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This Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork) is out of this world! Tender and juicy, with a smoky sweetness that pairs perfectly with the meat.
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Most Chinese restaurants serve Char Siu, or Chinese Barbecue Pork as a side dish or appetizer. Long strips of the best cuts of pork with a savory sweet glaze gives the pork an incredible flavor and tastes delicious on its own or served with the main entrée with fried rice. If made RIGHT, it can easily be my favorite part of the meal. More often than not, unfortunately, when I have gotten Char Siu at restaurants it comes out dry. This homemade Char Siu pork recipe is never dry, and always turns out perfectly. With this easy Char Siu sauce, you can make this flavorful dish right at home!
Ingredients for Chinese BBQ Pork
The ingredients for this Char Siu are simple and can be found at most regular grocery stores. It really is one of the easiest Chinese recipes I’ve ever tried. Here’s what you need:
- Pork Tenderloin – You can use pork tenderloin tips, pork shoulder, pork belly, or pork butt, any cut of pork you like.
- Teriyaki sauce – We love Mr. Yoshidas for this recipe but any of your favorite bottled sauce will work great
- Chicken broth – if you want to keep sodium down, use a low-sodium broth.
- Soy sauce – low sodium soy sauce or regular.
- Hoisin sauce – this sauce has a honey, brown sugar flavor with savory ingredients that give such depth to this recipe. Just a couple of tbsp is all you need.
- Chinese five-spice spice powder – this is optional, but adds extra flavour. It can be found in the spice section or the Asian section of your grocery store. It is a blend of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and fennel seeds.
- Garlic – mince about four cloves or four tsp.
- Red food coloring – just a couple drops of red food coloring gives this recipe that beautiful red color that Chinese BBQ pork is known for.
Ingredient Additions and Substitutions
- white pepper
- dried red peppers
- cayenne pepper
- kosher salt
How To Cook It Right
After getting my Camp Chef Pellet Grill, I decided it was time to attempt this Chinese BBQ pork at home. I did a high smoke until it reached JUST the right internal temperature, wrapped it in foil for a few minutes, and tried a slice. It was heavenly. I am not even kidding when I say it was by far the best Char Siu pork I have eaten. It was tender, flavorful, and perfect. It blew my favorite Chinese place’s pork out of the water and that is saying something because I used to REALLY love their pork.
The trick to getting this perfect is smoking the pork, however, if you don’t have access to a smoker or pellet grill, I have offered some alternative methods of cooking in with the recipe. Another thing to keep in mind if you want your pork to be nice and tender is to go by internal temperature, NOT cooking time. This is crucial. Use a meat thermometer to measure internal temperature.
Pro Tips for Pork
The National Pork Board (yes, that is a real thing) recommends cooking pork such as tenderloin, to an internal temperature of at least 145-degrees (this is medium-rare temperature). I pulled the pork off of the pellet grill at 147-degrees and it was perfect. Wrapping it in foil for a few minutes will actually allow the internal temperature to increase a little more. This is crucial, even if you aren’t a “medium-rare” meat kind of person. By the time you start eating it will be closer to a true medium. Pork isn’t like beef where you can see the doneness. Honestly, medium rare will look pretty much the same on the inside as medium-well, which is why judging by internal temperature is even more important in this recipe.
Can I Cook It Longer If I Want?
If you want the pork a little more done, feel free to simmer it longer in the oven (only if you must). Just don’t let the internal temp get above 160 before removing it from the grill or baking pan or you will have dry pork and you will be sad. Let the pork rest on a rack and baste with the leftover drippings from the pan.
Such a Versatile Meal
As mentioned above, you can serve Char Siu as an appetizer, side dish, or even main dish (with hot mustard — oh my gosh I love hot mustard) but you can also serve it a few other ways. You can dice it into smaller pieces and serve in fried rice (this is what I like to do if we have any left over). I promise it will make the best fried rice you have ever eaten. Make it with our Restaurant Style Fried Rice and substitute the Chinese BBQ pork for the ham. It will make all the difference in the world. You can also serve it with your favorite Asian noodles.
You can also slice up the pork and place it on your favorite type of buns and use it in Pork Banh Mi Sandwiches (it is so stinkin’ good. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it). You are going to love them! In the meantime, enjoy this Chinese BBQ pork!
Frequently Asked Questions about Char Siu
While there are variations to each recipe, a fairly simple Char Siu sauce includes soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and Chinese five-spice powder. Some ingredients call for sherry, but you can leave that out if you want.
Yes, it’s very similar since Char Siu is roasted BBQ pork. Char siu is an iconic Chinese (specifically, Cantonese) roasted BBQ pork. This BBQ pork is much sweeter than a usual, more savory pork roast.
