Char Siu Pork is easy to make to perfection for a crowd pleasing appetizer or weeknight star. The marinade serves as basting liquid and crispy glaze.
Char Siu Pork has been a favorite of my family, remembering it as one of our favorite dishes whenever we’d go to a great restaurant in Salt Lake, The Pagoda, closed down for many years now. But the memory of the tender, juicy pork with the outside glaze that was full of spices that, as a kid, I couldn’t name but would always love, has never been forgotten. As a grown up, I know that unique tang- spicy, sweet, and so aromatic is thanks to Chinese Five Spice, which is usually made from a blend of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, ginger, and fennel. I finally decided I needed Char Siu in my grown up world and I didn’t want to have to go out to enjoy it.
What’s In Char Siu Pork?-
Chinese Five Spice, sugar, and black pepper: The combination of these spices is the center of the experience that is uniquely Char Siu. These spices give heat, sweetness, and tang that’s unlike any other recipe.
Honey, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, ketchup, and sesame oil: The “liquid” for the marinate helps to ensure the spices stick to the pork and add yet another layer of delicious Asian flavor.
Serrano Pepper: The serrano pepper in my recipe doesn’t add heat but adds an earthy flavor. If you want a lot of heat to your Char Siu Pork, you can dice up the serrano so it stays on the finished dish.
The marinade is a powerhouse for this delicious recipe. Chinese Five-Spice is easy to find in most grocery stores. You could also make your own Chinese Five Spice Blend, but it really is a common spice now and easily available. After playing around with the marinade ingredients, looking for the best variety of heat and sweet, and that important sticky-factor- this recipe fit the bill with my family and I think it will with yours too. I don’t add red food coloring which is sometimes added for that classic red color around the outside of each slice, but you can easily do that if you like.
How do you make Char Siu Pork-
First all the marinade ingredients simmer just until everything’s incorporated. The serrano pepper is in the mixture to add some flavor but not much heat. You could slice the serrano into the mix if you want heat. You just finished with the hardest part of the recipe.
After the marinade is cooked and then cooled, place a 1-pound pork tenderloin into a zip lock bag with all the marinade, including the pepper, even if you didn’t cut it up. This sits in your fridge for up to 3 days, and I recommend waiting at least 24 hours. At this point, the tenderloin can also be frozen up to 3 months.
Once you’re ready to bake the tenderloin, reserve some of the marinade to baste the pork during cooking.
Tenderloins cook to perfection in no time and this Char Siu Pork is done quickly, even with basting and end-of-cooking broiling time. Serve hot or room temperature with some classic Hot Chinese Mustard (recipe included). This Cucumber Sesame Salad also works great with the pork.
Final Notes: Some people don’t care for the hint of licorice that star anise is known for and the marinade will highlight this flavor UNTIL you begin cooking the pork. I promise that the finished product is perfectly tasty and the anise is muted to a just-right but familiar char siu flavor.
A meat thermometer (instant read is best) is essential for this recipe to avoid under or over-cooked tenderloin.
Finally, the tenderloins can be substituted with a small pork butt or shoulder roast. After refrigeration, slow-roast in a low (325F) oven or on low in a slow cooker, adding half the reserved marinade at the beginning and the remainder during last hour, cooking meat until it easily pulls apart. Shred and serve over rice or on buns with sliced red onions for a delicious Asian pork sandwich.
Char Siu Pork
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Chinese Five-Spice Blend
- 1 ½ Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons honey
- 3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons oil, mild olive oil works well
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, may omit
- 1 Tablespoon ketchup
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or pink peppercorns or red pepper flakes
- 1 fresh Serrano pepper, left whole
- 2- 1 pound pork tenderloins
- Hot Chinese mustard, recipe below
- Sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Instructions
- For the marinade, place 1 Tablespoon Chinese five-spice blend, 1 ½ Tablespoons sugar, 3 Tablespoons honey, 3 Tablespoons hoisin, 3 Tablespoons soy, 2 Tablespoons oil, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, 1 Tablespoon ketchup, 1 teaspoon pepper and one whole Serrano pepper in a medium saucepan and bring to simmer for about 2 minutes. Let the Serrano pepper simmer in the liquid and kind of shrivel up. This will not add heat. If you want heat, dice up the Serrano before adding to liquid. Set marinade aside to cool.
- Once marinade is cooled to room temperature, place the pork and marinade in a resealable gallon-size plastic bag. Seal the bag, pushing out as much air as possible and massage to distribute the marinade all over the tenderloins. Refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days (24 to 48 hours is ideal).
- Remove pork from refrigerator and bring to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Transfer the pork from plastic bag to baking sheet and then pour the marinade into a small bowl.
- Roast the pork for 25 minutes or until its internal temperature reaches 145 - 160F degrees, basting pork generously with reserved marinade every 10 minutes (This step creates the nice thick, tasty, glaze). After removing pork from the oven, switch the oven to broil. Broil pork until meat is charred and the glaze is caramelized, about 5 minutes.
- For a really nice, thick glaze, add about 1 Tablespoon honey to whatever marinade is left just before turning oven to broil (you should still have about ¼ cup of marinade). Then dab more glaze on the pork just before placing in under the broiler. This step is optional but highly recommended.
- Allow pork to rest 10 minutes before slicing thinly.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds over sliced pork and serve with hot chinese mustard (recipe to follow).
For the Hot Chinese Mustard Recipe:
- In a small bowl, place about 2 Tablespoons mustard powder or ground mustard seed. Add water until desired consistency is reached. This mustard is quite pungent (yum!) and if you want to tone down the heat, just add more water.
henry h says
Perfect! I grew up eating this in Southern California as all the Chinese places have Char SiuPork as a combo plate or alone et cetera. But I couldn’t find it anywhere when I moved to the East Coast or Central US. So I decided to find a recipe and try making it myself. It came out perfect, thank you for posting this recipe.
Sally Humeniuk says
Thanks, Henry! This is such a favorite for my family and I love that this works for you, especially with all your experience!
jennifer l says
This recipe was better than any restaurant pork I have ever eaten. It remained moist, tender and very flavorful. Will definitely be using this recipe again. Thank you for sharing.
Sally Humeniuk says
Jennifer, this comment is awesome. And I happen to agree with you!
Christine says
My marinade is very thick, almost like a paste. I am wondering if I did something wrong. The instructions say when the meat is removed from the marinade, for cooking, to pour the marinade into a bowl to be used for basting. My marinade will not be pourable.
Sally says
Hi Christine, Mine is always kind of thick also. I’m sure it will be fine. Let me know what you think of the Char Siu.
Kim Cloward says
As one of the ladies that enjoyed this recipe, I can totally tell you how much flavor and tenderness was in this pork! I can’t wait to make it myself. Love the fact that this can be frozen, then made for last minute plans.
Kevin | Keviniscooking says
Love that simmered a whole Serrano pepper in the marinade! This looks like perfection, I’m sure the ladies ate it up. Pinned for a later date try! 🙂
Sally says
Thanks Kevin, I hope you like it as much as me, my family and the ladies did. The Serrano really adds a nice smooth heat to the marinade.