Pork belly is my guilty pleasure. I just love the taste of well-seasoned pork with a crisp skin. This is most probably due to my Filipino roots, where spit roasted pork, or “lechon” as it is called in Tagalog, with its crispy crackling was the feature of many Filipino parties growing up. Now, I’ve never mastered the complexities of producing crispy crackling in the oven (let alone on a spit), however I have discovered that I can produce something similar using my air fryer.
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Key Ingredients
(see below for full list of ingredients)
- Pork Belly: I use pork belly strips from the supermarket and cut them up into bite size pieces, around 1.5 cm to 2 cm thick.
- Garlic Powder: Gives the pork a rich savoury flavour.
- Salt: This brings out the flavour of the meat and the garlic. If you will be drizzling sauce over the pork then use less salt, around 0.25 tsp of salt should do.
How To Make Easy Air Fryer Pork Belly Bites
Step One: Pre-heat air fryer at 200 °C (400 °F) for 5 minutes. I use my trusty Ninja Air Fryer for this.
Step Two: Use kitchen roll to pat 500 g pork belly slices dry.
Step Three: Cut the pork into bite-size pieces roughly 1.5 – 2 cm thick.
Step Four: Add the pork belly bites to a large bowl and mix in 1 tsp garlic powder, 0.25 tsp onion powder, 0.25 – 0.5 tsp salt and 0.25 tsp black pepper.
Step Five: Spread the seasoned pork bites on the crisper tray in the air fryer pan.
Step Six: Air fry for 5 minutes at 200 °C (400 °F) . Use tongs to turn the pork over. Air fry again for a further 5 minutes. If you would like the pork to be super crispy then you can turn the pork over again and air fry for a further 5 minutes.
How To Serve Easy Air Fryer Pork Belly Bites
- This can be served as a main dish with rice, as a topping for a salad, or as an appetizer.
- Drizzle with hoisin sauce.
Tips for Making Easy Air Fryer Pork Belly Bites
- For an extra crisp pork, ensure that the meat is as dry as possible before seasoning. To do this pat the pork belly slices with kitchen roll.
- There is no need to add oil to the pork. It will release it’s own fat during the cooking process.
- You can add a little water to the bottom of the air fryer pan before placing the crisper tray over it. The water will prevent the fat and any other juices released by the meat from smoking.
Easy Air Fryer Pork Belly Bites Recipe
Serves: 4 | Preparation Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 10 – 15 minutes |
INGREDIENTS
- 500 g pork belly slices
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 0.25 tsp onion powder
- 0.25 – 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.25 tsp ground black pepper
METHOD
- Pre-heat air fryer at 200 °C (400 °F) for 5 minutes. I use a Ninja Air Fryer.
- Use kitchen roll to pat the pork belly dry.
- Cut the pork into bite-size pieces roughly 1.5 – 2 cm thick.
- Add the pork to a large bowl along with the rest of the ingredients (garlic powder, onion powder, salt and black pepper). Mix well.
- Spread the seasoned pork bites on the crisper tray in the air fryer pan.
- Air fry for 5 minutes at 200 °C (400 °F) . Use tongs to turn the pork over. Air fry again for a further 5 minutes. If you would like the pork to be super crispy then you can turn the pork over again and air fry for a further 5 minutes.

NOTES
- Serve drizzled with your preferred sauce – I love this with hoisin sauce.