Air Fryer
Air Fryer Pork Belly Bites
Blistered crisp crust and a soft middle in 20 minutes. Why you dry the pork before cutting it, and how much it shrinks.
Ingredients
- 400g pork belly, skin off
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp seasoning (a 50/50 mix of garlic salt and paprika works well)
Method
- Dry the pork belly thoroughly with kitchen paper before you cut it. Wet pork steams instead of crisping, and the seasoning slides off.
- Cut it into bite-sized cubes of roughly 20g — you should get 18 to 20 from a 400g piece.
- Tip them into a bowl, drizzle over the oil, add the seasoning and toss until every piece is coated.
- Spread them in the air fryer basket in a single layer with a little space between each one.
- Air fry at 200°C (390°F) for 15 minutes.
- Turn them and cook for a further 5 minutes, until deep golden and crisp.
- Rest for 2-3 minutes before eating. They are extremely hot inside.
Notes
- They shrink considerably. 400g of raw pork belly gives you a surprisingly small bowl, so buy more than looks necessary.
- Space between the pieces decides how crisp they get. Crowded, they steam in their own rendered fat. Two batches beats one crowded one.
- Piece size changes the timing more than anything else: small 20g cubes take about 20 minutes at 200°C (390°F), but cut them smaller and 8-10 minutes can be enough. Go by colour.
- Skin off is easier. Pork belly skin needs a different approach entirely to turn into crackling and will not get there in the time the meat needs.
- The rendered fat in the bottom of the basket is worth keeping for roast potatoes.
- Air fryer models vary. Treat the times as a guide, go by colour and crispness, and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Watch it
More Air Fryer Pork & Bacon
Air fryer models vary in power and basket size, so treat the times here as a guide — go by colour and crispness rather than the clock, and adjust the seasoning and glaze to your taste.
Recipe source: Quantities and method from Feast Glorious Feast (feastgloriousfeast.com): 400g pork belly cut into 18-20 pieces of about 20g, tossed with 2 tsp oil and 1 tsp seasoning, air fried at 200°C (390°F) for 15 minutes, turned, then a further 5, and rested 2-3 minutes. Corroborated against The Big Man's World and Myriad Recipes, who both also use 200°C (390°F) but quote 8-10 minutes for smaller bites — the gap is piece size. All agree the pork must be thoroughly dried before cutting and spaced in the basket, and that it shrinks considerably.