Pork Belly in the Airfryer

One of the main reasons why I bought a hot air fryer after all was the fact that you can also use it to cook crispy pork belly Thai-style or “Mhu Grob” ( หมูกรอบ ).

This method of preparing pork belly requires a mechanical meat tenderizer and a day’s preparation time, as the pork belly should rest in the fridge for around 24 hours . I have written down the necessary steps for you here.

Recommended Meat tenderizer at amazon.de¹

Preparation

For “Moo Grob”, you should use a piece of pork belly that is as straight as possible so that it can later lie flat in the hot air fryer and thus be browned evenly. You should wash it thoroughly again before use and then pat it dry.

Now apply the five-spice powder to the underside of the pork belly and rub it in thoroughly. Make sure that none of the spice powder gets onto the rind. Then leave the pork belly to rest for a few minutes so that the spices can penetrate the pores.

Now we turn the pork belly over and get to the hard part, because now it’s time to make as many small holes as possible in the fat rind with the meat tenderizer. You should make sure that they are evenly distributed and deep enough. Then rub the rind thoroughly with the salt and leave the belly to rest for twenty minutes.

After this time, many beads of liquid should have formed on the rind, which we rub off together with the salt using a piece of kitchen paper . Then place the prepared pork belly uncovered in the fridge for at least 24 hours. A longer resting time will not do any harm.

The next day, place the baking paper or silicone mold in the air fryer and place the pork belly inside. We then set the hot air fryer to 200 degrees Celsius and leave the belly in the frying basket for about half an hour. At the end of the time, the pork belly should be golden brown and the rind should have turned into a crispy, crunchy crust.

If your hot air fryer has more power than mine, you can also go to 240 degrees in the last few minutes, then the crust will pop up more and become even crispier.

You should leave the finished pork belly to cool briefly before slicing and then serve immediately while it is still nice and crispy . It goes very well with Thai Nam Jim Jaew as a dip. If you have any left over, you can use it to prepare delicious dishes such as “Pad Pak Kanaa Moo Grob”.

Incidentally, you should collect all the fat that came out of pork belly from the hot air fryer after it has cooled down, seal it airtight and store it in the fridge. You can then use it to fry many more Thai dishes in a very authentic way in the near future, as pork fat is a classic kind of fat in Thai cuisine.

Inspiration

This method of preparing pork belly has been inspired by Stefan (aka Lung Priau, aka Thai Guy). He prepares the pork belly in the oven, but his method can be easily transferred to the hot air fryer. In the following video he explains this method in detail.