Today, we’re diving into the world of Sous Vide, a technique that’s all about precision, patience, and, most importantly, incredibly delicious results. I’ll share with you the secrets of making a stunning Sous Vide Pork Belly that’s perfect for tacos – a recipe that’s as fun to prepare as it is to eat! You’ll see how Sous Vide takes the guesswork out of cooking, giving you pork belly that’s perfectly tender every single time. Whether you’re new to this method or a seasoned pro, this recipe is going to elevate your pork belly game to a whole new level.

Sous Vide Pork Belly Tacos Recipe

What is Sous Vide?

Sous Vide (pronounced “soo veed”) is a method of cooking that allows you to create foods that are perfectly cooked, at an exact temperature in a water bath. That means the most perfect steaks, impossibly tender, yet juicy brisket, and velvety smooth pork belly that melts in your mouth.

Here’s a video to explain:

Recommended Sous Vide Class

I can’t say enough good things about ChefSteps. I’ve known about ChefSteps for awhile, from Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Chef (btw, Tim mentions us in his book in the steak chapter – he features our steak salting method.) But it wasn’t until last week that I watched a class online. This is not a paid endorsement — I’m just a massive fan.

You can even watch their beginner Sous Vide class for free! I’ve already learned sous vide techniques beyond the steak and salmon.

Anova Sous Vide

Anova sous vide review

For this recipe, we used the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker (fancy name for a sous vide appliance) and loved the easy-to-use interface and dials. This particular model is no longer offered, but you can find the newer models here.

How to Sous Vide Pork Belly

Sous Vide Pork Belly Recipe

Buy a nice piece of pork belly (this is where bacon comes from!) I like to use a handful kosher salt and “exfoliate” the pork skin. Here’s why you should do this, especially with chicken. It’s not a must, but I like to get the skin clean and scrubbed.

Char Siu sauce for sous vide pork belly recipe

I made two versions of this pork belly. One with garlic, ginger, green onion, orange peel, soy sauce and honey:

Anova sous vide review

And the other with prepared Char Siu (Chinese BBQ) sauce.

Char Siu sauce for sous vide pork belly recipe

With either sauce, the cooking. method is the same. Add the pork belly and sauce into a vacuum bag.

Anova sous vide review

Seal the vacuum bag. Schmush the sauce to evenly distribute on both sides of the pork belly.

Anova sous vide reviewAnova sous vide review

Fill pot with water, set the Anova Sous Vide to 158F. Place the bags into pot. Use clips to secure the bags so that they don’t move around too much and to ensure each bag has enough room for water to circulate. Cook for 16 hours.

Anova sous vide review

Don’t Do This

In an effort to minimize water loss through evaporation, I covered the pot with tin foil.

Anova sous vide review

I threw a couple of dish towels on top to keep the tin foil in place. Bad idea. After 8 hours, enough condensation had built up on the underside and edges of the tin foil, that the towel began absorbing that water. Then, the towels became soaked and water started dripping down on my counter.

Instead, use tin foil, but fit it INSIDE the pot, just crumple the edges so that it fits on top of the water and inside the pot. It won’t be a perfect, snug fit, but it will help minimize water loss.

A Few Tips

  • When cooking sous vide for a long time period, anything over 8 hours, I like to use a vacuum seal bag. You can also use a heavy duty sealable freezer bag, but double-bag.
  • Cut your vacuum bag 6″ larger than you need, use the excess bag to clip to the side of your pot, so that the bag stays put — and just in case the seal is not completely tight, prevent spillage.
  • Check your water level periodically. Top off as needed. If the water level is too low, the pork belly will not cook evenly or properly.
  • Is cooking 16 hours per the recipe absolutely necessary? No! The longer you sous vide, the more the collagen will break apart and meat will be fork tender. Cook too long: and you’ll get a mushy mess. Cook too short: the meat will be chewy and tough. For example, do you enjoy a nice, meaty strip steak that you can dig into? Then 1 hour per inch is about right. If you cook the same strip steak for 12 hours, you’ll be able to cut the steak with a fork, not quite the texture I enjoy for a steak, but one that I would like for pork shoulder. So, timing and temperature depends on the cut of meat AND the desired texture. For pork belly, 16 hours for pork belly falls right in the middle of that spectrum. Delicate and tender, yet retains its structure so that you can slice and sear without breaking apart. The wiggle room for cooking time is pretty lax, anywhere between 12-20 hours will still be good.

After 16 hours, remove pork belly from bag. I like to reserve the tasty juices. Slice thinly, about 1/4″. The pork belly is smooth, still firm in structure, yet unbelievably tender. You want pork belly that you can gently bite into, not just instantly melt in your mouth.

Sous Vide Pork Belly Recipe

The last step is to heat a sauté pan or frying pan (I prefer the high sides of a sauté pan – you’ll contain the fatty splatter better.) and sear both sides before serving. The full recipe is below at the end of this post.

To serve, I like to keep it simple. Pork belly is very rich, fatty and savory. You need to pair it with something light, bright and acidic, otherwise, like the rich, dense chocolate cake, you can only have a few bite before it’s overwhelming.

Sous Vide Pork Belly Recipe

I like serving pork belly with a super quick pickle – julienned bell pepper and cucumber tossed in a little seasoned rice vinegar. Warm flour or corn tortillas make it a simple hand-food. Super curly, crisp-crunchy green onion is made by soaking slivers of green onion in ice water. On the side, chili sauce and pickled ginger.

Sous Vide Pork Belly Tacos Recipe

Do you love these eco-friendly bamboo plates? It’s from RestaurantWare. The plates and dishes are sturdy – and reusable when you hand wash.

 

Sous Vide Pork Belly Recipe (Taco)

Serve with Asian chili sauce and pickled ginger, if desired
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 16 hours 16 minutes
Of which time is Sous Vide 16 hours
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound pork belly
  • 16 small flour tortillas
  • 1 cucumber, julienned
  • 1 bell pepper, cored and julienned
  • 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
  • 2 stalks, green onion (scallion)

VERSION 1:

  • 1/4 cup prepared Char Siu sauce

VERSION 2:

  • 2 stalks green onion, minced
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Instructions
 

  • Place pork belly in a vacuum seal bag. Slather your desired sauce (Char Siu or Soy/Honey) on both sides of the pork belly. Seal the bag and prepare your sous vide machine to run at 158F for 16 hours. Make sure you have enough water in the pot, topping off as needed. When done, open bag, reserving the Char Siu sauce in the bag. Slice the pork belly into 1/4".
  • To make the slaw, mix the cucumber and the bell pepper in a bowl, and toss with seasoned rice vinegar. For the green onion, slice as thinly as possible at a steep angle. Fill a small bowl with ice water, and add the sliced green onion.
  • When ready to serve, add the pork belly to a frying pan, then turn on the heat to medium. The pork belly will slowly caramelize, and fat will render as it heats up with the pan. Cook until browned, about 2 minutes. Flip and brown other side.
  • Drain the green onion from the ice water. Assemble tacos with warmed flour tortillas, pork belly, slaw and curly, crunchy green onion.

Notes

Char Siu sauce can be found on Amazon, many well-stocked grocery stores or any Asian market.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!