This is how to get your Chinese BBQ Pork fix – fast! It’s pork mince fried up using char siu sauce rather than marinating large pieces of pork. Sweet and savoury with a hint of five spice powder, it tastes just like the glaze on Chinese BBQ pork. Serve over rice for a quick dinner!
Chinese BBQ Pork Bowls
Recipes come into existence on this website in all sorts of ways. Sometimes they’re carefully planned, developed and tested to death with a specific goal in mind (like last Friday’s bagels). And sometimes they are impromptu recipes that came out of necessity, like today’s recipe, which was born only because I had a packet of pork mince in the fridge yesterday that needed using on that day and a desire to do something new with it than reaching for my quick ‘n easy faithfuls (Vietnamese Pork Bowls, Bun Cha (Vietnamese Meatballs) and Sausage Patties).
A quick rummage through the pantry, a sudden inspiration to use the marinade for Chinese BBQ Pork to fry up mince instead of marinating a pork roast, and here we are. A new recipe I thought tasted so good (and so quick to make), I had to share it!
(I really did film, photograph, edit and write this all up today. JB tested the recipe too, and we actually ended up making it 6 times in total, tweaking the sauce a bit until we were both happy with it. Proof it’s a seriously quick recipe!! 🙂 )
Ingredients in Chinese BBQ Pork Bowls
Here’s what you need to make this:
Pork mince (ground pork) – Use any fat % pork you want, though the higher the fat, the juicier your meat. 🙂 This recipe should also work nicely with chicken and turkey meat, but the sauce is probably a little lighter than ideal for beef and lamb (which are “meatier” tasting). Bear in mind though that chicken and turkey are leaner so the meat will be be a little drier.
Garlic and onion – Essential flavour base for this otherwise simple recipe, please don’t skip these.
Hoisin (dark not orange) – Proper hoisin sauce is a dark brown colour, almost as brown as oyster sauce. I use Lee Kum Kee and Panda brands. Hoisin sauce that is a more pale orange colour lacks proper flavour – I’m thinking specifically of Ayam Hoisin sauce here in Sydney. It tastes almost like a plum sauce, it’s very odd.
Chinese Five Spice Powder – A blend you can find at any grocery store these days, made up of (gasp shock horror!) five spices! This is the signature spicing flavour of Chinese BBQ Pork.
Dark soy sauce – This colours the pork a dark brown colour as well as adding salt and soy flavour. It can be substituted with all purpose soy or sauce, but double the quantity and note that the pork colour won’t be as dark brown as pictured, and the pork will have a touch less flavour than it should. If you could add a slosh of Mirin or Chinese cooking wine to compensate, you’d make me happy. 🙂
White pepper – White rather than black pepper is typically the default pepper for Chinese cooking, but it’s not a big deal in this recipe, just substitute with black if you don’t have it.
Red food colouring (OPTIONAL!!!) – This is to give the pork a faint red hue like you get with Chinese BBQ Pork! But it’s absolutely optional. I just added it for a bit of fun!
How to make Chinese BBQ Pork Bowls
Make sure to caramelise the pork well! It really makes a difference here.
Sauce – Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Sauté – Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over high heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is tinged golden on the edges, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
Cook pork – Add the pork and cook, breaking it up as you go, until you no longer see pink.
Sauce – Pour in the sauce.
Caramelise! Then cook the pork, still on high heat, for a good 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce is absorbed by the pork and the pork caramelises. The more the pork caramelises, the better the flavour!
Serve over rice and sprinkle with green onion or sesame seeds.
Because the pork is quite boldly flavoured, I like to just add fresh slices of cucumber and tomato or shredded carrot on the side. Quick, simple, and refreshing against the strong flavour of the pork.
Steamed greens like broccoli, beans or snow peas would also go great – anything really. If you want a quick Asian dressing to add a bit of flavour to the greens, try this Asian Sesame Dressing.
Oh! And I forgot to take a photo, but another way you could serve this is in lettuce wrap form. Add rice to fill it out, or for a lower carb-option, it would be terrific with some Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon (radish).
Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Quick Chinese BBQ Pork Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 onion , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 500g/ 1 lb pork mince / ground pork (or chicken or turkey)
Sauce:
- 1 tbsp (tightly packed) brown sugar (or 1 1/2 tbsp honey)
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce (avoid orange hoisin eg. Ayam, Note 1)
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 2)
- 3/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- Pinch white pepper , or black pepper
- 1/8 tsp red food colouring , optional (for touch of Chinese BBQ Pork colour!)
