Instant Pot pork belly is here! If you love this salty delicacy as a side dish or an appetizer to start your meal you’ll love this. How to make it tender and then crisp it at the end using our air fryer pork belly instructions.
Wondering how to cook pork belly? There are several different methods you can use but if you don’t want to heat your whole house, use this Instant Pot pork belly recipe instead. It comes out tender, then you can air fry it to crisp at the end. After you enjoy this, try our other quick Instant Pot recipes on our site. (affiliate links present)
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Pork Belly
Now if you have the “other pressure cooker pot” this is even easier because it has both functions together. As a Ninja Foodi recipe you won’t have to lift it out at all, you can just air crisp once it’s tender, slice and enjoy.
Using an IP or Crockpot Express you can enjoy as is or use your hot air machine to crisp up the edges as much as you’d like. Either way this is by far the best way to cook it.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
The latter is uncured meaning it isn’t salted like their sliced counterpart is. Unsmoked and unsalted means as is there really isn’t much flavor to this. YOU add what you like to give it the taste you want. There is a lot more fat in a piece of belly too.
If you don’t see this in your local grocery store, I’d ask. Sometimes it is in the back with the butcher and they can cut any size you’d like. Other times I have only found it frozen next to the others like frozen oxtail and burgers. That is handy to have because it lasts longer and you can thaw it whenever you’re ready to cook it.
Whole Pork Belly in Pressure Cooker
In the first step you just want to cook down the fat and meat to get it fork tender. From there you add the seasonings you want and either enjoy it or crisp it before eating. When you remove it off the trivet it will be really soft. You won’t be able to slice it at this point.
In order to get it to more of a workable state and allow the salt to really flavor and seep into it, you should throw it into the fridge. Yes, that will work quite well. Think of it like baking cookies and allowing them to firm up before rolling the dough into balls.
Can you save pork belly fat?
Yes! If you like using lard in other recipes, pour the drippings into a glass jar and allow it to cool. It will solidify into a thick paste of sorts. Then close the lid and refrigerate it to use up to 3 months later.
Is pork belly healthier than bacon?
Because it isn’t smoked, salted or really manipulated or altered at all it is better. I wouldn’t categorize it as a healthy food, but healthier than once it’s been processed. Anything in it’s most natural state is better for you obviously. If you want to make this more like bacon initially you can air fry it at the beginning, we’ll share that later. This is where you will start:
How to cook whole pork belly in pressure cooker
- Rinse your piece. Set trivet inside pot with 2 c water at the bottom. Add the pork on trivet and close lid and steam valve.
- Cook on high pressure for 65 minutes if left as a whole large piece.
- (if cut into 1″ cubes in vegetable steamer basket set to 19 minutes + 15 minute natural release)
- Allow steam to naturally pressure release once done. Remove from pot and pat dry. Coat the fat with salt. Poke top surface with holes with a knife.
- Place on a plate lightly covered with plastic wrap. Keep in the fridge overnight. Uncover and scrape as much salt off as possible.
How long to cook pork belly in the Instant Pot?
I give you a choice below. If you keep it whole as you see here it will obviously take a lot longer. But if you cube it into bite size pieces similar to what we did with our air fryer steak bites it will take a fraction of the time. Whole pork belly takes about an hour where cubed is closer to 20 minutes.
If you have cubed this instead of leaving it whole it will get a lot crispier and take less time. Instead of 40 minutes and adjusting the time halfway thru you can just preheat to 400. Spray basket first and cook for 6-8 minutes or until they are as crispy as you’d like. Shake basket or flip pieces over halfway through cook time for best results.
How do you crisp up leftover pork belly?
The air fryer is hands down the all time best way to do just this. There is no other method, even the oven, that will get it crispy again and bring out those bacon like flavors to the surface. If you don’t want any crunch per say then yes baking it would be best to tender it up again. 300 for 20 – 30 minutes should do it, flipping halfway through.
Preheat to 200 degrees, spray basket and air fry for 40 minutes. Then turn up to 325 F and cook an additional 10-20 minutes to brown the top crispy as you’d like. Remove and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing and enjoying.
Then you get crispy pork belly on the top while the underside is still fork tender pork and will melt in your mouth. Sprinkle some brown sugar mixed with dark soy sauce on the top or toss smaller pieces in it for a sweet savory coating.
How do you eat pork belly?
Sprinkle some diced green onions on the top to make it “pretty” and just enjoy. You can make this in under 25 minutes and is a great beginning to your day. I personally enjoy it as crispy as possible seasoned with just salt and pepper only. So it’s kinda like bacon in the air fryer but thicker with more flavor if you ask me.
Other easy pork recipes you’ll love
We now have instructions on how to cook pork belly in the oven which turns out more like a braised pork belly. Now you have no excuse, try one of them!
If you want to use it the next day in a dish there are several ways to do just that too. My favorite is probably dicing it up and throwing it in with eggs when I make fried rice. If you want to try a few other Instant Pot pork recipes, give our Instant Pot pork adobo recipe next.
Don’t throw them out please. Repurposing leftovers is the way to go especially if you are on a budget for sure. There is always some new pork recipe you can come up with that may become your new favorite go to day “old” dish.
Instant Pot Pork Belly
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
- 1 trivet
Ingredients
- 1-2 lb pork belly, with large fat pad
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 c water
Instructions
- Rinse pork belly. Set trivet inside pot with 2 c water inside. Set pork on trivet and close lid and steam valve. Set to high pressure for 65 minutes if left whole. (if cut into 1" cubes in vegetable steamer basket set to 19 minutes + 15 minute natural release)
- Allow steam to naturally release once done. Remove from pot and pat dry. Coat the fat with salt. Poke top surface with holes with a knife.
- Place on a plate lightly covered with plastic wrap. Keep in the fridge overnight. Uncover and scrape as much salt off as possible.
- Preheat air fryer to 200 degrees, spray basket and air fry for 40 minutes. Then turn up to 325 F and cook an additional 10-20 minutes to brown the top crispy as you'd like. (if you're cooking it cubed cook at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes shaking basket halfway through)
- Remove and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing and enjoying.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
