So sweet and glazed with honey sugary goodness. Kissed with the fragrance of five spice, with its hint of licorice and anise. I drool every time I think about Chinese barbecue pork.

It is not barbecue pork in the American sense. There is no charcoal or wood fires involved. But there is a beautiful char that you get from roasting the sweet marinated pork at high temperatures.

It is oh-so-satisfying, juicy, and mouthwatering. The end result is a mouthful of porky, savory richness surrounded by the sticky honey hoisin glaze. I was really missing this due to quarantine, so I decided to take a stab at posting a char siu recipe.

What to eat with Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)

What do we do with char siu, you ask? Eat it with a big bowl of Jasmine rice with its yummy char siu pork drippings of course! That is the char siu that I am familiar with. With some nice green leafy veggies to make it balanced.

You can also add it to a fried rice.

Or you can make char siu bao, bbq pork buns (char siu bao). Char siu bao is a dim sum classic. You can have steamed char siu bao or you can have baked char siu bao. I do not discriminate and love them all.

Secrets to a tasty Chinese BBQ Pork

What is the trick to an authentic char siu recipe? Strong seasonings and time. You need time to let all the delicious flavors of your char siu meld and marinade. I marinated mine for 36 hours and it was some of the tastiest pieces of Chinese barbecue pork I’ve had.

Usually people put red food coloring, but food coloring is not my jam. So I kept her all natural, y’all. Hope you can still love her as is.

Huge shoutout to Marion Grasby and Woks of Life for giving me ideas on this char siu recipe. This was my first time making Chinese bbq pork and it turned out really successfully thanks to these two wonderful food bloggers. I am really leaning into my Asian heritage more and am so grateful for these culinary leaders.

I used to be intimidated by making authentic Chinese food due to fears that my family would not be impressed or that they would say that it was not good enough. But I’ve learned to let go of that and just go with it. I love cooking everything, Asian food included. So I set myself free from the perfectionist attitude that was holding me back.

Why is my char siu burning?

Making char siu requires very high heat on your grill or oven. You are using the hottest possible setting, so you need to keep an eye on your precious little baby.

You are probably not turning it enough or it is too close to your broiler/heat source. Keep your meat at least 10 inches away from the heat. Since there is so much sugar in your char siu glaze, it will burn very easily.

Your oven has hotspots and cooler spots. Rotate your pan every 5 minutes so you can get even cooking on all your pieces of char siu.

Why is my char siu dry?

You need to use a nice fatty piece of pork (shoulder or butt) for this authentic char siu recipe. It has to have a good amount of fat. Do not use pork loin or even pork chop because it will dry out due to a lack of fat.

How to Make Char Siu

Price Comparison

You can get char siu for $10/lb when you buy from a Chinese deli. My ingredients cost: pork ($4), honey ($.50), soy sauce ($.25), five spice ($.25), garlic ($.25), star anise ($.25). I was able to make 1.5 lb of char siu for that price. Let’s assume that 1/2 lb is a serving here. So here’s the price breakdown per serving:

Restaurant ($5) vs. Home-made ($1.83). You are saving more than double the cost and you are avoiding food coloring, preservatives, and other strange ingredients that restaurants sometimes put. Plus, you get a much juicier and more flavorful product when you make it yourself. Why? Chinese delis often have their meats sitting out for hours before you buy it. That quickly dries it out. When you make it yourself, you do not skimp on seasonings or spices.

Print

Char Siu Recipe

Sweet and gooey Chinese BBQ Pork Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Keyword authentic char siu recipe, char siu recipe, Chinese bbq pork recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Marinating Time 1 day day

Total Time 1 day day 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4 people

Equipment

• grill rack
• baking sheet

Ingredients

Char Siu

• 1.5 lb pork shoulder cut into long pieces
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tbsp xiaoxing wine
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp five spice
• 2 pieces whole star anise
• 1 tsp salt

Char Siu Glaze

• 1.5 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp water
• char siu marinade use all
• 1 tsp five spice
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp xiaoxing wine

Instructions

• Mix pork with sesame oil, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic, brown sugar, honey, xiaoxing wine, white pepper, five spice, salt, and star anise. Rub marinade into the meat. Cover with cling wrap and set in the refrigerator at least 48 hours.
• After meat is marinated, prepare to broil. Turn oven onto broil setting: 525 degrees F. Place meat onto a suspended rack above a baking sheet. Add in 1 cup of water onto the bottom of the baking sheet.
• Move oven rack so that it is 10 inches under the top broiler.
• Meanwhile, make glaze. Add juices from the meat marinade into a saucepan and add in hoisin sauce, honey, water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, xiaoxing wine, brown sugar, and five spice. Using a sieve, remove pieces of coagulated blood. Boil on high heat until it is thickened and just coats the back of a spoon.
• When oven is pre-heated, place meat into the oven. Meat should broil in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your meat. Baste every 5 minutes.
• If oven has hotspots, rotate the pan to allow even cooking.
• Basting process instructions: Allow the pork to broil for 5 minutes, then baste with glaze. Repeat 2 times after this.
• Flip pork over with tongs. Repeat the basting process 3 times.
• Once both sides of pork are glazed and caramelized, remove from the oven. This takes about 20-30 minutes of broiling in the oven.
• There will be juices on the bottom of the baking sheet. Take these juices and boil on high heat with the remaining glaze until reduced to half. This takes about 5 minutes. Use this as a sauce to serve with your char siu.
• Optional: Top with toasted white sesame seeds and green onion.
• Enjoy with steamed jasmine rice!

Other Asian Recipes

Seared Tuna Poke Bowl
Chinese Sticky Rice with Preserved Meats

Tag me on Instagram @Jennskitchendiary if you’ve made this recipe!