Easy to prepare oven roasted Char Siu (Chinese Barbecue Pork). Deliciously sticky, sweet, and savory. Perfect with steamed rice or noodles.
Char Siu (Chinese Barbecue Pork) is one of the most popular and ubiquitous roast meat in Chinese cuisine. Most restaurants have them hanging in glass cases at the entrance to entice you. Diners often end up ordering a plate of this sticky, sweet, and savory meat to complement the rest of their meal. Others will order it to-go on their way out of the restaurant. A case of meat at the entrance may not be the best decor but it can certainly be a pretty effective selling strategy.
Red Colored Char Siu
When I was a kid, Char Siu was often found at the wet markets. The market version of this Chinese Barbecue Pork tend to be leaner, drier, less sweet, and usually much redder in color. These were used mainly as an ingredient in fried rice and just about any noodle dish. The most popular was of course the Char Siu Wonton Noodles which always came with several slices of this red “rimmed” meat.
Good Char Siu should be moist with a sweet and salty taste combination. Unlike Siew Yoke (Roast Pork Belly), the meat should be relatively lean with just enough fat to keep it moist. If you use red fermented bean curd, the roasted meat may be slightly reddish in color.
Sweet Sticky Glaze Char Siu
In the recipe below, I did not use red fermented bean curd. This version is more like the one I remember eating as a child from a corner coffee shop located opposite the cinema in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. This shop sold mainly roast duck and char siu rice. They were very popular and their Chinese Barbecue Pork usually sold out during lunch time. Their barbecue pork were made with pork belly and the dark brown sticky glaze was quite sweet. It was delicious but a little on the fat side. As such, I decided to use a tender cut of pork shoulder instead. This cut of meat will give the roast pork a naturally pinkish color if it is not over cooked.
Maltose (Malt Sugar)
Maltose or malt sugar is the preferred sweetener used in making this barbecue pork to give it that characteristic shiny glaze. Over here in the US, maltose can be purchased at Chinese grocery stores. If you cannot find maltose, please use honey. There may be a slight difference in taste.
Similar Products Used in Making This Char Siu (Chinese Barbecue Pork)
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Maltose – 14.1oz [Pack of 3]
Shun Classic 7-Inch Santoku Hollow Ground Knife
Winco UT-9 Coiled Spring Heavyweight Stainless Steel Utility Tong, 9-Inch
Char Siu (Chinese Barbecue Pork)
Ingredients
- ½ cup water (120ml)
- 7 oz maltose or honey (200g)
- 2 tbsp Shao Hsing cooking wine
- 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp five-spice powder
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 lbs pork shoulder (trimmed and cut into thick strips)
Instructions
- Combine ½ cup (120ml) water, maltose, Shao Hsing cooking wine, hoisin sauce,
- five-spice powder, and dark soy sauce in a small saucepan. Stir to dilute maltose. Bring marinade to a boil.
- Add minced garlic. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to simmer until marinade is thick and syrupy. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Turn off stove. Add sesame oil and allow marinade to cool completely.
- Place pork in a zip top plastic bag. Pour half the marinade into the bag. Press out as much air as possible and zip the bag. Allow pork to marinade in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight if possible.
- Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C). Line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Place a metal rack on the top. Brush some oil on the metal rack.
- Remove pork from the refrigerator. Unzip the bag and transfer pork with a pair of tongs onto the led oiled metal rack.
- Roast pork in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Carefully remove pork from the oven. Brush remaining marinade onto each strip of pork. Turn and brush the other side with more marinade.
- Return the pork to the oven and continue to roast for another 15 minutes.
- When done roasting, remove char siu from the oven. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
NOTE: The original publication of this post was on January 27th, 2016. This republication comes with minor changes to the writeup. The recipe remains unchanged.
Hi Linda!!!
This looks great and closest I have seen to what I know to be cha-siu. I glad you stuck with pork shoulder because one of the best things about cha-siu is the balance of fat and meat 🙂 YUM
I am going to try this! My grandma uses maltose in her kitchen and it is not so common in many north american homes.
I am going to focus more on asian cooking on chewie chews soon …I am going to try this for sure!
