Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork) (2024)

If you love a juicy, sweet & sticky char siu (Chinese BBQ Pork, 叉烧), give this easy recipe a try! Delicious authentic char siu is achievable at home! Includes instructions on how to make char siu in the oven so this can be made in the oven or the grill depending on the season.

Added instructions on how to cook this in the oven! Woohoo! So now this can be made in the oven or on the grill depending on the season!

Every time I look up a recipe for char siu, I used a different one every time, with different results every time. So I decided to actually spend the time and create one to my liking! I like my char siu very sweet and sticky and I don't like using red food coloring because I don't feel like it really adds anything to it except color so I wanted to get the color as natural as possible by usingred fermented bean curd.

There's a lot to cover for char siu in this recipe, so let's get started!

Ingredients for Char Siu

Here are the ingredients for my authentic char siu recipe!

• Pork - I like to use pork shoulder or pork butt for char siu because of its equal fat-to-meat ratio, which I find makes it a lot juicier and flavorful.
• Garlic and Ginger - These two aromatics are also a must and will give a lot of flavor to your char siu.
• Hoisin Sauce - This will give a slight sweetness to the marinade as well as an additional flavor. Definitely do not skip this ingredient.
• Chinese Five Spice Powder - For the best char siu sauce flavor, Chinese five-spice powder is a must. It's a very popular spice now, so you should be able to find it at any grocery store but if you can't find it, they will definitely have it in any Asian grocery store.
• Red Fermented Bean Curd - To get that red color, I use red fermented bean curd. It also gives a lot of umami flavor and it is also a source of salt as well. You can find it at most Chinese supermarkets but if you can't find it then your best bet is to buy it online.
• Sweeteners for the Glaze - I like to use honey because I always have it on hand. You can also use maple syrup, barley malt syrup, maltose, or molasses. For the molasses, we used fancy/cooking molasses which is different from blackstrap molasses. Fancy molasses has a higher sugar content and blackstrap molasses is black in color and actually bitter.
• Korean Red Pepper Flakes (Optional) - I did an experiment and used gochugaru (Korean pepper flakes) to make it a bit spicy and it also added a bit of redness to this as well. This is definitely not a traditional ingredient but if you're okay with experimenting, then definitely try adding this! Also, keep in mind, that it will also add an earthier flavor as well.

Red Fermented Bean Curd & Substitutions

Red fermented bean curd is called 'lam yu' in Cantonese. Not to be confused with the other fermented bean curd called 'fu yu' which is almost the same thing but without the red color. It's basically a fermented bean curd with a soft cheese-like texture. It also is extremely salty and loaded with umami almost like a soft cheese!

Traditionally, char siu is always red. I prefer to make my char siu without food coloring so I used red fermented bean curd for the red color and the salt. The red fermented bean curd also adds another dimension of flavor similar to what the cooking wine provides as well.

Red fermented bean curd might be difficult to find if you do not have a local Asian grocery store nearby. You can substitute this with 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce OR 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce. As always, substitution may not produce the exact flavor but it will be somewhat close. 🙂

In this recipe, the red fermented tofu (aka red bean curd) is used as a source of sodium and color, so if you substitute it out, you will lose the red color that char siu is known for.

Best Cuts of Meat to Use for Char Siu

Let's talk meat. The best cut of pork for char siu will be a personal preference, most people like it juicier with an equal ratio of fat to meat, and some people prefer it a bit on the leaner side with no fat.

I prefer a more fatty and juicy char siu so I highly recommend using boneless pork shoulder (you can also use pork butt or pork belly as well). If you prefer a leaner char siu, then you can use pork tenderloin. The recipe here will be for a pork shoulder, so you may need to adjust how long you cook it for.

I highly suggest using a meat thermometer because it takes the guessing work out of cooking meat and that is a glorious thing. One less thing to worry about in the kitchen. I have eaten my fair share of raw chicken, and believe me, a meat thermometer is a very good investment in the kitchen if you cook a lot of meat.I prefer the digital ones, not because I'm fancy but because the digital onesuse a long wire prongwhich I can leave in the meat in the BBQ/oven. This allows me to read the temperaturewithout ever opening the oven or BBQ.

Cut the pork up into long thin strips, no larger than 3 inches wide. It cooks faster, and you get more surface area for sauce. Mmmm! The sauce is the best part of this!

Char Siu's Signature Sweet and Sticky Glaze

Next, let's talk sweeteners!

Char siu's trademark is its red sweet and sticky sauce. The char siu glaze is basically made out of the char siu sauce/marinade with an additional liquid sweetener added to it to give it extra sweetness and stickiness.

