Easy Instant Pot Char Siu Recipe | All Ways Delicious (2024)

Instant Pot Char Siu makes it possible to make this Chinese BBQ Pork in a fraction of the time of the classic recipe. The meat is perfect for eating on its own with rice or Mantou steamed buns or in Char Siu Bao, Pork Fried Rice, or Singapore Noodles.

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Char siu (also called Cha Siu or Char Siew) is a staple of Cantonese cuisine and is ubiquitous in the Chinese BBQ shops in Chinatown.

You’ll see this type of Chinese barbecue pork—bright red and glistening with fatty goodness—hanging in shop windows. With its bright red color, you can’t miss it.

Good Char siu or Chinese roast pork is succulent, tender, sweet, and savory. It offers the perfect balance of salty and sweet flavors with succulent tender meat.

Why should you make char siu in an instant pot?

This Instant Pot Char Siu recipe uses a combination of the pressure cooker and oven to make the pork tender and give it that trademark sticky-sweet glaze.

An electric pressure cooker can produce perfect char siu in much less time than the traditional cooking method of roasting it in the oven.

Using the pressure cooker is also a great plan when it’s hot outside and you don’t want to heat up your kitchen.

What makes Chinese BBQ pork red?

Traditionally, the red color of the pork comes from red fermented bean curd or tofu, but many contemporary cooks use red food coloring.

You can also use beet juice, or even cherry juice for coloring.

Note that the pork in the photos was cooked with red food colouring. If you use fermented bean curd, you will get more of a reddish-brown color.

You likely wouldn’t be able to taste the difference between using the fermented tofu and the food coloring, so I usually opt for the latter. The recipe only requires a few drops and the food coloring is easier to keep on hand.

If you want to use the fermented red bean curd, it is available in jars and you can find it in a Chinese grocery store or Asian market or order it online.

What ingredients do you need?

• Honey
• Soy sauce (regular or dark soy sauce)
• Shiaoxing wine (or use sake, dry sherry, or dry white wine)
• Hoisin sauce
• Sesame oil
• Garlic
• Red food coloring or red fermented tofu
• Chinese five-spice powder
• Boneless pork butt

How to make Instant pot char siu pork

Thischar siu recipe is easy to make. Most of the time required is just marinatingtime.

1. Mix up the marinade ingredients (or use char siu sauce) and marinate the pork, ideally overnight.
2. Pressure cook the pork using the reserved marinade as the liquid until it is tender. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can braise the meat on the stovetop.
3. Brush a soy-sauce-and-honey glaze on the pork and bake it in the oven, or cook it on a grill, until the glaze is sticky and blackened in places.
4. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later use.

What is char siu sauce?

Char siu sauce is a sweet, savory sauce. It’s basically a Cantonese barbecue sauce made of hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (or another cooking wine), five-spice powder, and often molasses, maltose, or brown sugar. Marinate the pork in this mixture to infuse it with flavor.

You can make your own char siu sauce from scratch, or you can buy char siu sauce in jars in an Asian market or online.

What cut of pork is best for making char siu?

The best cut of pork for making Char Siu is boneless pork shoulder or pork butt or (these are actually just two different names for the same cut of meat!). This cut has the perfect ratio of fat to lean for a succulent char siu.

You can use fatty cuts like pork belly, too, but I think the proportion of fat to lean meat is too high. The result is that you lose a lot of volume in cooking as the fat renders. The end product may also just be too fatty.

You can also use pork tenderloin, which is considerably leaner than pork butt. Personally, I find this cut a bit too lean. It is easy to overcook it, drying it out. Because it has so much less fat, you don’t get the delectable crispy edges that you get with a fattier cut of meat.

How to serve this chinese bbq pork

For a simple meal, serve this char siu pork sliced over steamed white rice with or without extra sauce. Add a side of stir-fried or steamed vegetables to make it a meal. I like Chinese Dry Fried Green Beans, broccoli, gai lan (Chinese broccoli), or bok choy.

You can also use this char siu recipe to fill Chinese BBQ pork steamed buns, or Char Siu Bao. Serve them as part of a dim sum feast including Har Gow and other dumplings.

It’s also perfect for tossing with stir-fried noodles, Singapore Noodles, or Pork Fried Rice.

If you’re in the mood for a different sort of meaty goodness, you have to try this super delicious Smoked Meatloaf or Air Fryer Pork Belly. Or try this Slow Cooker Pork Loin or slow cooker pork chops with cream of mushroom soup.

more chinese recipes you’ll love

• Mongolian Chicken
• Crispy Chilli Beef
• Char Siu
• Char Siu Bao
• Salt and Pepper Chicken
• Har Gow Chinese Shrimp Dumplings
• Singapore Noodles
• Sesame Noodles
• Pork Fried Rice
• Szechuan Shrimp
• Hoisin Spare Ribs
• Chinese Dry Fried Green Beans
• Vegetarian Dan Dan Noodles
• Sesame Chicken
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Fried Wontons
• Sweet and Sour Tofu
• Mantou Chinese Steamed Buns