Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork

This easy Crockpot Char Siu Pork takes all the flavor of the beloved Chinese barbecue pork dish but makes it easy and healthier. Made with a combination of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic, ginger, and spices  - this dish will have you licking your fingers. Serve it with some Healthy Fried Rice or Chow Mein.

I have had this on my list of things to try for months now and every time I go to make it, I somehow have lost an ingredient. Not sure how this keeps happening, but honestly, every time I am ready to cook up a big batch of Char Siu Pork, something is missing. Does this ever happen to you? It happens to me more often then I would like to admit. I would love to pretend there is some sort of ingredient-stealing bandit on the loose in my house.

No matter. The moral of the story is that I finally got my act together and made this recipe from Cooking Light for Char Siu Pork and it was well worth the wait (and the constant ingredient searching).

The pork is incredibly tender, the sauce is scrumptious, and it pairs great with some nutty brown rice and steamed veggies. I would also venture to guess this would taste just as great with chicken thighs, but I haven’t tried it yet. 

What is Char Siu Pork?

Char Siu Pork is typically made from a shoulder cut of pork (or long cut, like a tenderloin) that is seasoned with a sweet and spicy mixture which turns the outside of the meat red, resembling American-style barbecue.

Traditionally, the pork was made on long, forked skewers and cooked over a fire or a covered oven. But, as things go, the recipe has been adapted over time to include different, more modern cooking methods and meats more readily available at your grocery store.

How do I serve Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork?

This slow cooker pork dish is easy to serve in a myriad of ways.

• Serve the pork over white rice, nutty brown rice, instant rice, or cauliflower rice.
• This pork would go great over an Asian side salad that contains slaw, edamame, ramen noodles, or another salad that you love.
• Serve this pork in lettuce for some lettuce wraps. Serve with kimchi, bok choy, Sriracha, sesame seeds, or any other toppings that tickle your fancy.
• I would totally put this over some veggie noodles made out of zucchini, sweet potato, or summer squash with some hot sauce and your other favorite toppings.
• Add this pork to some Asian noodles such as ramen, soba, spaghetti, or other Asian noodle.
• Add this pork to some fried rice or add it to some eggs for breakfast with any other leftover vegetables you may have.
• Make an Asian grain bowl using quinoa, rice, cauliflower rice, or another grain and topping with snow pea pods, mushrooms, bok choy, broccoli, asparagus or whatever veggies you love.
• Try a spaghetti squash boat and eat the pork on top of a bed of this low-carb veggie spaghetti.
• Make Asian style tacos with some cabbage slaw, similar to how this Chorizo Spiced Pork is served.

Side Dish Ideas

I love to serve this with a lot of different sides. Here are some of my favorites:

• A side salad is a great complement to this pork. Try this Asian Noodle Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing.
• I love a good roasted vegetable with this pork. Plus, it's easy to throw into the oven while you're waiting for the pork to cook in the slow cooker. Try some of my favorites like roasted broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, or asparagus.
• Try making sweet potato fries or other potato fries either in the oven or on the grill. Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper for the simplest way to have them ready and tasty in no time.
• How about a heartier salad like one with kale, apples, and farrow? It really could not be easier to toss the ingredients together and dive into something unexpected yet wholly original and delicious too.
• Steamed veggies are a great side to make if you are short on time. I love those freezer bags that you just pop into the microwave for about five minutes and serve. A lot of times you can even find ones that are already Asian-inspired or flavored and would work great with this dish, but anything goes really!
• I love making edamame with this meal. I buy frozen edamame in the shells and cook it in a pot of boiling water on the stove according to package directions. I lay a paper towel in a bowl and put some salt down while they are boiling. Then, when it's done, I drain the edamame and pour it onto the salted paper towel, topping with more salt as I go. Serve with an empty dish for discarding the pods.

What kind of pork do I use with Char Siu?

For this recipe, I used a pork loin. You could also try a boneless pork shoulder or pork butt as well. Keep in mind this recipe is for 2 pounds of lean pork tenderloin that cooks in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low. If you are using a cut of meat that is bigger than 2 pounds, you might want to add another hour or two to get the meat to shred perfectly. If you are cooking only one pound of pork, you can get away with 4 hours on high in the slow cooker.