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!
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 and simple to make. This pork belly is ready in under 30 minutes, taking just 20 minutes to cook. It's truly one of the easiest air fryer recipes.
- These marinated pork belly strips taste incredible! A little sweet, and a little smokey. Plus the marinade is made with simple pantry staple ingredients.
- This pork belly is made without boiling first to make it even easier.
- It's so much healthier and less messy to make pork belly in an air fryer compared to deep frying in oil.
- These fryer pork belly bites are so versatile. You can serve them as a main dish, as an appetizer, or as a side dish.
- This pork recipe is healthy, gluten free, dairy free, and paleo.
Key ingredients and substitutions:
You should be able to find all of these simple ingredients at your local grocery store. For the exact measurements refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- A piece of pork belly meat - I prefer to use pasture raised pork, but any type of pork belly will do. 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.
- Brown sugar - to add just the perfect amount of sweetness to this pork. Instead of brown sugar you can use coconut sugar. I do not recommend trying to use maple syrup instead.
- Spices - I kept the seasonings simple for this air fryer recipe using just sea salt and ground black pepper.
How to make (step-by-step):
Step one:
First, wash and dry the pork belly, and if there is any hair on it, scrape that off. Then cut the pork belly into ~1″ sized strips.
Step two:
Next, place the marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir them well to combine. Then put the pieces of pork belly into the bowl and coat them well with the sauce. Make sure that all sides of the pork belly are coated in the marinade.
Step three:
Lastly, place the pork belly strips onto the top rack of your air fryer or into the air fryer basket 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 (note that the cooking time will depend on the size of your pork belly strips and your air fryer).
Top Tips:
- Every model of air fryer is different, so depending on the air fryer you are using you may have to adjust the cooking times.
- For this recipe I do not preheat the air fryer. If you do preheat it 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 - this will lead to tender pork belly with a nice crispy skin.
- Try and cut the strips of pork belly into the same sized pieces so that they cook at the same rate.
- Use a sharp knife to make cutting the pork belly easier as the pork skin can be pretty hard and tough to cut through.
- For best results cook the pork belly pieces in a single layer. Don't overlap them or they won't cook properly.
- 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.
Recipe variations and add ins:
- To make this pork belly recipe gluten free: use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.
- To make this pork paleo: use coconut aminos and coconut sugar instead of soy sauce and brown sugar.
- For a different flavour feel free to use other spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, or chili powder.
- Try serving these fryer pork belly bites with bbq sauce to give them even more flavour.
- Feel free to double this recipe if you are serving more people.
How to serve:
You can serve pork belly strips as a main dish, as an appetizer, or as a snack.
You can eat them as is or serve them with a sauce such as barbecue sauce. Pork belly also pairs nicely with many different side dishes such as Asian coleslaw, kale salad, rice dishes, cauliflower rice, or pasta.
You could also serve this tasty pork belly in different ways - for example you can use the bite size pieces to make pork belly tacos!
How to store:
Store any leftover pork belly in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Frequently asked questions:
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.
Other air fryer recipes you will love:
- Air fryer frozen hamburgers
- Air fryer lamb chops
- Air fryer salmon cakes with lemon dill aioli
- Air fryer salt and pepper chicken wings
- Air fryer frozen meatballs
- Air fryer frozen French fries
- Air fryer BBQ ribs
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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 brown sugar (or coconut 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
- Every model of air fryer is different, so depending on the air fryer you are using you may have to adjust the cooking times.
- Try and cut the strips of pork belly into the same sized pieces so that they cook at the same rate.
- Store this cooked pork belly in the fridge in an air tight container 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!