This pork dish gets it color from a little red food coloring. An authentic Char Siu recipe is made with fermented red bean curds, which don’t have a lot of flavor but add color to the meat. It’s easy to make without red bean curds; just add red food coloring for the same effect.
Be sure to store leftover char siu in an airtight container in the fridge. It can be re used plain or in a number of dishes like rice bowls, bbq pork buns, char siu bao, a stir fry with vegetables, or ramen bowls!
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How to Make Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)
Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
Equipment
- Smoker Pellet Grill
- Outdoor Barbecue Grill
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork tenderloin (or 2 pounds pork tenderloin tips)
- 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce we used Mr. Yoshidas
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4. cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder optional
- a few drops red food coloring optional, it just gives it that Chinese BBQ pork look
Instructions
- Place pork in a large Ziploc bag.
- Combine all remaining ingredients in medium-sized bowl and pour into Ziploc bag with the pork. Press out all the air from the bag, seal tightly, and refrigerate. Marinade 4+ hours or overnight (the longer the better).
- Remove pork from fridge about 20 minutes before cooking to allow pork to reach close to room temperature. Drain marinade choose cooking method below:
To smoke the pork (preferred method):
- Set smoker/pellet grill to “high smoke” (220-degrees F) and remove when internal temperature reaches 147-degrees F* (this should take appx. 1 hour. Remove from smoker and wrap in foil. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
To grill:
- Grill over medium heat until internal temperature reaches between 147-160* (medium rare to medium). Remove when desired temperature is reached, wrap in foil.
To Oven Roast the Pork:
- Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Roast for appx 1 hour or until internal temp reaches at least 147 degrees.
To serve:
- Slice into 1/4″ slices and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you want the pork a little more done, simmer it longer in the oven.
- Just don’t let the internal temp get above 160 before removing it from the grill or baking pan or you will have dry pork and you will be sad.
- Let the pork rest on a rack and baste with the leftover drippings from the pan.
Excellent, easy, very juicy. Smoked my pork tenderloins to 147 on a Traeger, too a couple hours but great smoke flavor coupled with your recipe. Next time, I’ll char it over a gas grill for a few minutes to caramelize the bark. Thanks again!
Can you smoke it using a portable smoking gun?
I haven’t used one of those before, so I can’t say. Let us know how it turns out if you try it!
this is the best bbq pork ever
Will marinating for 48 hours harm the pork?
No, it should be just fine!
I make Chinese pork buns that use char su pork. I use a pack of char su from eBay. They are absolutely delicious.
The most delicious American food is barbecue. It is a regional dish with many flavors, such as the Memphis-style sticky barbecue ribs, the Central Texas-style smoked Brisket and Memphis-style sticky pork ribs or the Kansas City-style burnt ends. There’s more to this famous dish than what you see.
Great recipes!
You can find authentic Korean barbecue at many places. Los Angeles is home to several restaurants offering Korean bulgogi as well as Korean barbecue. It is also possible to eat various Korean Hot Pots. They are usually served with rice. There are a variety of options in the Korean barbecue section. You can find the perfect Korean BBQ spot to satisfy the cravings of your stomach. It is also served in Korean restaurants.
Thank you so much for teaching how to make pork. I haven’t been able to master this yet and I will be trying it out this weekend! go now
was great baked in oven so good i bought an indoor smoker to try it that way
i was wondering should this be smoked dry style or wet style
We have only smoked it dry style!
I have a smokehouse I use for smoking salmon but I cannot get that high of a temperature. Could I just smoke it in the smokehouse for a couple of hours and finish in the oven?
Delicious and tender. Everyone loved it. I did use oyster sauce instead of teriyaki because that’s what I had on hand.
Did people put the four garlic cloves in whole? Or do they get minced before going in?
Thanks
You can do it either way, but minced will help spread the flavor around more in the marinade. I corrected it on the recipe. Thanks for asking!
I was actually looking for a recipe for carnitas when I came across this one. I almost passed it up the first time, but the smoker as a preferred cooking method caught my eye. I thought I would go ahead and try it since I knew I had all the ingredients already, it was going to be a spectacular sunny Saturday(rare in Seattle for April), and smoking some meat sounded fabulous. I figured that even if it did not come out, I could turn it into fried rice or something else.
I followed the recipe, with one sub: I used sweet soy sauce instead of regular. I used KC Masterpiece Honey Teriyaki sauce as well. My tenderloins were not overly large, and Fred Meyer(Kroger Co) sells their brand two in a bag, so both of them went in the ziploc for pretty much the whole day. I set the smoker to 210 degrees, as my smoker tends to run slighty hot on one side.
