Air Fryer Crispy Pork Belly
Air fryer crispy pork belly gives you proper crackling and soft, rich meat from 40 minutes of cooking, without heating a full-size oven. The secret is a very dry skin: score it, brush it with vinegar, rub in salt and leave it uncovered in the fridge for an hour. Then the basket does the rest, rendering the fat at 180°C before a hot finish at 200°C blisters the skin.
- Total
- 2 h 5 min
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
- Per serving
- 600kcal
Choosing the ingredients for air fryer crispy pork belly
Buy skin-on pork belly with an even layer of fat and a thickness of 3–4cm. Ask the butcher to cut it into four strips, or do it yourself with a sharp knife. Strips of about 200g cook more evenly than one big slab, and four fit comfortably in a basket of 4.5 litres or more. In a smaller basket, cook two strips at a time and expect the whole recipe to take twice as long.
The skin does the work, not the seasoning. Vinegar and salt draw out moisture, and a dry surface is what bubbles into crackling. White wine vinegar is easy to find, but any plain white vinegar will do. Keep the garlic powder and pepper on the sides, because spices burn on skin at 200°C.
How to cook air fryer crispy pork belly
Tap a time to start a timer.
- Score and dry the skin Pat the pork belly dry all over with kitchen paper. With a very sharp knife, score the skin in parallel lines about 1cm apart, cutting through the skin and fat but not into the meat. Dry the skin again.
- Treat the skin Brush the vinegar over the skin, then rub in half the salt (½ tsp), pushing it into the cuts. Stand the strips skin-side up on a plate and leave them uncovered in the fridge for at least 1 hour, until the skin feels dry and tight.
- Season the meat Wipe away any moisture beads from the skin with kitchen paper. Mix the garlic powder, pepper and remaining ½ tsp salt, and rub it over the sides and base of each strip, keeping it off the skin.
- Cook the first stage Stand the strips skin-side up in the basket, with a little space between them. Cook at 180°C for , until the meat is cooked through. Check that the centre of a strip reaches at least 75°C on a meat thermometer.
- Crisp the skin Turn the air fryer up to 200°C and cook for a further , until the skin has bubbled up, blistered and turned deep golden. Watch it in the last , because crackling can burn quickly.
- Rest and slice Lift the strips out with tongs and rest them on a rack or board for . Slice with a sharp serrated knife, pressing down on the skin side, or turn them over and cut through the meat from the underside.
Oven alternative and what to serve with it
No air fryer? Follow the same steps for the skin, then roast the strips at 180°C (160°C fan), gas 4 for 1 hour, and turn the oven up to 230°C (210°C fan), gas 8 for 15–20 minutes until the crackling blisters. The method is covered in more detail in oven-roasted pork belly.
Pork belly is rich, so serve it with something sharp or sweet. Apple sauce, braised red cabbage and mash are the classic partners, and traditional pork belly with apples shows how well the fruit works with the meat.
Common problems and fixes for Air Fryer Crispy Pork Belly
- The skin stays chewy and does not crisp.
- There was still moisture in it. Dry it with kitchen paper at every stage, leave it uncovered in the fridge for the full hour (overnight is even better), and always finish with the 15 minutes at 200°C.
- The skin darkens before the meat is cooked.
- The strips are probably thicker than 4cm. Turn the temperature down to 170°C, cover the top with a small piece of foil and add 5–10 minutes to the first stage until the meat reaches 75°C.
- The air fryer smokes.
- Fat dripping onto a hot drawer smokes. Pull the drawer out halfway through the first stage, carefully pour off the fat and slide it back in.
Frequently asked questions about Air Fryer Crispy Pork Belly
How long does pork belly take in an air fryer?
About 40 minutes of cooking: 25 minutes at 180°C, then 15 minutes at 200°C. Allow another hour for drying the skin in the fridge and 10 minutes to rest.
What temperature should pork belly reach?
At least 75°C in the centre. Pork must be steaming hot all the way through, with no pink and clear juices. Belly stays tender at higher temperatures, so there is no harm in letting it go a little over.
Can you cook pork belly from frozen?
No. Defrost it fully in the fridge, which takes about 24 hours. Frozen belly cooks unevenly and the skin stays wet, so it will not crackle.
How do you reheat leftovers?
Keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days, then reheat at 180°C for 5–6 minutes, until steaming hot all the way through. The skin will crisp up again.
How did you like the recipe?
4.7 / 5 · 65 ratings
