Sticky Asian pork is one of my favourite dishes to make, not least because it’s so easy to throw together, yet it tastes as though you’ve spent hours in the kitchen. This is the sort of dish that almost cooks itself – just get it onto the stove and leave it alone to work its magic as it transforms itself into a sticky luscious meal that’s just bursting with flavour.
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Sticky Asian Pork
This recipe is indisputable proof that you don’t need to spend hours slaving over a hot stove to get a delicious meal on the table. There are literally just 3 steps involved in preparing this sticky Asian pork and then you just leave it alone and let the stove do all the work.
1 – Coat the pork in cornflower and brown it in hot oil.
2 – Fry the onions and spices
3 – Combine everything in one pan and leave to simmer until done.
What could be easier?
And you are left with a dish of the most fork-tender pork in a sticky sauce, with amazing flavours that you can spoon over a dish of fluffy white rice. All you need by way of accompaniments are a few steamed green vegetables and you have a supper that you will want to make again and again.
Just a quick note – even though there is very little prep time in this dish, it does take around 1 and a half hours to cook – so you’ll need to leave yourself plenty of time!
What you will need
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full ingredients and detailed instructions for making this sticky Asian pork on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
You will need a large frying pan with a lid to make this recipe.
- Pork shoulder – this is a very muscular piece of meat that can be quite tough if not cooked properly, but give it a long, slow cook and the fat and collagen in the tendons break down, leaving the meat so soft and tender that you could cut it with a fork. I bought a whole piece of meat because I like to cut it up myself, but you can buy ready-diced pork or ask the butcher to cut i up for you if you prefer. If there’s a lot of fat on the meat you can discard some, but don’t cut it all away. A little fat in the meat adds enormously to the flavour of the finished dish. The cubed pork should be coated in a mixture of cornflour (or cornstarch) and salt.
- Onions – these should be cut into quarters and then separated into petals. If your onions are quite large, you can cut some of the larger petals in half.
- For the flavourings you will need:
- Chinese 5-spice powder – this is a blend of star anise, fennel, cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns, and goes perfectly with pork.
- Brown sugar – for a hint to sweetness.
- Ginger and garlic – you can use fresh if you prefer, but I like to use ready-prepared ginger and garlic from a jar for convenience. It also makes it easier to get the quantities correct in a recipe because garlic cloves can differ in size depending of the size of the garlic bulb.
- Soy sauce – I used dark soy sauce in this recipe.
- Chilli paste – I tend to cook up a batch of homemade chilli paste and store it in icecube trays in the freezer so I always have it on hand. You can substitute this with fresh chillis to taste, or store-bought chilli paste.
- Rice wine vinegar for a little tang.
- A stock cube made up with 1 cup of boiling water – I used a vegetable stock cube because I didn’t want to add any other meat flavours to the dish, but you could use a chicken stock cube too. Or just use plain water if you prefer.
- Salt to taste – this is a matter of preference. There is so much flavour in this dish, and the soy sauce adds saltiness too, so you may not need any additional salt. Taste the dish once it is cooked and only add salt if you think it needs it.
- And finally, sunflower or canola oil for frying.
How to make sticky Asian pork
Step 1 – prepare the pork
- Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces and then sprinkle lightly with salt and coat them thoroughly in cornflour/cornstarch.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the pork cubes until they are browned all over. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the pork will draw moisture and boil rather than fry. If necessary, fry the pork in batches.
- It should take 3 to 4 minutes per batch to brown the pork.
- Once the pork has browned, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Step 2 – onions and spices
- In the same pan, fry the onions, ginger, garlic, chilli paste and 5-spice powder. Add a little more oil if necessary and stir well to coat the onions with the spices.
- Fry slowly so that the onions don’t burn – they should just turn translucent.
- What I like to do is turn the heat down as low as possible, cover the pan with a lid, and let the onions sweat until they are done.
- This step should take about 5 minutes on a low heat.
Step 3 – Cook the dish
- Dissolve the stock cube in one cup of boiling water, then stir in the brown sugar, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Stir the stock until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the stock to the onions in the pan and then stir in the pork.
- Adjust the heat to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and leave for an hour and a half until the pork is soft and the sauce has reduced and thickened. Stir occasionally during the cooking time.
