By Grocery List Plus Editorial Staff | Published on October 4, 2026
Serves 6
1197 cal · 110 min
Sticky Pork Belly with Green Papaya Salad & Chilli Lime Dressing
Recipe GLPR1a0562998aa0dc
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Average rating: 3.8 (1)
Tender, caramelized pork belly cubes braised in a savory-sweet Asian glaze of soy, fish sauce, and five-spice, paired with a bright green papaya salad tossed with crisp vegetables, lime juice, and a fragrant chilli-garlic dressing. The pork is finished in a hot oven until sticky and glazed, then drizzled with a silky reduced sauce and served over the refreshing, spicy salad.
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Ingredients
1000 g pork belly, rind removed, cut into 4 cm cubes
200 g soft light brown sugar
4 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
5 whole star anise
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
250 ml water
500 g green papaya, shredded
3 clove garlic cloves, minced
2 whole fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped
1 medium carrot, julienned
150 g long beans, cut into 5 cm lengths
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
50 g roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
Directions
Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan / gas mark 4). Place the pork belly cubes into a roasting tin. Add the brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, star anise, five-spice powder, and water. Stir everything together until well combined. Cover the tin tightly with foil and roast for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the foil. Increase the oven temperature to 220°C (200°C fan / gas mark 7). Continue roasting, uncovered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring the pork every 15 minutes until it is very tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick, syrupy glaze coating the meat. The pork is done when it is easily shredded with a fork and deeply caramelized.
While the pork is roasting, prepare the green papaya salad. Using a box grater or julienne peeler, shred the green papaya into fine matchsticks and place in a large bowl.
In a large mortar and pestle (or using the flat end of a rolling pin on a cutting board), crush the garlic and red chillies together for about 1 minute until broken down but still chunky. Add the shredded papaya, julienned carrot, and long bean pieces to the mortar. Gently pound everything together for another minute to lightly bruise the vegetables and release their flavors.
Add the palm sugar, fish sauce, and fresh lime juice to the salad mixture. Pound gently once more for about 1 minute to incorporate the dressing. Taste the salad and adjust the balance of fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar as needed—it should be tangy, sweet, and spicy with a pleasant heat.
Transfer the salad to a serving platter or large dish. Top the salad with the warm sticky pork belly pieces. Pour any remaining glaze from the roasting tin over the top, drizzle with additional sauce if desired, scatter the crushed roasted peanuts over everything, and serve immediately while the pork is still warm.
Comments
Green papaya, long beans, and palm sugar are not routine finds at Charlotte grocers—expect a special trip to an Asian market or Harris Teeter's international aisle, adding real time and cost to a weeknight. The 110-minute timer omits 2–3 hours of pork belly braising, so set aside a full afternoon or cook ahead; the dish does reheat well. At roughly $4–5 per serving with specialty ingredients, this lands in occasional-dinner territory rather than weeknight rotation. The technique is straightforward and forgiving once the pork is braised, so it suits a weekend effort with confident payoff.
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