Serving:
- White rice
- Green onion , finely sliced, and/or white sesame seeds
- Fresh veggies for the side – cucumber slices , tomato, grated carrot, steamed broccoli
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Sauté onion and garlic, cook pork, add sauce, cook until caramelised. Serve over rice!
FULL RECIPE:
- Sauce – Mix the Sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Sauté – Heat the oil over high heat in a large non-stick pan. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes until the onion edge are tinged with gold.
- Cook pork – Add the pork and cook, breaking it up as you go, until you no longer see pink. Add the Sauce and cook aggressively on high heat for a good 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce evaporates and the pork mince caramelises. The stronger the heat, the better the caramelisation, the tastier your pork!
- Serve over rice with fresh veg of choice, sprinkled with green onion or sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Jaffle
Wise people told me that after losing your soul dog, you would doubt if you could ever love another as much but you had to have faith, that one day you would wake up and realise your heart had made room.
For me that moment was an hour before I left for the airport for a 3 week holiday to Norway, when the separation anxiety set in. This naughty, mischievous boy has well and truly stolen my heart.
(Oh what, you didn’t know I was away for the last three weeks! 😉 I worked very hard to keep recipes coming while I was away so you wouldn’t know!! And to be honest, it is hard for me to stay away completely so I was still answering questions. I really try to switch off, but I can’t! Might have to send me to Everest or somewhere with ZERO reception for that to happen!).
This was great so quick and tasty. Everyone loved it, Idid add some chopped water chestnuts and bamboo shoots just for extra texture it was really good.
I made this and it was good but, my pork took forever to break up and i found a lot of liquid remained. I was afraid of over cooking it so I just had to use a slotted spoon to scoop it from the pan.
Great recipe. But getting the hoisin sauce out of the bottle was a sticky nightmare. Nagi, have you any idea why those Asian sauces come in narrow bottles that taper at the top?
Apart from the sauce drama it was quick and delicious. Thank you.
This recipe was so good I know I’ll do it again. My wife was pleasantly surprised I could do it because it was great. I overcooked the meat I’ll know better next time. Thanks. I see your love for your “best friend “
Made this with ground beef and it was awesome!
Absolutely love this. Thank you so much Nagi
It’s a ripper. I used beef mince, added a bok choy at the end to wilt into the mix and used honey instead of sugar. 10/10 would recommend.
I used bok choy at the end and added some pot noodles instead of rice.
Delicious but just too sweet for me. Im going to leave out the sugar next time.
Good and gobbled and gone!
Doubled the mince and used turkey. Family of 5 gobbled it right up with compliments!
Outstanding! Made as listed, served on rice with a side salad of lettuce, tomatoes and shaved carrots. Used her recommended Asian salad dressing. Both recipes are keepers.
Beautiful and tasty. Definitely a regular from now on. Need to double the mince, but otherwise perfect
This was a good mid week quickie!
I used ground turkey (Costco), doubled the sauce recipe but did not double brown sugar or five spice. I added blanched green beans that I had on hand. This has lots of potential. The recipe is a great base. I’ll make again but add lots off veggies….maybe a rice noodle!
I really loved the way it came together in no time without a lot of ingredients. I just thought it was a bit too sweet and would love some ideas on how to dial back the sweetness just a bit.
Yes. Too sweet. Maybe a vinegar to offset the sweetness?
I would probably just reduce the sugar-good hoisin sauce is fairly sweet and will still give the sticky quality to the sauce.
Absolutely delicious, made this last night. Will be making this again. Thank you so much xx
Loved this! Pork really crispy and tasty. And added lots of salad bits with lime juice and chopped coriander! Will make again.
So quick to make and absolutely delicious! Thank you Nagi!
Nagi I know what you mean about your soul dog. I’m in my early 70s and until four years ago this week I have always had a dog and loved them all. But the last one a Goldendoodle I still grieve over that loss. She was my soul dog. I’m so happy that Jaffle has stolen your heart. I’m sure Dozer would approve
As for your vacation, trust me when I say that sometimes you need to really step away from work 100%. We can go back to so many of your older fantastic recipes when you’re giving yourself a break ❤️
Yet another winner! And quick to make too!
Hope you enjoyed Norway Nagi. I adore char sui pork, so I know this recipe will be amazing. Can’t wait to try it.
Very tasty and easy to make.