10 Weeknight-Friendly Ways To Use Pork Belly
Spoiler: You're going to want these dishes in your belly.
When it comes to cooking pork belly, bacon probably is what immediately comes to mind. And hey, we get it! Bacon is, no exaggeration, a crucial part of so many of our favorite recipes. But pork belly goes so beyond being just where bacon comes from as well as a pretty impressive dinner protein, too. Whether you use pancetta, straight-up pork belly, or St. Louis-cut ribs, all cuts of pork belly add tons of savory richness to pasta dishes, vegetables, and even BBQ. Best of all, it's a pretty cost-effective cut. These 10 clever pork belly recipes show that saving money can also be pretty delicious too! Who knew?!
First things first: What is pork belly? As the name suggests, it's a fatty cut of meat that comes from the belly of a pig. When you spot it at the grocery store, you'll notice it looks like a large slab of marbled bacon. When cooked whole as a roast, pork belly is savory, smoky, and salty and is ideally cooked low and slow, but also crisps up perfectly when sliced. A key part of Korean and Vietnamese cuisine, pork belly to add tons of umami to our recipes for jajangmyeon noodles and Vietnamese braised pork belly.
Other notable pork belly cuts include pancetta as well as St.Louis-style ribs and spare ribs (which, despite their name, are actually located part of the belly). Feel free to swap in pancetta in place of bacon (or guanciale) for our recipes for carbonara pizza, tagliatelle with bacon & mushrooms, and creamy bacon asparagus gnocchi. It's a tiny but big-impact way to add a bit of fanciness to your weeknight dinner, guaranteed!
Tagliatelle With Bacon & Mushrooms
Sure, everyone loves pasta. But pasta + bacon + mushrooms? That's just out of control. Even if you don’t love mushrooms, you really need to give this recipe a shot. The bacon here will no doubt complement that shroomy texture and earthy taste, and we also love using pancetta here, too. Creamy and comforting, we’re (over)confident this tagliatelle will become your fast friend.
Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly
Thịt Kho Tàu is a salty-sweet dish of caramelized pork belly and marinated eggs. Hailing from South Vietnam (as evident by the use of coconut water in cooking), this flavorful dish is one of the most beloved in Vietnamese cuisine. Don’t be intimidated by the long cooking time—most of it is letting it simmer on the stove so the pork belly can get nice and tender. Make the most of your efforts by cooking a large serving size because this dish works great as leftovers for a quick weekday meal.
Get the Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly recipe.
Creamy Asparagus Bacon Gnocchi
This speedy one-pan dinner is 100% pure comfort and features the MVP of pork belly: bacon. With chewy gnocchi, crisp-tender asparagus, and a light cream sauce imbued with smoky bacon, it's suspiciously delicious for a dish that takes well under an hour.
Jajangmyeon
Commonly ordered in noodle shops, and even more commonly devoured in the instant form of chappaghetti (or jjapaghetti), jajangmyeon is Korean comfort fare at its best. For our recipe, we’re going to be using the slightly less expensive pork belly (in lieu of the traditional marbled steak), but if you want to splurge, by all means, go off! Most of this dish’s flavor comes from umami-packed, salty, and slightly nutty black bean paste, aka chunjang, which you can source at Korean markets, online, and some supermarkets. We used onion, zucchini, and cabbage, but you can add whatever veg you have on hand, such as radish, potatoes, or peppers.
Get the Jajangmyeon recipe.
Bacon Fried Cabbage
Why is it that Brussels sprouts get all the love when cabbage, Brussels' bigger, cheaper cousin, has similar flavor and just as much culinary potential? If you want to venture into the world of cabbage that goes beyond corn beef or coleslaw, try this fried cabbage on for size. Hearty and flavorful, it only requires 5 ingredients (if you don't count the salt and pepper). Plus, one of those ingredients is bacon! This simple recipe might just convert even the most ardent of cabbage haters.
Get the Bacon Fried Cabbage recipe.
St. Louis-Style Ribs
St. Louis–style ribs just might be the best kind of ribs. For the traditional style, use spareribs and ask your butcher to cut them "St. Louis-style." This simply means that the breastbone will be cut off and the ribs will be in a rectangular shape. To get REALLY traditional, you'll want to smoke your ribs, but we opted to bake ours in the oven for convenience. Oven-baked ribs still get perfectly tender and will be falling right off the bone!
Get the St. Louis–Style Ribs recipe.
Carbonara Pizza
If you can't get enough of Rome's famous spaghetti carbonara, then we have a sneaking suspicion you'll love this extra-cheesy pizza version. If you choose to make the accompanying garlic-chili oil, use the remainder for a punchy smashed cucumber salad, to top eggs, or to finish roasted vegetables.
Get the Carbonara Pizza recipe.
Oven-Roasted Spare Ribs
Some family meals are informal traditions, but others, like these pork spare ribs from Honolulu-based journalist Sara Lin, are bonafide institutions. Her dad’s rich, tangy recipe even made it into the cookbook she put together for her family’s 2015 reunion, and they're well-worth making when you want a meal that will wow everyone at the dinner table.
Get the Oven-Roasted Spare Ribs recipe.
Braised Pork Belly In Soy Sauce With Potatoes
Dark and saucy, dripping with the deep flavors of soy, pork belly, and five spice, this dish is a holiday favorite of former Senior Food Producer, June Xie. We have a sneaky feeling one bowl of this comforting dinner will surely become a new favorite for you, whether you serve it at the holidays or just on a Tuesday night.
Get the Braised Pork Belly In Soy Sauce With Potatoes recipe.
Double Red-Eye St. Louis–Style Ribs
These ribs certainly earn their name. When your BBQ needs a little jolt, a splash of coffee to your sauce (and a coffee-laced rub) will add a ton of dimension and kick that'll have everyone coming back for more.
Get the Double Red-Eye St. Louis–Style Ribs recipe from Good Housekeeping.
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