An hour and ten minutes later I pulled them thinking I had over-cooked them because I lost track of time! I wrapped them in foil and let them rest for about 10 minutes, and then in walked my cooking partner in crime and resident food critic–my 21 year old son.
He asked what it was and as soon as I told him, off came the foil. We both tried a slice of it standing at the kitchen counter.
This is probably the best tenderloin recipe we have ever made. The flavor was absolutely wonderful. The sweetness with the slight hint of five spice was such a perfect balance. The meat was so tender I was completely blown away! My son kept commenting how good it was and kept coming back for more–that means winner for me!
Definitely on our list of top ten recipes! Cannot wait to try more from this site! Thank you for creating and sharing!
Hi Dawn- so happy to hear this recipe was such a success for you! Thanks for the nice comment! I am so glad you and your son enjoyed this so much 🙂
Super recipe…literally better than China town. Only change I made was to cook on my smoker vs in the oven. Thank you for sharing this excellent recipe!
Made this today, it was perfect – very reminiscent of restaurant-style; both nostalgic & delicious. Did the oven method due to winter limits on outdoor grilling/smoking, but plan to try those methods come summertime. Also made my own five spice seasoning as I find much of the premade available in stores to overdo the anise. Anyway, thanks, great part of a Sunday dinner!
Can you use liquid smoke if you don’t have a smoker?
I haven’t tried using liquid smoke in this recipe, but I think it would work!
This was so delicious and flavourful! It’s going to be a regular over here, thank you!
What a delicious new way for me to make pork. I love how easy this recipe is too!
I made your recipe at home very tasty, delicious thank you add more recipes
I made this yesterday following the recipe, it tasted really good but it definitely didn’t have that red look on the outside, which I wanted. In the end, I let the meat cool and brushed red food coloring on to get the look
Need to use two teaspoons of food coloring. A few drops will do very little if anything. I have a simplistic recipe and it’s so like restaurant flavor and color and tenderness. This will give you the red around the pork. Enjoy! 😊😋
This looks amazing! I’m now off to the store to buy myself a pellet grill so I can make this Char Siu!!
This recipe was delicious, I made it on the grill it was the best pork loin I ever made, and that’s exactly what my husband said, this is a keeper.
This Chinese BBQ pork char siu was incredible! I wish I had doubled the recipe for leftovers. This delicious recipe’s a keeper!
When I put this in the oven tomorrow, do I cook it in the ingredients I marinated it in overnight?
Sorry. I just read the recipe again and found the answer!
Excellent Every time!!!!! Game day winner, I also have done this many ways by far this is the easiest ! Myself being a hunter and avid outdoorsman is that I e done this with duck and goose breast also! But I will note when cooled delude honey and brush it on and the add chopped green onion then slice! The honey factor came from the wild game but is awesome with the pork as well ! Thanks for the share
Hi Kevin- So glad you liked this recipe! Thanks for sharing how you have had success with wild game as well. I love the idea of adding honey. YUM! Thanks for your comments and for the 5-stars!
I always make too much of the sauce, / marinade. Can left overs be frozen? The sauce? I do not let sit as time recommends. I baste and slow smoke cook with real mesquite. Just saying. Amazon has some awesomeness ch. Mustard in bulk that is awesome too.
I haven’t tried freezing the sauce so I’m not sure! Let us know how it goes if you try it!
I made this in the oven, I ended up with a pound and a half pork tenderloin. Which I cooked for 45 minutes. I did use my roasting pan and rack. I added the Chinese five spice and oh my it was so good! Next time I want to do it on the grill. I made brown rice and stir fry vegetables to go along with it. It reminds me of the spareribs you get at the Chinese restaurant. I wonder if it would work for chicken as well?
I don’t know why it wouldn’t work for chicken, you can use the same seasonings and it should still taste great. It would just be like your typical BBQ chicken. If you try it let us know how it turns out!
It sure will!!:)
Add some orange juice to the mix for marinating and you will have some amazing barbeque chicken!
I made this just like recipe (without the 5 spice) and it was great. Can’t wait to make again. Only thing is the outside did not turn red..like the picture , and I was really hoping it would so it would look like the restaurants. Any suggestions as to why it didn’t turn red. I marinated overnight.
Did you use the red food coloring?
What type of wood do you recommend? Hickory, oak, mesquite?
Hickory or applewood are both really good with pork!
Any hardwood works well
Do you ise any wood or BBQ smoke chips when you smoke the Pork?
We smoke the pork in a smoker so we use the Camp Chef wood pellets. If you don’t have a smoker, you can use wood chips in a smoker box on your grill. Hope this helps!