Oven-Baked Char Siu Recipe (Chinese BBQ Pork)
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This Chinese BBQ Pork is deliciously sticky with a sweet and salty flavor! Serve it as a main dish with white rice or as an appetizer.
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BBQ Chinese Pork, otherwise known as Char siu, is out of this world! Popular amongst Chinese restaurants, this take-out dish is super easy to make at home. So moist and full of flavor! And any leftovers can be used in my Pork Fried Rice!
Why this Recipe Works
Sweet, savory, and perfectly caramelized The sticky glaze creates a rich balance of sweet and savory flavors with those irresistible caramelized edges.
Better than takeout You can make this classic restaurant favorite right at home with simple ingredients and even better flavor.
Super versatile Serve it over rice, in fried rice, noodles, buns, or sliced for an easy protein-packed dinner.
If you love a quick and easy pork recipe, try my Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin.
Ingredients Needed
- Pork-Boneless pork shoulder or pork butt works great for this.
- Hoisin sauce- Don't leave this out, it adds an extra layer of delicious flavor.
- Soy sauce- Dark soy sauce works best.
- Garlic- Use fresh garlic; powder won't add the same flavor.
- Red food coloring- Gives it that rich, dark red coloring you find in Chinese food.
How to Make Chinese BBQ Pork
- Step 1: Add all the marinade ingredients to a small bowl and mix. Set aside some reserved marinade.
- Step 2: Slice your pork roast into three even long strips.
Step 3: Add the pork pieces to the marinade, soak at least overnight, but I highly recommend two days.
Step 4: Place the pieces of pork on a cooling rack and on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Step 5: Bake
- Step 6: Brush on some thickened marinade and broil to get some char.
Recipe Tips
- To get that dark red color in my marinade, the red food coloring adds that. It adds no taste to the pork, so you could leave it out if you want.
- Marinating for two days is highly recommended, as it allows for the best flavor.
- Broiling it in the oven gives it those crispy outer edges everybody loves.
- Don't overcook it- You want the internal temperature of the pork to reach 145 degrees.
Recipe FAQ's
Chinese BBQ is a delicious, sweet, and spicy sauce, usually referred to as "Char Siu," that you soak the pork in, then fire-grill it or, in this case, bake it in the oven. It can be served in stir fry dishes, noodles, or just with a side of rice. One of my favorite ways to use the leftovers is in my Classic Pork Fried Rice.
The best cut of meat for this recipe is a pork shoulder or pork Boston butt is the more cost-effective, meaning you get more bang for your buck. If you have trouble finding it or just don't feel like slicing it, boneless country-style pork ribs or pork belly will also work. You can also use a pork loin or pork tenderloin, but they are a much leaner cut, and this recipe turns out better with the more fatty cuts.
Yes, this freezes well. Wrap any leftover pieces in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. You can also freeze the leftover marinade that was reserved.
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Oven Baked Chinese BBQ Pork
Ingredients
- 3 lb boneless pork shoulder or butt
- 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup dry sherry
- 4 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoon Chinese five spice
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1-2 teaspoons red food coloring optional
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
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Instructions
- In a small bowl combine Hoisin sauce, brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, dry sherry, oyster sauce, five spice, garlic and red food coloring (optional) and mix until combined.
- Cut pork horizontally into three long flat pieces. Place in a container or ziplock bag, pour 1/2 the marinade over pork. Marinade 24-48 hours for optimal flavor.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil and place a cooling rack on top. Remove pork from the marinade and place on the rack. Bake for 25 minutes. Flip the pork and cook another 25 minutes.
- While the pork is cooking, pour the reserved marinade into a saucepan and whisk in cornstarch, and bring to a low simmer for 10 minutes to thicken.
- Remove pork from the oven and turn the oven to broil. Brush the pork with the thickened marinade and broil 5-6 minutes or until slightly charred. Turn the pork over and repeat. Pork temp should be 145-160 degrees.
- Serve any extra sauce on the side, and green onions if desired.
The country-style ribs should be fine but the tenderloin you may want to cut back a tad on the time as it's a much leaner cut of meat. Hope you love it, you'll have to check out my pork fried rice that uses this recipe...so good!
I've been craving bbq pork fried rice the last few days. I figured if I learned to make Chinese-style bbq pork than I could make my own.
The closest cuts I could come at The store was tenderloin and something called country style boneless ribs. They're in the marinade now. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
I have made this recipe many times. It is delicious .The only thing that I did different was I used a pork loin instead of pork shoulder. You can slice it diagonally and it looks exactly like you get in the Chinese restaurants.. it comes out tender and moist every time.
I would use white wine or just leave it out. Hope this helps Erica 🙂
I dont have dry sherry....i have white cooking wine or moscato on hand can i substitute either or should i just skip it in the recipe?
I loved this recipe, I tweeked it a little with keto honey, swerve brown sugar and a low carb hoisin and oyster sauce, it was simply amazing! This is my new favorite recipe. My thanks for this!
Tasted amazing however my pork shoulder came out tough. Any idea what I did wrong??? We ate it with white rice and used the leftovers to make bbq pork fried rice the next day. I’d like to try and make it again if you can help figure what caused my meat to be tough.
Not exactly the same but similar enough to substitute in the recipe.
Is dry sherry the same as sherry cooking wine?
Oh yay Amani, so happy you loved them 🙂