Good to see you here, Christina and thank you for the compliment. 🙂 Yes, char siu should be leaner. I reserve the pork belly for crackly pork which I hope to do a video on it soon.
Hi Linda
Greetings from fellow Malaysian. Came across your website last night. The char Siew recipe looks yummy. Thanks. Will try it out come Sunday.
Hi Loretta! Nice to meet you and glad you found me here. 🙂 Get some wonton noodles ready for this char siu or make some char siu bao –> https://www.malaysianchinesekitchen.com/char-siu-bao-steamed-barbecue-pork-buns/
Hello 🙂
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this recipe. I made it today; it is one of mine and my fiance’s favorite Chinese dishes. Although your recipe does not call for fermented bean paste or red food coloring the flavor of the glaze is what I remember when buying Char siew pork from Chinese take out restaurants. The poor came out very moist and juicy and I can’t stop licking my fingers it goes great with white rice. Thank you again for the recipe and I’m glad I tried yours
You are welcome, Keke. I am glad that you and your fiance enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
This goes great with ramen. ?
This is the first time I made Char Siu and I was surprised it was so easy to make. It was so good we made it twice already. Thanks for the recope and video.
So glad to hear the recipe turned out well for you. 🙂
I believe the maltose syrup used here is very similar to liquid malt extract, used for home brewing beer. I believe any local home brewing supply store would carry liquid malt extract, though I am not certain how much that would alter the character of the char siu. I will try it that way when I get back to America (I’m currently in Malaysia, where the real deal is widely available).
Have you any experience making char siu with wild boar?
I am not familiar with liquid malt extract but you have given me an idea. I think molasses would work. The taste may be slightly different but it won;t be too far out. I will give it a try soon.
All I had at the time was palm sugar that I grated and made a simple syrup. My daughter took me several times to the Asian markets in Missouri where you can buy alot of things. I will try and send you a picture. So proud of how it looks
Palm sugar made into a syrup works. I am glad you got to try my recipe. Looking forward to seeing your picture. You can also send it to me on my Facebook page so that I can share it there. Here is my –> page.
Thank you Linda! We moved from inner city Sydney to a country town 3 hours away and every single trip we make back to Sydney we never miss our stop off in China Town or Hurstville (which has a large Chinese community) to buy this! Last time I looked for a recipe it had red food colouring in it, so I didn’t even bother as I knew that wouldn’t be even close, but yours is perfection. Thanks so much 🙂
You are welcome. I hope you get a chance to try out the recipe some time soon.
Hi Linda. I just LOVE your Malaysian Chinese recipes. Being a native Malaysian and now living in Canada, it is so wonderful to prepare the foods I have loved all my life. I was a resident of Section 17, Petaling Jaya myself. Would love to correspond with you.
So glad to hear that you enjoy my recipes. Thanks for saying “hi”.
I have not been back to Section 17 in many, many years. I am sure it must have changed beyond recognition.My parents now live in Kuala Lumpur and so I don’t go to PJ much when I visit them.
This was excellent! Thank you so much for sharing. I am making it for the second time tonight.
Thanks for the feedback! I am happy that you the recipe turned out well for you.
Hi Linda-
I’ve already made your okra once and it was amazing!
I have a quick question- what do I do with the remaining marinade while the pork marinades? Does it need to be refrigerated? The last time I made
Two batches rather than splitting one!
Thank you! Love his recipe!
Not okra- sorry for my auto correct!
I meant *pork*
You can heat it up and use it as a sauce over the roasted char siu. It is also great on rice. Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
Hi from AR, USA. I have never made char siu bao but grew up eating it. My dad made the best. Will try this recipe soon. I have a question about the dough…why do you sprinkle the baking powder on the dough & knead it in rather than adding it to the mix? Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes.
You are welcome! I believe I explained the reson in my Char Siu Bao post –> here in the paragraph above the video.
Greetings from Australia! I tried this previously because I was craving char siew and it came out really well! thank you for the recipe. I am visiting my family in the USA for Christmas and I will definitely be cooking this for them.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. I hope you have a wonderful visit! 🙂
Can you tell me what brand of soy sauce you use. I cannot find any soy sauce that says dark?
There is a picture of it here –> Soy sauce.