Lisa George
Chinese BBQ is a weird and wonderful thing. Like with European community ovens, Its origins come from back in the day (and now) when Chinese villages could only support one central oven capable of making slow roasted meats. There would be one BBQ master, and in their window would hang whole pork carcasses, ducks, and always, sweet, smoky char siu.
Making char siu at home isn’t hard, and there are lots of recipes online, but most of these recipes are oven-based. Personally for char siu though, an air fryer is a million times better. It heats up faster, the air circulation gets you a better roast, and the inside is perfectly cooked in a tenth of the time.
This recipe builds on our standard char siu recipe, but replaces the oven with an air fryer, and honestly, I’ll probably never go back to the standard oven again, unless I somehow have a need for a giant batch of char siu. Hey, it could happen. I also replaced the standard pork shoulder with a well-marbled pork chop. It was way easier to get, there was a lot less of it, and it comes out juicy, sweet, and delicious, the way Chinese BBQ should be. Like Steph with her baking, sometimes small batch is the way to go, although for how delicious this is, you might want to save the marinade and do a second or third batch. It’ll go quick.
- 1 lb thick cut pork chop
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 inch ginger sliced
- 2 tsp shaoxing wine optional
- 1/2 tsp chinese five spice powder optional
- 1/4 tsp ground white pepper optional
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Cut the pork chop into 1″ pieces. Combine the remaining ingredients into a marinade, then marinate the pork for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours in the fridge. Longer is better.
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Place the pork into the air fryer basket with at least 1/4″ gap between pieces, in a single layer. Set the air fryer to 375ºF for 8 minutes (see note).
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Enjoy with white rice or on its own as a snack.