- There should not be too much sauce in the finished dish. The sauce should be very thick and cling to the pork. If there is a lot of sauce in the pan, remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking time to help the sauce thicken
How to serve
Spoon the sticky pork over a bed of fluffy white rice and garnish it with sesame seeds. You may like to add some steamed green vegetables such as beans or broccoli on the side.
You may like to refer to my posts on how to cook rice in the microwave or how to cook rice in the oven.
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FAQ
Yes, you can freeze this dish. Allow the pork to cool in the sauce and then transfer to a rigid plastic container such as Tupperware. Freeze for up to 3 months.
To use, defrost the pork in the refrigerator and then reheat in a saucepan or a frying pan until piping hot.
You can also reheat the defrosted pork in the microwave.
Yes, you can make this sticky Asian pork in a slow cooker (or crockpot).
Follow the recipe until the pork and the onions have been browned, then transfer the meat and onions to a slow cooker and add the prepared stock. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or on a low setting for 5 to 6 hours.
The pork will be cooked when you can break it apart with a fork.
Additional resources
Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Gas marks.
If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.
Pin for later
If you’d like to make this sticky Asian pork why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily. Just click on the image below.
Other pork recipes
You may also like these other pork recipes:
- Steamed pork and shrimp dumplings
- Creamy pan-fried pork with pears and onions
- Pork and cabbage hotpot
- Twice cooked pork belly with a sticky glaze
- Creamy paprika pork goulash
- Leftover roast pork in garlic sauce
The recipe
Sticky Asian pork – an easy one-pot meal
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450g) pork shoulder cubed
- 1 large onion
- 1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
- ½ teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon chilli paste
- 1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 1 cup of boiling water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sunflower or canola oil for frying
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cornflour/cornstarch
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces and then sprinkle lightly with salt and coat them thoroughly in cornflour/cornstarch.1 pound (450g) pork shoulder, 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the pork cubes until they are browned all over. Don't overcrowd the pan or the pork will draw moisture and boil rather than fry. If necessary, fry the pork in batches. This step should take 3 to 4 minutes per batch.2 tablespoons brown sugar
- Once the pork has browned, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
- In the same pan, fry the onions, 5-spice powder, garlic, ginger and chilli paste. Add a little more oil if necessary and stir well to coat the onions with the spices.1 large onion, 1 teaspoon crushed garlic, ½ teaspoon ginger paste, 1 tablespoon chilli paste, 1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder
- Fry slowly so that the onions don't burn – they should just turn translucent. What I like to do is turn the heat down as low as possible, cover the pan with a lid, and let the onions sweat until they are done. This step should take about 5 minutes.
- Dissolve the stock cube in one cup of boiling water, then stir in the brown sugar, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Stir the stock until the sugar has dissolved.1 vegetable stock cube
- Add the stock to the onions in the pan and then stir in the pork.
- Adjust the heat to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and leave for an hour and a half until the pork is soft and the sauce has reduced and thickened. Stir occasionally during the cooking time.
- There should not be too much sauce in the finished dish. The sauce should be very thick and cling to the pork. If there is a lot of sauce in the pan, remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking time to help the sauce thicken
- Spoon the sticky pork over a bed of fluffy white rice and garnish it with sesame seeds. You may like to add some steamed green vegetables such as beans or broccoli on the side.
Notes
- Pork shoulder – when cubing the meat, leave a small amount of fat on the meat as this adds extra flavour.
- Onions – cut into quarters and then separate into petals.
- Ginger and garlic – I’ve used ready-crushed ginger and garlic from a jar, but you can use the equivalent amount of fresh ginger and garlic which has been finely crushed.
- Chilli paste – I’ve used homemade chilli paste but you can use store-bought paste or fresh chillies which have been finely chopped. Use your own discretion as to how much chilli you add, depending on how spicy you like your food.
- Salt – is a matter of preference. Taste the finished dish and only add salt if you think it needs it.
- Follow the recipe until the pork and the onions have been browned, then transfer the meat and onions to a slow cooker and add the prepared stock.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or on a low setting for 5 to 6 hours.
- The pork will be cooked when you can break it apart with a fork.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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