Air Fryer Pork Belly Truly Crispy

Love air fryer recipes? Try air fryer chicken breast, air fryer pork tenderloin, and air fryer steak. This air fryer pork belly recipe yields a beautifully seared crust and melt-in-your-mouth meat. Most pork belly recipes need lengthy cooking times to render the fat. However, my simple, 3-ingredient alternative yields the same succulent slab of pork belly using nothing more than salt and cooking spray. No heavy oils or long cooking times are needed!

Why I love this recipe

It’s healthy-ish and mess-free. Air frying achieves the same mouthwatering meat and crisped crackling as deep frying but with a fraction of the oil and significantly less mess. Mostly hands-off. The air fryer does most of the work in this recipe, and there’s almost no babysitting needed, unlike pan-searing and deep-frying. Goes well with anything. I sometimes serve this pork as the main dinner meal for my family, but it’s also a fun appetizer or afternoon snack.

Ingredients needed

Skin-on Pork belly. The quality of your pork belly matters. Look for slabs that are evenly marbled with fat and are bright pink with no signs of discoloration. I find getting pork belly from an actual butcher VS a local grocery store to be so much better. The meat is typically fresher and doesn’t contain any preservatives. Also, please don’t use frozen pork belly- it just won’t crisp up the same. Sea salt. For seasoning. Olive oil spray. Or any non-stick cooking spray to grease the air fryer basket and prevent sticking.

How to cook pork belly in an air fryer

I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Step 1 – Season the pork belly. Pat the pork belly dry with a paper towel, then rub it with salt. Step 2 – Air fry. Place the pork belly in the greased air fryer basket. Air fry at 200ºC/400ºF until the skin crackles, then lower the temperature to 160ºC/320ºF and continue cooking until the pork is cooked through. Step 3 – Rest, slice, and serve. Transfer the cooked pork belly to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes. When the time is up, slice it and serve!

Arman’s recipe tips

Always pat it dry. Use paper towels to pat the pork belly dry before cooking. This helps the salt stick to the surface and gives you crispier results. Use a sharp knife to score the top layer of skin in a criss-cross pattern. This helps the fat render out while the skin gets nice and crispy. The safe internal temperature for pork belly is 63ºC/145°F. To check this, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest end of the slab. Let it rest before slicing. This allows the delicious juices to soak back into the meat.

Storage instructions

To store: Once cooled, refrigerate the pork belly in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Feel free to cook bite-sized pieces of pork belly instead of an uncut slab. To do this, place the meat in the freezer for about 20 minutes so it’s easier to slice. Cut the slab into 1-inch bite-sized pieces and air fry them at 200ºC/400ºF for 8 to 10 minutes, tossing the basket a few times as they cook.

Glazed. My 3-ingredient ham glaze, hot honey sauce, katsu sauce, and pork tenderloin marinade would be great as a glaze. Just be sure to baste the meat during the last 2 to 3 minutes of the cooking time to preserve the crackly skin. BBQ. Slather on your favorite BBQ sauce and broil for the final 2-3 minutes. Candied. Brush maple syrup, honey, or brown sugar syrup over the meat during the last few minutes of cooking. Hot and spicy. Rub the pork with red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, and chili powder before cooking. Garlic. Rub the pork with salt mixed with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

To freeze: If you want to freeze leftover pork belly, let it cool, wrap it in foil or plastic, and then freeze it in a sealed bag for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating. To reheat: Return the leftover pork belly to a preheated 200°C/400°F air fryer for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through.