Asian coleslaw, kale salad, rice dishes, cauliflower fried rice, or roasted vegetables.
Air fryer pork belly FAQs:
Pork belly is a boneless cut of fatty meat from the belly of a pig. It is the same type of meat that is used to make bacon, but pork belly is uncured, un-smoked and un-sliced in comparison to bacon.
That often depends on the type of bacon and pork belly you are getting. Most types of bacon on the market contain nitrates, more salt, and sugar, so in that case, yes pork belly would be considered a healthier alternative. If however you are getting nitrate free and sugar free bacon the two would be fairly equal health wise.
Store any leftover pork belly in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Other air fryer recipes you will love:
Recipe
Air Fryer Pork Belly
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork belly
Marinade Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and dry the pork belly, and if there is any hair, scrape that off. Cut the pork belly into ~1" sized strips.
- Place the marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add the pork belly strips to the bowl and coat them well with the sauce.
- Place the pork belly strips onto the top rack of your air fryer and cook for 18 minutes at 390F. Flip the pork belly strips and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes at 400F to crisp up the pork belly even more (cooking time will depend on the size of your pork belly and your air fryer).
Notes
- Try and cut the strips of pork belly into the same size so that they cook at the same rate.
- Nutritional values are an estimate and will vary depending on the exact ingredients used.
- Store any leftover cooked pork belly in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Sabine
I tried this for dinner tonight, and it was delicious. I will definitely make this again. Thank you for a great air fryer recipe.
Erin Carter
OH I am so glad you love it!!! Thanks for letting me know!