Pork belly with crispy crackling, slow roasted to perfection with roasted mixed vegetables allowing the pork belly fat to roast and drip over the veggies! Prepared and cooked in some simple spices, a dab of olive oil and in the oven to crisp the fat because that's just the beginning of an absolutely wonderful crispy belly roast.
How To Get Crispy and Crunchy Crackling On Pork Belly
- Dry the skin before cooking
- Cook it on both low and high heat
Follow the recipe card below and make sure to check out my Easy Air Fryer Pork Belly for more easy tips!
Start it on high then drop the heat to low
Pork Belly Recipe Ingredients
Pork Belly: The pork belly should be a good fat to meat ratio and out of the fridge a good 30 minutes before cooking.
Garlic: One whole head of fresh garlic cloves, peels on. Break it up into single or double cloves nothing specific as long as you get them into the pan. If you don't toss garlic into the oven whenever you do a roast you really should because you will the enjoy the smell throughout the house and I enjoy the texture once roasted and easier to eat than raw with anything.
Eggplant: Rinsed, slice the tops off, cut into fairly large cubes and in they go. The idea with the veggies is just try and get them all more or less the same size. Not for perfection but because they can all cook evenly.
Carrots: Tips on the ends off, rinsed and roughly chopped.
Potatoes: Washed/rinsed, peels on and roughly chopped.
Bell Peppers: Bell peppers are always delicious when roasted! Actually all veggies are good when roasted! Remove the core (and seeds) and cut into cubes.
Fresh Fennel: Slice the bulbs in half and half again for a more equal size to the other veggies.
Pork Belly
Don't you love a roasted pork belly? Beautiful fat to skin ratio, tender, juicy meat and skin so crispy and crunchy it's hard to believe it's just a "pork belly oven roast!"
Slow and low is the way to the perfect roast! If you think about it really that is the solution to any roast not just pork belly?!
Not convinced?
Take a look at my low and slow Overnight Slow Cooker Lamb Leg Roast
This roast starts on high for a while and then you turn the heat down to very low. This has always been that defining factor in getting the meat crunchy as well as tender inside.
How To Roast Pork Belly
And Vegetables
Pork Belly: Place the pork belly on a board and with a small sharp kitchen knife carefully insert cuts into the skin. It's optional but it does increase spice flavors when added. You can also ask the butcher to cut the squares into the skin for you.
What spices to use for pork roast?
There's a wide variety to choose from of your favorite spices! The one's that best complement pork meat are: rosemary, fennel, sea salt, state anise and cardamom seeds.
We are going with some great ones in this recipe; salt, pepper, coriander seeds and fennel.
Prep the Vegetables: Clean and chop all the veggies of which most the veg skin remains on.
Add the cleaned and chopped vegetables to a large bowl or tray. Toss them with a light sprinkle of salt, pepper, spice and a little olive oil. Set aside.
Season the pork belly:
Season and oil the pork belly making sure to seal the spices into the cups of the skin.
Roast the pork belly: Make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven or just one level higher, as long as your roasting tray can be placed directly under the rack.
Cooks Tip! Place a sheet of foil on the base of the oven so any splattering can fall onto the foil. Less clean up!
This is just a matter of precaution because all the delicious drippings fall into veggies helping them to cool and flavor up!
Pork Belly Roast Method
Place the pork belly in an oven tray with a rack.
The belly goes onto the rack and it goes into a preheated oven to roast on 200°C/400°F.
Do the vegetables go in now too?
No. Just the pork belly for now.
How to Raise A Roast Up Without An Rack?
If you don't have a rack to roast the pork belly on, simply use something to lift it into mid air like squashed pieces of foil on the four ends to give it a lift.
If you must, you can use onions and garlic to place under the belly but unless you're going to be using the veggies for a gravy, it's a waste of good vegetables!
Why Does The Pork Belly Roast Need To Be Raised?
