Feaured on Tastemade: Air Fryer Vietnamese BBQ Pork- “Xa-Xiu / Char Siu” - Recipe
Nuwave iQ360 Prosmart temperature probe makes cooking BBQ pork so easy!
Vietnamese red roasted bbq pork. Known as Xa Xiu in Vietnamese or Char Siu in Cantonese, these are traditionally used in Banh Mi sandwiches and egg noodle dishes. I love them with a sticky and charred outside as if they were smoked on a bbq grill. MMMM nom nom nom
I used my air fryer for this, the Nuwave Prosmart iQ360 oven, but any air fryer will work. This one had a probe feature so I could stick the probe in the meat, once it hit 160F, I glazed it with a sweet honey glaze and popped it into it’s broiler for a few minutes until it had a nice char around the edges!
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*Air fryer: Note that each air fryer operates differently, time and temperatures may need to be tweaked slightly if needed. The key is to get the internal temperature to about 160F and pull it out (it will continue to cook through after you pull it out).
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PORK
1.5- 2 lbs pork (Pork Butt aka boston butt and pork shoulder are best cuts for this. Fattier cuts can also be used like pork neck or pork belly)
MARINADE
3 tbs Chinese BBQ Pork Seasoning Mix
1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder
1 tablespoon honey
2 tbs brown sugar
3/4 tsp white pepper (black will do if you don't have white)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
STICKY GLAZE (*optional for that yummy sticky sweet glaze)
2 tbs honey
2 tbs hot water
Few fresh grinds of black pepper
PREPARATION
1. Cut pork into 3 chunky strips about 3-4 inches thick and 6 inches long cut along the grain of meat, not against it!
2. Tenderize meat by stabbing meat all over with a fork (this will also help with marinating the meat better, poke the entire surface of both sides). Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix pork marinade ingredients until you get a nice and smooth paste mixture.
4. Rub with hands the pork marinade and put in a zip lock bag with all it's marinade juices, press bag to remove any excess air from bag, and massage bag with pork for about a minute to distribute the marinade and for marinade to penetrate pork. Marinate for at least 4 hours (6-8 hours is or overnight in fridge but do not marinate for more than 24 hours or meat will harden and cook drier). Every few hours return to zip lock back squish/massage bag/pork around for better marinating.
5. When you are ready to cook pork. Let pork sit out at until it reaches room temperature about 45min to 1.5 hours.
Air fry directions:
1. In large bowl, combine all marinade ingredients and mix well. (Reserve all marinade for brushing).
2. Line your air fryer with foil for easier cleanup.
3. Brush pork with marinade again before setting into air fryer.
4. Set air fryer to air fry or air roast for 350 degrees and cook for about 30 min. After 13 min, brush on your reserved marinade over entire slab of meat (both sides), flip, and cook meat for another 8-10. Meat should be done after a total of about 30 minutes total (or when meat has internal temperature of 160F (it will still continue to cook).
I used the Prosmart oven from Nuwave iQ360 oven and just used the temperature probe at 350 degrees until it hit 160F and it took roughly 25 min to get there.
5. Set your air fryer to broil, brush optional honey glaze onto the pork pieces, when it reaches broil temp, pop it in a 3 min on each side so you have nice char marks.