I like to use honey for this recipe because it's easy to find and it is usually in most household pantries. If I have molasses at home, I will also use that as well since it gives a bit more flavor than honey - if you do use molasses, use fancy molasses and not blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses has a bitter flavor without a lot of sweetness.

I also recommend using barley malt syrup or maltose as well if you want a bit more flavor but these are a bit harder to find so if you do choose to hunt for the odd ingredients, you can usually find maltose in an Asian grocery store and the barley malt syrup in a health food store.

After you are done marinating the meat, we will re-use the marinating sauce as the glazing sauce. This is when you will add additional honey to it. The honey will sweeten the glaze and thicken it to give us that nice sticky thick layer! Don't worry too much about re-using the marinate as the glaze, since we will be cooking it.

How to Make Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

Lastly, let's talk heat. We can make char siu over the grill or in the oven. Both turn out fantastic, but I found that it would cook a lot faster on the grill than in the oven - with more char as well, so it will take a lot less time to make on a bbq.

Grilling Instructions for Char Siu

I used a charcoal BBQ for this, with indirect heat from hot charcoals off to the side.

On the BBQ, we had the temperature steady at 325F (162C). We had the meat for 15 mins on one side, then flipped it and cooked it for another 10 mins. At this point, the meat was at an internal temperature of 145F (62C). We did 4-5 layers of glaze, flipping the meat every minute to prevent burning. When it looked red and sticky and a little burnt we pulled it out and gobbled it right up!

Oven Instructions for Char Siu

If you are making char siu in the oven, it will take slightly longer than grilling it since the oven is usually not as hot as a BBQ.

When you are setting up the meat on the tray or roasting rack, set it on a rack so there is airflow below the meat. I like it line it with foil before setting down a rack for an easier clean-up. If you don't have a rack, you can take foil and crunch them up into foil balls and rest the meat on that.

I set the oven to 400F (204C) and cook it for 20 minutes a side for a total of 40 minutes. Then for the last 20 minutes, I flip and glaze the meat with the glaze every 3-5 minutes until the glaze is all brushed on.

The burnt sugar is another trademark flavor of char siu! So don't worry too much if it seems a little burnt. 🙂

Let us know if you made this and how it turned out with #pupswithchopsticks! We'd love to see how this turns out for everyone that's tried it!

How to Re-heat and Store

If you're making a big batch, char siu freezes really well in the freezer for up to 3 months. I store them in a ziplock bag, with all the air removed for easy storage in the freezer.

To re-heat it from the freezer, I bring it out the day before and defrost it in the fridge. Once it has defrosted, you can microwave it to warm it up. Make sure you don't slice it ahead of time before you microwave it, or you will lose a lot of moisture and juiciness. Microwave it as a whole piece, then once it is warm all the way through, you can let it rest for a few minutes and then slice it.

If you don't plan to freeze it, then it can keep in the fridge for up to a week, stored in a well-sealed container, or covered over a plate with plastic wrap.

How to Use Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)

Char siu is a very versatile dish and is one of the main reasons why I love it so much. You can use it in so many different ways, and it's always great to have some on hand for some really easy dinner and meals.

Here are a few additional ways you can use char siu if you have any leftovers.

• Steamed or baked BBQ pork buns - You can chop char siu up into tiny cubes and make a sweet and savory filling with it and stuff it in buns to make steamed or baked bbq pork buns. When I'm too lazy to make buns, I will stuff them into dumpling wrappers instead and make a simple char siu gyoza with it.
• Stir Fry Noodles or Vegetables - You can cut char siu into thin strips and use it in any type of noodle or vegetable stir fry. I like to add it to my Singapore noodles or my teriyaki yaki udon noodles to give it a bit of protein.
• Noodle Soups - Thin slices of char siu is delicious when it's served with simple broth soups with noodles like wonton noodle soup.
• Fried Rice - If you have leftover char siu, or you need some meat in your fried rice, you can cut it into small cubes and add it to any type of fried rice as well!
• Eat as-is with white rice - Char siu is delicious on its own, sliced into thin pieces and served with plain white rice. I like to serve it with white rice. As a kid, my dad and I would also mix plum sauce with mustard and use it as a dipping sauce as well!

More Chinese Recipes You May Like

• Sweet and Sour Pork
• Beef Chow Fun (Beef Ho Fun)
• Crispy Cantonese Beef Chow Mein
• Easy Creamy Congee Recipe
• Tomato and Egg Stir Fry
• Ultimate Chinese Hot Pot Guide on How to Hot Pot at Home
• Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce
• Wonton Noodle Soup
• Saucy Beef Chow Fun
• Chinese Lemon Chicken
• Longevity Noodles (Yi Mein)
• Chinese Braised Beef Stew
• Steamed Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms and Chinese Sausage

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