Because it's much like the mechanism in an air fryer that pushes the air all around the meat but even better! Here you don't have to shake the basket for the hot air to cook the meat all round. It cooks all round because it's holsted in mid air so it cooks all round.
When the pork has a beautiful crispy skin and has browned to a light color, it's time to add the vegetables. Full recipe card below.
Cook the Vegetables
Reduce the oven temperatureto to 160°C.
Carefully remove the pork belly from the oven. Using a pair of tongs, lift it off the rack and set it aside on a plate or board for a few seconds. Remove the inside rack or foil and add the prepared vegetables into the same oven tray. Give them a light toss into the oils of the pan and place the tray with the vegetables on the bottom rack of the oven.
Use the tongs to transfer the pork belly to the rack of the oven that's directly above the vegetables.
As the pork belly roasts the fat flavors and juices will drip into the veggies to create a delicious veggie roast!
Recommended Recipes
- Homemade Meat Gravy
- Easy Air Fryer Pork Belly
- Simple Green Salad With A Yogurt & Basil Dressing
- Stuffed Porchetta Recipe
- Roasted Vegetables
If you try this recipe you know that I would love to hear from you so please share your photo's on Instagram and tag me #anosmickitchen and @anosmickitchen.
Watch How To Roast Pork Belly
Recipe
The Perfect Roasted Pork Belly With Tender Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
Pork Roast
- pork belly, scored
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
SPICES FOR THE BELLY ROAST
- 2 tbsps coriander seeds
- 2 tbsps fennel seeds
- 1 tbsps fennel spice
- 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
- 2 tbsps coarse salt
ROASTING VEGETABLES
- eggplant, rinsed, cut into cubes
- carrots, washed, tips cut off and chopped into bite size pieces
- mixed peppers, cleaned, seeds and tops removed, roughly chopped
- potatoes, skin on cut into cubes
- 1 bulb garlic, unpeeled
VEGETABLES TO KEEP UNDER THE ROAST
- onions
- carrots
Instructions
- The pork belly just needs 30 minutes to stand at room temperature before cooking.
- Make sure the fat is dry so dab the pork belly dry with a kitchen towel after unwrapping it and then leave it in the fridge either the night before or an hour or 2 before starting. You can start cooking the pork without leaving it in the fridge but if you want the crackling make sure to get the heat temperatures right.
- Heat the oven to 200 C
- Add all your spices to a mortar and pestle or grinder/blender and mix them.
- Rub the spices onto the fat of the pork belly making sure to get it into the cut ridges.
- Add a drizzle of olive oil to help the spices settle in.
- Place the pork belly vegetables into an oven tray and place the belly on top of the vegetables (the veggies act as a bed to hold the belly)
- Bake on the middle rack, 200 C for 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, while the belly roasts prepare all the ROASTING VEGETABLES (rinsing, cleaning, chopping etc.) and add them into an oven tray. Add salt, pepper and small drizzle of olive oil to get them started. Not a lot because depending on how big your belly is, the veggies will collect all the fat from there.
- Once the pork belly has a crackling but not yet done cooking, take it out the oven. Drop the heat from 200 C to 150/160 C.
- Using a pair of tongs move the belly from the pan onto the oven rack directly in the stove (no tray) and place the prepared vegetables under the pork belly so that a)they cooking at the same time and b) the fat from the pork belly drips onto the veg.
- Leave the veggies and belly to cook finish for about 2 hours until cooked and crispy.
Gravy
- Take 3 tablespoons of the fat from the roasting pan and pour it into a saucepan.
- Pour all the veggies and any roast drippings in the pan through a sift and push them down with the back of a spoon or wooden spoon keeping the juices and discarding the veggies. Use a spoon to remove all the top fat and discard it. The black stuff you see at the bottom of the oil, that's your sauce do not discard it!
- Heat the saucepan with 3 tablespoons of fat and add the maizena or flour and cook for a minute.
- Add the stock while mixing to avoid lumps and keep whisking. Pour the juices that were sifted earlier and keep whisking and cooking for another 2 or 3 minutes.
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